A trip to Oregon - Post #1

 It has been a long time since Erik (my brother), Courtney (my sister), and I have all been in the same place at the same time.  In fact, I have been with Clint for about 11 years and he had never met Erik.  Crazy!

Early this year we decided to make it happen.  So, we all picked some dates and decided to meet at Dad and Marsha's house in Oregon.  It is the perfect place for all of us to meet.  Lots of outdoor activities, lots of great memories, and just a beautiful place. 

There ended up being A LOT of us.  There was Me, Clint, Kimber, Dane, Courtney, Olivia, Naomi, Chloe, Erik, Lisa, Evan, Owen, Erica, Dad, Marsha, and Mom.  WOW, what a group! 

Luckily Clint and I just purchased a new (to us, but certainly not new!  More like a 1992!) pop up tent trailer.  We weren't in the market for one, but we had outgrown our tent and the price was so good we couldn't pass it up. 

So, we hooked it up and used it for the 8 days that we were there!  It worked like a dream!  Dad and Marsha live way out in the woods (no electricity, snowmobile home during the winter, etc.) so it was a great place to set up "camp".

Of course Dane loves the tractor, as did all the kids.  Gramps was super good to them and let them go for several rides.  The act of riding up and down in the bucket is now known as "the redneck carnival ride"!

Dane and Gramps

Don't look down!

While we were there some of the neighbors came over and got a picture of us.  Mom hadn't arrived yet, so sadly we missed her in the picture.  Kimber wasn't really cooperating, but amazingly enough the rest of us came together and stood still long enough to get some pictures!

My Dad is an accomplished roper (From actually roping cows in Nevada.  He was a cowboy for years.)  Olivia worked hard to figure it out and made some definite progress.

 

How were they doing that???

 A couple of the days that we were there, we went up to the State Park at Wallowa Lake.  It was a nice place to hang out, visit and let the kids play.  Here is one of the resident deer that hang out in the park.  The tourists really like them, but they actually can be real nuisance, so we always chase them off and don't feed them.  Too bad there is no hunting in the park! :)

 Our poor deprived (yeah right!) child Dane had never roasted marshmallows before.  In a moment of weakness before the trip I bought these monster marshmallows thinking they would be good.  They actually were too big and didn't stay on the sticks very well.  Dane took about 3 bites and was done.  But, he was so excited about it and did seem to enjoy the experience!

 While at the Lake there was a lot of fun to be had.   Here they are playing Frisbee...  poor Kimber is always behind, but she kept at it!

Bones getting some love from Evan

 Wrestling also proved to be a lot of fun.  I think poor Gramps was getting ganged up on!

Dane trying to out run Uncle Erik and Owen

Wasn't quite fast enough!  Here is Uncle Erik tickling Dane!

Some of the days we split up and did things in different groups.  One day Dad, Erik and I took a 10 mile trail run up Slick Rock while everyone else went fishing at Salt Creek Summit.  Clint is so patient and was able to help the kids catch some trout.  They all had a great time!  Below is a picture of Clint showing all the kids how he fillets the fish.  Dad, Erik and I had a great time as well.  This run was a warm up for the longer trail run we did later in the week!  Both Erik and Dad are in amazing shape.  I know that they had to slow down a little for me, but they did so without complaint.  Erik took his camera and did a great job taking pictures.  He is going to send me a jump drive with those photos so I will have to do another post later with some of those pictures.

That day Marsha, Lisa, and Courtney did a bunch of laundry.  But, then of course I come home with my icky running clothes.  I know I will need them again soon and I don't want to bother Marsha to do more laundry (it's a pain with starting the generator, pumping water and such) so I decided to do it the old fashioned way.  Yes, with a baby on my back!  Clint had to take a picture cause he said that anytime you can take a picture of your wife doing laundry in a bucket...  you just can't pass it up!  (Marsha was so sweet though and assured me that in the future she would happily do another load for me!  She spoiled us!)

While I was slaving over the laundry, this butterfly came and was drinking the water from the pavers.  Since Clint had the camera handy, he was able to get a few great shots.  Lisa also took some wonderful pictures of this visiting friend!  I will have to post the other picture on my next post because my computer is a little temperamental and didn't feel like cooperating on that download. 

Kimber was quite fortunate on this trip and all of the kids (and adults of course!) treated her wonderfully.  Here is Naomi watching over her!

