Pack Meeting - Campfire Program

With the new program, I decided to kick out some requirements all in one night!

1

 The best part, it was on Lucas's birthday!!

 

 I had 3 arrow of lights too!

 The boys set up the tent, while group 2 made smores. It worked beautifully. 

 I am so glad our church building has baseball fields, and a fire pit.

 

 Lucas earned his first bear belt loop, Fellowship and Duty to God.

Also 2 new segments! A hot air balloon from camp, and a campfire for tonight!

More Memorial Weekend 2015

 We picked up subway and then right on to the snow caves. We ate in the parking lot because there were no tables, or lounging area. It was the desert.

The snow caves are part of the 17 volcanoes in Idaho.

 This particular cave was a lava tube.

 Nathan of course loved the rock talk.

 In the cave, it was less than 20 degrees. The bottom of the cave was covered in thick, thick ice.

 The tour guide was very knowledgeable about the cave, and our kids asked 14 questions.

 Mason just HAD to touch the ice.

 Then we went to our next stop.

We were not planning on going to Craters of the Moon, but it was 30 minutes out of our way, on the way home,so we thought, why not?

 Mason wanted a pressed penny. The kids went in to the national park HQ. 

 It was raining, but nothing too terrible.

 As we were headed up, we saw our ward friends, The Warners. They are a lot like us. 5 kids same order, husbands work in similar fields, and remotley. And they bought the house I wanted, because they moved here in October too! Haha.

 Craters of the Moon is where all the lava rock has settled. 8 of the 17 volcanoes are in Craters of the Moon National Park!

 Lucas and Mason hiding from the full on downpour.

 At the top of one of the cones you could climb.

 All of this is Lava.

 Funny Story:

This was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Nathan and Lucas and Scarlett walk up the hill. (it is a big hill covered in lava rock) then it starts to down pour. I look up the hill and see Lucas running down frantically screaming "it hurts, it hurts" and then following him 14 other people running down the hill. It was hailing like crazy. I don't see Nathan or Scarlett until I see him yelling at her to stay by him so the umbrella could block the hail. What does my 6 year old do? She runs all over the place like a tazmanian devil, crying and laughing and screaming. Everyone is in their cars watching this little girl going in a zig zag pattern all over the hill - and Nathan trying to wrangle her. But, you couldn't help but laugh. They were soaking wet, had ice pellets in their hair and the "storm" lasted maybe 8 minutes. When we talked about our favorite part of Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve they said this was it! Even my kids in the car watching it happen, said this was the best part. I guess this is how my itty bitty wittes make memories.

More Lava Flow!

We drove home and talked about what memorial day meant, and why there were flags everywhere, and the kids were so quiet on the way home. Luckily, we had beautiful views on the drive back to Ammon. 

I am so glad we decided to take this mini trip. Woot!

Mother's Day in Montana

Lucas had a basketball game at 8am, so once he got home at 9:30, we hit the road.

We decided to take the kids to Montana

 But, Montana is huge, so - we took them to a small part of it.

 Montana is also, gorgeous!

 Bannock is about 2 hours and 15 minutes from us.

We stopped for lunch. It was a gorgeous day.

Juliet and Mason ate their chicken salad sammmies by the river.

 By the river was a teepee. 

The kids went in, this particular one was one you rent and sleep in instead of a tent!

 They decided, this was an important feature (the carpet) and thought we should try it next time we go camping. I said I'd think about it.

Once we were finished eating, we headed into Bannock State Park.

Which is famous for being a haunted ghost town.

 Most of the houses/buildings you were allowed to go into.

 Lucas in the saloon, pretending to slide a sasparilla.

 The kids really enjoyed themselves. It was interesting that the state park let you touch everything.

 One of the houses I pretended to be a ghost and Bridget ran out of there like a mad woman.

The school house/masonic temple was my favorite.

 Each house had a number and on the map there was information about each place.

We came home, had dinner, and then went to church in the morning. The kids really loved handing out all of the "things" they had made. They were all adorable. Scarlett wrote me a recipe for her favorite food. Ham - lots of it. Cooked at 10,000 degrees for 5 minutes. There was more, but that was my favorite. Haha.

Our annual mothers day picture.

 Mason ran away so Nathan grabbed him and we took a quick family picture. Haha.

A cute Mothers Day and a fun little day trip. Love these peeps so much!