Oh wow! What a whirlwind of a life we are leading! Our life is always crazy, but this takes the cake. I see the light at the end of the tunnel though, so soon, we will be finding more of a calm.
There are tons of fun things to do in this town! We went to both shows put on by Shakespeare in the Park here. The first was Henry the IV and the second wasn’t actually by Shakespeare, but the girls enjoyed it a bit more because the language was easier to understand.
At the beginning of the month we visited the “Bozeman Beach” often to cool down. The girl love playing in the water and we went a couple times with our neighbor boys and their mom, so that was less lonely for me. Although I do like to get “in” the water too sometimes. Actually, I only really float on a water raft, but it cools me down too.
The girls’ second favorite thing to do was to dig in the apartment sandbox and fill it with water.
On the 4th of July we enjoyed an ice cream social at the Museum of the Rockies for a special event they were having out in their pioneer display.
Then in the evening we went to the Symphony’s performance at the fairgrounds that ended in the fireworks display.
We made it up to Swan Creek one Saturday afternoon, but the bugs chased us away. We found another great spot to play in the water and fish on Spanish Creek, just 20 minutes away. The bugs weren’t as scary there.
This new fancy frozen yogurt thing would break the bank if you let it. We went one morning to the “U-Swirl” to get yogurt because Tegan had won a free one from her basketball camp. We love that place, but can’t do it very often!
Through all this fun times, we were waiting and hoping that we would get the house we put an offer on. We had bad communication between our realtors and with the buyer with our inspection items, but finally it all came through and we settled into the fact we would get the house. We didn’t know when for sure though because the previous owner wanted to stay longer and then didn’t want to stay longer. It was a crazy, confusing time.
Then this blurb turned up in the church bulletin of the church we had been attending. I showed it to Michael and we both laughed a little at how perfect it was written for me. I had been planning to apply to a graduate program for getting a teaching certificate, but kept hearing how hard it was to get a job in Bozeman. Finally I decided to just call the church and let them take a look at what I had to offer to see if they might be interested. After two interviews and me being totally honest about my wanting to work less over the summer and needing flexibility, they called to offer me the job! So I took it. It feels like it will really be perfect for me at this time and give me a chance to really put down roots and get to know some people. (I started the job on August 5th, and I am loving it! It really is going to be fun and easy job for me. Plus, I can leave work at work…so my attentions are less divided than back in Washington!)
Oh neighbor friends introduced us to the “Boiling River” in Yellowstone one beautiful Friday afternoon. It is a place where this hot spring comes out of the ground and joins up with the Gardiner River. The waters mix and the river feels like a hot tub! We had a great time chillaxing in the water for a few hours!
Then that evening we got to watch an outdoor movie in Family and Graduate Housing. See, never ending things to do around here! Most are free too!
Our church put on a Blue Grass concert on Sunday evening that was fun. Someone made a Jambalaya that was fantastic! I want the recipe so bad!
I am a mean mom and have been making the girls do school work from workbooks everyday. I think it gives them something productive to do and keeps them sharp. They don’t even complain about it anymore!
Tegan and the neighbor boys made bows and arrows. Those boys LOVE Tegan and were really mad that we had to move.
Anika was having a tea party with the girl downstairs in the shade. They will miss having all the kids around in this new house.
Here is the Bozeman Farmer’s Market! It is huge! This is a covered ice skating rink in the winter and it is completely full of vendors.
The next Friday, I took the girls to the fair. We enjoyed an elephant ear and visiting the llamas. I even bought Montana shaped alpaca felt coasters!
The had a super fun petting zoo there. The girls wanted to stay there forever.
Then, they talked me into letting them ride a couple rides. After a mild ride on the swings, Thrill Seeker Tegan, rode on the Zipper with our neighbor and a couple other hard core rides.
It was HOT that weekend, so on Saturday night we took an emergency camping trip to get cool at night. We picked up our trailer at 4:00 pm and were heading up the canyon around 5:00! Luckily we found a spot that night. We weren’t sure we would.
We went on a “Costco Lunch Date” just like we did when my girls were little! It sure makes grocery shopping more fun.
On Tuesday, July 23rd, we had visitors! Zach and Melissa were headed through town to a family reunion, so they stopped by. We showed them our tiny apartment and introduced them to the Pickle Barrel for lunch. Then we toured them around campus a bit. The best part was they stayed overnight nearby at a hotel with a waterslide, so all the cousins played until they were exhausted on that and cooled off a bit!
That Thursday we signed the papers for our house and I got a job on the same day! We had to start packing up a bit, but we knew we weren’t in a hurry to move and would be doing it slowly, one load at a time for awhile. Over the weekend we moved a few boxes, but even though the girls begged, we didn’t sleep there.
We had a big camping trip planned that I had to get ready for…our 2013 Mommy and Me Camp!
I had been worried that I wouldn’t be able to pull our “Mommy and Me” camp together for this year with all the craziness, but I guess I could. We had a wonderful time. It wasn’t quite the same because our location wasn’t as awesome as the Deception Pass camp ground, but we made it work.
Tegan’s being a little cooky…this was her dessert choice for the campout…strawberry shortcake.
Our shirts glow-in-the-dark this year!
During the time we would have normally spent at the lake digging holes and swimming for 3 hours, we drove into Big Sky and hiked to this beautiful waterfall instead.
Kelby played her ukulele a bunch for this this time!
Here is Anika making “pumpkin popcorn”. It magically pops into a pumpkin I guess. That is what Kelby asked for in our camping planning.
Our cute shirts!
The during the “explore time” on the next day, we climbed to this cave. Mike had talked to someone at work that said that there were lots of crystals there. So, we gave it a go and wow did we have fun scavenging for those rocks! There were tons of them.
It made me a little nervous getting up there, but we made it!
It was an amazing find. We were nervous up there for the thunder storms that kept rolling through the area while we were camping. What is the best way to ride out a storm? Is the trailer safe? Well, it was safe enough this time and we made it back safe and sound Thursday afternoon.
We had an appointment to get the internet hooked up in our new house…and of course, we couldn’t move in until the internet was hooked up!
On my way over to the house, however, I got rear ended! Bummer. I don’t have time to get that taken care of. At least it wasn’t my fault this time! I’ll get to it soon.
On Friday we spent the whole morning moving loads from the apartment to the house and at 3:00 the movers came to carry our big stuff out, load the truck, and unload it at the house. After that, it was official…we were sleeping there! It didn’t take us too long to make the place workable and able to handle our routines. There are still boxes in the garage and in storage that we have to work into the house, but we aren’t feeling too stressed about it.
On Saturday morning, after getting a huge load with all the big stuff from our storage unit, Mike and I went down to the Sweet Pea Parade. We couldn’t talk the girls into coming with us. I even saw a unicorn there!
Now we are into a new part of the story. We are spreading out into our larger space and settling in, but I also started my job the next Monday! I’m sure that August will be filled with more crazy adventures that we can handle, but I’ll write about those another day.
Our new address is 320 N 16th Ave, Bozeman, MT 59715 and our only home phone number is now 406-404-1955. We had our old one forwarded for awhile, but now we are getting rid of Vonage altogether. Give us a call or drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you. We also have lots of space for visitors that want a base camp for Yellowstone or other Montana adventures!
Love and miss everyone!
