Kids Reunion III

 So every two years, my siblings all get together, rent a house, and have a blast!  This was our third year and it was in Durham, New York.  It was so much fun!  Stan is balancing a real egg--this is a lot harder than you realize and he was the only one able to do it!

 There was a lot of time playing outside, hiking (checking for ticks--we found a few!) swimming, exploring, and taking turns.  It is one of my favorite memories.

 We played some minute to win it games.  Neal just ate the oreos.

 Tyson is not using his hands :)

 They played with legos

 They blew bubbles, flew airplanes, and went to the park. 

 We went to dinner one night at a fancy restaurant and the kids actually did great!  We topped it off by playing baseball with apples (hand-picked by the kids) at a random park and blasting them to pieces for a home run!  It was so picturesque and there was such a fun feeling there to be together with my family, making memories again! We later went for ice cream. We took pictures and played games at night.  The boys played guitar and we got to listen to poop stories from Dan.  It was awesome :)

 Sandra lent us this cool magnet book for the airplane rides.  Tyson loved it!  The two hour drive to and from New York City got some use out of it, too.  Christian did not appreciate the traffic in New York, but besides that it was perfect!  I can't wait for KR IV!

Another Road trip!

 Christian had an interview down in Albuquerque, New Mexico, so we travelled yet again as a family!  We got to see our good friends the Luffs (I don't know where our pictures went!) We love them!  Then we drove down to Santa Fe and stayed with my best friend growing up, Lana, and her family.  They were so kind to host us during the interview and drive us everywhere downtown!  Thank you Lana!

 On our way back home, we got to see our friends the Patricks!  It was a brief but great visit.

 The boys yet again did great in the car--thank you Laura for the fun car stuff!

 Santa Fe is one cool old city!

 The scenery in New Mexico was pretty cool at times!

 In Moab, we stopped for lunch and we happened upon Mater!

 In Utah, we were able to make it to my Grandma's 85th birthday celebration.  It was so fun to catch up with all of the cousins and see Grandma again.  We just love her! (again, sorry about the lack of pictures!)

 On our way back to Bozeman, I had a pregnancy craving and we stopped at firehouse subs about twenty minutes after leaving town...

Two days after we got home it was time to get ready for our next vacation!

Cousins!!

 So one of the best parts about being in Montana for the summer is all of the cousin time we had!  Heidi and Russ came up from Seattle and spent an entire week with us.  It was so much fun!  We went on hikes (here is Tyson and Christian's mom and Zorro)

 We played in the backyard!

 We went to my mom and Andre's house for the fourth of July!

 They sure know how to throw a party!

 Christian's Brother was running the fireworks stand this year so we got to have quite the show!  Heidi brought some cool ones from Seattle, too (including a floating lantern!)

 The sunset was stunning!

 Grandma always finds time to spend with the kids.  I love that about her.

 The kids all got to go to the Museum of the Rockies and enjoy the chocolate display and dinosaurs!  We got there just in time to make rockets out of coke and mentos and alkaseltzer poppers!

 We played in the Yellowstone room and it was so much fun to just get caught up and let the kids have fun!

 We played water-baseball and had a barbecue!

 Summer is not complete without popsicles dripping all up your arms!

 My mom :)

 The boys loved playing and the Coltrins.  They have a juke-box (that plays "Purple People Eater" and "Blue Suede Shoes") and an arcade.  They love it!

 We got to go to the Playmill theater and watch "The Foreigner"  Darcy brought bags of candy and chocolate for everyone and Josh and Greg stayed home to watch the boys.  It was so much fun!  Afterwards we looked at rocks in the gift shops and just had fun.

 We went bowling, which come to find out, my boys LOVE!

 We went to the library for lego building time (twice) and the cousins were so nice to each other and built things together.  It was awesome!

 Here's Russ torturing Austin :)

 We picked raspberries and Greg made his famous liquid nitrogen ice cream.  It was awesome!  The kids made up plays for the adults to watch every night and Heidi had the whole week planned out perfectly (including food and activities and treats--thank you!)  It was so fun to see the cousins all having a great time!

 Later that week, we headed up to Great Falls to spend some time with my sister, Laura and her family.  It was so fun!  We went to her symphony concert at the stadium and Addie was enamored with the mascot!

 She did a fabulous job playing all sorts of things from the Sound of Music and other kid friendly songs.  My boys had a ton of fun dancing and listening to her play!

 Austin took this picture and every time Neal sees it he gets really excited and shouts, "Daddy!!"  I love it!

 We rode bikes and went on hikes, we ate really yummy food (literally, every meal was fantastic)

 The boys played basketball

 Christian played, too :)

 Alan fixed my teeth--he does amazing work, by the way!  Thank you Alan!

 We went to this super yummy café (Laura's favorite) and the kids all had fun.

 Serious fun :)

 We went to the bounce house and just enjoyed being with each other.  Tyson told me he felt safe at their house and when it was time to go Austin turned to Tyson and said, "We're moving again!"  Someday we'll have a house!  But it has been fun to be with family in the meantime!  We love you!