The Grubstake Adventure

Friday night we adventured down to Hamilton to go out to dinner at this restaurant. The Grubstake is a very unique restaurant and is somewhere anyone who travels to Montana should experience. Nestled at 5500 feet on Downing Mountain it is an experience! See below to get the full picture!





It took 1 hour 15minutes to drive there(some time due to construction). This is what the road looked like the last 3 miles.









Yay......5500 feet. We made it!




Welcome to the Grubstake!







Meet "Billy Jack". He is the friendly donkey that helps reduce some of the garbage the owners have to haul down the mountain. He is also the entertainment for the kiddo's before being seated.




Family picture at the Grubstake.






This is the view at The Grubstake.(this is what should be behind the family picture but the sun was causing picture problems) :)






Some silly girls on the deck at The Grubstake.

The kids(minus Cooper). Kalei says "Mom, this is beautiful!"

The restaurant.

The kids on the swinging chair.

Only that much further to the top of Downing Mountain!

The kid's dinner was served on frisbee's that they got to keep. Pretty cool for the kiddos!

Jackson and "Billy Jack" had a special bond!

Billy Jack says "Drive safe and come back soon!"




When we started the adventure I knew this place was up the mountain.....but as we were driving and it was switchback after switchback I was beginning to wonder what the heck we had gotten our selves into. I was really hoping maybe we would see a bear or a moose or something, but the only wildlife we saw was good ol' Billy Jack. Our food was great and it was just a fun evening. And as we were leaving, the owner, who was also our waiter(he was quite the chatty Kathy), complimented all of us on how well our children behaved and told us he thought we were doing a great job. What a nice thing to hear!

So...if anyone makes a trip to Montana make sure you make a stop for dinner at The Grubstake!

p.s.

Forgot to mention.......this was how we spent the post race day. Hat and floaty purchased specifically for this day!

RUN GIRL RUN

How's that for a motto?


Marathon = FUN


Missoula was a great place for my first half marathon. We started the morning out by driving to get on the buses at 4:30 in the morning(no parking allowed at the half starting line). We turn the corner to the parking garage and.....MASS amounts of people! My first thought was "oh god...we are never going to get on a bus." We made it though and we only had to wait in line a few minutes. They were loading buses like crazy, two at a time. And at the starting line they were unloading buses until 5:45! NUTS!




6:00am start time...beautiful blue sky....perfect temperature...awesome scenery! Once we hit the neighborhoods people would be sitting out on their drive ways cheering us on and many had sprinklers going for us. The last mile or 1/2 mile the street was just lined with people cheering. It was a great feeling and I really am looking forward to doing another one!


My new motto comes from a hat I picked up at the Marathon Expo. This company called Run Girl Run sells running stuff for women. It's my new favorite hat....I would have loved to get the socks too!



Proof that I actually ran and finished the race. Me and Steph.





Our after race party! A toast to the runners!





p.s. I also took my first ice bath after the race. YIKES...but seems to work as I am not sore at all!

It happened......

Yep......the inevitable finally happened.

The question every parent dreads.

The one that you can get away with not really answering for the first few years.

It happened at the most unexpected time.

Totally caught me off guard.

I was really speechless.

"Mom, how do babies get in your belly?"

This was my 6 year old.

Asked in a very serious tone with a very serious look on her face.

I honestly was speechless!

I did not expect this to happen yet. I had no plan on what to say.

I think she thought I was crazy because this was my response: "Well....why are you asking? What made you think of that? Well....ummm....it's....umm....when a Mommy and Daddy really love each other they can make a baby"

So she says "How?".

I say...."Ummm......your Dad and I will talk to you about that later".

YIKES.......maybe she'll forget she asked.

Running Update:

Half Marathon Day 3 days away.

I wasn't too nervous about it at all until I went to the last training run tonight and realized how early I am going to have to get up on Sunday.

I've discovered I don't sleep well on the night before a big run.

I will probably not get any sleep.

Other than that I am kind of excited for it!

WISH ME LUCK!!!!

July 4th Weekend

Our 4th was celebrated on July 1st because we were going camping and would not be here for the "real" 4th. We did fireworks in our culdesac with our neighbors. The kids had fun drinking punch, eating popcorn and doing their sparklers. AND of course watching the big fireworks. The fireworks in Lolo start around July 1st and as of today...July 6th....are still going. Yep......we are in Missoula County but not in Missoula City....so the fireworks are not illegal therefore we "enjoy" fireworks for a week or more.

Here the kids are all set up and ready for the show.


Kalei having fun with sparklers.


Jackson even got to try a sparkler!


We went camping for the 4th at Wendover with some friends. It was a cold and wet weekend, but we managed to make it work. Last year we spent the 4th in shorts, tank tops and swim suits. This year we spent the fourth under awnings and in sweatshirts and coats. Gotta love Montana!

Waiting for breakfast!


We just bring Kalei along so she can pump water for us. It took a long time to fill a bucket!


The highlight of the weekend for the kids was when it finally warmed up enough to put shorts on for a couple hours and we let them ride their bikes through the creek. I remember doing this a couple times when I was a kid...in the exact same creek. It was fun to watch them do it!

Kalei's turn first!


FUN!


Hannah concentrating on getting through the creek!


Go Hannah Go!


Even Jackson got a ride through!

Jackson's Day

Our baby turned 2 on July 1st! Can you believe it? So here are some recent conversations with Jackson.

Us: Jackson, how old are you?
Jackson: Two

Us: Jackson, who's birthday is it?
Jackson: It's my birthday cake.

Us: Jackson, what did you get for you birthday.
Jackson: Two
Us: No, what did you get when you opened your present?
Jackson: THOMAS "THAT" TRAIN!

Conversations are so funny with him right now. He has also pottied on the potty chair a couple of times....he has even tried and almost succeeded in taking off a poopy diaper. He is growing way faster than he should!


Blowing out the candle...with a little help from friends!


Mmmm..CAKE!


And blue frosting everywhere!


Opening presents with lots of help from sisters and friends.


Playing with Thomas and Percy!

Kalei's Day!

We have had a busy last few weeks......we celebrate Father's Day Weekend and then go right into Kalei's birthday, then Jackson's birthday then the 4th of July weekend. YIKES!

This year for Kalei's birthday we started the day off with fun at the DIRECTV company picnic for some free food and some fun things for the kids, then off to her birthday party. This year Kalei wanted to invite only girls to her party. I wanted to do something different, so I searched the internet and found a little place in Missoula(the only place) to paint your own pottery. The party turned out great and the kids had fun.

Say Hello to the newest cowgirl in Lolo, Montana!

The birthday party!

Happy 6th Birthday Kalei!

Going down the big bouncy slide at Dan's company picnic.