Missoula Marathon Madness

Oh my goodness, life has been flying by at the speed of light lately. I was in the middle of writing a Fourth of July recap post, and BOOM! It's the middle of next week. Last week was a little nuts because first we had an all-day (and, thanks to fireworks, far into the night) Fourth of July celebration, and then my cousin got married this weekend- which meant lots of family coming in from out of town and visiting my house- which necessitated a good housecleaning, trips to the airport, and time spent happily visiting... did I mention I was also doing music for the wedding? Yeah, it was crazy. But the craziest part of all was that Adam had a marathon in Missoula the day after the wedding. So we were also shopping and packing for a 4+ hour car trip and camping expedition!

On Saturday, the wedding went just beautifully. We stopped just long enough to snap a family photo...

My sister and her husband came to town!

...and then we were on our way to Missoula!

It was a beautiful drive through the back mountains of Idaho, but I didn't take any pictures. Adam drove like a madman because we were racing the clock to get all of his marathon stuff squared away, on top of losing an hour from the time zone change. We finally rolled into the Missoula KOA around 8:45 P.M. Adam dropped me and the kids off with our gear because he had to get to the airport and pick up his race packet. There was a lovely family camping next to us that helped me set up the tent and keep Cici out of the puddles; they had a fourteen-year-old boy who was so polite and helpful that it bolstered my faith in the next generation quite a bit. ;-)

The next morning started super early-- around 4 a.m. Adam needed to be at the shuttles to the starting line by five o'clock. We got lost in downtown Missoula and had a very stressful drive before finally getting Adam on the last shuttle!

By that time, all the kids were fully awake (we had been hoping they'd go back to sleep for a while), so I decided it was time for some coffee! I swung by Starbucks and grabbed a Pike for me and some hot chocolate for the kids-- it was very rainy and cold the whole time we were in Montana, and I wanted something to warm the kids up while we hung around the campsite and waited for Adam to finish his race.

Hanging out in our jammies

In front of the KOA office. Owl transformation 25% complete!

The family camping kitty-corner from us had a boy around Oscar's age that came over and played with the kids for quite a while, which I was thankful for. It's not easy keeping three young children quiet outdoors for a couple hours until the campsite quiet hours are over!

Adam was hoping for a 3:30-3:45 finish time, so at around the three-hour mark, we started heading back downtown and situated ourselves close to the finish line. About twenty minutes after we got there, Adam raced by!

He finished at 4:08, which was several minutes slower than his last marathon.He was a little bummed, but full of insight on how to do better next time. At the very least, he got some serious bling. Look at the size of that medal!

With the marathon done and no more obligations to fulfill, we spent the rest of our time enjoying Missoula's local attractions and shopping at some chains that aren't near our remote hometown. Here are some of the pictures:

Enjoying some one-on-two time with Oscar after a much-needed nap for everybody!

Trying to eat Adam's fingers. What a punk.

Cici trying to wake Allen up...

Mission accomplished!

We ran into these giant figures of Frog and Toad, the boys' favorite literary character du jour,
at Barnes and Noble. Oscar was pure embarrassment.

Allen was thrilled.

At the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Visitor Center

A skunk butt rug

Staring down a bear 

Spoooooky.

It was too rainy to cook dinner over a camp fire like we had originally planned, so we went to Burger King instead.

Mohawk baby!

The second night we spent in Missoula was the rainiest by far. The entire night, there was a downpour-- fortunately, the tent stayed mostly dry and warm! It was worth every penny we spent on it. When I got up the next morning, it was 42 degrees out! We really enjoyed the camping experience despite all the wet and cold, however.

Allen picked their ride the second time around. Adam's face says it all.

Last stop before heading out. This playground reminded me a lot of the Coeur d'Alene one.

Our route home took us through Coeur d'Alene, so we stopped and stretched our legs on the boardwalk.

This Missoula trip was thoroughly enjoyable, and it makes us want to do more travel! Adam wants to do the Missoula marathon again someday, so we will be back!