Hannah Montana '08

We are back safely from Montana, or "Hannah Montana" as Ellie calls it! We really had a wonderful trip. It was great from start to finish. Here is a recap with a boatload of photos.

We drove the first night to a small town named Kellogg, Idaho. We stayed at a really nice resort called Silver Mountain Resort. The staff were fabulous and the facility was amazing. We had a one bedroom suite complete with kitchen, dishwasher, fridge, oven, microwave...a washer and dryer, balcony with chairs. It was all very nice and decorated like a lodge.


The hotel also had a huge water park that was free to lodge guests. It was SO much fun. It really brought out the kids in Dama and I. Pictures later in this post!

The next morning, we headed off to Glacier National Park. On the way, we stopped at a bison reserve.

They have bison, elk, deer, bears, mountain goats and other wildlife in the range. You basically drive in and you can drive for hours looking for wildlife. The bison are easy to spot as they don't mind the heat. We were limited on time so we could not stay for long.

Here is a display of the elk horns found in the reserve:


We spotted the bison right away:




After a pretty long drive, we made it to Glacier!


We camped at the Fish Creek Campground. It was SO quiet. The quiet was almost deafening! Definitely no constant traffic noise like Seattle has!


Cooking dinner over the fire:



There are bears in the park so any time you leave your campsite, you have to pack up EVERYTHING. And I mean everything. You can only leave your chairs and firewood out and that is it.


That evening, we went to Lake McDonald which, of course, meant packing everything up before we left.
The next morning, we went back to the lake and played for a while. So beautiful:




Then it was off for a hike. We decided to hike up to Avalanche Lake. It was quite a hike, let me tell you! But the kids did great and I am sure they were keeping the bears at bay with their small fits of whining!


Beautiful crystal waterfalls along the way:





We finally made it! The pictures do not do it justice. It was absolutely breathtaking!




We headed back west and decided to stay another night at Silver Mountain Resort. Here are pictures of the water park fun!


There is a huge water bucket that dumps out at the top of the park every 5 minutes or so. It cause a huge tidal wave!

Here are the boys waiting for it to dump:



Lucas barreling down the water slide! They had great kid size ones and also adult sized ones. The great thing was that the kids could go on ALL of them. On some, we just had to go with them. It was a great place.



Look at this crazy surfer dude on the waves! Mummy did it too but when I lost my bikini bottom the first ride, yeah that was my first and last time :)

Brain Wave

Here is a fun idea I thought of and I wonder what you guys think?

You know how people have Book Club? Well, I would love to have a Creative Club. In my mind it kind of goes like this:

You join the Creative Club and we rotate among members who will host and pick the creative project of choice. The hostess will pick the craft and plan it, gather up the supplies and we all split the cost of supplies. It can be scrapbooking related, home decor, cooking...pretty much anything cool and creative. Learn to knit, embellish a photo frame...get creative.

So.....?

Happy Birthday to Me!

I am 29 today! No, really I am! Really!

Ok, so I am 36. But I feel even more blessed today than I have on any other birthday.

First of all, I got a ton of messages on Facebook from old friends wishing me a Happy Birthday. This includes my very first ever boyfriend from when I was 13. He found me on Facebook and sent me a message and wished me a happy birthday.

Here he is then:

And now:

It hearkened me back to my first date with him where we went to the theater to watch Goonies. We were sitting there and touching shoulders, which was so totally intimate! Then when the movie was over and we walked outside, I was so scared he might try to kiss me that I said "BYE!" super quick and ran off to the bus stop.

My beautiful friends Lynette and Vicky came by with their kids and stayed for a day of fun. They also cooked me lunch which was such a nice treat. I even got 36 spankings from Zachary plus a pinch to grow an inch :) I really love you guys. Thank you for making my birthday so special.

I got to spend time with my neighbors too who are such a huge part of my daily life. The support system we have here is amazing. We are all very connected each and every day. Since I truly believe in the "it takes a village" ideal, I feel so lucky to have you guys!

My Mum serenaded me with Happy Birthday and sent a very original gift of a hummingbird feeder and some shortbread (a favorite) with real flowers baked into it! I also received a Sephora gift card and a subscription to Domino from friends.

I am headed off to dinner at Pagliacci Pizza for dinner and then Coldstone for dessert with the family.

Thank you for a wonderful day :)

Remember Me?

It has been a while since I have updated so here I am! Just a mish-mash of stuff today.

More baby news: baby Xela was born on Sunday! She is Tia and Micah's newest addition. Super cute with thick back hair. Mom and baby are doing great.

I can't believe that the summer is almost over. Less than a month until school starts and my big boy goes to kindergarten. We have a busy rest of the summer planned including a trip to Montana. We will stop at a resort in Idaho on the way where they have a huge water park. The kids are very excited.

The Olympics are starting in a couple of days. Mixed emotions.

On the one hand, I do believe that this is one of the rare opportunities that the world can come together in some sense of peace and unity. To celebrate the strength of human beings without prejudice. The athletes who participate have trained for many years and I do believe that they deserve the opportunity to showcase their abilities, regardless of who is chosen to host it. It doesn't seem fair to deny them the opportunity to compete in order to make a political statement.

However, it also does not seem right that there is this huge spotlight on a country that participates in human rights abuses. A big celebration going on on one end of the country while there is conflict at the other end. When the big party ends, China will go back to it's usual practices. China itself has boycotted many Olympic Games so I find it ironic that they now silence anyone who wishes to take a stand against them. It will be interesting to see if any athletes take a stand of some sort.

An old friend of mine has taken a stand against the Beijing Olympics. Read here.

I can't say I will be watching all that much. I will probably follow some of the swimming but on the CBC network (Canadian channel) where I know the coverage will be balanced.

Baby News!

My wonderful friend Julia gave birth this morning to a baby boy at 31 weeks into her pregnancy. Her water broke a week ago but they kept her in the hospital to let him cook as long as possible. She was induced and labored for a short time, pushed through 3 contractions and he made his entrance!

Keenan was a whopping 4 lbs 6 oz and is obviously in the NICU but doing really well!