Montana Trip Part 1

Whitefish Lake & Big Mountain
 
During Kenney's break from school, Grandma and Grandpa in Montana flew us up there to see everyone. We all had a really good time and enjoyed the weather, scenery, and company.  It was fun to hang out with all the Uncles and Grandma & Grandpa.  We did so many new things and had tons of fun!!

Kyler and Damon each got a suitcase to take with us on the plane (it was cheaper to buy a suitcase that could be reused rather than spending the $50 to get a bag there and back!).  So We made them pull their own bags!!  They looked so cute with their backpacks, suitcases with wheels that lit up and their animal hanging there.  We got stared at everywhere we went!  Radley even had a tiny backpack!

We went to Whitefish Lake Beach for our first outing.  The water was a little cold for our Texas bodies, but we all got in the water! 

Kyler liked swimming with the big boys, Uncle Logan and Brenn.

The lake was beautiful.

People were doing all kinds of activities on the lake.  I had never seen someone doing this in person.  It was pretty cool!  People were also paddle boarding, jet skiing, boating, etc.  It was quite a busy place!

The next day we went to Big Mountain and took a gondola/chairlift ride up to the top of the mountain to eat some lunch and explore.  The boys had a lot of fun on the ride up there.

Kyler kept waving to the people coming down hoping they would wave back.  He got excited when someone saw him and waved back.

And a typical family picture!

The view was really pretty from the top.  There have been a lot of fires in Idaho so the view was not a clear as usual, but it was still amazing.

The boys were very excited to go to the "mountains."

Damon on a little hike!  He had fun keeping up with everyone.

Of course when Logan and Brenn were around, it was no longer fun to be with Mom and Dad.  Kyler and Damon ran ahead to be with them.

Radley was too distracted by all the rocks and found it really hard to walk.  Everywhere he looked there were more rocks, and he had to pick all of them up!  He did not want to be carried.

Then the other boys noticed, and before long, ALL of the boys including my brothers and Kenney were throwing rocks.  They could have done that all day(at least the little boys could)!

On the way down the mountain, Kyler decided he wanted to be a big boy and ride the chairlift.  I still didn't trust Damon or Radley, so I rode the gondola down with them and Grandma.

Daddy and Damon about to go down the Alpine Slide (It's a ride down the mountain kinda like sledding for the summer).  The boys liked being able to control their speed with the throttle.

Kyler wanted to ride with Logan.  He LOVED Logan.

Everyone lined up ready to go!

We had to ride a short chairlift back to the top where the Alpine ride started, and it was a good thing it was short.  Damon was crazy on that thing.  We definitely needed some straps to keep him still.  He was moving all over the place, never realizing he could fall off at any moment!  We made the right choice by making him use the gondola for the long ride!

Another attempt at a family picture.

The whole crew at Big Mountain!

Fun with Cousins

Kenney's sister that lives in South Carolina came to Texas for a visit, so when Kenney finished classes we headed up to Nana & Papa's house to see everyone. The boys had a blast playing with all of their cousins! It is really fun to watch all these little kids interact and see all of the very different personalities that have been added to the family!

Playing Duck-Duck-Goose with Nana.

Radley loved the waterslide when we went to the pool this time.  He would go down all by himself and swim back to the edge of the pool to go again! 

Despite his face, he really loved going down!

He is quite a natural swimmer and kicks his little legs and moves his arms really well.

Kyler was a pro at the waterslide this time around!

Damon played with Cary Shane and Diana while we were helping Radley go down the slide.

Kyler likes to do tricks off the diving board now too.  He really enjoys jumping off and making big splashes.

Eventually Damon started swimming by himself.

Cary Shane went down the slide with Damon, and he had a lot of fun.

This little guy is the smallest of the kids running around, and feels left out a lot of the time.  He tries his hardest to keep up, but he's in the middle right now between the baby-babies and the full blown toddlers.  He still has a lot of fun, however.

The boys' cousin Jax got these little Nerf guns for his birthday, and his parents were very smart and got 5 or 6 guns for all the kids to play with together.  The boys all loved them!!  Damon might even get some for his birthday :)

There were bullets flying everywhere!!  The best part of these guns was that Damon could cock the gun himself!

These guns shot 75ft, and they were definitely tested!

Tyce and Kyler always have so much fun together.  They hardly ever fight and do everything together!!  Gotta love the cheesy faces!

Tyce, Kyler and Luke's, "I'm going to shoot you." faces!  Tyce is the most serious.  Kyler and Luke just look sad!!

The trampoline is always a hit at Nana & Papa's house.  They love flying high now.

Kyler also does flips too!  I'm not so sure I'm ready for that!

Radley likes to find random little places to sit, and he will just climb up and sit there.  It's pretty cute!

