Idaho Trip, Part III

It took a long time to pack and load the vehicle today (Wed), so we didn't get on the road until 9 a.m. Oh well, no hurry. We drove to Dickinson, ND (where a sign informed us we were now in Mountain Time Zone) and enjoyed the views of the North Dakota badlands. I didn't even know they HAD badlands around there! Then we arrived in Montana. WOW! It is soooo different than living in WI, that's for sure!!! Mountains -- but not like mountains in Colorado... lots of sage brush, cattle (angus beef), kind of dry and desolate looking.

We arrived at Billings MT around 2:30 p.m. MDT. We got settled into our hotel room, then went over to Cracker Barrel for supper. She enjoyed the small rocking-chairs out front. She didn't eat too much -- some fries if they had ketchup on them. And, oddly enough, if it had grape jelly on it. (Yeah, don't ask, I don't get it either!!!!)

We came back to the hotel and went for a swim in the outdoor pool. It had been plenty hot outside so the water was warm but the evening air was getting cool, quickly. We DID manage to find time enough to do a few "tricks" we'd learned the night before in Bismarck...

1) I put her on the outside of the pool. I count with/point with my fingers "1", "2", "3" and then say "Jump!" Of course, she had no idea what to do, so I'd pull her back into the water at that point... but she loved trying to count-down with her fingers (she manages the "1" and "2"... "3" is also with 2 fingers -- so cute!)...

....tonight she figured out that when I say "Jump!" she can take a step or two forward and fall into the pool. Naturally, mommy is right there to 'catch' her and she thought that was just the best thing ever!!

2) We practiced putting her head under the water. Yesterday she didn't figure out to close her eyes or mouth -- so we didn't do it more than twice because she'd get a mouthful of water and that didn't look too fun!

Tonight I would say, "Look at mommy!" and then I'd close my eyes and mouth and then say "Here we go -- under, under, under...." Then "1, 2, 3, go!" She managed to close her eyes every time and her mouth -- well, about 50% of the time. She LOVED it.

The air was getting a little chilly so we didn't stay in very long. We came back to the room and she had a warm bath with her duckies. Ahhhhh, so nice. :) Then I took a shower and we were ready to relax.

I planned to wash some clothes because K got cherry juice all over her brand new jammies this morning. The one and only washer was being used. Felt like being back in college again!!! We played and made some calls and then walked down there again to do laundry. Good thing I waited. While I was on the phone with daddy, K found a grape jelly package from supper tonight and managed to CHEW on it -- and get it ALL OVER her jammies! I should've taken a picture but she was SO sticky, I had to get her washed off. Now I *had* to do laundry! Luckily, the machine was open and someone left free detergent (with a note saying, "Please help yourself"). I put the clothes in the dryer but the note says it runs slow. Before I could check and put it on longer for the clothes that needed it, someone else had thrown them on the table. Ah, again, college days... So now I'm off to see if the dryer is free... and then go to bed.... I think it's going to take a day or two to get used to being an hour behind.

-Tanya