Two For Fun: 'TANA

We survived out first destination vacation with the kiddos – but just barely. Kevin fundraised for and participated in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Ride to Cure Diabetes. As most of you know already (because you made generous donations in Kevin’s name), it’s a 100-mile bike ride that took place on September 5th in Whitefish, Montana. He rocked! He met his own goal of finishing in under 8 hours, raised $10,000, and was the only Type 1 diabetic rider. I’m not sure if he is serious about wanting to do more century rides, but I sure am glad that he did this one!

We decided to make a family odyssey of it, and spent a week in beautiful Montana (or ‘TANA as the kids say). It was Eleanor and Ian’s first plane trip, and they were pretty great considering their age and their weariness on the trip home. We flew in and out of Missoula, which had lots of great (family-friendly) restaurants, a river walk, a carousel, and an amazing park. Before leaving for the trip, the kids were coached by GiGi and PopPop to look for bison in Montana, so they had a great time at the National Bison Range on our way to Whitefish. While Kevin pedaled for JDRF, the rest of us explored the beaches and parks of the town. We met up with him twice during the ride to cheer him on and take some pictures. After the ride, we visited Glacier National Park, which was truly amazing. We would have like to have done more exploring in the park, but Ian was struggling with a stomach bug and both kids had croup. Kevin thinks he finally arrived as a father when he had to pull the car over and remove Ian from his car seat so that he could puke on the side of the road. That was the first of four puking episodes during the trip. Unbelievable – it had been 6+ months since the kids were sick! Despite these (and other) minor setbacks, we still had a great time in ‘TANA!

Airport serenade