We spent a beautiful day up on Cress Creek trail by Heise. I love all the fall colors and it was so warm. I love fall but sometimes find myself dreading winter. It has been good to have a great indian summer.

Day 1, family vacation that almost wasn't

Here we are getting ready to go. It was a great morning everyone was on time and ready to go by 10:00 a.m. that is a miracle for us. We had rented a 15 passenger van so we could all go together. The van gets bigger and bigger every year as we grow. I'm so grateful for the opportunities that we get to do this. There is nothing like spending time with each other without any outside interference. It is one of those things where you are so excited to leave and ready to come home but having had the best time. It was hard to schedule the time to go this year especially since I think for everyone the change in the economy has had an effect on our financial situation. We had talked of canceling this years trip but I for one was so glad that we didn't. I know for the kids and John and I it will be a time that we will always remember.

Here we all our right before we loaded up for the fun days ahead.

I promised Morgan I wouldn't take any embarrassing pictures of her with lollipops.

This was Jeff and Tausha's first year to get to go with us. It was so great to have them come this year.

Day 1 Family Vacation, Yellowstone Park

We left the house and decided to do a small part of the park since Tausha had never been there. Dad decided we should at least do Old Faithful. I was all for it just for the ice cream at the lodge.

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Morning of day 2, Bozeman

We spent the night in Bozeman so we could take the kids the the Museum of the Rockies. It has a huge collection of Dinosaur bones, a section on Native Indians, Yellowstone and Lewis and Clark. It also had a planetarium. The kids thought this was a great museum and the adults had a good time too.

This big guy's name was Big Mike.

End of Day 2, Butte Mines

We spend the end of day 2 in Butte. They had an old mining city set up and we walked around and looked at all the old buildings and at the mine. We had planned on going into the mine but the 3:30 the day we were there had been canceled. Ohh well, it would have been neat but it was still a fun experience. They had inside one of the building pictures and models of how the mine shaft went down and then how the tunnels went off to each side. The diagrams were of actual mines in the area. There was also a memorial for the men who had died in the mines. You could see by the office building where they would come move a marker off their name to on duty in the mine and if your marker wasn't moved when your shift was over was how they knew that you were missing somewhere in the mine or had died. It was very interesting as well.

This was an old church and it had a confessional set up inside. Todd was in there first and he had hid inside the confessional. Jeff came in and was being a dork and walked over to go in and he was saying "Father, forgive me for I have sinned" and Todd jumps out and Jeff totally screamed like a girl!!!! I laughed so hard they spend the rest of the day trying to hide and scare everyone.

Day 3 Family Vacation in Philipsburg

We spent the morning of day 3 at Fairmont Hot Springs near Anaconda, MT. The place has huge pools and a water slide. We spent 2 nights there and it was sooo much fun. Since it is a hot springs the pool water is like 88 degrees all the time. That is my kind of swimming.

In the afternoon, we loaded up and hit the tourist town of Phillipsburg. It was one of the cutest little towns I have ever been in. You could tell that they loved where they lived, it was a well taken care of place. There were flower boxes and baskets everywhere, they had benches to sit on and every building was clean and well maintained. We even got to go into and old soda fountain shop and have shakes and ice cream cones.

John decided he wanted to try being a sunglass model. He should probably keep his day job.

This is the old soda shop.

Day 3 Family Vacation at Granite Ghost Town

We spent part of day three at Granite Ghost town. At one time this was the home to 3000 people. Unfortunately most of the building are almost gone but it was still amazing!!!

This structure was huge!!!! I can't remember if it was a mill or part of the silver mine? sorry I'm sure my dad remembers and you can ask him. He has a mind like a steel trap, I do not.

Last Day of Famiy Trip

We spent the last day of our trip in Montana at a Nez Perce Indian battlefield. It was called the Battle of the Big Hole. We had a National Park Ranger give us a tour and were sad to find out that the weekend before a group of Nez Perce had traveled the 200 miles their ancestors had gone and just been at this battle field. They had a memorial and a reenactment of sorts of the battle day. I find that the older I get the more history is interesting and I hope that as I take my kids to places like this one they will see history with new eyes and a better understanding. What an amazing place to end our family weekend.

A monument to the people who fought on this battlefield.

This is the monument that the Indians requested for their ancestors that died here.

A baby moose that walked right across our path into the willows below us.

A Tree Fell on the Pickup?

What my parents won't do to get us to come visit them?!

Fourth of July in Driggs