Memorial Day in Missoula

For Memorial Day Weekend, we drove over to Missoula, MT to stay with my brother.  My mom and dad, sister and brother-in-law came up too.  We were hoping for a nice sunny weekend, but unfortunately it was rainy and chilly.  But we made the best of it, of course!  The girls did some shopping and eating out (duh! - we do that come rain or shine :)  The boys had a football game going on in the front yard....

Caiden could often be heard saying "Come on guys! We need to make a master plan!" Hence, the intense huddle.

Then, everyone participated in some basketball games created by Uncle Jesse's family...and it was a hoot!

We played "Poison" and "Lightning".  Now I don't so much remember all the details and rules to the games but one involved screaming "Poison!" and everyone had to FREEZE in their tracks (hence, the crazy poses) and the other was a bit of a race to make a basket before the person behind you.  I didn't so much rock at the second game, despite the picture of my mad skills below, ha. 

And this is what Paige did while everyone was playing and running around.....Play with the kitties!  And she told me many times over the weekend "this kitty so really likes me."  Yes, Paigey.

And count on my child to find immense entertainment out of a window well.  Note to self:  Get a daylight basement in our next house.

Then we decided to take a stroll on their property to a nearby creek and unbeknownst to us all the drama that awaited us...dun! dun! dun!

It all started with completely calm and normal driving done by Papa...

Then we get to the creek and as everyone is calmly peering into the flowing stream, Papa obnoxiously throws the largest rock ever into the creek and drenches us all.  Well, mostly just Paige, of whom doesn't exactly take a joke so well....but she got her revenge by splashing him back and then she was all smiles....

And THEN, in the midst of the crazy rock throwing and splashing, Caiden runs up the hill and happens to stand in the one and only spot of a giant red-ant hill.  All of a sudden, he comes running down in a panic that a bug was on his hand.  Now, don't judge me, but my initial reaction was to roll my eyes deep into the back of my head.  It drives me crazy that my son and daughter are more afraid of bugs than me.  They panic when a housefly gets into the house and Paige thinks the tiniest of moving creatures is a black widow that is trying to eat her.  So, at first, I paid no attention, and then all of a sudden I see my brother run up to Caiden and start attacking his legs.  And then I noticed the tons of red ants crawling all up his legs and all over his shoes.  And then I felt bad.  So we ripped his pants off and there were several ants that had gotten inside and he was freaking out and I was freaking out.  I so wish I had gotten a picture of him in his underwear!  (and I'm sure he's thankful I didn't, because you know I would have no shame in posting it).  So we get the ants off and his pants back on and I take a closer look at this ant hill, and oh my! Those are some HUGE ants.  And I grew up in Louisiana.  Trust me, I know my red ants!

But the four wheeler rides with his cousins seemed to help him forget about the killer ants...

A fun weekend in Montana!