LADIES ROAD TRIP

Waiting impatiently for Grambot, Great Grandma, and Auntie Margie to arrive on Friday!

Dinner at Cottonwood and a quiet first night at home:

(James was busy working on the Lego set Grambot had brought him)

Saturday afternoon back at Cottonwood for drinks (while Cora was at the birthday party), then out to dinner at 10 South:

Sunday was a relaxing day at home and I didn't take any photos, but we had a nice time visiting and enjoying the cooler weather while we did a little Halloween decorating. We wish the ladies could stay longer, but they're off to New Orleans, then Texas to visit Jamie, then the Grand Canyon!

DISNEY LANYARDS

I thought we'd try something extra this year on our Disney trip (but don't really want to carry around an autograph book), so we purchased the kids lanyards and a few lots of pins from Amazon (because they're much MUCH cheaper there than at the parks). Today the kids went through them to pick out their favorites (and eliminate the fakes), and loaded up their lanyards so they're ready to trade pins with cast members as they go about their days in the parks!

(And yes, we still have many months to go until our trip. Nothing wrong with prepping early!)

CARA BETH TURNS 9

First, a birthday party at River City Tumble...

...then a sleepover with SIX girls! (Miss Sarah is crazy!)

OKTOBERFEST PEPPER CHALLENGE

Jay went solo to Lawrence and Christine's Oktoberfest party tonight and won the pepper challenge once again (he's smart enough to wear gloves and save his eyeballs).

BEE STINGS AND BUTTERFLY KISSES

Mrs. Parman (the school counselor) was our guest speaker at Girl Scouts today, giving a talk about bee stings and butterfly kisses. The girls were so good listening to her and participating, and we were very thankful to have such a good lesson early in the school year.

Then the girls made encouragement cards for women at the local women's shelter and filled donated purses with various useful items (I was wildly impressed with the generosity of our Scout parents - we had way more than we needed to fill the purses). We'll donate these Blessing Bags next month.

CAREER DAY

For the Career Day Parade, Cora dressed as a Farmer and James dressed as a Video Game Designer:

We couldn't attend the parade, but a few moms I know sent me some photos:

At the end of the day, Cora got to make slime in STEM class and she LOVED IT!

MISSOULA

I'm a co-PI on a new start SERDP project with some folks with USFS out of Missoula, Montana, so my boss and I took a quick trip up there for a planning meeting. While I was not pleased with the timing (we have company coming this weekend!) or having to leave Jay and the kids (it's just harder to handle all the school work and extracurriculars this time of year by yourself), I was certainly looking forward to a little adventure...

Flying over Montana and seeing snow made me very excited for cooler (cold!) temperatures:

(Just look at all those trails outside of town... they were calling to me)

After arriving, checking into hotels, and getting things in order for all the meetings we had the next day, I took off in the rental car up to Flathead Lake. I stopped for a few photos along the way (who can resist the mountains?!), including the Mission Mountain Range, the view just north of St. Ignatius Mission, and the lake.

(I had heard about these wildlife crossings years ago, but had never see one in person, at least not on such as scale as the ones in Montana - they're huge!)

(Flathead Lake, of course - view from the southern entrance)

(View across Flathead Lake to the Mission Mountains, where I stopped to run)

(Talking with the kids on my drive back down to Missoula)

After a long day of meetings and lab tours and a presentation, I put my running shoes back on and headed to the university to run along the river and then hike up to the M.

I arrived at the trailhead to the M near sunset, but it was plenty crowded, so I knew I'd be safe and have enough time to get up there before dark.

(Pausing after the first 2 switchbacks for a photo of the university)

(Deer demonstrating the 17% grade of the switchback trail)

Once I reached the top, I took some photos (and even a bad selfie), then called the family again and headed down while showing them the views.

(Lots of people still coming up the trail even though the sun was setting)

I quickly rushed over to a local brewery for dinner and a flight (they stop serving at 8:00pm in Montana, so I was cutting it close for the second night in a row).

The next morning I had a few hours to kill before I had to get to the airport, so I set my alarm early and planned to go for a long trail run. However, the sun didn't come up until 7:30am, so I had to hang out in the hotel a while before I felt comfortable driving up one of the canyons - Rattlesnake Canyon - to start my run). Don't worry, I told the lady at the front desk of the hotel where I was going and texted with Jay throughout my run.

(Moon still up over a small prairie on my way up trail)

(The trail was harder than I expected - mostly because it was all uphill on the way out and I didn't realize it until I hit this overlook of the river I had started next to...)

I saw a little bit of wildlife... Grumpy squirrels, a mama bear and two cubs who watched very closely as I carefully walked past them, and a few deer chomping on the fall foliage:

I was SO CLOSE to Glacier, but there wasn't enough time and really, I want to see it with Jay and the kids, so in 2-3 years, hopefully we can take a long road trip and go on a few adventures in Montana along the way - it's a truly beautiful state!