Summer 2014

So life has accelerated it’s pace and I haven’t had time to sit and document our fun life in the last eight months. Looking back now is fun and makes me ready to get out and go camping. 

The summer was  a bit awkward since Kelby and Tegan were working at the summer day care program at our church and I was working. We didn’t plan ahead or ask for any weeks off, so that made planning a challenge. In the end we did just fine at making time for fun.

After the first year of being in Bozeman, Mike finally broke out his fishing gear at the beginning of the summer. He was pretty excited to find some fishing spots within a few minutes from the house. This is a great picture of the Bridger Mountains that he can see from one of his fishing spots.

The weather was a little less stormy last summer than it was the first summer we were here. However, this rainbow came one stormy evening. The picture doesn’t do it justice; it was absolutely beautiful. This is our house.

For Father’s Day we went camping and took Mike to the waterfalls near Big Sky. They were raging with the spring runoff!

Our camp site was a Redcliff, a new favorite, so we also did a little hiking and rock hunting.

This is a beautiful picture of Kelby…even though it catches her in the act of cracking her knuckles…which she does all the time.

Early in the summer the church hosted a Vacation Bible School and Anika got to attend. Her big sisters were working the day care and also got to help with VBS.

For Kelby’s birthday weekend we rented a paddle board from the University Outdoor Recreation Center. She invited some friends to join us at Bozeman Beach for pizza and paddling, but it ended up being really chilly and stormy that night. The kids went paddle boarding anyway for a while, then we went back to the house for cake and games.

Then every day for the rest of the weekend we had to get out and find some water to use the paddle board. After we got a taste of water craft, I decided I needed to buy a kayak. That gave us a lots of fun throughout the rest of the summer. We drive up to Hyalite Canyon and get out on the water.

On the Fourth of July we ventured up to Fairy Lake, which was a tricky road to get up with our minivan! I guess we won’t be taking the trailer up there to camp any time soon. The lake was beautiful and we got the kayak out on the water.

 

This is my favorite spot ever…love that hammock and a good book.

That evening we went to the Bozeman Symphony fireworks show again. Tegan’s choir class got to sing the National Anthem!

 

On the 5th of July, Mike and I ventured out on a crazy mountain bike trek. Our bikes are really just the Walmart version and I was not mountain bike fit, so that was a tough trip. We rode up hill about 5 miles to Mystic Lake. The route we took was a wide trail until the last mile to the lake. Then we took the “short cut”, so needless to say, it wasn’t easy. On one side of the trail was a steep hill. The trail was narrow and rocky and by that time I was exhausted. Mike went ahead of me because I kept stopping on the trail. Then, I hit a rock and fell down the hill a bit. Luckily there was a bush that caught me. That scared the heck out of me! I couldn’t catch my breath because I was so mad and scared at the same time. After that I just walked my bike, but we finally made it to the lake. Getting down was super fast and fun, so by the time I got back to the car I was ready to try it again another day.

In mid-July Gramma Morrow flew into Bozeman and she got to stay one night at our house before we loaded her and the trailer up to go to Red Lodge to deliver her to her friend. Then we camped there that weekend. It was such a nice trip. Gramma always spoils us and the girls, but we just enjoy the time with her.

On Saturday, Red Lodge was having an art show where the artist were out painting. It was fun to see their beautiful art. The show inspired Kelby to try her hand at oil paints.

Kelby looks great as a cowgirl!

What a beautiful crew!

On July 14, I went on an epic hike with a friend. I think we made it to “The Ridge”. The hike starts at Fairy Lake (my friend drove us in her truck, so we made it up the tricky road just fine that time.) It heads up a valley between two mountains and at the top of the ridge between the two, you can look over and see Bozeman. It was just gorgeous, but it was a little bit cold. We were passed by some folks hiking up with skis! The mountain goats were hanging out on the ridge.

This was down one side…

and this was down the other…

360 degree panoramic…

The next big adventure was the fair. This was the first time that the girls got to ride the rides. They bought their own ride bracelets to ride unlimited rides and had a blast on the scary ones!

Tegan invited her friend Emma and had so much fun with her.

Another visit to Bozeman Beach to cool down and go swimming. We all love it!

Yay for visiting friends from Washington! At the end of July, the Gibbs family came to see Yellowstone and hang with us. We got to go to the Lewis and Clark Caverns with them, although Kelby and Tegan didn’t get to go because they were working.

Mike enjoyed showing Nathan the fishing on Montana rivers.

One hot day we got to experience floating the Madison for the first time. It was super fun and relaxing, but we got burned! The water was so cool and refreshing that we didn’t realize how much sun we were getting. We felt so bad for the boys because they all looked like lobsters that night!

The next big adventure in Bozeman was the Sweet Pea Festival. Anika and I went to the “Chalk the Walk” event and drew on the sidewalks downtown.

She and I had to make some of our own summer adventures without her sisters since the other girls were working. She invited a friend to our favorite “beach” spot.

Montana State University had a great event where they showed a movie in the stadium. The families laid out blankets on the field and got cozy to watch…Monsters University, of course. The funny  part was how popular Kelby and Tegan were with the little kids that had been hanging out with them at Camp Agape all summer. These kiddos ditched their families to come watch the movie with my girls.

Here we are watching the Sweet Pea Festival parade…

Then in early August we were off for our Mommy and Me Camp on Canyon Ferry Lake near Helena. By then we had bought a second kayak, so we were water ready. However, we met up with our good friends that had moved to Helena and they brought all the fun toys!

Water trampoline!

Here is Tegan with her sweet friend Sydney that she desperately misses!

The girls got to try being pulled behind the boat on a tube, then gave water skiing a try. The skiing was difficult!

We enjoyed three days and three nights doing our regular Mommy and Me camp activities, but it was VERY hot out and our campground was very packed.

Dyson learned he liked the water!

Water dog!

We had a nice time, but we had to go visit our friends’ house to get a quick shower and cool down.

S’mores!

Then…without skipping a beat…we got home and Gramma DeeDee came to visit! She took us to Chico Hot Spring for a relaxing retreat and boy did I enjoy that…completely relaxing, even for me! We stayed in a house there. We swam for hours, slept great and swam some more. What could be better?

 

Chinese food lunch on our way home from Chico.

At the end of the the summer we got back to Yellowstone. We only went to Yellowstone twice that year. That trip was one of my favorites because we got out and spent some time just climbing on rocks.

We also stopped at the West Lake Thumb because we had never stopped there before. It was amazing. There was one deep pool that was beautiful blue.

That was our last hurrah of the summer before school started. I’ll save the fall for the next post.

In the end we had a great summer. It was different from past summers, but we found lots to do on the weekends even though everyone but Anika was working.

After a busy summer, it is always nice to settle into a school routine again.