Roadtrip to Montana

Within 2 months of getting married I inherited the only 4 sisters I've ever known. And boy are they amazing!  The bar is high for my two younger brothers to find companions near the caliber of my other sisters in law.  I love them all dearly and have found that as great as it was before we had kids, my relationships with these women have skyrocketed once I (or they) had kids. 

I have one sister in law in particular whose children are very near in age to my own, and who has always lived close.  As close as we are now it's a surprise to think back to the days before we both had kids and realize that we NEVER hung out. At all. Then LOST happened. I had a small baby and nothing to do, she was super pregnant with a job she could do at home and so we came together and watched LOST.

4 years later Kate and her kids accompanied me to Montana for the second time in our friendship.  I have gone of road trips with many friends and used to say "A road trip is the true test of a friendship. It ALWAYS seems to make it or break it."  Then I took a road trip, in a van, with 4 kids and Kate.  I can tell you right now that THIS is the true test of friendship (and motherhood) and we made it.

Archie experiencing what it must feel like to be vacuumed up

Kate planned all the fantastic stops on the trip.  We planned on stopping at any and every place that struck our fancy, doing exactly what our husbands (or any husband I would imagine) would NOT do.  We planned on stopping for pie in Brigham city (but it wasn't open) and instead went to a park.

A couple hours later we went to the most fantastic thing to ever hit Idaho. The "CLEAN MUSEUM"!!!!  I know, everyone we told rolled their eyes when we informed them of this plan- but it was amazing!

Those goofy shirts the kids are wearing were made the day before departure, by them.  We are so cool.

It was FULL of old vacuums, washing machines, bathtubs- you name it!

And EVERYTHING was hands on and totally touchable.  No glass boxes to keep you out, or ropes for the kids to sneak under.  It was a old warehouse they had fixed up and FILLED with portable toilets, vacuum cars, buffers and mops.

We spend 2.5 hours there and could have easily stayed for another hour.

This was the place I discovered that getting all 3 kids to look at the camera was not going to happen on the trip. Ever.

Annie was such a sport and by far the most well behaved child on the trip.

I think I lost all my good parenting strategies after the first 45 minutes and then spent the next week trying to explain to the preschoolers in the very back that "If you drop something I CAN NOT get it for you, so STOP dropping things".  Kate was the champion of patience the entire week and I can tell you right now, our husbands could not have survived.

Day one was acclimation for Alex and Archie who had never been tied down so close to each other for so long.  They amused themselves by touching the other persons car seat to annoy them, and trying to get me to turn around and look at them ever 4.2 seconds.

By day 2 they were pretty well past the "lets drive each other nuts" stage and moved on to best friends for the week.

Kate was nearly a master at the floor buffer obstacle course.WOW, that thing is powerful and unpredictable, but the kids all managed to get out of the way in time.

Kate and I had loaded the car with treats and prizes to be rewarded regularly throughout the trip, and I had even hot glued fast food trays to pillowcases so they could color or snack or whatever on them.

I thought they were brilliant, the kids were not impressed.

Annie kept taunting us, our goal was to get her walking but instead she grew in 2 teeth.

On one side of the entryway was this giant green 3 level ball.  On each floor were super fun stations like a typewriter or dollhouse, a play kitchen and a bed to make.  Across from it was a giant 2 level Noah's Ark for the kids to run around. I'm telling you, the Clean Museum in Pocatello, Idaho is a definite rival for the Children's Museum in SLC! GO THERE!

An hour out of Pocatello we hit Blackfoot and stopped for a photo at the World Largest Potato!

There was also an old caboose by the parking lot and we spent another hour climbing up, down and around that thing.  

The kids were on a "pretend" high and herded cows, fixed the train and fought off bad guys forever.

They did NOT want to leave.  Kate has the pictures of our next stop, the St. Anthony Sand Dunes!  We ran and jumped and rolled and dug and had a blast.  This is another must stop at, every time we go to Montana.

We were almost to West Yellowstone (where we had decided to get a hotel at the last minute instead of camping in the park) when traffic stopped.  We drove for a mile behind a truck stuck behind Mr. Buffalo who was walking directly in the middle of our lane.  Every single oncoming car had to stop and take a picture so there was no going around him for a good 20 minutes.

West Yellowstone greeted us with a rainbow and a motel with 2 Queen beds. We were in heaven.

Not only did the kids boycott looking at the camera all together, but these two secretly decided to make goofy faces at me nearly every time I took a picture of them. grumble grumble grumble.

The next morning after a more restful sleep than you would think (sharing a bed with two kids and a room with 4) we had a super fantastic breakfast at the Three Bear Hotel (I highly recommend it) and walked out of the restaurant to find that it was POURING on us.  We ran to the car and got loaded up just in time for it to stop, so we decided to unload and be tourists.

The kids wanted to take pictures with every bear that we saw.

And so,

We did.

Then we ran to the car and loaded up again just as it began to pour, again.  This was the theme of the day.

We did see Bison, baby Bison, Elk, deer and a momma bear with her babies though!

We had about the ONLY kids at Yellowstone park that day, and were the least appropriately dressed tourists.  Everyone else was wearing pants and coats and the foreigners all had fancy matching slicker outfits on with hiking boots.

An older Asian man stopped and followed Kate and her kids for a few minutes video taping them, and my girls were honored to have a complete stranger take their picture, also Asian.

I'm pretty sure the entire park wondered who these children's parents were as we tried to keep up,

me pushing and empty stroller, hoping they would be able to stop running on the slick wood without sliding into the hot water,

and Kate trying to maneuver stairs with Annie in the stroller yelling for the big kids to come back.

We were very lucky in that we made it to Old Faithful just in time.

Me "EVERYONE COME HERE AND LOOK AT THE CAMERA!"

Within 5 minutes of arrival we saw hot water shooting in the air!

The kids might have been able to care less.  I think if they had to wait for 40 minutes like I always had to as a kid, they might have appreciated it more.

But perhaps not.

It seemed as though the two young women with the 4 kids ages 1,2,3 and 4 were the half time attraction while the late comers waited to see the eruption, and we tried to have a picnic and get back to the car.

The kids napped until Cook city where we stopped for a great lunch and another rainstorm and then headed towards Beartooth Pass and Red Lodge.

It was hailing as we passed our last chance to divert before heading into the land of snow and steep switchbacks.  I was nervous, but Kate's nerves were made of steel.

The view was breathtaking.

It was one of the most scenic drives I have ever been on and I made a mental note to hike them thar mountains with Tyler (sans kids) before we got old and boring.

There was lots of snow.

I had planned on getting a great shot of Kate with the scenery, but it was hailing again as I took this picture and as we drove down the pass.  We stopped in Red Lodge to sugar up at the Candy Emporium, and then we finally made it to Billings!