Tiny Treasures: Vacations = Ahhhhhh, relaxing

We've been home from our Montana vacation for almost a week now and I feel so behind! Lots of new developments since then, but that'll be my next post. :-) For now, let's see some vacation photos!

We had such an awesome time with my family and relatives at my grandparents' house at Flathead Lake in Montana. We try to make it there every year during the last week of July/1st week of August, but it had been a few years since Keith had been there (he'd been too busy remodeling our house for the past two summers!). My parents lovingly offered to take Maddie in their car for the whole drive there (Day 1: 6 hours to Spokane, Day 2: 4.5 hours to lake) so that Keith and I could drive straight through the following day. Of course, Maddie thought this was an awesome idea--two whole days of Nana & Papa to herself, going on the huge carousel in Spokane, going out to dinner, swimming and staying in a hotel--that's big girl stuff! My sister Dana & bro-in-law Travis arrived the next day from London and they're just such a hoot to be around. Both of them have larger-than-life personalities and always bring lots of laughs and conversation to the party. It just feels so natural to have them around, which makes it all the more difficult to say goodbye at the end of the week. But luckily, Dana is planning a trip home in November, so we'll see her again soon!

Dana & Maddie practicing kisses in their "movie star sunglasses".

Life at the lake is quite relaxing...read books on the dock, go on boat rides, innertube rides or wakeboarding (if you're so inclined). If you're a 2.5 year old, this also includes playing with toys, reading books, doing playdough, chasing bubbles, playing in the water with floatie toys and throwing about 10,000 rocks into the water on a daily basis. Also, with 12 people to feed on a daily basis, you can't forget the *daily* run to the grocery store which fills up 2 fridges. We all take turns cooking dinner for the group, but when it's your turn, just be prepared to spend all afternoon in the kitchen. :-)

This is what Keith probably wanted to spend each day doing.

This is what Keith, my dad & Trav ended up doing for 3-4 days...rebuilding parts of both of the rotting docks! Fun, relaxing times! :-)

Let the rock throwing begin!

(white chocolate pretzel + blueberry pie "war paint" = very entertaining dessert)

Dancing with baby dolls & Nana

More throwing rocks with Daddy.

This is the true glamour of the lake...check out the knot in those dishwashing gloves! Heck, we don't throw anything away! :-)

GiGi (great-grandma) & Nana

Maddie decided to be brave this year and try going on the innertubes for the first time! As anyone who's tried this with little kids knows, finding the right speed at the beginning can be tricky! Go too slow and you'll sink the innertube. Go too fast and the kids get freaked out.

Here's the "almost sinking" at the beginning...all you see are Keith & Maddie's feet!

Maddie did great up until the very end, when we had to slow way down...and the innertube flipped. Keith immediately pushed her up out of the water, but she was totally freaked out & didn't calm down until she was safely snuggled in the boat. But she said she'd do it all again!

Maddie loved going on boat rides (plus it was the only way we could coax her into taking a nap!) so one day we packed a picnic and took a ride over to a large island for a private picnic. Do you like our primo docking spot? Just climb through the tree brances, over the rock slabs...

I promised Allison that I'd take pictures of the lake house this year. She's been hearing me talk about it my whole life and apparently she had a Pottery Barn-esque picture in her mind...wicker furniture with pristine white and navy overstuffed cushions, bowls of artfully-arranged beach sand and shells, etc. Well...just wipe that idea right out of your heads. It's cozy and homey, but not in that way. (I forgot to take pics of the upstairs bedrooms, which are the "best"--both rooms have full-wall photo murals of either a forest landscape or a lake/mountain range--very hip and modern for the 1970's!) But it doesn't matter what the decor looks like...it's all about the years of memories we've created there, which are priceless.

On our last full day, we drove 1.5 hours to Glacier National Park with my parents, Dana & Trav and my Uncle Craig, Aunt Susan and cousins Ian & Emma from New Mexico. Maddie has been into totem poles lately (she learned about them on Little Einsteins), so we had to take pictures in front of them!

Dana, Maddie, Emma (Maddie's new best buddy) & me (29 weeks preggo)

Craig, Ian, Emma & Susan

One of the spectacular views.

Super-cool old-school tour busses (the tops roll down so you can get a full view!)

As we went on a mini-hike, we spotted this family of mountain goats. Maddie asked, "Which one is young? Which one is old? Which one is about to die?" Umm...WHAT?!