Only in Montana

On our way to Libby we couldn't resist stopping at the bar that holds the world's largest Testicle Festival. For those who aren't familiar with this festival, it is a gathering of people who love to eat food, frolic in the mountains and just plain have wild fun. This is not an event for the family but rather for hard core partiers. The main attraction is eating a "Rocky Mountain Oyster". For those who don't speak Montanian, these are bull testicles. Yes, people come to eat bull testicles. In fact, they say about 2.5 tons are served each year at the event. Gross, I know! Unfortunately we missed the festival but I guess there is always next year.

The Lewis and Clark Caverns

On our way home from West Yellowstone we stopped by the Lewis and Clark Caverns. We were lucky enough to get Jim as our tour guide. He was a teacher for 30 + years and couldn't walk pass anyone without starting up a conversation. The tour was very informational with a few corny jokes added in. The best part of the tour was when he turned off his flashlight and you couldn't even see your hand right infront of your face because it was that dark. Jim said that an explorer got stuck in the caverns for two days. I can't imagine spending two days in that kind of darkness - too freaky if you ask me!

Me with my dad and Karen before entering the caverns

For some reason Casey thought it would be funny not to smile in any of the pictures or better yet any of the pictures with me. He wanted everyone to think that he had a miserable time with my family which is so not the case. You'll notice later that he had a huge smile when he was with my parents. I don't know why he plays these kinds of jokes on me. I don't think they're funny.


At least I'm happy to be there and with him!

How old is he? Or should I say how old is he acting?
Casey with his in-laws (Karen and Scott)

Me hiking in the caverns

Yellowstone

I finally made it to Montana! Having been married to Ryanne for 9 months now she was wondering if I was ever going to make it to the state she grew up in. She has been trying to get me here even before we were married, she loves it that much. With all of our traveling this summer we found a way to squeeze in a trip to Montana. The first stop was Yellowstone. Ryanne's family was having a reunion just outside Yellowstone in Island Park, ID. After the reunion was over, we stayed an extra day with her Dad and Karen. If you have not had the chance to visit Yellowstone, get off your backside and do it.

We stopped at a camp site and saw this buffalo laying in the middle of the camp grounds. We stopped to get a closer look, but not too close. As we were watching the buffalo it decided to get up. The pictures shows the buffalo first in the process of getting up and then just after it got up on all fours. To get up the buffalo starts rocking back and forth building up momentum to finally rock itself up on all fours. Pretty cool to actually see.

Me standing in front of one of the many thermal pools. I couldn't believe how many there were throughout the park.

This was one of the best parts of the trip. We had walked through a bunch of thermal pools and were heading back to the car. As we were walking through the parking lot we looked up and saw this guy walking towards us. Very freaky! I made sure to stand behind the cars as I followed it through the parking lot and eventually it made its way up a hill and into the woods.

We stopped at Canyon Village to see the Upper Falls. Even from a distance the falls were huge.

Making sure to get pictures with everyone.

Magic Mountain

Two days after my birthday visit to D-land, my brother, Brady and myself took a little trip to Magic Mountain. For the last few months Brady has been wanting to go to Magic Mountain and ride some killer roller coasters. I'm always up for roller coaster rides (I even took a trip out to Ohio with my friend Amy to ride some to the best roller coasters ever!)

It ended up being a great day. It started out a little hairy when Brady almost lost his half off ticket. If he didn't find it we would have ended up paying full price, who wants to do that. Luckly Brady was inspired to go back to a railing he was leaning on and look at the plants behind him because this is where his ticket was laying.

Now that we were in the park we found ourselves on our 5th ride in just under 2 hours. We realized the importance of waiting in lines. Both of us had headaches and needed a few minutes to regroup before hitting the rest of the big coasters.

The main reasons we came to Magic Mountain was for X2 and Tatsu. We found out the long lines were going to be for these two rides so we ran over to X2. When we got there the line wait was only 1 hour 45 minutes. This was actually a short wait and well worth it. I had been on it once before and could not wait for my second time. IT WAS UNBELIEVEABLE! I loved it. It was sooo good that Brady found himself trying to control his breathing when it was over. Next it was over to Tatsu. In our first pass of Tatsu it was closed. While waiting in line for X2 we saw some of the trains running. We headed on over and it was open. With only a 45 minute wait to was time to fly and fly we did. The best part was the inverted loop, unforgetable!

We also made some friends (check her out in the photos).

The first ride of the day.

The next two rides.

Our runin with some super heros.

Just after our first time on Tatsu.

Showing off our Ninja skills! Whatch out Ninja Warrior.

Haivng watched us take our Ninja pictures, a group of girls comented on our fun idea. One of them asked if she could take one with us. I agreed to take the picture. Here is what happened..

Ready. . . . . . . . .

set . . . . . .

Ninja!
*Look at that vertical heighth!

Europe Photos

We have uploaded all of our Europe photos onto Shutterfly. Just click on this link http://therobleseuropeanadventures.shutterfly.com/ to view them. No password or sign in is necessary. And, to make it easier for you we have separted the photos by countries. So just click on the album of the country that you want to view. Enjoy!

Happy 31st Birthday Casey

Okay, so Casey's birthday was a week ago today (sorry sugar for the late post!) but I thought everyone would still like to see pictures.

To kick off his birthday we had a BBQ for him on Sunday night. Instead of a birthday cake I made him a fruit pizza which everyone ended up loving even though they had doubts.

On the morning of his birthday I don't know which one of us was more excited for him to open up his gift. I bought his gift before we left for Europe and it was difficult for me not to give it to him early. So right when he woke up I handed it to him. I got him a Garmin watch which will help with his triathlon training. This watch is more like a mini computer. It reminds me of Penny's watch off of Inspector Gadget except that he can't talk into his.

And like all our other birthdays since we've been together we went to Disneyland. It wasn't that crowded so the longest we had to wait in line was 30 minutes. As tradition has it we rode Space Mountain first and last. The only ride that didn't seem right this time was the Matterhorn. It just looked a little smaller compared to a few weeks ago when we were hiking up to it :)

Our favorite ride, Space Mountain

Really? That wasn't one of his birthday gifts!

We don't always ride the kids choo choo train but since it's called Casey Jr. Circus Train and it was his birthday we had to ride it.

The best part of going to Disneyland on your birthday is that you get in for free. Casey is showing off his free pass. Oh, and it so happens that they changed their parade so now they have one that is called "Lets Celebrate". It was fun because it was like a big dance party in the street and because they recognize all those who are celebrating something that day (birthday, engagement, anniversary, etc.).

Woodbridge 4th of July Race

One highlight of the 4th of July is running in the Woodbridge 5k or 10k race. This year Aymee and Casey ran the 10k and Alexis (niece) and I ran the 5k. Alexis was supposed to be my running partner but that never happened because once the gun went off she took off at a dead sprint. "Really?" is what I said in my head when she did that. So instead of going with her I kept my comfortable 8 minute mile pace which crossed me over the finish line at 24:02. I was pleasantly surprised when I was told that I finished 4th in my age group. However, Alexis' sprinting paid off for her because she finished the race in 23:22 which made her 1st in her age group to finish. YEAH for my running partner:) As for Aymee and Casey, they did as well as everyone expected. Casey finished in around 36 minutes and Aymee finished around 45 minutes. Aymee was the 1st woman to cross the finish line. She ROCKS! So if you're not doing anything next 4th of July come join us at the Annual Woodbridge Race.

A little pre-race stretching

Casey showing off his toned backside!

Me with my running partner