vdH Family Blog: Glacier family reunion

It was awesome being there together with all the family! Although a few things made it very tiring and stressful for Jason and I. Claire got stitches 2 days after we arrived. Trevor had a bad cough, that I thought might be croup and he would need a steroid shot. But I used peppermint oil and we got through that night and then he slowly got better. And the Ryan had a fever of 103.5 two days after, and he was crazy fussy. Turns out that he got in all four of his molars-at the same time- right after we arrived back home. (And then his 4 canines all came in a week or so later. It was horrible! Horrible because you have no idea what making them so crazy nuts.. Stomach issues, ear problems, teething?)

--He is not so fussy anymore. Just a crazy climber, can't leave him alone for 2 seconds- and has a hard time letting mom take a shower, ugh...but I still love our little crazy man so much! ) My dad heard Ryan getting mad when I was on the phone with him, and he said, wow that rage reminds me of when I was young. But I know how tough childhood was for my dad. So when I feel like going crazy, I just give him tons of kisses, and that makes it all better! I want Ryan's childhood to be better than my dad's. And that has given me lots of reason to be more patient and loving with my little crazy man. And I am finding more and more reasons to love him and be so grateful for him! ( side note- today oct 2- ryan is not feeling well, and guess who is now smothering me in kisses...love him!)--

Back to glacier! It was gorgeous! It was nice and cool there when it was probably in the 100s back home. And it was so fun to be surrounded by family!
Day 1- We stopped at Dillion Montana. Had dinner with grandma and grandpa and Nate and Amy- and went swimming!

While Jason and Ryan were sleeping, I took the kids swimming again, to tire them out.

Fortunately for me, there was a young girl there whose goal was to teach Claire to swim! She was so sweet! A little heaven sent angel, to keep my busy girl safe and having fun at the pool! Both kids went to bed great that night!

Flat head lake Montana- Almost there

Pipe cleaners were very entertaining most of the trip. She made bracelets, she made them into stick figures, and even, learned to braid with them!

Loving the hot tub, when Ryan went to bed early!

Jason did awesome at the games that Aunt Laura put on every night! I tried, but still had fun! The van der Horsts are all ridiculously talented and competitive! I should post the video of them grabbing pencils off the back of their hand- they make it look so easy!

Cup stacking- I kinda do this now

Golf ball stacking?! What? See what I mean! They are amazing. And Amy the youngest has to give them a run for their money!

Trying to get an oreo in our mouth.

Cute girls ready for church!

We took lots of family pictures after church!

All 14 cousins! Claire is the 7th grand child. Trevor is the 12th grand child and Ryan is the14th grand child.

Kids with their parents :)

The cute girls!

No, these won't be our Christmas card pics- Ryan looks adorable though, so I had to share!

Did some exploring around the place.

And discovered that the tiny black spots that were surrounding us everywhere were frogs, rip ones under my feet, sorry!

Claire has no fears when it comes to bugs, animals, and now aniphibians

Trevor was dying for a ride, and daddy obliged!

Monday - Claire got her stiches on her forehead... Poor girl. I am amazed that she let them stich her up. She is crazy afraid of needles! But she sat perfectly still on daddy's lap while she played his phone. The nurse and doctor were awesome, which helped Claire a lot!

Ryan taking a few steps!

It all happened so quick, these pics help me remember the details. See that 25 lb weight, (big circle swinging in air)

Claire and apparently Trevor were trying to stop it and she got hit in the head, ran to Jason. His shirt got covered in blood. And that was when we decided to stop the tour.

After seeing this pic, I realize we are lucky it was just one kid that needed stitches.

Pateint boys, while we check it out in the bathroom.

After lunch- we went to Lake McDonald but missed our groups boat tour, so we walked around and then did a hike

I think the hike is Trial of Cedars...

Boarded Path- so Ryan actaully enjoyed it all from the stroller

Tuesday we went to whitefish ski resort. Older kids and their parents did some high adventure, while the younger kids did alpine slides and this climb up then slide down play structure- of the younger kids, only Claire and Matthew and Jonathan could do it.

First time trying it out..yep that's Clarie almost to the top.

Fun times! Love her smiles!

Fun with Laurel

Ryan saw me after coming down the alpine slide, and he was so heartbroken when he saw me, that I had to take him.

Jason and Grant, Laura and Matthew

This is right before we left for zip lining. I was kinda worried! Since we would be gone 3 hours+. But it all worked out!

Claire and aunt jen on the alpine slides! While Jason and I were zip lining!

Trevor and uncle Scott

Getting ready to go Zip lining!

Grandma and Aunt Laura were in charge of our 3 kids, Emma- Ryan's age, and four more kids Claire and Trevor's age. Then got them all lunch and made sure Ryan didn't steal anyone's food! And then a few more aunts and uncles were there to help after a while. Thanks so much to these fearless women, we got to see things like this...

We would be zip lining, and look out and see amazing views like above! So awesome! And the camaraderie of our group, with one women doing it even though she was deathly afraid of heights, was great! I loved every minute of it!

Cute cousins- so glad that their fun bonding time, Ryan didn't end up getting Emma sick- Emma just had open heart surgery 7 weeks prior. He wasn't sick then, but 2 days later had a crazy high fever. And then it went away as quick as it came. Wow! We are blessed!

This was the beginning of his craziness, not sitting for more than 1 minute in high chair, or booster or any chair really. And screaming when we try to buckle him in, and getting out of it a few seconds later anyways! Good thing he is adorable!

Wednesday we went to the Canadian part of glacier, Waterton

My silly boy

Claire and Laurel

Surprisingly good hotdogs! And sweet tater fries! I even loved my gluten free version

Kids playing near water

Trying to help Claire find her special rock

Furious that we can't find the exact one...

The beauty here helped prepare me for HUGE MAJOR MELTDOWN #1 from C dog

Gorgeous. From what I have seen of Canada, it is all lush and beautiful!

We hiked red rock canyon, then played in the water afterwards.

We tried to keep Claire's stiches moist with antibacterial ointment all week. I think it helped!

Now I barley notice it.

On Thursday we went to the family fun center

Started with the maze

Then go carts

Then bumper boats, in the pic above Laura is trying to teach me to tap the water spraying out so you can get people up close. She was my target practice. Lucky for her, I don't have great aim.