White Water Rafting

Dan gets the vacation planner of the year award. Knowing that we had to start in Missoula to see the Restaurant:

He also planned for us to go river rafting for the first time as a family. We will be doing this again!
We chose Zootown because they promised that we would have our own guide/raft. At the last minute we had two additional people added. They were fantastic-a mother and daughter from England! It was so fun to learn about their lives and where they had been traveling in the US.

Missoula, MT

We started our journey to Queenie and Grandad's house with a stop in Missoula. 

After checking out the airport and "improved" Jedediah, we hit the ski slopes...in a way....

The girls loved the hotel because they got their own room with a "real" bed (usually we are in a suite and they are on the pull out couch). I had to take a picture of Lauren's "move in"-everything in it's place from the jacket to Caroline to the flashlight nearby ( :

We also took time to check out the "sites" in Missoula including their famed "Carousel". Each horse was sponsored by a local family or group. The girls loved the ride one time and wanted to move on...

Next to the ride the city built an incredible playscape! If only we had something similar in Austin. The girls were all over it and we could have stayed for hours! 

The best part of the Missoula trip was the white water rafting down the Clark Fork.This picture is of the girls from the "base camp" of the Zootown crew we went with(loved them-highly recommend if you are wanting to raft or kayak in Missoula) 

 We ordered some more picture of the trip but here are the girls and I ready to get on the boat. 

Before we drove to see Queenie and Grandad(the girls could hardly wait!), we took a tour through the University of MT-Go Grizz!

Finally on the road and we started the morning with donuts...

Lookout Queenie and Grandad-here comes trouble!

Last week of July Camp

It is HOT. Yes it is Texas and the last week of July but we have been so fortunate to have a milder summer so far. Luckily both girls were in camp each day.

This week was "Rainforest Camp" for Lauren. Two Regents Juniors(Emma P and Mary Frances P both on the Basketball team) created and led the camp of aprox 12 girls. Each day they did a different craft, learned about the rainforests and practiced a play about a sloth(Lauren was a monkey). The play was performed for us today along with an awards ceremony ( :

The Group(Lauren is sitting on Mary Frances lap)

The end of the performance-the sloth was saved! 

Receiving her award from Mary Frances

Her Camp "Award"

Kate went to a fantastic cooking camp put on by a Regents grad headed to TCU in the fall(go Frogs!). She led both 3rd and 4th graders(girls and boys-love that Mark, Thomas and Caleb were there!) in Coach Tucker's kitchen. They made everything from pizza(including the dough) to homemade pop tarts(with homemade pic crust) to whole wheat bread. Lunch each day was something that they spent the morning making from scratch. Kate learned so many skills and she is going to be even more of a help in the kitchen ( :

Queenie and Grandad's Grandbabies

Tonight we had our "last last" dinner at Jack Allen's before Q/G head back to Idaho. Amazing how the family has grown to a table for 14! 

The girls love being with the boys

Clearly these two are related ( :

Here is a picture of all the grand kids and Queenie/Grandad: 

Lucky for us we are headed to see them next week!

Houston Vacation

Our first trip out of town this summer was to Houston. The girls had three goals: Aquarium, American Girl Store and Cousin Sarah's wedding.

Aquarium had a great sting ray exhibit! Both girls were able to touch the rays and see them up close. We also saw all types of fish and even a white tiger(? Random part of exhibit?)

Waiting for the Shark Train(at this point we had been waiting 35 min)

Finally it is our turn(45 min in line) and the "conductor" gets off his seat, looks under the train and says "needs maintenance". "Maintenance" arrives and despite seeing something leaking beneath the train, their solution is to push it from side to side with all their might. At that point, Dan had enough and the Aquarium visit only got more painful....if you are considering a visit, please call me first.

Touching the Sting Rays-ew!

On the Ferris Wheel

The White Tiger Exhibit???

Lunch! Girls loved the ginormous sting rays swimming nearby. 

Next stop was the American Girl Store. Both girls made appointments at the Doll Salon to get Julie/Caroline's hair styled. They also each had a set amount of money they could spend. Kate brought a notebook and pen so she could keep track(lots of addition and subtraction!)). We had quiet a few people come up and comment on the girls and their "record" keeping.

If you have not been to one of these stores it is something to see. As long as they still love/play with the dolls, we are happy to take them there.

Saturday was the Wedding! Cousin Sarah married Robert in a great event center in Spring. Surrounded by lots of family and friends, it was fun to celebrate the happy couple.

We also got to spend some time at Granny's house. Lauren loves babysitting her cousins(and is so proud that she can hold them unassisted ( :

Lauren & Locke