Adventures in Montana: A Hike in June

This weekend, Derrick, Phil, Shannon and I decided it was a perfect day to go on a hike. It was one of the first really beautiful summer days we'd had, and what better way to spend it than out on a trail somewhere.  We decided to go to St. Mary's Peak, somewhere up in the Bitterroot Wilderness.  We knew there might be a chance of snow, but we were still game to try it.

About 75% of the trail had snow on it.  We were all dressed for summer weather, in our shorts and light shirts, but the air stayed warm until nearly the top, so we were fine. 

I don't know if it was the challenge, the company, or just that it was so beautiful, but this was one of my favorite hikes ever.  Would love to do it again sometime!

Summer Has Arrived

We had a great time at the district convention last weekend. It was more stressful actually GETTING there because it was so much earlier in the summer than usual (meaning the kids weren't out of school yet, and I had less time to gather needed items), but once we were there it was good. Well, after discovering all of Derrin's suits had been left at home, taking ten minutes to hyperventilate, and then resolving the issue with some clothes Derrick found at Walmart (he found clothes the right size AND 50% off, whatta guy!), THEN everything was all good:) 

The assembly itself was AWESOME. Every single talk had something so needed in it, and the drama was great. It's going to be hard to not talk about it with my family (they aren't going until the middle of August).

 

The kids had a great time at the swimming pool there (of course). There were quite a few from our hall who stayed there too, so there were lots of kids to play with. The parents all tried to be troopers in the chlorine chaos, but there was a lot of internal rocking in the corner of the mind (well for me anyways) to deal with the huge amount of people crammed in there. Kids don't care about that stuff though- they were just thrilled there was a pool and even more thrilled that there were water slides (I know, fancy).

 We went to the Lewis and Clark Taverns with some of the other families on Monday.

  It was a lot better than I expected. Derrin and Kloe seemed to really enjoy it, although Kloe was very concerned about the dangers of traipsing through caves with BATS everywhere. She asked our tour guide quite a few questions about her bat concerns, and although was happy to learn that bats can't give you pneumonia (not sure where she heard that), she was less happy to learn that they CAN infect you with rabies if they bite you. But, after seeing several of the little brown bats clinging harmlessly to the walls, she relaxed and had a good time.

 

And now summer is really here. It is beautiful out there for the first time in quite a few days, and we are enjoying the sunshine. Hopefully, the sun decides to stick around for awhile!! The kids are going to hang out with Steph and Aiyana this weekend, and they are super excited about that. And after that... well, just lots of summer stuff. I am sure I will be writing about some of it:)

The Civil Wars- Poison & Wine

The Civil Wars are my new favorite band! Love this sad sad song.

Dreams, Ponderings, and Happenings

I had a dream last night that I was in Paradise, and had just learned that an old building had collapsed there, killing many people. It was an old hotel that had always been there (in real life the hotel had burnt down (?) decades before I was even born- I'd only heard about it's existence from my mom and played on the rubble of it's old foundation). In my dream, Renae and I went to search through part of the hotel that still remained. I looked in a cupboard, and found a stack of journals. I opened one after another, and realized that they were my mom's. I started crying, because I had always known that there had to be something somewhere with all of her thoughts written down. It was such a vivid dream. It's funny how most of my most intense dreams always take place in Paradise.

Old Hotel in Paradise, winter of 1955- picture posted on facebook by my cousin in
2011-it was fun to see, as I had heard about it my whole life, but had never seen it.

Mom was on my mind this morning.  I go to a class called bodyflow every Friday, and on one of the "letting go" stretch exercises, the instructor plays a song called "Still Here" by Natasha Bedingfield.  I'm already pretty relaxed from all the the stretches and songs before that one, so that particular song hits me particularly hard.  But I do love it.

On a completely different note, I want to talk about my son.  This morning I was up early, sitting on the couch drinking a cup of coffee.  When 7:20 rolled around, I heard Derrin's alarm go off.  He got up, and crept over to Kloe's room, and in the sweetest voice whispered,"Kloe, it's time to get up, okay?"  The kindness in his voice moved me.  At meeting the other night, Kloe was freezing to death.  Derrin took off his suit jacket and gave it to her, which also completely moved me.  I know that my kids fight like little cats and dogs, as only siblings can, but there are moments when I get a glimpse of what their relationship might be like in the future, and it makes me so happy.  I want them to be close friends as they grow up, and always have each other's back.  That is one of my biggest hopes for my kiddos.

The kids have been having so many field trips for school that it's been hard to keep up.  This week Kloe went swimming with her class (which Derrick when to) and then a nature hike (which I went on).  Derrin went on a trip with his band class, and then he went to the school he will be attending next year for 6th grade.  He seems excited about his new school.  He said that he will be able to take a semester of Spanish, so he is jacked about that.

explaining what art she created with the materials she found in the woods. 

her "nature art" project

on our field trip

drawing the bug her team found

natural face paint

painted girl

We survived last weekends camping trip. It was as dire as I predicted, but I have to say I had a good time. Probably a better time than most of the other campers there, because I had not harbored any hopes that the weather would be other than it was:)

Our assembly is next weekend, so the kids will be getting out of school on Wednesday for the summer (two days early) so we can take off to Billings.  Summer has arrived for real!!