Aloooooohaaa!!!!

We are back! And alive!

After our five week hiatus to Montana, I finally feel like we are getting a little bit caught up on things, getting settled back into our routine, and getting back to some semblance of our regular life. BUT, I have to say, our vacation was one of the best ever.....no joke.

When we landed in Kalispell, we were greeted by the wonderful, beautiful sight of snow (I'm sure those of you in certain parts of the country are thinking "woo hoo, who cares?"). The airport is still so small that when you get off the airplane, you actually have to walk outside on the tarmac area, and Charley immediately ran for the nearest snow bank and started eating snow, RIGHT ON THE TARMAC. Of course, I was trailing behind her telling her not to eat that stuff (who knows what the heck was in it....salt, chemicals, yuk!), while the other passengers got a good laugh. I just looked at them, smiled, and said, "It's been awhile."

The weekend after we arrived, we traveled to Missoula to see my friend Andrea and her family, and then we drifted on over to Helena to see my sister and her new house. After hanging out there for a few days, we headed back towards home, and on the way my parents dropped me off at the Double Arrow Lodge in Seeley Lake, where I stayed at a cabin with Andrea for a few days. No television, no computers, just me and Andrea, a toasty cabin with a fireplace, and a whole lot of deer running around. We spent our days catching up, laughing, eating, cross-country skiing, hot tubbing, reading, and most importantly, relaxing. It was heaven.

When our time there was up, I headed back for home, and spent the rest of the week visiting and catching up with various people, most notably, two of my sisters that I have not seen for a very long time....nearly 20 years. My dad and their mom were married many years ago, when we were pretty young, so after our parents got divorced a few years later, our lives moved off in different directions. But, thanks to Facebook, I was able to reconnect with both of them, and we all got to get together a couple times, met each others kids, and caught up on 20 years. All I can say is that it was awesome....so glad to have them back in my life.

About half-way through our trip, we had a Hawaii Momtourage reunion. You may recall that a couple of my bestest friends from Hawaii, Kathy and Marian, both moved to D.C. this past summer, leaving me and Andre behind. But somehow, despite our busy lives, we were able to organize a girls' trip in Montana while I was there, so all the girls flew out for a week of PURE FUN. And boy was it just that. As the old saying goes, "What happens in Whitefish, stays in Whitefish." But I CAN tell you that we snowshoed, ice fished, went sledding, dog sledding, ate a lot, drank a lot, laughed a ton, and had perhaps engaged in the most fun week of my life. All I can say is, thanks ladies. ;)

Brian showed up a few days after the ladies left, and we spent the remaining part of the vacation enjoying all the aspects of winter.....sledding, ice skating, skiing (both downhill and cross country), and we even put the kids in ski school this year. They both LOVED it, and might be future Olympians. ;) Zander skis like a rocket, with very little technique but tons of courage, whereas Charley skis much more cautiously, executing her skills perfectly. I guess that's a pretty good reflection of their personalities. :)

While we were there, my brother Clay came to visit from Oregon, and my sister Marie came to visit from Helena, so for the first time in several years, we were all in the same place at the same time. It was so fun to just hang out as a family, catching up, sharing laughs, and giving the kids a chance to get to know their aunts and uncles. My parents were the best hosts EVER, and they turned the kids into ranch helpers pretty darned quickly. Charley just told me tonight that she missed gathering hay with Papa Dave (a/k/a Cowboy Stinky Butt), and Zander told me that he thinks Grammy is still crying because she misses them so much. He's probably right. They are both convinced that we should (and are) moving to Montana after we leave Hawaii....oh, those poor kids are going to be sorely disappointed.

We just had such a fun time, it was honestly hard to come back....I definitely could have stayed longer. But the kids needed to get back to school, Brian needed to get back to work, and I did start to miss all my Hawaii buds. So, here we are, back at home in paradise.

Things have been good since we got back. Both kids needed a couple days of attitude adjustment to recover from all the spoiling in Montana (thanks Grammy ;)), but once we got past that, all has been well. Brian is back at work, the kids are happy to be back in school, and we are all enjoying the 80 degree weather. I feel like my kids aged rapidly while we were gone, so they are both starting to seem so grown up to me these days. We just got Charley registered for kindergarten next year and Zander signed up for the 4-year old preschool class, so I guess they ARE growing up pretty quickly. Brian is busy at work, but I think we both feel like we have a lot more time on our hands now that he is done with school. We don't have too many exciting plans for the next couple months, which might be a good thing......

Just a little time for things to slow down.