Smoley Family visit

Our friends Brad, Stephanie, Madison and Aiden Smoley came to visit us at our cabin from Thursday night to Saturday morning. They had been camping all week prior to making it to our cabin, so were happy to get to a building with four walls that don't collapse! :) I think we were all amazed at how well the four kids got along during their visit!! They were instant friends...and very little arguments or fighting (which is a first for us!!). Chris and I both agree, this was one of the BEST times we have had at the cabin!!!!!!!!

Friday was a BLAST! Chris and Brad got up early to go hiking and fishing. Steph and I took the kids to the Nature Center (or the Red Lodge Zoo as Hailey and Ryan refer to it as). That went fine, but not as stimulating as they needed! :) Then on the way to the Candy Store (every trip always results in a visit to the Candy Store!!), I drove by the park as I saw a lot of people there. I am so glad I did!!! We found out a organization from Billings was putting on a picnic/party in the park to CELEBRATE KIDS! Yahoo...we have 4 that needed a little celebrating! :) We got to play TONS of games (fishing, ring toss, throwing a ball in a bucket, bubbles, pick a ducky, decorate crowns, etc), face-painting, and FREE LUNCH too! :) They were walking around with Popsicles too ... the kids loved that! We were probably there for over 2 hours...just taking our time, having fun. Oh, and there was hardly anyone else there!! And, to top things off, I won a gift certificate for a free nights stay at the Holiday Inn in Billings (in a suite too!!). So, it was a fun, and exciting, morning. We headed to the candy store for a quick visit, then back to the cabin for naps. Steph and I got a nice break while the kids were sleeping and got to sit in the sun on the deck...it was HEAVEN! :) Then we played outside, had supper, went fishing (always a good time at Wild Bill lake), and then home for baths, and S'MORES! FUN, FUN, FUN!

(Pics : Ryan "fishing"; Madison & Hailey making princess crowns; Aiden & Ryan playing with the bubbles; Ryan, Hailey, Madison & Aiden enjoying their lunch; Ryan!)

Hailey now continues to talk about Madison and wants her to come to her birthday party. She doesn't quite get it that Madison is 950 miles away...but hopefully they will be friends even with the miles. ;)

We came back home on Saturday morning as Chris played in softball tournaments all day Saturday and Sunday too. It was nice and warm, and the kids got a lot of time to play outside...it was a FUN WEEKEND!

A picnic & a sprinkler

I love that an ordinary night can turn into such a fun family time! This week and next week Hailey has swimming lessons from 5:45-6:15 so that really makes for a crazy night Monday to Thursday. We got home after swimming and were going to do the usual...eat supper, play a little, bath for the kids, and bed. Nothing special. Then, Hailey asked, "Can we have a picnic outside??" OF COURSE! So, we had our first picnic outside (for this year) and then we put the sprinkler on for a little fun. Hailey and Ryan didn't like how cold the water was!! It was a fun night. Wouldn't you know that they wanted to eat breakfast outside this morning too!! :)

The pictures are of :
(1) Hailey finally getting a little closer to the sprinkler
(2) Hailey chasing Ryan around the yard. I told them to keep going and going and going!!
(3) Oh come on...you know I had to turn the water on again after seeing that!! No screaming, just more playing once the water was back on.

Home Sweet Home

Ahhh..back in our own beds! We had a WONDERFUL vacation, but it was a lot of riding in the car for the kids. Over 3,100 miles is just too much! :) I will say, they did very good. Hailey was so good in the car (as long as movies were on). Ryan had moments...but he is 2 and never really sits at home or watches tv much so we understand.

Here are a few pictures of our vacation...I took over 500 so you know this is a small sampling! :) (I also added a few to the previous post too now that I have pictures loaded on the computer)


We got to spend a few hours at Bob & Judy's cabin this summer again! They have a fantastic beach, and Scott, Jenny, Tyler, Kylie, and Dylan were all there too so it was a BLAST! We stopper over there to see their new jetski and the kids had fun sitting on it...and Hailey was even jumping off it into the water. It was fun...but we wanted to stay LONGER! The kids loved playing together (well, most of the time anyway).


We spent a little time on Friday at my uncle and aunt's resort and got to spend time on the beach. We also saw a loon family ... aren't they cute!?!? Ryan even got in the lake water too!

