This was the view from our rental. We were literally right on the lake. The road in front of us though was a highway so it was pretty busy. But if you could safely make it across the road we had a private dock and everything.
My Mom's siblings are a hoot. They love to stay up late and party and play games. Pretty sure that none of us got to bed earlier than midnight most nights, and we didn't wake up until 10 at the earliest. Those of us that were smart tried to get to bed at a decent hour, because we had to wake up with little kiddos. But thankfully for me, I have an awesome husband that loved to get up early with Jace to go on a Pokemon walk in the morning hehe. So yeah, Paul started playing Pokemon Go. Its a love hate relationship for me right now. I love that it gives him a desire to be up and about and moving and outside, (we have gone to the park more times in the month that Pokemon Go came out than we have all year). But I also get bugged when he wants to play it all the time. We are figuring out limits so that it doesn't become something that encroaches on our lives too much. Anyway, Paul would get up early with Jace and take him on a walk to the park in the morning while I slept in maybe 30 minutes longer, and while everyone else slept in 2 hours longer.
Jace Loves his Papa. He also loves his cousin Baby Gabe. What a cool family we have!
Auntie Lena is pretty much awesome! She is always playing snapchat puppies with Jace. He loves it!
Here is Jace holding Baby Gabe. He was holding him so nicely this time around. That isn't always the case. Its been nice for him to have a cousin to practice holding so that when baby brother comes, he has had a little bit of practice.
Lena got some awesome pictures of Jace and Gloria at the park. So glad she is picking up where I slack so that we have awesome memories of the kiddos growing up.
Playing on the merry go round. They loved it. Jace would yell, "slow down" if you started going too fast. It was kind of funny.
More fun at the park.
We pretty much just chilled while Pete and Dawn and their family where here. They had to leave on Sunday morning though. Chris and Kerri and their family planned to stay until Wednesday. Monday we all drove out to Glacier National Park. Paul and I went early in the morning with my brother Tanner, and Chris and Kerri and their kids while my parents slept in a little bit, (my mom was puking the day before and we weren't sure if she would be up for a hike). It was so awesome for us to go hang out with the Butlers. I LOVE them. They are some of my closest relatives on my mom's side, and I haven't gotten to see them in probably 3 years. And Paul had never met them. We hiked a decent hike at Logan Pass, did some Pokemon huntin/gym battling, got huckleberry Ice cream, shopped for souvenirs, and played an awesome round of frolf. My parents managed to stop and buy some Flathead Lake Cherries (that are supposedly famous), and let me tell you, they were amazing. They were like nothing I have ever tasted cherry wise. YUM! Our day was packed. Needless to say, I was super tired after our crazy long day.
Most of this hike, Paul Jace and I were just out of sight of the rest of the group. Jace would get distracted looking for rocks to throw, and then he would realize that his friends were leaving and would yell, "friends, leaving. Hurry fast!" and then he would run for a bit to catch up with them before getting distracted with the next rock. This was the first time we actually caught up with our group for long enough to take a picture. And I'm pretty sure they only waited because there was a mountain goat making its way down the mountain. I asked Logan to photo bomb our family picture just because she is so awesome.
If you look closely behind me you can see the cute little goat. He got pretty close and eventually crossed the path to the other side.
Tanner just being Tanner.
Basically the best view of the hike. They had it roped off and wouldn't let you go much further because of bear sightings in the area. I didn't get to see one, but the boys did. Uncle Chris had binoculars and at least him and Paul got a glimpse of a few bears walking across the river.
The view without the peoples in it.
I had to get a close up of the lake. The color of the water was seriously just beautiful!
We took some snap peas for Jace to eat on the trail, and he was obsessed with them. Cousin Devin asked him for some, and he wouldn't share with him, but he would offer them to the other cousins. It was kind of funny.
Tanner and Uncle Chris. These two are such a hoot.
Daddy and Jace chillin on the bridge. Jace was obsessed with the bridges. He loved being able to walk on them.
