We had a rainy... wet... cold... unbelievable fun time at Glacier!

Plan to blog more next week... busy getting things ready for back to school! Ainsley starts on Monday and Walker starts next Wednesday.

She did it...

Ainsley read 100 books this summer!! No nagging... no pleading... she did it all on her own.

So very proud of her!

One of our favorite summer traditions is to head to the zoo and eat ice cream!! It's an all you can eat ice cream event... 18 yummy flavor plus sundae's... it's always a good idea to forgo dinner so you can try them all! We met up with Alta and kiddos. First stop for Walker was Vanilla..

Then the kiddos were on to Blue Bubblegum... which had them spitting out the gum?? Isn't that the whole idea of Bubblegum ice cream?

Each station had 2 flavors so Stewart and I each got a different one so that we could try the other... favorites had to be

Coffee, Butterfinger, Peanut Butter cup and Chocolate (you can't go wrong with plain chocolate!)

The kiddos fizzled out after a few flavors but were all into the face painting...

The event is to help this guy... Charlie... live in a more "natural" environment.

Few more pictures..

Even Baby Korbin got to try ice cream this year...

After a big hike around the zoo... had to burn a few calories... we ended the event with mint chocolate and plain chocolate chip ice cream.

These two fight about everything... the weather... who had what first... you name it. But just as often as they fight they play and they certainly couldn't get through the day without each other...(although don't tell them that). Love when they really play and enjoy each other's company...

Walker's been working on a train track in the living room calling it Train World...

So what's are those "spider looking nests" on the wall you ask??? Those are Walker's Train World Buttons... one roll of tape and a small amount of black paper later they were finished. When you push the first one... Walker announces in his little serious voice, "Welcome to Train World!" Second button he says, "Train World"... like an echo. The third and fourth buttons need a super security card to use! Ha... love his creativity... wasn't loving the entire roll of tape used... or the possibility of paint coming off the wall with so much tape used but cute none the less.

I love that our libraries have DVD's to check out... free is always good! We try to do family movie night once a week. We all snuggle up on the couch together... Ainsley and Stewart are always hot and Little Bug and I are usually under the blanket. Last night we started watching this...

It's about a girl who tries out for a spelling bee... we got about half way into it when it was bedtime for the kiddos. As we were walking upstairs they both start, "Can you give me a word to spell?" We each give them words and they get ready for bed quickly and uneventful! I love when something we do catches their interest and they learn. One of the best parts of being a parent... it makes all the door slamming... backtalking... fit throwing events almost forgotten.

Hard to believe it's already that time of year again... school supply shopping. I love this time of year (always have even as a kid)..the new crayons and fresh paper just waiting to be written on... ahh! So the last couple of days I've been labeling everything for the upcoming year...

Have just a little bit more shopping to finish up... Walker needs a new pair of shoes for school and now that Ainsley can FINALLY change her earrings I told her she could have a new pair for school. We did all the clothes shopping last week after the Titanic exhibit... at our favorite... wish we had it in our own town... Target! (love that store) Kiddos and Stewart love the Icee treat they get while we shop!

Everything is starting to wind down for the summer. The lunch at the park is in it's last week... library reading contests are now all finished... and the Summer Movies at the theater had it's last show yesterday... we watched Monsters vs Aliens... it was pretty funny!

Stewart and I laughed a bunch... gotta love the adult humor in those shows. They actually have one more show next week... Night at the Museum 2, we still are debating on that one... think it's too scary for kiddos, especially Walker.

We went here this weekend...

To see this...

Truly an amazing exhibit. No pictures were allowed inside the building so you'll just have to envision what I'm talking about. After we paid... a very reasonable $20 for the family we were given boarding passes... which had names of actual people that were on the Titanic... the goal was to tour the exhibit and then check the names of the people and see if "your person" survived or if they were lost at sea.

Talk about giving you goosebumps... hard to get our minds around that these were the actual artifacts... not replicas... the actual things found on the ocean floor! You start out looking at the ship parts... and they had a picture of the object on the ocean floor and then the actual piece in a display case. Upstairs they showed footage of the Titanic being build in the shipyard... other ship pieces and models of the actual Titanic (which Walker loved.)

Then it was onto the rooms... a First class room which in today's market would cost $40,000 for the room!! The third class room was around $900 if you were to purchase a ticket today. The rooms looked just like they had in the Titanic movie... was so glad that we had watched this years ago... made the people and events more real. Around the corner we saw odds and ends... money... cuff links/buttons... dishes used on the ship... and the menus that were served that night.

Then downstairs to the IceBerg... which you were able to touch and see just how cold it was on that night... you definitely couldn't leave your hand on it for too long... a chilly 28 degrees. You can't help but get choked up when you look for your "boarding pass person" on the huge list of survived/lost at sea at the end of the tour. Our people followed the "rules of the sea" the women and children survived but the Dads/Husbands were lost. So many emotions... I found my self irritated with the people on the "money boat" When it was lowered into the sea... it had the richest of the rich on board... and it was less than half full!! Fought back tears as I read about how a girl stepped aside so that a mother could be with her children that were already on the full boat. Had a pit in my stomach as you looked into the eyes of the portraits on the wall... read their story and learned of their fate.

It was a truly amazing exhibit... highly recommend. We are planning to watch Titanic tonight, while the museum is so fresh in our mind.

The kids... enjoyed it to an extent... Walker loved the models and the iceberg. Ainsley loved when she could read what was in the glass case and she too loved the iceberg. About half way through the exhibit we took a little break and headed up to the Discovery Room for kids, which is filled with kid activities. There are tunnels that look like caves to explore... teepees to play in... log cabins to check out... games... computers you name it. It was nice for them to have a break and get out all the wiggles before we finished the tour.

The kiddos finished the reading program yesterday at the Library. This year you kept track of the minutes read. Ainsley read over 700 minutes and Walker had 450 minutes read to him... not too bad. The reward for doing this was a carnival at the library complete with snowcones... popcorn... bouncy slides... cookie walks... and a magic show.

Ainsley ran into her bestest friend... so cute to watch them squeal and do a happy dance.

The kiddos loved the bouncy slide..

We were all mesmerized by the clown/magician... kids loved when she had someone on a table and then took the table out from underneath them and they stayed "floating" in the air.

Then it was lunch at the park... and a stop at the RedBox for the "Mighty Machines" DVD... which is all about firetrucks and big machines... a favorite for little Bug!

Spent the weekend at Scout Mtn, just a camping spot not too far from home.

As soon as we got there the kids wanted to know where the visitor center was and if they had any Ranger programs! After they were shocked to hear a, "no sorry", Walker took it upon himself to be our Ranger guide... always leading in the front and wanted to be called "Ranger Expert" it was so cute how he played... you had to ask questions and he was always pointing at things to describe and talk about.

It was a very relaxing weekend... we did a lot of this... chillin' in the screen house..

games and reading..(I was so glad to finish up two books I've been working on)

Walker was into dirt as usual... can you tell??

Ainsley did her best not to freak out with every passing bug... spending most of her time in the screen house or all covered up.

National Parks/Monuments are the best... but just having a relaxing weekend is always nice too!