Dylan at Logger Days

Here is Dylan riding the mechanical bull:

Other Montana Fun

The kids enjoyed playing in the creek in the front yard. When I told them to go play by the creek, I should have known that they would end up in the creek. The next time they played there I made sure they were wearing shorts.

We spent one afternoon at nearby Lake Como. The lake has a nice beach and a large shallow area for the kids to swim. Gina loved sitting in the inner tube, floating around the lake, and occasionally being pushed around by Dylan.

Once again, we tried letterboxing with the kids. This year we were more successful as I remembered the stamp, pad and notebook. My dad helped them find the first two and I helped them find one just outside of Darby by the Bitterroot River.


Here is Dylan sitting quietly on the porch, watching deer in the yard. My dad puts out corn for them so there are often 3 or 4 deer in the evening.

After we picked Vic up from the airport, we visited Fort Missoula. Below, the kids are in front of a log cabin used as NCO housing.
In the museum, Gina enjoyed dressing up in old clothes while the boys tried their hand at the cross cut saw.
For Vic and me, the highlight of the trip to Montana was taking a day to go to a Bed and Breakfast in a nearby town while the kids stayed with Boppa. We stayed in the house below which was near the river. We had a huge king size bed and jacuzzi style bathtub as well as a view of the river from our window. It was great! Maybe next year, we will stay two nights.

Before heading back to my dad's house, we visited nearby St. Mary's Mission, built in 1841. It wasn't open but we toured the grounds.


While we were gone, my dad and his friend Kathy took the kids to Big Hole Battlefield where there was a beading demonstration. The boys were not into that so they stayed outside throwing rocks and sticks. Kathy and Gina though got to try beading a small bag.

At night they had a cookout of hot dogs, cowboy beans, corn and s'mores for dessert. Kathy got Andrew to try the beans by mentioning the effect beans can have. Can you tell she has boys?

Below is a picture from our last day of the kids with their riding teachers, Kathy and Jack.

Logger Days

This year we stayed in Montana during Logger Days. It started off with a bull riding competition on the edge of town. The kids also got to see some fancy horse back riding. The rider above helped corral the bulls after the riders came off. A couple of times the horse had to back up quickly to avoid the bull. No one was seriously hurt but a number of riders limped off the field.

Two days later there was a parade through town. There were lots of emergency vehicles, cars, horses and at the end, two trucks pulling logs for the competitions. The highlight for the kids? Candy. Every single vehicle that went by threw out several pieces of candy to the kids, it looked like Halloween.

At Logger Days my dad found a reasonably priced hat for Dylan that he liked. Here he is as we are waiting to sign up the kids for their events.
We saw some of the Logger Day events like the springboard event, women's cross cut event and choker race but mostly we were going back and forth between the kid events. Andrew and Dylan were in the 6 and under tricycle race, Andrew and Gina each did the tug of war event and Gina also entered the watermelon eating contest.

The tricycle race was harder that it looked because it was on grass and once the kids turned at the far end, they slowed down and it was difficult to get going. Andrew managed really well and came in 2nd place. For the tug of war competitions, both Andrew's and Gina's teams won. They got extra tickets for winning which were put to good use in the bounce house/slide area. There was also a drawing for a bike at the end of the day. Andrew was sure he would win but of course, he didn't. The kids all took a turn on the mechanical bull as well. Dylan and Gina seemed to enjoy it the most though neither liked falling off at the end onto the super hot tarp.

At the end of the day, they also had a sawdust pile for the kids to search for coins and toys. The littlest kids go first but Dylan didn't want to try. Then they let the 5-7 yr olds go and Andrew joined the fray. He came up with a slingshot and 2 dollar coins. Gina tried once they opened it up to all the kids but it was so crowded, she quickly gave up.

It was a fairly warm day and at one point the kids talked me into buying them each a can of soda. They were so excited to be drinking Pepsi and Dr. Pepper. I think it was the highlight of their day.

Montana Vacation

For our big vacation this year, we flew to Montana to visit my dad. I flew with the kids first and then Vic met up with us four days later.

The big news this year was that my Dad now has three horses and one is gentle enough for the kids to ride. Doc is the biggest of the three but he was an old trail horse who plods along if you keep kicking. Gina really enjoyed her first lesson though by the second, she learned that it isn't always easy to get the horse to listen to you. Gina was able to ride almost every day that we were there and overall, she had fun. She also got to lead the horses around and help to get Doc ready for riding.Dylan was all smiles on top of the horse. He also insisted on getting up by himself which was quite a sight. Jack (above) who gave the kids lessons the first two days tried to lift Dylan up on the horse at one point. Instead, Dylan ran over to get the plastic step so that he could do it himself. He just needed a little help to pull himself up and then he scrambles up the saddle like he is on a jungle gym.Andrew was more tentative when riding but he always insisted on getting a turn.
Here are the boys showing off their new belts and Gina with her new hat, ready for the range.