fun with grama and grampa

Grama Joleen and Grampa John came to visit over MEA break. The girls were excited to get to spend the weekend in a hotel (especially the swimming!).



Jamie and Dad went fishing for the day and caught a bunch of trout while us girls stayed at the hotel and swam. Here they are tying spawn sacks of fish eggs...the magic bait!


On Saturday we went to First People's Buffalo Jump, just south of Great Falls. Years ago, the Natives drove the buffalo here and this is what they saw. Jamie and Dad are standing right at the edge of the cliff, but you really can't see it until you're right there (and neither did the buffalo!)


Here's what it looks like from the side. Zoe and Grampa are standing at the edge of the cliff. As you can see it's quite a drop!


I need to do a better job taking pictures...think I've been getting lazy (all of these are my mom's)...sorry mom, next time I'll make sure I get some of you too!

100!

Ava's been begging to go to Golden Corral to eat since June. Since it's not Jamie and my favorite place to eat, we put it off for a while. But if you know Ava, you know she is persistent...so, we decided if she read 100 books, we'd go to Golden Corral. She made it to 100! So, we had to pay up. Here's some pics from the day we went...they have a brand new chocolate wonderfall (a chocolate fondue waterfall) and it was quite messy :)





P.S. remember this smile...she's got two wiggly teeth, it'll be changing pretty soon!

bozeman & yellowstone

We drove down to Bozeman over Labor Day weekend and went to the Museum of the Rockies which was pretty cool. Lots of dinosaur fossils, a frog exhibit, and the girls' favorite part was the upstairs children's discovery center which is all about exploring Yellowstone.



On Sunday we drove down a little further and spent the day in Yellowstone park. We saw an elk with her 2 calves, a couple wolves, buffalo, eagles, and lots of geysers, bubbly mud, and the likes. Zoe kept saying, "P-U! It stinks like boiling hot eggs! Are they cookin' eggs in there?" (for anyone who hasn't been to Yellowstone, it smells pretty sulfur-y)

They're looking at the bacterial mat around the grand prismatic spring trying to find thermophiles (micro-organisms that thrive in heat)

back to school!

Ava started 1st grade on August 31st and she loves it. She still complains that I come pick her up too early...which is usually close to 5pm with all the beginning of the year stuff I have to do. I think she'd sleep at school if I'd let her.

camping by monarch, mt

One last camping trip in August before heading back to school...

We set up camp right on this little stream. The water was so clear in the deep parts that it looked like a it had been professionally landscaped! Mother nature did a pretty good job with the rock layout :) The water was freezing, but the girls didn't mind one bit. They moved rock after rock, waded, and even swam. It was nice to listen to the sound of the water. So many cool spots to camp!

happy birthday Ava!

Ava celebrated her 6th birthday when we were back in Minnesota...

{Barbie took a spill in the cupcakes}

{candy!!!!}

gates of the mountains

We went to Gates of the Mountains back in July...