The boys decided they were going to shoot a bug with the guns.  Too bad the bug was on the other side of the window!!

I love how happy all of them are in this picture!

Kenney didn't let all of them jump together many times because of the uncontrollable bodies flying everywhere, but it was fun when he did!

They got some massive air!!

I love how Jax's body looks like he's terrified, but he has a huge smile on his face!!

So Damon, climbing with a big mischievous grin!

All the grandkids except the two youngest babies.

One of the babies added, but this crew will never all look at the camera together.  I truly believe it would be statistically impossible!!

 Radley going down the slide and swimming to do it again!

Climbers

The rest of July was spent playing with friends and going swimming any chance we had. Daddy finished up all his classes for his physical therapy program and now only has clinical rotations to do. He has done really well in school and has managed not to neglect his family with all the other responsibilities he has had. We are so proud of all his hard work!!

This little boy is officially a climber!  He loves to get up to the table and play with anything left hanging around on the table.  He can make quite a mess, really fast!!

Damon is getting much better about the water, thank goodness!!  He is pretty comfortable just floating around in the water now!

Kyler is a little fish.  He is also a splash monster.  He makes sure the entire family is soaked from head to toe!

He loves his goggles.

The boys like it so much better when Daddy comes with us to the pool.  One parent is then able to give them his or her full attention instead of having to watch Radley.

I have started to make Radley wear this Puddlejumper.  It doesn't fit him very well because he's not big enough for it, but it makes me feel better when I go by myself because he has absolutely no fear of the water.

When Daddy is around, there is always a water gun fight. 

They love to shoot anyone within range, especially Mom or Dad.

The Puddlejumper usually doesn't last very long because once it gets wet, it stretches out and then becomes way too big, and he can pull it off.

Radley loves to look for any animals that come around the pool.  I like it too because it distracts him away from the water!!  On a side note about that planter with flowers: For the first few weeks we went to the pool there were not any plants in it.  Damon would go squirt water into every time we went swimming.  When he noticed the flowers a few weeks later, he said, "Mom look I made the flowers grow!"  He was so excited because he actually thought by watering the dirt he made the flowers grow!  It was really cute!

These boys are loved by everyone.  One day at church, an older lady asked if the boys liked trains.  I told her they did, and she said she had a train set with a few trains to bring by for them.  Well she brought more than just a train set and a few trains.  She brought this cool jeep track set which is really cool, a table to put the 6 electronic trains she brought, puzzles and a few other things.  They don't even get that many toys for Christmas!!  They were really excited, and I was shocked!!

Damon is getting really good at the rock climbing wall at the museum. He gets pretty high and then just bails to the side and jumps down. I would never do that! He got a little higher right before I took the camera out, but you get the idea of how high he can get!

Radley is learning things really quick these days. We were at a friend's house one day and he walked right up to the baseball T and did this. We have never taught him how to use a baseball-T, but he figured it out watching everyone else. Not too bad for 13 months!

Staying Busy

Since Kenney has been incredibly busy this summer, the boys and I have been trying to stay busy ourselves. We have been going swimming a lot, trying to ride bikes, play in the rain,go to the gym, go to storytime and the museum, and basically keep me from going crazy cooped up in the apartment!! Here are some things we have been doing!  Of course the few times Daddy has been able to spend with us we have the most fun!

The boys were trying to stay 'safe' watching a movie one day.  We had gotten their helmets out to ride their bikes, and they thought they were fun to wear!

The museum/science spectrum is one of our favorite indoor places to play.  The boys like to imagine flying to go see all of our family.  One second they are flying to Nana & Papa's house and the next they are flying, "really far," according to Kyler, to Oma & Papa Dude's house.  Then they turn around and fly to all of their cousins' houses.  It's fun to see their imaginations start working.

One morning they all wanted to go running in the puddles.  There wasn't a lot of water on the ground, which I was thankful for, but enough to splash around!

He got excited just because the other two were excited, but I'm not so sure he understood why it was so fun!

Puddles!!!

Damon never slows down for pictures when there is a need to run!

Some friends of ours have a really fun pool for the boys to play in and invited us over to swim while they were gone on vacation.  They told the people watching the house to make sure there was ice cream in the freezer just for our boys!  They get spoiled even when our friends aren't there!

Kyler obviously enjoyed his ice cream too!

The boys have ramped up their dunking skills. They take quite a leap from their bed which is more than a body length for Damon. It's pretty funny watching them jump across the room!

Kenney was finally able to go swimming with us one evening and helped me get Damon a little more comfortable in the water. It's really hard for me to help Damon with Radley walking around fearless of the water. Kenney got him jumping in the water again and able to swim with his floaties! He was so proud of himself. He was clapping and screaming for himself because he was so excited!