Cousin Sidni! Sid is one of my closest cousins on my moms side. We were pen pals when we were younger. She was definitely much better at writing me than i was her though. It was so fun to get to hang out with her and catch up on life after not really seeing much of her for three years!!
Sid, and Logan! These two are seriously the cutest sisters ever. They have such a sweet relationship with one another, I just love it.
I realized I don't have too many pictures of just Paul. I had to try and get a few of him.
Jace and Lexi. Lexi is cousin Devin's cute girlfriend. Both of them were so awesome with Jace. It was super fun to watch them play with him.
Trying to get Jace to smile while we use the selfie stick. Sometimes if we let Jace hold the stick he is more willing to smile. Didn't get much of one, but he is almost looking at the camera, so its a start.
Jace with Uncle Chris. Chris is definitely one of my closest uncles. He and I go way back to my bratty childhood self. He put up with so much crap from me, but that created a strong relationship between us that I will never forget, (mostly because he won't let me). ;) I love this picture. I love that Jace is hanging out with Chris and developing a relationship with him, and I love how awesome Chris was with Jace. Definitely was a heartfelt moment for me seeing this.
This is what half of our hike consisted of. Paul and me swinging Jace up the stairs trying to get him to move faster and not get distracted.
But we also got tired after a while and had to convince him to walk for a little bit before wanting to be swung again. Usually we carry Jace in a hiking back pack for most of the way, but we couldn't fit it in the car this trip so it was something we sacrificed and left at home. This kid was a champ though to hike this hike with us.
After a long morning of hiking this guy was tuckered out. He was so excited to leave so we could drive through the tunnel, but sadly he fell asleep before we got to the tunnel.
We wanted to stop and play in the water, so we found a spot off the road and went to play in it. It was pretty chilly. Not gonna lie. But it was nice and refreshing after being all sweaty. Jace wasn't too sure about it because we was woken up from his nap to play in the water, but after he realized he could throw rocks, he perked up pretty quickly. This picture we decided could be a band cover for an album. Maybe we will make a cd one day or something so we can use it.
Jace throwing rocks and being happy as a clam.
Eventually we convinced him to actually walk in the water. Before he refused to put his feet down.
Close up of Jace. He is actually looking at the trail.
Jace and I held out with the frolf group for three or four holes before Jace was done and I was thinking I shouldn't over do it. So while everyone else finished the course, Jace and I went to play at the park. Jace was totally fine with it though because he got to ride on a firetruck at the park. He didn't want to do anything else except ride that cute little fire truck. He got off a few times to try the slide, but never went down it, and came right back to the truck.
We convinced the cousins to go swimming with us in the lake Tuesday night. It wasn't hard to get the boys to the park to swim because there were two poke stops and a gym all within walking distance. There was a super neat dock you jump off of into the lake, which of course all of us did, but even Jace wanted to!! I had Tallus take a video for me.
Jace, Dad, and Papa just chilling on our private dock in front of the house.
Papa took took Jace out to throw some rocks, and Paul and I decided to go join them. Jace had so much fun trying to throw rocks as far as the big boys. These guys though are just amazing. I love the relationship that all three of these guys have.
This picture is at the other park. The one that is good for swimming. Kylee, Lena, and Logan are out in the water swimming, and if you look far into the back ground I'm pretty sure Jace and Paul had just jumped off the dock for the first time.
Jace and Paul swimming in from the dock
My cute sissy. She is so great. We weren't super close growing up, but I love that we have a pretty good relationship now. I hope that we keep strengthening it so that we are like best best friends :)
I asked Lena to snap a picture of Paul, Jace and I just sitting on the dock. It doesn't seem like much, but its moments like these that I live for.
Our cute little feetsies. Just trying to relax and enjoy the sunset.
The video of Jace Jumping off the dock. Tallus was filming while he was swinging so the video is a little shaky, but man Jace is such a dare devil stud!
