I forgot to mention: not only did I travel for most of August, I even had a wedding to travel for a couple of weeks ago. So, this time for sure, I really am back!

I’ll start from to the beginning. We did indeed do the 10-hour drive up to Glacier National Park and headed for the east entrance, where there’s a very convenient KOA campground in St. Mary. There was also the matter of traveling through the park via the Going-To-The-Sun Road, the only way to drive through the entire park; if you drive going east to west, then you don’t need a vehicle reservation on top of your entrance fee. We drove as far as the Logan Pass Visitor Center, stopping at various viewpoints and trailheads within the park before returning to the KOA. The east side of Glacier National Park has the St. Mary Visitor Center as well, which we ducked into before heading up to our northern neighbor. We entered Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada, spending time there until we had to be back for our campsite reservation within Glacier. Taking the Going-T0-The-Sun Road east to west once again, we went through Logan Pass this time and made it to the Avalanche Creek campsite. After a night there, we finished driving through the park and made our exit out of the west side of Glacier to head home!

Once we were back from that trip, the kids and I hopped straight onto a plane to fly to Florida! The grandparents had just moved there and wanted to have us out! It feels like we had an appropriate time in that state at the end of summertime: swimming in the pool, going to a water park, and spending time at the beach. If this trip was anything like previous trips to the East Coast, then my husband will join us, and it’ll be all four of us traveling to see the grandparents next time.

At last, the four of us were together again to do a 12-hour drive up to Washington! This trip was to visit the in-laws (the other set of grandparents and my sister- and brother-in-law), but perhaps even more importantly, it was to meet our niece! As with any set of new parents with their newborn child, the idea was to support them however we could and take as much pressure off their shoulders as possible. Yet the fact that our kids get to have a baby cousin made the whole thing very special.

The bonus trip to the wedding location happened just 10 days after we got back from Washington, so although that trip happened in September instead of August, I still feel compelled to mention it. A dear and longtime friend got married in New Mexico! That drive usually takes around 12 hours, and when I didn’t have any wedding-related activities, we tried to see as many friends and family as we could! However, the important thing there was how I got to be part of my friend’s bridal party and celebrate her incredible day. It was a fun little tidbit to be back for a wedding in the same place where my husband and I had our wedding (not the same venue, just the same city!). But with our oldest starting school and my husband needing to be back to work, that trip had a pretty quick turnaround. And two weeks later, we’re back into our normal routine!