Montana Vacation-Hyalite Canyon

Finally, I have a few free nights to start catching up on my blogging!! So, June 16th we left San Antonio for Montana. The boys did surprisingly well on the flights. I was nervous about keeping John entertained during the flights, but my mom came fully prepared. He had tape to unravel, cards to thread, wallets to remove all the "credit cards," coloring books, stickers, cereal, cars, and various odds and ends to play with. He ended up wearing himself out and was asleep as we landed in Denver. Chris took us to the USO where John remained passed out on a pile of pillows, while I tried to get Ben to go to sleep, and catch some z's as well. I had never been in a USO. It was amazing. Free food, free beverages. All sorts of video games, books, magazines, toys, internet access, and even comfy chairs to lounge in and a room to sleep. I can't believe I never took advantage of these. I guess I haven't flown much since Chris was active duty. But I most definitely will be using the USO's whenever I fly again.

So, Ben fell asleep for about half an hour, and then was wide awake again, ready for the next adventure. We hurriedly left for our gate, only to sit at the gate b/c our plane hadn't landed yet. My mom thankfully took John to go look at the airplanes as both Chris and I were staring into space from being so tired (I think we got 3 hours of sleep).
The next flight ended up being a lot smaller, two seats on both sides instead of 3. I had the pleasure of sitting next to a lady who wore the worst shorts she could possibly wear. No they weren't skin tight and half her bootie hanging out. They were flannel, and came down to her knees, but they had a billion colors on them, and Ben found them fascinating, thus he didn't sleep. She loved him playing with her, and even didn't mind the drool. She was on her way to pick up her grandkids to bring them down to her place for the summer. John didn't fall asleep this ride, and got a wee bit more fussy, but with all the distractions, managed to not make everyone on the plane crazy!!
We finally landed in Bozeman in time for lunch, and of course we went to my favorite place, Taco Time. Needless to say Ben konked out right before we arrived at the place, so he took a nap in his carseat while we ate. Hasn't done that in FOREVER!
The rest of the afternoon we relaxed. Both boys napped again, and hung out with my fam.

My mom kept a lot of our old toys, so John had a field day. His particular favorite was this yellow "trumpet like" thing that if you hit the bottom, it would "pop" the ball out. He would chase that around for hours every day, and bring it to you, wanting you to "pop" (said while he demonstrated popping ) the ball out.

Here he is chasing the ball across my parents deck


Papa and Ben having a deep discussion about something, probably the taste of pine cones!

"Am I going to be able to catch the ball? Or where did it go?"

Ben thinking he was hot stuff at the dinner table.

1st chicken bone. Definitely hot stuff!


His old man face! He actually used to go "Mmmbaa" and open his mouth really big, and then do it again.


Thursday (we arrived on Tues) was our first big excursion. I think we were recovering the day before, and just enjoying not having anything pressing to do. Mom and I did take the boys on a walk around the neighborhood (she pointed out all the houses where we used to know people!)and to my old highschool. So anyway, our excursion: Hyalite Canyon. Last time we were in Montana over Christmas, we went here and got some amazing pictures of the lake frozen, so we had to show Chris (& John & Ben) the lake unfrozen.

Isn't Montana amazingly beautiful? Heaven must look something like this.


Ben pooped at the beginning of the hike. Not so fast buddy we have a long way to go!

John was super excited!

Family pic as we hike

John hiking with Grandma


Yes, they had so much rain/snow/precipitation, whatever you want to call it, that there was actually a stream floating down the mountain across the trail that we got to walk right through.


John enjoyed riding on daddy's shoulders when the going got a little steep.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?"

"Rocks, over there"


A family picture at the top of the trail. Ben & John found the water beneath them more fascinating than posing for a picture


Chipmunk!! John kept calling it a squirrel, (which maybe I started, oops.) and tried to chase it everywhere.
Daddy & Son

A view of the falls, and if you click on the picture, you can see Chris & John way up almost underneath them. And my dad halfway up there.

This is actually pretty much right underneath the waterfall. Brian (one of the guys who lives with my folks) and Chris stood on rocks in the stream caused by the fall and handed John across.

They made it safely across, hooray!

Trying to get John back across so that Chris could go hike some more. Papa sacrificed a wet shoe and pant leg in order to help Chris get him across.

My happy boys

The rest of us.

I had to recreate this picture. One of Chris's favorite pictures of me is me making a strange face in front of this exact waterfall, when I was about 3rd grade. It even made it into our wedding video. I wish I had the laptop, so that I could put the two side by side. I will try to do so later.
Chris decided to hike to the top of the waterfall! Crazy boy!

While daddy was hiking, Papa and John went searching for rocks...


...and then John decided to do some mini off trail hiking himself. Like father, like son!


And, of course life doesn't stop when you have babies. They need to be changed regardless if you are at the top of a mountain or not!! :)

Chris & John studying the rocks and trees.

We had a blast and got the boys sufficiently worn out for our long trip to Washington that night. See proof below:

(However, it was not the smartest thing to do for Chris, as he hit a wall at about 4:30 in the morning, and I had to take over driving.)