After our awesome Butler clan family had to leave on Wednesday, we relaxed and Geared up for the Blatters to show up. We had plans with them to rent some seadoos and also a boat and go tubing. Thursday we had the Seadoos for half a day, and Friday we had them for half a day. We also had a Boat for all of Friday. I was super nervous to ride really fast at first on the Seadoos, but eventually I figured it out and learned to love it. The thing that made me most nervous was being 35 weeks pregnant. If I hadn't been pregnant I wouldn't have worried, because falling off wouldn't have given me any reason to worry. Tubing was not as fun being super pregnant though. I only went once and decided I better be smart about it if I wanted my kid to survive the next 5 weeks. Jace came with us on the boat and was distraught when Paul fell of the tube. He kept yelling "Daddy fall off! Daddy fall off" and I had to reassure him that its okay, dad had on his life jacket just like Jace and we would go and pick him up. He felt much better when dad finally got back in the boat. Friday was a really long day. We were all out on the lake basically from 9 in the morning until 5 ish in the evening. I tried to stay out of the sun, but its not easy to do when you are boating and playing on the water. Jace stayed up all day with no nap, but as soon as I got him in the car to go, he fell asleep within the first 3 minutes I kid you not! He was so worn out. Poor kid, had a long hot day, and ended up with chaffed legs on top of it. He was not happy when we had to shower him and get him dressed.
Even though we spent a lot of time playing with the cousins, we still had some time to sit and chat with them as well. We stayed up and played some games, but we also all went to bed earlier than we normally would have because we were all so exhausted.
Thursday morning after our first trip out on the seadoos.
My cute hot mama! She wasn't super sure about riding the seadoos with dad, but after he got her out there, she slowly, sorta, kinda warmed up to it.
Jace doing his thing, finding rocks, while the other kidlets play in the water.
Party on the seadoos. Jace really didn't love it. He got used to it, and slightly enjoyed it after a while, but he didn't like to go very fast or hit any bumps on the lake. He did especially like it though when daddy would let him drive the "boat"
Side view of the three of us. We had so much fun!
Tanner was so awesome with Jace this week. He was so willing to watch Jace so I could shower, or take the seadoos out for a minute, or something like that. I am so so grateful that he wanted to play with Jace here and there for me. Jace loves Tanner, so it was fun to see them playing together.
We got the chance to take the seadoos out with out the babes. This is where we went crazy fast and hit as many waves as we could.
Look at that big belly! Hopefully that baby decides to show up soon.
Me with my awesome pops. This guy is such a stud! I look up to him so much!
Little sister Kessla, or Auntie Lumpy as jace calls her, was so great with Jace also. He loves to play with her.
Jace and Papa having a great time.
Paul took Jace out and he really wasn't quite sure what to think. But they had fun.
At the park again, playing with rocks, again.
We pulled out a frisbee and Jace and Brooklyn had a blast.
This kid has such a great release, only it doesn't go the direction you thing its going to go. He can throw a frisbee pretty amazingly well, we just need it to go the way his release shows so people stop getting pegged in the head by a rogue frisbee!
More rocks, and water.
Spending some time together at the beach eating snacks in the shade.
Poor Tanner was all tuckered out after the long day of play that we had.
Saturday for the drive home I was not feeling well. I woke up super nauseous and worried I was going to be driving home 8 hours with the constant need to barf. My mom had the flu bug on Sunday, and then when the Blatter cousins showed up a few of them had it on Friday, so I figured my luck had run out and I was just going to be sick all the way home. Luckily I was either really blessed with not being super pukey, or I was just really dehydrated from the day before. I seemed to feel much better if I had food in my stomach, was drinking water, and was resting. I made it the whole way home without puking once, but I also didn't do much to help Paul with Jace the whole way home. We had pizza for dinner that night and Paul took Jace out to visit the neighbor friends. I went to sleep at 7 and basically didn't wake up until Sunday morning at 8. I felt soo much better the next day though.
Even though we had to drive 8 hours up and 8 hours back with lots of stops for this pregnant lady, our trip was really fun. It was so great to be able to reconnect with cousins and aunts and uncles and develop stronger relationships with them.
