Eh-he-he-he-hew

This one's for you Grampa John...



For anyone who has no idea what the context is...we just watched Ernest Goes to Camp. Just bought a triple feature DVD (along with Ernest goes to Jail & Ernest Scared Stupid) at Target for $5! Ernest was one of my childhood favorites. Our VHS copy was likely run pretty thin with how much wear it got. When we used to have gerbils, my brother Justin even named one Ernest Petrie (Petrie from the Land before Time, another classic). Anyway, my dad still throws out a pretty good Ernest "Eh-he-he-he-hew" from time to time. The girls started doing it constantly after watching the movie--it clearly still has an impressionable effect. :)

missoula

We were planning to spend last weekend in Rapid City, SD, meeting Grampa Jeff & Grama Donna, but since Grampa got called to work in Minot because of the flooding, we decided to postpone the Rapid City trip. Since the girls already knew we were going to go to a hotel (the first thing Ava said every morning when she woke up at the crack of dawn..."only eleven more days until we get to go to the hotel!!!!"), we decided to spend the weekend in a hotel a little closer to home. We drove out to the Mountains and stayed in Missoula. I really like Missoula. Way hipper than Great Falls...if you find yourself in MT, go to Missoula! They have lots of great restaurants, downtown is filled with lots of little shops (didn't go shopping this time, but they just looked cool from the outside) (: We spent a lot of time at the hotel waterpark, eating out (cheesy fries 3 times...yum), and Jamie got a couple rounds of disc in. We stopped at Big Sky brewery and the Carousel for Missoula and awesome wooden park. We also checked out my recent obsession: Airstream Trailers. There was an RV dealership there that had a whole line of them, but apparently all but one were spoken for, so we only got to walk through that one. Still, I fell more in love. Jamie was really diggin' it, checking everything out, then he got the sticker shock and said "Get out. GET. OUT." LOL! Yes, they have a hefty price brand new, but they are so cool! I've seen some awesome vintage renovations too. They are built to last...nearly 70% of all Airstream trailers ever produced are still on the road! Retro/Classic/Modern...Where else can you get all that? No cheesy RV upholstery, no impractical carpeting, just nice sleek aluminum, spacious, light, airy, lots of windows, cool features...oh, yeah...back to Missoula (:

Ava in the pool:


Jamie & Zoe splashing off the slide:


Ava went down the water slides a zillion times, but I'm pretty sure Jamie went down more than her...not sure who had more fun...

Ava on the carousel:


Zoe on the carousel:


We all had to hop on the wooden trout:





P.S. I've already started saving...I WILL get me one of them Airstreams! Vintage or slightly used, not sure yet, but I will get one!

"this is funner than fun!!!"

Ava learned to ride her bike without training wheels! Not 2 weeks earlier she was begging to have the training wheels put back on...and now--ZOOM! When we first started teaching her, we had no clue what we were doing. My back hurt from bending over holding onto her seat and running along with her, she was afraid of falling and getting frustrated, so I googled it. The best article I found on teaching kids how to ride a bike was from REI here. We took the pedals off her bike and had her "scoot" to learn how to balance which was helping. Then we took her to an empty school parking lot with a slight slope, set some crackers out on the pavement for her to aim for and gave her a powerful push. She nailed it. Even started turning. We went home, put her pedals on and this is what happened:

In between giggles and squeals she said, "This is funner than fun!!!"

the 4th

We spent the weekend of the 4th camping in the Lewis & Clark National Forest at Gibson Reservoir, same place as last year. Only this year, the weather was way better! No need to wrestle Zoe into pants!

TO DO: RELAX

Ava the rock climber:

Outdoor nap because the tent was too hot:

Best napping spot ever:


Our new tent (the old one couldn't stand up to the Montana wind):

Hitchin' a ride:

Putting practice:

Ava no longer fears the outhouse...
Zoe can now pee in the grass...

Water blasting out of the dam:

Playing by the water:

A video:

kick it!

Ava is playing soccer this summer. Heather was out to visit in mid-June and got some great pics of her first game. If you've never seen 5-year-olds play soccer, I highly recommend it...It's pretty entertaining to watch! Some kids stand there, hands in pockets, others are doing cartwheels and handstands (yes, that would be Ava), and then its monkey-see, monkey-do and you've got six kids doing cartwheels on the field :) At this age they just play 3 on 3, no goalie, coach on field, but Ava has already clearly shown what her position on the team is: DEFENSE. She is not the assertive forward who charges after the ball, but she is there to block and defend her team's goal. Definitely not a trait she acquired from her dad. LOL!

smile!

run!

play!

goal!

(this is my favorite action shot...notice how she is kicking, but the ball is behind her...
5-year-olds, I'm tellin' you...hilarious!)

cheer!

thanks Heather!
miss you!

swim

After a VERY wet (flooding) spring, we have really been taking advantage of the hot dry summer! I LOVE SUMMER! ...and I really love that I don't have to work in the summer! ha ha ha!!! One of our favorite things to do is head to one of the big city pools to cool down. These girls are a couple of fish. I don't think you could wipe the smiles off their faces if you tried :)

Here's a video of Zoe swimming

Here's a video of Ava walking as far as she can touch

Timberbeast

We drove up to Troy, MT the first week of June for the Timberbeast disc golf tournament. The girls and I went along to go camping. It was a long drive (about as far northwest in MT you can go), but worth it...Jamie tied for 1st place! He's now leading in the points series for his division. It starts with recreational, then intermediate, then advanced, and finally pro. Next year he'll need to bump up to advanced :)