Spring Break

Our Spring Break Consisted of....

-bannock city...AWESOME!!!
-the town we were staying in on our first night was on lock down because of a shooter in town.  We couldn't get to our hotel because GPS wanted us to drive right into the middle of the part of town shut down from the said shooter.
-finally after driving around and around we arrived at our hotel only to find out that their waterslide was closed for repairs. 
-decided we HAD to have a hotel with a pool we drove around again and finally found a place to stay.
-woke up and swam while Chris worked.
-left my camera at the hotel....no more pictures.

-loved these flotation devices for the girls.
-left Butte and went to Bozeman. 
-decided we'd have to settle for staying at the Ramada because they had a waterslide and we promised the kids.
-happily suprised that the Ramada had a family suite and had recently been renovated.
-Chris worked, kids and I swam.  Boys loved the slide.  The girls loved swimming.
-met another family with twins girls only a few months older then our girls.  All the kids hung out.
-there isn't any good eating places in bozeman.  After driving around for an hour ended up at McDonalds...yuck!
-next morning was more swimming while Chris worked. 
-headed to Driggs to a condo we rented.
-long drive...yucky weather...stop for ice cream....blowout....changing diaper on the side of the road using snow to help clean up the mess
-arrive in Driggs at our condo.  Relieved to finally have 2 bedrooms...beautiful condo up the mountains.
-bedtime.  Another terrible night of sleep by the girls
-next morning plan to head to Jackson Hole to go swimming a their indoor waterpark.  Closed for repairs...hmmm... bad luck
-while Chris works in Jackson the kids and I head to the candy story.  Little hands everywhere.
-go to the park while it's pouring rain.
-pick up Chris and go back to Driggs.
-Chris works, kids and I play at the park.
-the boys LOVE watching TV since we only have netflix at home.  They don't want to go anywhere.
-next day owe the kids a swimming day.  Go to green canyon.
-more TV...boys are addicted.
-Saturday morning head home while listening to conference.
-Two VERY tired parents from twins sleeping terribly the entire trip.
-would we repeat...NOPE!!!!  Definately need to enjoy a warm vacation next spring break:):):)

Bannack City

Chris has only been working his new job for a couple of months so we didn't feel like taking off a bunch of time for Spring Break would be a good idea.  We decided to follow him around for most of Spring Break.

Chris covers most of Montana, Wyoming, and some of Idaho.  On the first couple of days we travelled with him into Montana and one of the stops I insisted we make was at Bannack City.

I've wanted to visit Bannack City for a long time but knew that I wouldn't be able to interest anyone in going with me on a day trip.  This was a perfect opportunity because we were ultimately going to a location the kids wanted to go and this happened to be on the way.

Bannack City is a ghost town in Montana that was deserted after the gold rush ended. Unfortunately we had to cut our visit short because Chris had a conference call and we were in a dead zone.  If I had more time I would have read the story of each home and business because the history was so cool.

 The boys and I explored a bunch of the old houses.  They were all so small and most of them were in really poor condition.  You could see remnants of wall paper, carpets, and some had a few old pieces of furniture.

 The whole city had the board sidewalks. 

 This was one of the store fronts.

 This was the front of the hotel. 

 The Staircase at the hotel. 

 The stove in the hotel. 

 The side of the hotel

 The church

The boys running out of the church when I asked them to go to the front and give a talk:)

 The only play toy in town.  The boys couldn't believe this was all the kids had.  It was a good moment for them to realize how fortunate they are. 

 The Schoolhouse.

 This building is the outside of the school house.  Upstairs is where the Masons held their meetings.  They've completed redone the upstairs with the alter replicating how a mason room would be but they've sealed it off and we were only able to look through thick plastic doors.  It was too difficult to get a good picture but it was really neat and interesting.

 By the Jail. 

 Jaden in Jail....totally fitting:)

 Walking down the street exploring everything.

Some of the old houses.

I loved exploring this town and my family did too....I was surprised.  I would love to visit again and take longer to explore the history.  They had a cemetery that we didn't get to visit that I'd love to see again.

They've made this into a State Park and if you are a camper, they have a campground right outside the city.  I kept teasing my kids that if we saw anyone, that it was just a ghost:)

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter!!!

We have always kept up the tradition of the Easter Egg hunt at tautphaus park.  It became a little difficult this year since the girls could participate so I went with the girls to their age group, Chris took Landon and Jaden was ALL on his own.  The girls were a little timid and needed a little help from me. We all met together to go through the goods and that is when the girls realized how great it was.  The boys did awesome too!

 During the girls nap the Chris took the boys for some fun so I could hid their baskets.  We do baskets on Sunday to try to keep Sunday more in line with why we really celebrate Easter.  Thankfully the boys love this Saturday tradition.  We only hid the boys baskets.  We also got a family fire pit.

On Sunday morning the kids dresses in their Easter Best!  They weren't the best at allowing me to take their pictures....little stinks!

 After Church we got to enjoy a lovely dinner at my grandmas.  The boys loved spending time outside and only came in to grab a quick bite and hunt for their bag from grandma.  The girls loved the attention they were getting and were a hoot.  They danced, ran, played, gave hugs, were so much fun!

A very successfuly Easter!!!!