We finally got Ryan captured in pictures falling asleep! There are times when he is SO TIRED and we don't want him to go to sleep (because he won't stay asleep when we get to where we are going, etc). It is always fun for us to try to keep him awake. He has the goofiest little grin on his face....and we got some of it here!! This is at 5PM ... and no nap in the day!! A first for him...and a LAST...he was a PILL the whole way to Bismarck!



After a late night snack from McDonald's (we are on vacation after all!), the kids had to go swimming one more time at the hotel. It was 10:15PM (CT) when we got there...but we will say it was 9:15PM MT since we will be going home tomorrow ;) They both loved it!!!

We got home around 4PM on Sunday...Father's Day. Hailey was so excited...ran right up to her room and was so happy to see everything again. It was a nice night and we all slept great.

To everyone we saw on vacation..............THANK YOU! We appreciate the time people took to see us and spend time with us. It really was a fantastic vacation. Of course we would have liked to have seen many more people, but are happy to have saw those that we did! Thanks again!

The first week

Well, the first week of vacation is done (& then some!). A little recap and highlights of the week (note...I won't be able to include anywhere close to everything that has happened, but will touch on the big events).....

Saturday we got to Tim & Kendra's house and enjoyed getting OUT of the car!! We decided to just spend the rest of the night at their house to avoid getting back in the car. Sunday we went to the outlets at Albertville and then a late lunch at the Alien's restaurant. The kids like the fun atmosphere of the restaurant...and sure were hungry at 1:30pm! :) Then it was finally time for naps!! We left there around 6pm to drive down to Rochester.

Finally we didn't have to drive again for a few days. Sunday night to Wednesday morning we stayed in Rochester at Kris and Eric's. The kids LOVED it!! I worked a little during the day on Monday and Tuesday while staying at the house with Kris to help with all four kids! Hailey was in love with her "cousin Hanna." She wanted to hold Hanna every minute she could and loved bragging that she put Hanna to sleep! Ryan enjoyed playing with CJ on Tuesday when he stayed home! They played ring-around-the-rosie and that was SO CUTE! :) Monday night, we all went to Kristi & Skye's house for a big picnic. It is amazing how time has changed...it used to be the 4 girls (Kristi, Kris, Gina, and I)...but now it is 4 old ladies, 4 husbands, and 8 (almost 9) kids!! YIKES!! It was a SUPER FUN night...for everyone!

Wednesday we drove up to the lake (the kids and I....Chris had a golfing trip to go to). The kids loved getting up there, seeing the water, and of course the golf cart rides! Thursday we went to Fargo to meet Becky, Brad, Allison and Sarah (Emily was already with us) and go to Gerald and Connie's house for Gerald's retirement party. Friday and Saturday we spent TONS of time playing outside!!! Friday night the kids really enjoyed going to the parade in New York Mills with Tyler and Kylie as well. Finally Saturday was nice enough for a BOAT RIDE!! Ryan was so happy to finally get this in! He immediately asked for "more boat ride", but it was nap time! :) Saturday night they all got to play on the beach and in the water (& go fishing too!) at Judy & Bob's place. Sunday of course was beautiful outside...so we all went on another boat ride and then stopped at Zorbaz for pizza then back on the boat to go back to Grandma & Papa's house! That was fun!! We then got back in the car....

Got to TKO around 4:00, ate supper, and then made a DQ run! :) Around 6pm, Chris and I left to go to Rochester (darn work!!) and the kids will stay at TKO with Grandma Pilcher until we are done working on Wednesday. We miss them already!!

More updates to come next week...

He swims!

On Friday, June 1st we left to start our vacation. The first night we stayed in a hotel in Bismarck, ND as Hailey has been begging to stay in a hotel for a long time (she just wanted in a pool again!!). So, after supper and checking in, we went to the hotel pool. Just a little background...Hailey is FISH! 100% fish! Ryan doesn't like the water at all. He doesn't even like putting on his swim diaper. On Friday, he didn't want the swim diaper on, but he let me do it. Then at the pool, he took his usual post around the outside of the pool and watched Hailey jump and swim. Chris then just reached out and brought Ryan into the pool. To every one's surprise....HE LOVED IT! He was swimming on his back and front, jumping in (well...a little anyway), and even put on arm floaties too and would go around in the pool by himself! Chris and I were so surprised and happy with Ryan and his new-found love for swimming! He really did surprise us a lot. Now we have to deal with TWO kids not wanting to get out of the water!! :)