I think by now you all know how Dylan got her name - Ratpod 2008 I was preggo, didn't know, road 75 miles, Matt suggested Dillon as baby name for either sex, we loved it, decided to spell it Dylan for a girl... - okay so there's the quick recap for you. Last year we missed out on Ratpod as Matt was in the hospital in Philly - port-a-potty, passed out, bruised his brain, 9 days in 3 different hospitals, amazing family help - now you're really caught up. ANYHOW this year was the year to show Dylan the town of Dillon where it all started.
Dylan actually does great on road trips. She keeps herself quite entertained and loves the fact that she is now facing forward in her car seat and can point out every truck that we pass by with a big 'uuuuhhhhh'. She's been loving the big trucks lately, oh and the buses! AND she also loves her little backseat side companion, Maggie. I love the leg up on the door - just so kicked back, already for a long day of driving!
While in Missoula, before heading to cousin Polly and Rob's house, we stopped by The Good Food Store (yes, it's actually named The Good Food Store) to buy a host/tess gift and a little something to wet our whistles. Matt and Dylan found the car shopping cart - oh boy, you could have heard Dylan a state away with all her excitement! We were trying to figure out how to take the cart with us as the girl just didn't want to get out.
Here's some shots I took of D in Dillon while we were waiting to pick up our rider packets for Ratpod. She was very comical that evening. She was running around the crowd and would just latch on to any old pair of legs. Now most kids would freak out upon realizing that those legs didn't belong to their parents but in Dylan's case it was quite the opposite she was catching everyone by surprise and then would just laugh and run to the next set of legs.
Here's my trusty Ratpod team for 2010. And quite the team we were, we even had our own SWAG wagon - yes, I said SWAG that's because Jerry, Diane's dad was such a super fabulous help that we gave him an extra W, for WAY TO GO JERRY! Thanks Jerry, you are the best! Hope to see you and Pat next year! And thank you Mike and Diane for making the ride so much fun! I rode 54 mile (not bad for not being on a bike for 2 years) and my lovely teammates rode on to do 75 (they were in training for STP and wanted to get some miles under their belts). Way to go M & D!!!!!!
Matt left before us as he was doing the full 130 miles. Of course he did it all and still manage to make it back to the hotel before me - how does he do it?
Dylan stayed behind with G-ma Montana and G-pa Phil (when he wasn't volunteering). Oh they had quite the fun filled day so I hear! Thanks again Linda and Phil for all your help!!!
After Ratpod we rented a cabin with our friends Sean & Jennifer Benton (Jennifer is one of the main people that run Camp Mak-a-Dream and had a HUGE roll in putting Ratpod all together - nice work Jennifer). It was fun to hang out and play under the stars! Here's a great shot of Miss D fixing her hair. Oh so pretty!
And helping dad work. How much you getting done there Matt?
After Dillon we headed through Helena to have lunch with our friend Jeff Proctor. Then it was back in the car for a nap before going to Great Falls.
Dylan got quite good and giving herself her own "Nana" and then putting herself to sleep. The trick was to catch the bottle before it dropped out of her sleepy little hands. "Must drink, so sleeeeppyyyy, must drinnnkk...."
After visiting our friends Ron & Darlene in Great Falls, we headed over to Kalispell to visit Great G-ma Ruth. We had a fun dinner with her at her retirement home - and let's just say Dylan had everyone going in the dinning hall! There was all kinds of laughter, waves, blowing kisses, and smiles happening - of course, that was in between running from the table out to see the bird cage and back to the table. Oh and let's just say there were a few walkers missing - uh, we don't know anything about that ;)>
So great to see Great G-ma Ruth. We always have great visits with her. After our visit we jumped back in the car to go see Matt's cousin Eric and Amy's new baby Walt - soooo cute. We also got to see Cousin Stacey and husband Todd, Taylor, Uncle Brian & Aunt Vonnie. They are super great people. Matt got some great shots of Dylan and Stacey (one of our number one blog readers). I still have to round those up.
It got pretty late that night so we decided to get a hotel room. The room had a kitchen in which Dylan immediately found a broom and dust pan. So at 10:30 at night there's D cleaning the kitchen - and believe me there wasn't anything else going to get in the way until that kitchen was swept! She was determined. So funny, I wonder where she gets that from?
The next morning we packed up the car (okay, Matt packed up the car) and we headed to Thompson Falls to crash in on G-ma Montana and G-pa Phil for breakfast. We had a great visit for a few hours before hitting the road back home. It was a great trip and so packed with family and friends! We have a few more pictures to round up to add to the blog and I'll get them posted soon.
And I'll leave you with a shot of our captain who drove the WHOLE way. Nice work Matt!
