First, I want to play a little catch up with blogging…

Maddie’s first day of school

Maddie loves school! She goes to Bright Beginnings with Mrs. Bloom. She has made new friends, and already kissed a boy named Brody on the cheek. We had another talk about how we don’t kiss friends, just family. Hopefully it will sink in especially before she is a teenager.

Soccer season is going great. We have been so lucky to have great weather. Our team, the Bulldogs, loves playing win or lose, and Maddie especially couldn’t care less about the score-if their happy we’re happy!

Missoula Maze

We had so fun much at the mazes both large and small. Andy has been getting home earlier, which is wonderful, so he got to come too. The cutest was when Maddie grabbed Andy’s arm and wanted to go in the big maze with just him. I started to come too, but she wouldn’t budge because she just wanted to go with her daddy.

Mason and Claire kept playing peek-a-boo with each other around the pumpkin. They have been so cute together! Just as they started playing really well together we move! She would say, “Peek-a-boo,” and he would yell, “Rarrrrr.”

Our “Go Away” party

Elena and Amy threw a little going away party for us last Saturday. It was so much fun to get our friends together before we go, and sad too. We will really miss all of the friends we have made here.
On the way to the party, Maddie asked why we were having a “Go Away” party. It was pretty funny.

It was great weather again, so the kids had a blast in the backyard being completely crazy. We had dinner and yummy treats. I was taking a bunch of pictures at first but then I kept getting the “oh no, not a picture” look so I put it away. But then I didn’t get any pictures of the Prices, or McFarlands-so next party I am taking a bunch of pictures even if adults don’t like it!

Although we will miss our friends in Missoula, we are excited to move on from schooling (almost) and be by family and other friends.

Andy, Doug, Jared, and Joe

Beth, Amy, Elena, and Claire

Our pet fish Lovely who was generously given from Maddie to the Hylton family.

Mason, Andy, and Jared

Jenn and Heather

Leigh Anne and Amy

Some of our favorite memories of Missoula:

Summers, friends, ward, farmer’s market, the Y, the river, Pattee Creek Canyon, nature walks all around, hiking the “M”, book clubs, friendship luncheons, having Andy home more, having short commutes, no traffic, our home, our driveway, squirrels in our yard, walking to preschool, the food zoo, the mall, Andy’s champion (Missoula city co-rec and intramural) soccer teams (he has shirts to prove it), Splash Montana, walks to Kmart, biking to playfair park, running around playfair park, playgroup parties, splash parks, fall colors, walking around campus, and lots of time for each other.

So cute!

Post game pile up!  They are so funny!

Maddie had a great game day.  This is her first soccer game ever!  She was a little hesitant at first, we were worried that she wouldn’t get into it.  But she got in at the second quarter and was smiling the rest of the game.  She has a bunch of boys on her team that scored many goals, and she’s not one to push through the crowd, so she doesn’t quite have her daddy’s drive to score.  But we are so proud of her for having a good time, running lots, and smiling.  Gage was a hoot and would hold up his fingers to show his daddy how many goals he had.  We played against Seth and Conner’s team, but no hard feelings as you can see from the after game pile up.  What a bunch of cuties!!!

Mason was very interested in watching the game and actually sat still for a few minutes!  Then he wanted to get in on the game, and we had to keep getting him off the field.  At home he pushes me or Andy to one side of the room and then he goes to the other side of the room and kicks this teeny tiny ball back and forth.  His aim is amazing!  He is so consistent and it comes right to us every time.  So to say the least this is our first of many soccer games!

Our trip to Glacier National Park was a wonderful vacation! I was a little nervous with the whole camping thing, and I made a big deal about going to bear country, but we had such a great time! We went with our friends Elena, Joe, Seth and Conner, age 4, and Claire who is almost two. We stayed at the KOA with toilets, showers, a heated pool, and ice cream shop. We played, hiked, went swimming, and slept. We started off with a hike around the cedars forest, and then to a beautiful waterfall to cool off and throw rocks. We went back to camp, and had delicious tin foil dinners that Andy made, ice cream, and bed. Mason wanted to cuddle all night, so other than having a dead arm every so often we slept pretty well. The next morning we all ate breakfast, but Maddie slept in until ten. She’s going to be a teenager sooner than we think. Then we took off to the bottom of “Going to the Sun” road, and hopped on the bus. The ride up was gorgeous! Some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. We got to the top, which felt like the top of the world, and Elena and I wanted to sing “the hills are alive with the sound of music” (which we did)                          

We hiked up the boardwalk, past a momma mountain goat and baby who then past by us on the boardwalk.

After that we were excited to see the “Orange” sheep (as Maddie said), that is big horn sheep way up by the glacier. But soon they were walking right past us.

We kept going past waterfalls, glaciers, many meadows, and made it to Hidden lake.

On the walk the kids were hilarious. Every chipmunk was an “Alvin, Brittany, Jeanette, Eleanor, Theodore, or Simon.” Seth and Maddie decided they were going to get married and they started holding hands. Connor wanted to marry Maddie too, and later she decided that “Seth can be the dog, and Conner can be the dad”.

Mason ended up liking the backpack as long as Andy kept moving. Claire and Mason would give each other the biggest hugs. It was adorable!

Both nights we stayed up to see the stars come out, and Maddie would sing about the wishing stars and we would all make our wishes. Both nights her wishes were, “That we would all be friends forever.” So sweet!

Both kids were running, playing, filthy, but loving the outdoors the whole time. Mason would wake up look around and was just shocked that we were still outdoors having fun.

Our trip was just perfect and we are so glad that we finally made it to Glacier. The pictures are not even close to how beautiful the park is.