We left Billings Thursday night, stopped in Bozeman to eat at The Chinatown Restaurant, and then continued on to Deer Lodge, where we stayed at the Western Big Sky Inn. The hotel itself wasn't bad. It was cheap, clean and roomy which is what we needed since there were 4 of us. Unfortunately, we had an ass in the room above us. About 1am, he started banging on doors ~ every half hour until about 5. The only reason I didn't call to complain was because the phone was across the room. Then there was the fact that Deer Lodge is where the state prison is. Sister and I both had vivid imaginings of an escaped conflict loose at our hotel. :-) Anyway, he eventually stopped, but we didn't get much sleep anyway.

Baby-J started throwing up about 2:30am. Poor thing. It didn't really seem to affect her mood, though. She was still trying to play and she was still happy. But she definitely sick.

We got off to a late start on Saturday, between the door banger, and a sick baby we slept through our alarm and didn't get up until after 7! We had some coffee, except poor Kiddo spilled hers right in her female area. Luckily she didn't get burned, but she wasn't happy. Truthfully, she's 16, so I'm not sure how often she's happy anyway.

We then went out for breakfast. After placing our order, Kiddo and I went outside to take some pictures of the Old Prison that was right across the street from the restaurant. One day, we'll go back and actually take a tour.

We got to Hamilton close to noon, opened the door to our father's house, and..............nobody's home. He and step-mom were both working! Turns out, Little Sis was home, but she was sleeping in the back. She woke up eventually though, but then went out to lunch with a friend, so Sister, Kiddo, Baby-J and I all headed to the motel to check in. Our room was comped because Father and Step-mom both work there. Of course, when we got there, Father had just left to go home :-)

After checking-in and letting Step-Mom show off her family for a bit, we stopped by Super-1 foods so Sister could buy some PediaLite for Baby-J, and then we went out for a bite to eat and then headed back to Father's house. He made some soup because we'd mentioned that we'd liked it the last time we visited. It was good. Unfortunately, Baby-J couldn't even keep the broth down. We ended up going back to the hotel early and hoping baby could get some sleep. Ended up having to get two extra sets of sheets for Baby, but she eventually was able to get some sleep.

Saturday, we'd made plans with Little Sis, so we headed over to Father's about 11. She was still in bed, but it didn't take her long to get ready. We went to the new sushi place in town and it was phenomenal. I hope that they get the business to sustain it, because it really was good. Baby-J was still sick, so Sister took her back to the hotel to sleep, then Little Sis, Kiddo, and I went shopping. We went to the used book store where I bought the entire Virigin River series for $5, the second in the Grace Valley series for $1, and Return to Summerhouse by Jude Deveraux for $.50. Not bad, if I do say so myself :-) We then went to the art supply store, the Christian book store, and then the candy store. After that, Little Sis asked me to drop her off back at Father's so she could visit her mom, so Kiddo and I went back to the motel to check on Sister and Baby-J, then headed back to Father's. Baby-J basically just layed down the whole time ~ poor thing, she just wasn't doing good. We ended up going back to the motel early again so baby could get some sleep.

Then Sunday morning about 1am, it hit me. Full frontal flu. It was awful. After being up all night with that, needless to say I wasn't up for much yesterday at all. Went down to hotel lobby for a piece of dry toast and Step-Mom told me Father and Little Sis were both sick also. Talk about bad timing. But, the good news was Baby-J was feeling much better.

We went to Father's, but Little Sis was in bed so we didn't want to wake her. We talked to Father for a little while and then headed out for home. It was probably the quickest trip home we'd ever made because we didn't stop anywhere. I was sick, Kiddo wasn't feeling well, and Baby-J pretty much slept the whole time.

Last night, I still had 100 degree temp, so I called in sick to work (which I never do), and decided to just take it easy today.

So, that was my weekend in a nutshell.

Labels: Family, Road Trip