A Month of Winter

Yep, we are back.

Bags are unpacked, the refrigerator is full of food again, and we are slowly getting adjusted to the time difference. Yet I'm still sitting here trying to figure out how an entire month could fly by so quickly.

I have about two hundred pictures and a million words to express what our time in Montana was like, but it would take me WAY too long to put that all in this blog. So to keep things simple (which as you know is usually not my forte), and I will post just a handful of pictures and give a brief description of our time there. If you want to see the full album of pictures and did not already receive them through Snapfish, let me know and I'll send them your way.

What can I say . . . we had an absolute BLAST in Montana. The kids loved the snow, never complained about the cold (even when the temperature dipped down to -10 degrees F), enjoyed seeing familiar faces and meeting new people, and got spoiled rotten at Grammy's house. For the first two weeks, it was just the kids and I (Brian was still in Hawaii), and we wasted no time experiencing the whole "winter" thing. There were snow angels, sledding, a snowman, and even a few snowballs (that Zander asked Grammy to make for him and then proceeded to pelt her with).
We fed ducks at Woodland Park (and subsequently got attacked by some aggressive geese), the kids saw their first deer, we spent a weekend in Missoula with Andrea and her family (which included a merry-go-round, a Children's Museum, and a popular tire swing), Charley gutted fish with her Uncle Eddy (no kidding), I got a new hairdo, and before we knew it, it was time for Brian to join us.

Just as Brian arrived, his uncles, Roger and Todd, came all the way over from Seattle to visit and get in a few days of skiing. At the same time, some friends of mine from college, the Rudolph family, drove up all the way from the other end of the state to spend a weekend with us, and we got a chance to meet their new baby, Jaxson. It was also Winter Carnival weekend in Whitefish, so the festivities and guests kept us busy. The kids attended their first parade, and all the adults enjoyed a fun night out on the town. We also managed to fit in an afternoon of ice skating, as well as getting the kids up on downhill skis for the first time. And they were surprisingly good at both sports!

After the first round of guests left, a new round showed up. My friend Shawna drove all the way over from Spokane with her little boys to hang out for a couple days, and Brian's buddy Pete flew from Seattle to fit in a couple days of skiing. I also managed to squeeze in a "girls' weekend" with my childhood friend, Andrea, and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect time. We stayed at a local Bed and Breakfast, the Good Medicine Lodge, and we spent our time sipping drinks by the fire, sleeping in, eating a lot of yummy food, snowshoeing on Big Mountain, hot tubbing, shopping, catching a band at the local watering hole, professional massages, and we even caught a girly movie. It was pretty amazing, and I felt pretty refreshed afterwards.

Unfortunately our time had to come to an end, so we flew back to Hawaii this past Wednesday. As usual, the kids were phenomenal little travelers, not making a peep on the airplane, and we all got to ditch our sweaters as soon as we landed.

It's been a huge adjustment since we got back. Zander is now officially in a "big boy" bed, as his crib magically disappeared while he was gone. Throw three time zones and different sunrise/sunset patterns into the mix, and suffice it to say that sleeping patterns are still a bit off. The kids are a bit used to being spoiled these past few weeks, so we've also been working on major attitude adjustments since we got back. And even us old folks can't seem to get our energy back quite yet.

But in the end it was all worth it . . . and we fully intend on doing it again next winter.