Our Trip to Glacier

We went to Glacier National Park this last weekend. We stayed at Kalispell We had 2 queen beds in our room so our plan was to have Natalie & Riley sleep in one of the beds together and have Corbin sleep with us. Well, by the time we got to Kalispell we looked for a place to eat and couldn't find a place that was open. We finally realized that we were in Mountain time again (1 hour later than what we expected). The only place we could find that was open was McDonald's. So by the time we got back to the Hotel Natalie was WIRED. We could not get her to stay on bed. So we had to call down to the front desk and ask for a portable crib and decided to put Corbin in the bed with Riley. Things got a lot better from there.

Our first stop was Apgar Village where we sat on Lake MacDonald enjoyed the views, let the kids threw rocks into the lake, then sat and enjoyed Huckleberry shakes.

Avalanche Creek was our next stop where we had a picnic. The kids really enjoyed it. This is where the road was closed so we couldn't go any further so we headed back down and stopped at some of the scenic points. One of the points was a set of rapids. The kids were not too fond of them so we didn't stay long.

We then went back down to MacDonald lodge where we took a scenic boat ride of Lake MacDonald. The boat ride was beautiful but the kids were more interested in walking around not just sitting. So Daniel and I took turns walking around the boat with the kids. The 2 kids again went down by the water and threw rocks in the lake or in Natalie's case she just played in the sand. This is MacDonald Lodge as we are coming back to dock.

In 2003 there was a forest fire that came up over the mountain so before it could spread another fire was started to protect all the cabins along the lake. This is a picture of the charred trees.

These are called "the red bus". They are old fashioned buses that
Glacier uses to take tourists around the park.

Then Sunday morning we met up with Corbin's siblings for a few hours. That was lots of fun. He has 3 full siblings and 2 half.

(top) this is "Amy" the Mom who adopted ALL 5 of Corbin's siblings. What a woman. Those kids are WILD!! Let me just say that she really has her hands FULL!!

Ok, let me see if I can remember all the names...starting at the top of course if Riley, then the Blondie is "Hurricane" Hunter (that is what they call him because he is so wild), then the brown haired boy is "Val" , then Meeka (she is the youngest of the siblings excluding Corbin) then Natalie, Krista, and the one holding Corbin is Shantell. There I did it. Whew!

Then we headed home. We stopped at a rest stop and had a picnic, let the kids run and headed home again. It was SOOO nice to be home. 4 hours there and 4 hours back didn't make the kids all that excited. They were ready to run after 1 hour in their car seats. We did have a lot of fun and the park was fairly quiet. Actually everyone was hiking or biking up to Logan pass which is one of the points we could not access due to road closures and road construction. This was also the first weekend the lodge was open to the public. So it wasn't all that busy which was nice.

Court Date for Riley & Natalie

Today was the Summons Hearing for Natalie. So her mom has decided to contest and now we wait for a trial date. In Lamans terms she has decided to try and fight for Divyne. So now we wait for a few weeks to see when we got to trial to fight for this little girl. Divyne's birth father came to court today for the specific purpose of voluntarily terminating his rights but where birth mom decided to fight he decided against voluntarily terminating so he has asked to meet with us and then possibly agreeing to terminate as long as her mom does not get her back. The department has told us that her mom won't win giving her history but we will see what happens. I am kind of curious to see how our meeting with her father will go. We will keep you updated as things progress.

Now Riley...I went to court for Riley today. His parents are making progress. His mom especially. I have seen his mom over the past 1 1/2 years come a long ways in her rehab and in the whole case plan and she REALLY has come a long ways. She is still young and has lessons to learn but she is quickly learning. Mom has been doing all day unsupervised visits with Riley every Tuesday. Let me tell you I really look forward to Tuesdays with only two kids. The Case Worker has asked for a continued effort of reunification. Our next court hearing will be the end of September. Then in September we will see over the next few months what progress his parents have made. I again will keep you all updated.

RORO's Anyone?

Natalie has really taken off. She is now walking all over and is talking up a storm. I have started for breakfast to give Natalie (AKA Divyne) cold cereal w/out the milk. Cheerios and Kix. The way she asks for Cheerios was just the cutest think. Daniel thought it would make a great commercial LOL!! Anyway, I thought I would share with you all. Enjoy.

Update on Divyne (AKA Natalie)

Well, I found out today that we have a summons date set for sometime this month for Divyne. This is just for the biological parents. So the way this works is her parents are to be at court on this day to declare their will for this child. Divyne's Case Worker and I really don't think that her Dad will show up because he has not been a part of her life since July of last year but her mom is...lets see how do I put this nicely, she is flaky meaning that we don't' know what she is going to do one day to the other. SOOO if none of them show up then they have 3 days to make it known as to what they would like to do and if after those 3 days and either one of them has come forward then we can terminate parental rights by default.

Divyne is now walking. She was taking a few steps her and there but now she does nothing but walk. She even will walk and pick up toys then walk with those at the same time. She is too smart for her own good. She is now walking AND talking. Too cute!!

When we adopt her, her name will be Natalie Divyne Johnson. We are on the right track. We have an adoption day for Corbin of August 4 and if things go the way we hope at this summons hearing then we will have an adoption hearing shortly after that for Divyne. I am so excited.