Trip to Montana Part 2

After we left Brian's parents house we headed home... sort of... we took a very round about way up through the north western part of Montana, into northern Idaho where we stopped to visit my Mom, younger sister Jessica, brother David (who sadly, never made it in front of my camera) and surprisingly my Army brother Daniel (we didn't know he was getting in to town the same day!) then on to Washington, Oregon and then home to California!

After driving for a while we stopped to feed Colton and stretch our legs. These little guys we all over the rest area and not afraid of us at all. Which made us slightly wary of them.

Playing with uncle Daniel

Playin with Auntie Jessica

My Mom had gotten Chloe an early birthday present!

who is that weird guy!?

And of course, being a Gramma, she had to get Colton something too!

 After we left spokane WA. where we stayed the night with my Aunt Jennifer and her family we headed west and the south to my Aunt Julies in Oregon.

One of our stops along the way was at Multinomah Falls. Probably my most favorite waterfall ever!! This is the view from the hwy.

...from the path walking in.

One of the things my Mom gave Chloe was these big wooden buttons and spools that are made to lace a string through. It was so nice to have to keep Chloe busy while we were driving!!

Here's what she made!

Next stop: Aunt Julie and Uncle Bill's!! This is the house my Dad helped build for them. We (our family and Terah's family) all drove up there a couple summers ago to help work on it.

Aunt Julie with the kiddos!

Here Chloe and Aunt Julie are joined by Julie's little Grandaughter.

Chloe and her new friend having "tea on the veranda"

The view from "the veranda"

More chickens!

The room that Chloe got to sleep in!

A friend of my aunts came and painted all this for her!

I love the little bugs!!

While we were at my Aunts we went on another family walk. It was so green and beautiful!!

Colton loved it!!

Their dog loved it too!

...someone too throw sticks into the water!

Chloe learned the hard way what happens when you run to fast down a sloped gravel road

But Aunt Julie made it all better!!

after driving for another day-ish we stopped to sleep at a hotel...

...Colton liked the comfy pillows.

Our last stop before making the last leg of the trip was to see the HUUUUUGE trees. I hadn't seen them in years and Brian never had, so we took a 5 hour detour and went into sequoia national forest.

The light was at that weird dusk level where your eyes tell you its light but cameras have a had time working right. Here's the picture with no flash... and Chloe's blurry head...

...and here's one with the flash. Now it looks dark!!

The tunnel tree!

It's a little hard to see cause it was getting dark, but this is the road going right between those trees. Imagine our car driving through there with plenty of space on either side and that might give you an idea as to how HUGE those trees are!!

 Whew! What a trip! We were definitely glad to be home and out of the car by the time we got back! But also so very thankful for the opportunity to go!!