Montana Vacation Part 2

After our long hike, it was nice to come back to the house and rest a while.  Carol brought a stack of kids nature magazines, and she and Max had a nice time looking through them together. Asher was well entertained with a cup.

Grandma brought some kids science magazines, which Max LOVES! It was a good way to get him to sit still and rest after "Snow Fun Park".

 Sweet moment with the grandparents.

 Asher with Great Grandma Gladys

 Max, the goofball, ever entertaining his brother and everyone else.

 Obligatory family pictures!

I don't have a picture of the whole big group yet, but this is our branch of it!

Sweetest faces!

Grandma brought magnifying glasses for the kiddos.  Max and Emma put them to good use!  They looked at flowers, insects and some baby toads.

Montana Vacation Part 1

July 26, 2014 - 0200 hours, the Quigley's embarked on an adventure of epic proportions!  It was one of the best trips ever… but there were bumps along the way which created some unnecessary frustrations, but overall the trip was a success.

 Rude awakening!  He slept the whole way from Waco to DFW and woke up in the airport.  We missed our flight out at 6:00 (begin first major bump) and spent the day in the Grand Hyatt attached to the airport.  Thank goodness they rent rooms for day use!

 Max asleep in the Grand Hyatt.  Is this trip fun or what???

 Overall our delay was not too shabby.  The room had "robot" shades that darkened the room COMPLETELY (side note: my mom would have loved them so much she would have insisted on having them installed in her room at home). Max liked to hide behind the sheer curtain.  We were able to rest and eat before catching a flight at 5:00.  The only drawback is that we landed in Montana LATE and the boys were asleep/grumpy and not too welcoming to the rest of the family.

 Yeeeaaaaah!  Max was supposed to share a bed with his cousin Cash, but somehow he wormed his way into bed with Mama, Daddy and Asher.  It was a tight squeeze and long nights for Curt and I.

 No words and/or pictures can do Glacier National Park justice!  You must see to believe!

 Driving into the park on day one.  We drove up the "Going to the Sun" highway, which is only open a few weeks during the summer.  It was a spectacular drive, even for someone afraid of heights (that would be me!).

 Max loved the tunnels.

 I didn't expect so many waterfalls!!! I should have knowing there were A: mountains and B: melting glaciers.

 We hiked up to Logan's Pass and viewed Hidden Lake.  I was a short, but difficult hike as we had to traverse glaciers.  I mean seriously!!! What kind of national park allows visitors to tread upon the very thing the park is named for??? You can't go into the Carlsbad Caverns and walk wherever you please.  But here, walking over glaciers is unavoidable!

 Glacier lillies

 Our path started off as a boardwalk.  It soon gave way to dirt paths and glaciers.

 Max started off way in the front of the pack.  That didn't last!

 Hoary Marmot!  The term hoary means "silver tipped" as they had beautiful grey fur.  Not too afraid of visitors!

 Finally!  All Max wanted to do was throw a snowball on the glacier.  It's crazy that we are walking on snow/ice, but it was probably 90 degrees up there!  We were sun burnt by the time we came down (all except Asher, we kept his sweet bald head covered much to his dislike).

 Throwing them at Grandpa and me.  I had a number of snowballs his my back and melt down into my pants.  {Sigh}  Life with boys.

 Max called it "Snow Fun Park" instead of Glacier Park, but is sounded like he was saying "It's No Fun Park".  Oh, but he had fun!

 So many goats and babies.  They were not too afraid of tourists either.

 I love this sweet picture of me and the boys looking over Hidden Lake.  One for the wall!

 These four massive red rocks were the perfect place for pictures!  However by this time Max and I were straggling way behind so there is only him to photograph.  I am surprised he was so willing sine we had been walking a long time by now.  He did the whole hike himself, but needed steady hand to walk through the snow.  I did my best, but I slipped and fell as much as he did!

This is Bird Woman Falls and I took this on our way down the highway.  It is 495' high.  Awesome!

More to come!!!

Say it isn't so! Asher is 7 months old!!!

Yes, you read that right…  Asher up and turned another month older.  This has been busy this last month for him, and the rest of us.  Since turning 6 months old we have entered the world of solid food, and this kid LOVES them.  I'm not sure if it was because we waited two more months or what, but he eats them way better than Max did starting out and at the same age/stage.  I mean he eats whole bowls full of oatmeal and banana, loves some sweet potato, and avocado and peas are not so bad.  I still love the faces he makes when I put the first bite of something new in his mouth.  He is so funny.  He will also wear bibs unlike his big bro.

Asher can also sit up on his own without the tripod hand down for support.  This means he can sit and play with toys which seems to please both him and Max.  He still prefers to be held, but he is getting slightly better being put down.  He also has cut his first two teeth on bottom with a third right behind them.  He hasn't been any fussier because of it, but we still give him the occasional dose of Tylenol at bedtime to help with the pain.  He does chew on EVERYTHING!!! But this actually helped us in getting him drinking out of a cup with a straw.  Go figure, he REFUSES a bottle, but took to sippy cups and drinking from straws like a natural.  He loves to have a little water when he eats and will drink breast milk from the cup.  These developments have given me a little more freedom and will definitely help as we plan to have Asher in a Mother's Day Out program in the fall so I can spend a little more time at Baylor.

And finally, Asher is mobile!!! It's not quite crawling, but he can use his arms to pull himself around on the floor.  I was completely unprepared for this.  Max didn't crawl (and never pulled himself like this) until he was 9 months old or so. And Asher has been doing this for a week or so!  Our pediatrician warmed me at his 6 month appointment that Asher was hitting his milestones early and she wouldn't be surprised if he continued to do so, and I guess she is right.  Whats next??? Walking and talking?  Please, someone freeze my sweet baby right where he is now!

"Mario" Max and "Luigi" Cash at Carson's birthday party.

Cool dude!

"Bring on the food!"

Most of it winds up in the mouth, but occasionally he wrestles the spoon from my hand and food gets everywhere!

Happy Birthday daddy!  Couldn't get a shot with all of them looking the same way at the same time.  I better get used to it!

Eli was happy to pose for a picture!

Now THAT is a mustache!

Farmer's Market selfies

One of Max's old friends is meeting Asher for the first time.  I remember buying the penguin for Max to encourage him to sit up on his own… Asher didn't need the encouragement, but loves the toy.

Dinner and Yoga!

I wore him out shopping!

Sweet Asher and Max.  

7 month photoshoot.  It is getting VERY difficult to keep the stickers on!