Monkies Current Eventz: August Summer

We traveled down to Montana at the end of July after a short 5 day stay at home. We stopped for groceries and found ice cream cones in the deli section for 25 cents!

We arrived to the lake around 9pm on Sunday evening (before the August Long weekend). Ryan had proposed that we travel down together on the following Wednesday but I felt it was important to get back to the lake (and the construction project) even just for security of the place. We spent an hour enjoying the lake before the kids went to bed. I remember smelling a faint smell of smoke and wondering which neighbor was having a campfire.

I awoke at 7am in the morning to enjoy the peace of the morning and this was one of my first views. I came out to a smouldering forest fire! The forest fire had started from our campfire and worked it's way under the soft dry ground, all the way to the old log we used as campfire seating. It then smouldered within that. And it wasn't until I sprayed it for a lengthy period of time that the true extent of the brewing was discovered. We consider ourselves lucky. It had been working it's strength for approximately 3 days...unattended. We are grateful I decided to arrive on Sunday, rather than Wednesday. And also, that the weather had not been windy to fuel the fire.

The log

The extent of the underground burn.

In other good news stories. The VERY community protected loons of Ashley Lake.

Chase and I went for a morning walk and HE spotted our tube that had been missing for approximately 10 days!

We bought a sprinkler to water the grass. It's amazing how a little piece of civilization can provide so much peace and joy. I loved seeing it running.

We were introduced to crayfish. We have not tasted them yet but are told they are yummy. Instead, we became very avid fishermen for them.

Daytime sunshine.

If you look really closely, this was a picture to exhibit how dreadfully dirty he is. Especially his face.

Chase a Hiker. He sure loves this dog. I'm not so sure Hiker feels the same.

We attended a lake community meeting where we got to hear all about the important issues like the Loons, erosion, Heli Pad locations etc. etc. The meeting was not colorful enough. So the children decided to have a meeting behind the meeting.

Now it's time for the annual fire hose testing. I am sure our fire safety neighbors are slightly nervous about our forest fire tendencies. We are grateful to have them to protect us. That's for sure!

Ready to test.

And go!

One of the many camping hairstyles.

We participated in the 10th annual Pedal and Paddle event on the lake. We wore our numbered team Richards shirts.

Here is Bob. Chase's best buddy. A "true" Montanan

Some days. It's just too much effort to get into our swimming gear. So we just walk right in.

Will, all tuckered out.

Logan was enthusiastic to share his horse power with me.

Chase LOVED swimming here. He doesn't love it over by our dock.

Colby

Meanwhile, back at home, we are missing out on a raspberry harvest.

A little lakeside car wash at your service.

He wasn't always focused on washing the car. When the older brothers least expected it he would turn in their general direction.

A treeline sunset

I wonder when these glassy lake pictures will get old?

August 13th, we were back in the car headed for home.

But before we left town, we passed a cute American Carnival. It looked just like the ones you see in the movies. I should put this on our list of things to do for next year.

Logan's Pass - the preferred route.

The scenery gets me every time.

Upon our return home we visited Great Grandma and took her lunch to celebrate her 90th Birthday.

Chase missed his nap that day. So he grabbed one on the car ride home.

Just like any visit for someone else's birthday...Sadie came home with something handed down to her. This doll was said to be her Grandmother's.

We had a few errands to run out in the country. Chase found a spare tire just his size

Quinten test drove the antique tractor. (not really)

And just like that, after our weekend home (5 days), we were back in Montana watching the sunrise over Kalispell. This is the start to our grand finale stay for the summer. (This was taken on my way into town at 7 am to grab groceries).

A few outdoor shenanigans.

The cousins arrive for some summer fun. Starting with a campfire.

This is often the sight I would wake up to every morning. I never minded.

You'd be hard pressed to find a boy with more enthusiasm, spunk and entertaining personality.

Sometimes we would tie cords so they don't pull unplugged. And sometimes we marvel in the knotting. In this case, Logan was asked to tie the cord so Ryan could pull it up to the second floor. I think he was pretty proud of his work.

There doesn't have to be a caption for this picture to love it. Every. little. bit. of. it.

Chase apprenticing with Uncle Jon.

I asked Chase to go wash his hands. And so ....

He Did!

More cousin shenanigans.

It's difficult to tame the hungry in them.

And then there was She-Ra. She found a tree. She claimed it was dead. So she pulled it out

She moved it to the camp fire.

This is it. This is the picture that defines the summer! We camped for 58 days this summer. Quinten's feet confirm that.

Sadie's outfit also confirms that.

But it wasn't a completely tough life all the time. We held daily hammock meetings to discuss the weather.

And enjoy the cute creatures around us.

Just when things looked to be moving in our favor....

this happened.

The neck brace was for precaution. But the broken arm was for real. Ryan fell head first into a 6' to 8' tree well.

He knew this would slow him down but he tried not to let it. Here's all the things you can do with a broken arm on Day 1.

This is my attempt to get a picture of the tree well. It honestly doesn't do a justice but it's something.

Looking to the side he fell down. It is straight down.

Ryan didn't last long...before his injury caught up with him. I figure this is a pretty perfect place to recover.

More glassy lake pictures.

Bob shared his bow and arrows with us. They LOVED IT.

We took a bike ride up the road to a creek ...

Where we could hunt for buckets and buckets of crayfish

One afternoon all the kids loaded up (minus Chase) and floated around the corner over to the marsh. They collected artifacts and were gone for 1.5 hours!

Bon Voyage!

Colby got up on the wakeboard! He was pretty proud.

Will, then, had to show him how the 'big' guys do it.

A morning float without a ripple.

Morning Fisherman

The only thing Quinten caught was the rope for the anchor.

Lake pose.

I take pictures to capture moments of time for my memory. Not in my memory...because that's too unreliable.

When Grampa returned to visit we spent an afternoon boating. He looked pretty pleased to get back at it with no trouble.

Then, we gave some tube rides for entertainment.

Mike enjoyed himself again.

It looks like the feeling is mutual with Logan and Grampa.

On land, we enjoyed some building projects.

This is the kid-constructed playhouse.

Chase was my loyal assistant with the rock clean up. Exhibit A.

When things were slow we bounced over to the other side of the lake to do some sliding.

I guess the kids miss the beach because they spent plenty of time in the sandbox.

Chase found the trainer skis. I'm pretty sure he would NOT go on H2O.

There's always some fun summer jumping shots. This time our equipment source is a trampoline. Not a water tramp, but an actual tramp set in the water.

The Lily Pad was super fun too!

If you look far, far away: at the green roof (which belongs to Bob). Just slightly to the right you can see a hint of our little structure hidden in the trees. We sure look close to our neighbors from this vantage point.