Montana- Friday

Friday came too soon, because that was the day we were set to leave.

We spent the morning packing up and then walking the farm, enjoying everything for the last time.

It had been such a wonderful week, it was hard to think of leaving.

The trip really was perfect.

We had reached Montana in the spring while everything was green and before it got too hot.  The weeds hadn't grown more than a few inches and the mosquitos were few and far between.

We stopped at the fire pit to have a pretend fire.

And then Alex and Archie ran off on a mission.

The night before Heidi had been a bit too bossy with Sammy and he had bitten her in on the cheek.  That evening she was quite upset with Sammy, but by morning they were best friends again.

We finished up the morning "fishing" in the creek.

Alex and Heidi started playing mother and daughter (which Alex always uses the silliest accent for, as though she is in Gone with the Wind or something).

They even tried to sneak up on the horse.

Heidi enjoyed the last few minutes of Grandma time.

Alex said goodbye to her sheep friends.

And I think Heidi was even able to drop one last egg before we left.
The plan was to drive to Worland, Wyoming and spend the night with my Grandparents.  We tried to stop at the airplane graveyard in Greybull, but it was closed, so we had a sprinkler adventure at a rest stop instead.  Then we saw a yardsale with toys from our past so we had to stop.  I got a sweet old metal Tonka truck for $3, and Kate snagged 20 vintage hot wheels and a fisher Price house for about $10.  I kept thinking that in Utah these things would have sold for 3x as much and I swore to one day drive my way through Wyoming garagesaleing the entire way.

We made it to Worland 2 hours later than planned and so we decided to skip swimming in Thermopolis that night and just stick around home.  Grandpa prepared the best meal ever, as always, and I was over the moon that my children wern't scared of him.  Quite the opposite they couldn't get enough of him and Heidi insisted on eating dinner in his lap.

That night I did take Kate and the kids on a drive towards Tensleep to find some fossils.  My Dad knew of a spot just off the side of the road which was a goldmine for Cephilopod dinosaur fossils.  We found it and were able to collect a handfull in 10 minutes or so, and then headed home.  Tyler call while we were on our way and couldn't believe we were LEAVING the house at 8pm.  Yes, our vacation destroyed the kids sleep schedules.

On the way back the kids rocked out to our dance party mix in their sunglasses and it was the best part of the day.

The girls were treated to chocolate icecream and strawberries just before their 10 pm bedtime and it warmed my heart to see Alex seek out a blanket, drag it over to Grandpa and then climb onto his lap.  Within minutes Heidi had joined her and I couldnt' have been happier.