Today was our 'do-nothing' day. Which means we did a lot.
Steph hauled the kids out to Target to get some supplies while I jogged around the
KOA. Yeah...the exercise thing hasn't gone well. I haven't jogged since Sioux City - the morning of Day 3 if you're counting. It's not a question of motivation - there really is no time - it really would not be a good idea for me to get up any earlier to run. Oh, and as far as the diet...well, I plan to get back on after vacation. It's okay. I have NO doubt in my motivation and my ability to stay on track. The good news is that I am usually very good at breakfast and also don't snack much. But I'm pretty much letting go at dinner. More on that later.
When Steph got back, I took the kids out to a local park to get some energy out while Steph cleaned the trailer. Ran into some local punk kids at the park who were not nice to the girls...and this was probably their first experience with 'bad kids'. Faith was pretty upset, but I think she learned a lot from it...and she needs to understand that not all kids are nice, and how to handle it if they're not. Kindergarten is coming...and she needs to be able to be strong and stick up for herself. So...I'm glad it happened and nothing bad came of it. It's something to build on.
Lunch at the RV, naps, then shopping. Back to Target...don't even ask...then the girls and Bud wend to the Rimrock Mall while Dad and I went to find the local RV place - long story but there are some minor problems with the trailer. Two small leaks and a bent-up stabilizing jack. So we wanted to see if they could take a look at it. Long story there, too...short version: the same family owns the local RV place
and the local Flooring and Design Co. Needless to say, dad and I were very confused for a while. At any rate, probably not going to get the stuff fixed on the road.
Picked up the rest of the family and went to
HuHot Mongolian BBQ. We used to do Mongolian all the time but fell out of love with the local place back in Cincinnati. Then recently went to BD's up in Mason and decided that this might be a fun place for the girls...especially Mari with her love of veggies. HuHot is a lot like BD's - it's the sort of PF Chang's of Mongolian BBQ - not the local strip-mall fare, it's yuppified. But good.
Girls did pretty well. Faith was pretty whiney about the sauce but dealt with it and started to like it. Mari ate really well but was in one of her weird spacey moods so was a bit of a challenge.
After dinner we drove to
Paciugo, which believe it or not is a rather upscale Gelato chain. Really amazingly good stuff.
So, one more day in Billings tomorrow. Probably going to
ZooMontana with the girls, and then hanging out at the RV park getting ready for our next day's drive. This town is interesting. It's almost surrounded by the Rimrocks which give the whole town a sort of 'sunken' feel. And the weather is just bizarre. Today was a constant series of waves - blue sky, frighteningly dark clouds, blue sky, frighteningly dark clouds, on and on. And always you could see the next wave coming in the distance. Meanwhile while dad and I were driving around trying to find the RV dealer, the temperature would fluctuate 8 degrees within a mile or two. I wonder if that's normal for here. Anyone know?
We are putting together some cool plans for Great Falls. Stick around to find out!
Pics coming!
