First Day of School maybe, but summer's NOT over!

Just because school started this past week doesn't mean by any stretch of the imagination that summer is over! We've had some of our greatest camping and boating yet this summer the past two weekends.

Breanne has started first grade with Ms. Barkac. She loves it! She asked Derrick if he liked going to work better than staying home. She said, "I like going to school better than staying home." She's making new friends and adjusting very well.

Madison started second grade with Ms. Rensvold. She too seems to be enjoying it. It's fun to having her reading more. She can just take over in the mornings with reading what's for lunch and such.

Last weekend, we took a long trip up to Canyon Ferry (over 200 miles away). (Above you can see Aliya's cherry goatee.) We had two family friends join us: the Eknesses and the Ottenbachers. The camping sites were terrific and we had our own little "private beach."

It was fun to watch all the kids play. Gracie and Breanne were inseparable! They had a fort and enjoyed lots of time swimming and tubing. And in addition, all the kids (except Aliya) tried water skiing. Madi was 100% successful! Go Madi. She went across the bay we were camped along and even crossed some pretty big waves Derrick said. When she let go and Derrick picked her up, she was grinning ear to ear and said, "My legs were tired." Breanne is her biggest cheerleader!

This past weekend, we packed up Saturday morning and spent one night at Tongue River Reservoir. It was a great get away after having begun school routines.

Madi got to have Alyssa and her mom, Ms. Laura, join us for the day on Saturday. It was a treat! Alyssa was a little go-getter and even got up on water skis for quite a ways.

Today we just enjoyed a day as a family. Aliya did a little tubing today, but I think we figured out that the highlight of tubing for her is when we stop and she gets to stand up and sing, "I'm surfing, I'm surfing!"

What a joy to see our children playing together, imagining and having fun!

A Special Birthday Wish

to a very special grandpa!

Honeymoonin'

While the kids are away, mom and dad will play! Our girls have been visiting their grandparents and cousins in Minnesota for the past two weeks, so Derrick & I have been enjoying time together-alone! It's wonderful to not have to fight for his attention..to not have to share him.

The last weekend in July, we were able to camp with our friends the McGrails in the BigHorn Mountains. (Yes, Mike, it only took 5 years, but we finally made it there!) It was the perfect weekend to be camping at 9000 feet above sea level as temps in Billings were in the 90s! Apparently, Becky needs to take note that you should always pack a sweatshirt when camping...just in case it's cold at night.

We saw more moose in two days than we've seen in our entire lives! We spied 5 moose throughout the weekend, most of them right at our campground.

We did a little hiking with Doug and Sarah to the revitalizing Medicine Wheel (yea, right) and the Porcupine Falls.

On Sunday, we headed down the mountain back down to 3000 feet above sea level and took a dip (as the girls like to say) in Yellowtail Lake. It was beautiful on the south end of the lake, which I've never seen before. Derrick got in some water skiing and the rest of us got to relax and soak up the sun (or shade!)

This past weekend, we headed out to the Crazy Mountains outside of Big Timber. We hiked in about four-miles and set up camp for two-nights near Granite Lake. We initially set up on a little island between Blue and Granite Lakes until other campers said they had spotted five wolverines near our campsite. I asked Derrick if we could find another site...yikes!

Crazy Peak

On our hike up we watched thousands of butterflies flutter around lots of wildflowers.

And as we climbed, amazed at how much snow is still up on the mountains and actually hiked on some sections of snow! Derrick was nice, he didn't throw any snowballs at me & he even let me use his sweatshirt..because again, I didn't pack one.

Big Timber Creek

The weather was excellent all weekend! We tried our hand at fishing a number of times without any luck but were both successful in finishing 400-page novels throughout the weekend.

On Saturday, we hiked around Blue and Thunder Lakes and went boulder climbing up along a waterfall, which afforded us some spectacular views! (Yes, that is one of many large snow banks still up on the lake!)

On our hike out Sunday, we both agreed that although we don't enjoy the girls complaining about hiking, we sure missed having them along with us to enjoy the sites, smells and sounds of camping! We are both ready for them to come home!

We'll wrap up with a shot of Aliya and Derrick tubing on Yellowtail Lake before she left for Minnesota...