Good morning sunshine!

Big Trip 2... Day 26... July 24, 2007... Tuesday

The question of the day... did he miss us or does he feel guilty for not coming down for Seth's birthday? :)

Ron got up early for work. At 7ish he left and told me the dryer would be done at 0735. Which means he already did the laundry (he was trying to do it last night but someone else was ahead of him and not watching the time/moving their clothes from washer to dryer in a timely fashion. I joked that he just wanted me to do the laundry not him.). After I got tired of listening to the guest above us walking back and forth across their room 500 million times, I got up. I discovered on the desk a Starbucks mocha and an entire ginormous pumpkin scone. For me! Wow... I don't even know what to say.

Turns out I needed that scone for energy. My morning workout compliments of the Hilton...
Go downstairs and to the opposite end of the hotel to get the dry laundry. Turns out the laundry is not all the way dry and I didn't bring any money for the dryer. So I continue my exploration to yet another far corner of the hotel to see the pool. Then back all the way to the original far corner of the hotel and upstairs (the elevator is too slow so we've been using the stairs) to get money for the dryer. But I only have 3 quarters. So I go downstairs and out to the car to see if I have another one. When I get to the car I realize I forgot the car keys. So. Back upstairs to get the keys and back downstairs to the car. In which there exists not a single quarter. This time, though, I was planning ahead. I already have my dollar so I don't have to go upstairs before I trek to the lobby for change. Get the quarters and walk all the way to the ends of the earth, I mean hotel hallway, and re-start the dryer. Now, back upstairs and down the long hallway to my room. Phew. I'm tired. Good thing I decided to take my shower after I did the laundry!

1000 Went over the mining museum. Ron said he stopped in the other day while out on a bike ride and today they are having demos of the steam shovel. We arrived just in time. A lot of what was said went over the kids' heads (the girls for sure and maybe Ryan too) but it was still pretty cool to see the big shovel operating. We also got to see the trammer running as well as the different steam engines inside. We panned for gold, unsuccessfully once more, and tried on miners suits. Over all a pretty good visit.

Our favorite parts...
Ryan: single-jack handrock mining activity and the miner's suit
Bella: miner's suit/panning for gold
Felisa: her new rock
Sheila: steam shovel demo

12:10 p.m. Sonic for lunch then back to the hotel room.

After lunch we went to Mardel, a christian/teacher store. Big. Nice. Lots of selection.

Back to the hotel room. I tried to watch Back to the Future III while the kids played noisily around me. After the movie we went to the pool.

Ron came home and joined us for swimming. The kids had lots of fun jumping between us and from the side. Bella and Felisa demonstrated their newly acquired skill of putting their face in the water. Ryan swam freestyle the entire length of the pool without stopping and without putting his feet down on the bottom. Our constant swimming is starting to pay off. Hopefully we'll get a couple swimming playdates in next month and I'll have to try to be better about keeping them in swimming lessons over the winter. It's just expensive and a total pain to take them to the pool for 3 separate classes each session.

Grandpa F met us for dinner at Ted's Montana Grill where much delicious bison was consumed as well as the biggest pecan crusted trout I have ever seen (oh and mac-n-cheese for Miss Picky). After dinner a wild game of chess. I didn't think it would take Ryan and Ron so long to beat the girls and I. After all, I have basically no idea how to play and the girls aren't much better. After the game, we stopped in at Claire's. I guess they went there with Melissa a couple weeks ago so now Bella is in love with the Princess store. Great. Everyone got $5 to spend (Felisa did a last minute bait-n-switch and spent $6.50 but oh well - I was tired of waiting for them to pick something! They even had hot wheels for Ryan.)

We walked back to the hotel but Ron made us stop at the ice cream shop first. I had mentioned it but changed my mind. He made us go anyway. Under duress :) , we went inside. The girls got vanilla with sprinkles. Ryan got neon blue cotton candy with jelly beans and I got cheesecake with graham cracker crumbs. Yummy. Of course we had to eat it drill seargent style... the four of us sat on the bench eating while Ron paced up and down the line barking out commands... You're dripping! Use a napkin! Eat faster! Hold it up straight - it's dripping! Eat faster! Yummmmmm... I definitely recommend drill seargent ice cream!

Finally, back to the room and bedtime!