The Bouleys Meet the Wild West!

This last week the Bouleys took a trip to Butte, Montana! It was an adventure to say the least. I was finally going to get to know some in- laws. We stayed with Eric and his wife Stacy (I had met them previously, but never got to really know them) and their 2 year old Evan. Grandma Bobbi and her husband Miles were coming to meet us. I was excited to get to know them. But I was also nervous! What if they didn’t like me? What if I said the wrong thing?  Kelli and Evan had a ball playing together. Evan was so excited to have someone his age to play with and Kelli was thrilled to have someone who was interested in playing with her. 

Eric, Stacy, and Evan

Love

I’ll brake it up day by day so you can follow.

Tuesday- We headed to Regan airport. Our first flight took us to Denver, CO where we would connect to the Bozeman, MT airport. We got on our booked flight (this means Kelli was on our lap) and things were moving along well. Until we were stuck on the tarmac for 2hours due to storms in Denver. Because we were in “an active taxi” the seatbelt sign was on. Meaning Kelli was supposed to be sitting in our lap this entire time. Those of you with toddlers can imagine our thrill (sarcasm). The flight got rerouted to take a longer route. It was 4 hours in the air, remember we are still on a packed flight. We finally made it to Denver and were rebooked on a later flight to Bozeman. Luckily this flight was shorter (hour and a half) and less booked. Kelli and I sat in the front and the stewardess enjoyed playing with her when she could. There was also a service dog on this flight, for those of you who don’t know, Kelli has a dog obsession. The guy was kind enough to let Kelli play with the dog during the flight, she was in heaven. We finally made it to Bozeman at 2am (4am East coast time). Kelli had been up for 12hours. Luckily we had a hotel reservation so we didn’t have to make the hour and half drive to Butte. But the hotel didn’t have a shuttle, $40 later (for 8 miles, they charge per person and per mile). We made it to the hotel, and they had a pack n play. We slept and had breakfast in the room, Kelli got to eat on the bed in front of the TV. Talk about a dream come true. Eric came and got us and we made the trip to Butte. We just took it easy the rest of the day.

On the flight I got a Diet Coke from Mexico!

Breakfast in bed!

Wednesday- A lazy day. I got to read!

Thursday- I finally got to meet Grandma Bobbi (Troy’s mom’s mom) and her husband Miles. It was Troy’s birthday, we had cake and Eric made pizza! It was better than any store bought pizza. We went to the pool in Bobbi’s and Mile’s hotel. Kelli of course jumped in, Evan was hesitant. He hasn’t gone to the pool as often, Kelli showed him how it’s done. He eventually jumped into Troy’s arms!

Happy Family

Friday- Another lazy day. These days we took the kids outside to run around and explored. 

Saturday- Philipsburg was having a fair kind of thing. We drove there to check it out. We walked around and looked at some stores and listened to the live band. Kelli had a ball showing Evan how to dance. Then we went to Rock Creek. It was beautiful. Eric got to go fly fishing (a passion of his), Evan got to show Kelli how to have fun at the river. They threw rocks and went exploring. I got to roast my own hot dog for dinner! I’ve never done that before, yes I’m 24 and have never roasted my own hot dog over a camp fire.

Fair Food!

Rock Creek River

All ready to go fly fishing

Stacy has mad skills. Walked up the ledge without spilling her beer.

Checking out all the rocks.

Roasting my hot dog!

Sunday- We went back to Philipsburg so we could go to The World’s Greatest Candy Store. They had all kinds of candy and handmade chocolates. I was in heaven!

Monday- We went up in some of the mountains. We looked around and took some family photos. It was beautiful. Later that night Eric took me for a ride on his motorcycle! All I know is it was a Harley, other than that I’m clueless what it was.  I had only ridden a motorcycle once previously, it was so much fun and so pretty since we went during the sunset. 

Proud Grandparents

Tuesday- Time to go home. We got to Bozeman airport, the plane was on time, we got on the plane. Things seemed to being going great. Then the captain got on the speaker. Due to storms in Chicago (where our connecting flight was) the flight was delayed 2 hours. This captain was kind enough to let us off the plane. I spent an hour on the phone with United about rebooking. I got some idiot who for a 20minutes was saying she was confirming our new flight that was going to get us home the following day. The flight was reboarding and I was still on the phone. I hung up on her planning on taking the flight the next day. I asked the front desk lady if there was anything they could do about my baggage. I described our baggage (luckily mine is pretty distinct) to an agent he ran out there put a new tag on it so I could pick it up in Chicago. I got on the plane (the plane was waiting for lil old me). I was so grateful. We got to Chicago and went to the customer service about getting rebooked. The line was about 3-4 hours long. We decided rather than waiting we would just get our baggage. We got our baggage and went to the Premier (we felt like premier quality that day) check in desk. She got us on another flight to Dulles airport (closer to our house) that night. The crew was late getting to the plane so it was delayed 45 minutes, but this time Kelli had her own seat. She fell asleep on this flight! We got in at 1am, my mom picked us up and we just went to bed. 

It was a great trip. I got to learn and experience new things. Some of these things just can’t be done where we live.  I got to escape the constant hussle and bussle and just take it easy. I only watched 2 movies, left my phone alone during the day, and spent quality time with my family. But now I’m back to reality. Doctor’s appointments, work, classes starting, and that dreaded cleaning. I can’t wait to go back!!