In The Hartland: A Quick Trip to Montana

We were all packed and ready to go last Friday night for an early departure on Saturday morning to drive to Montana to be a part of Spencer's Homecoming weekend with his family, when I started throwing up at 1:30 in the middle of the night. Since both Lia and Ella had gotten the flu in the past week, I knew what I was dealing with and sadly consented to the fact that we would probably not be leaving a few hours later. After spending most of the night throwing up, I called my mom at 7 o'clock on Saturday morning to tell her that we would not be joining the rest of my family for Memorial Day weekend. I was so sad as I had been looking forward to this trip for months. However, while lying on my death bed, I managed to come up with a Plan B that was immediately approved by Brent and Susie. I asked if we could come out the following weekend which was dedicated to Kelsey's high school graduation and all of the festivities that went with it. My family had decided months ago to attend Spencer's homecoming weekend and Susie's family had decided to attend Kelsey's graduation weekend, but Susie kindly agreed to allow us to crash in on her family's weekend. As a result, I immediately called the awesome hotel that I had made reservations to stay at four months earlier and was able to change our reservation for the following weekend. I then spent the next three days in bed while Ron acted as a single parent the entire holiday weekend. I was so grateful to have him home to help as I wasn't even able to leave my bed the first day I was sick. By the time he went back to work on Tuesday, I was almost feeling normal again.
So, with all of that said, we prayed that Logan and Ron would not get the flu and that we could leave bright and early on Friday morning to make the eight hour drive to Missoula. Luckily, the boys stayed healthy all week long which allowed us to leave right on schedule on Friday. We arrived at Brent's house Friday afternoon before dinner and enjoyed a lovely evening with them and my parents (who had stayed at Priest Lake during the week between the two weekends). As Susie's family was arriving around 9 p.m., we said our 'goodbyes' and headed to our hotel to check in and get the kids to bed. We then spent a fun filled and very busy Saturday with Brent's family. After a morning swim in the pool, we met them at the carousel at a park downtown for some family fun before heading back to their house for lunch. We then spent the afternoon at Kelsey's graduation ceremony held at the event center at the University of Montana. We then drove back to Brent's house for the rest of the afternoon and evening to attend Kelsey's graduation party. After a delicious dinner, Ron and I played multiple games with Jared and Lisa in the backyard with all of the children and cousins who were there for the party. We played until 9:30 at night and then brought the kids, plus five cousins, back to the hotel for a late swim in the pool until almost 11 p.m. Needless to say, the kids crashed once we finally got them to bed. After a delicious, complimentary breakfast at the hotel on Sunday morning, we packed up and got on the road by 9:30 Washington time and made it home by dinner time Sunday evening. It was a quick, whirlwind weekend, but so worth it!

Logan jumping in the pool on Saturday morning.

And in he goes!

Lia swimming laps with papa.

Ella, Lia, and papa swimming away.

Papa lifting Ella up into the air.

Ella enjoying the kiddie pool.

Lia swimming down towards the deep end.

Logan in the hot tub.

Logan and Ella loving the hot tub.

Lia on her horse ready to go on the first carousel ride.

Ella ready to go, too.

All three kiddos riding in a row.

After meeting up with Brent's family, Logan insisted on riding with Spencer every single time after that. Logan absolutely loves Spencer and followed him around like a little puppy dog all weekend long. It was the cutest thing!

Ella enjoyed riding next to Sarah. Here she is with Sarah and Kelsey in the background.

After we spent about an hour riding the carousel over and over again, the kids went out to explore the awesome park next to the carousel.

The kids on one of the many bridges.

The kids coming out of one of the large, tube slides.

A close-up of all three cuties on one of the many balconies on the play structure.

Kelsey walking back to her seat after receiving her diploma during her graduation ceremony.

The recent grad posing with all of her ropes, medals, and sashes. It pays to get a perfect 4.0 all four years!

Kelsey with her siblings.

Kelsey with the Hartland fam.

Logan getting one of many shoulder rides from Spencer throughout the weekend.

Enjoying the party back at Brent's house.

The remains of the stains from Logan's cherry flavored popsicle after I wiped him down.

Lia and Ron playing the "Spike It Game" while Logan looked on.

Ella getting pushed on the swing by Spencer.

Ella enjoying the swing set with some of the other kids at the party.

Ron decided that it would be fun to play dodge ball in the backyard. We played many rough and hilarious rounds of this game before calling it quits for cake.