Fishin' the Missouri

This is just a quick post to share some of the fun pictures we have taken lately!  Here is Grandma getting a little Kimber love!  :)

Last weekend the boys hiked down on the Missouri Thursday afternoon/night while I was finishing up work.  They had such an incredible time that we went back down Friday afternoon and then Saturday morning.  Here are some pictures from the trips.

Dane with a bass and Clint with a Sauger

Kimber having fun in the mud

No mom, I wasn't eating dirt...  why do you ask?

This was the biggest walleye that we have caught down there.  Clint did a great job catching it!

A nice Pike

Clint's friend Noah with a very nice sauger.

Airshow and a picnic!

Last weekend was the airshow at the local Air National Guard.  It was really great, but our kids are a little young...  Dane was a intimidated by all the big helicopters, planes, and jets and it was really hot so we had to cut the day short.  But we still had a lot of fun and enjoyed our time.  Mom has this wagon that we loaded the kids into, and it worked great!  They got to ride together and a good part of the walk was through a mowed pasture, so it was nice that it had bigger tires. 

I think Kimber may have been more eager to get out and walk around.  Dane was more like "no, I'm good looking at everything from here".  He did walk through the fed ex plane...  I know, we were at a military airshow and the only plane he wanted to go in was the fed ex plane.  Figures!  But, they were giving away stickers!

 After walking around and looking at all the displays, the actual airshow started.  We have ear protection for both kids since we hunt with them, so that worked out really well.  It was cool to see some of the things those jets and planes can do.  We did have to leave before the Blue Angels flew, which was a bummer...  but there will be another chance sometime when the kids are a little older.

 Here's me and Dane while he is "hamming it up" for the camera!

 Today, when I got off work we went for a picnic down by the river.  Before dinner we had fun catching butterflies and ladybugs.  Okay, now I must admit Clint is a far superior butterfly catcher.  I gave it all I had but I just couldn't seem to catch those little buggers.  However Clint caught three.  It does hurt my pride a little to admit this, on our way there I was imagining frolicking in the grass waving my little net and catching butterflies all over...  Not so much. 

Dane was a ladybug catching fool and Kimber just had fun taking it all in.

 Dane showing off one of the butterflies.

 Kimber thought it was pretty cool too!

 Okay, so I have never been a squirrel feeder, but you have kids and everything changes.  Dane tormented this one for a little while chasing it around the tree before it finally went up.  Then I enticed it back down with little bits of bread.  The kids thought it was so great!

 Kimber also got to chase it around the tree!

 Then we went to the River and Dane and Clint caught some minnows.  What a great time!

Gotta love these kids!

It's been a long week.  Last Wednesday I had to go pick Dane up cause he had pink-eye.  Well, we took him tot he Dr., got some drops and figured we would be good.  Friday he hadn't improved much so he went back to the Dr and got different drops and oral antibiotics.  That night his fever climbed to 103+ and stayed there for the entire weekend.  When he was medicated it would come down some, but as soon as the tylenol or ibuprofen wore off it would shoot right back up.  Nights were super rough and then we added some puking to the mix.  He wasn't eating very well and I started getting worried.  Monday I was supposed to go to Missoula for work but Clint was working that night.  We had made arrangements with someone from his daycare to bring the kids home and hang out with them until Clint got home, but obviously that wasn't happening.  Luckily, Clint was able to get Monday off and after getting Dane another appointment to go back in I headed out to Missoula.  Good news is that they got him into an eye Dr. and got some different meds to put in his eyes.  Turns out it wasn't pink-eye but a different eye infection.  Monday night his fever was up to 103.7 when he went to bed, but it ended up breaking overnight and by Tuesday night he looked so much better.  Clint had Wednesday and Thursday off, so Dane and him ended up spending some great time together.  (even though Dane could have gone back to daycare on Wednesday, Clint kept him home and they went fishing at the River on Wednesday and out on Holter today...  Lucky guys! 

Kimber is such a cuddle bug...  she will climb in anyone's lap who is sitting on the floor.  Here she is taking advantage of Dane's lap...  as little as it may be!

Tuesday night Clint was cleaning up after dinner and the kids were outside playing.  I don't think we have to wonder if Kimber is going to be a tomboy!

I know I've said it before, but Grammy is an awesome seamstress.  Here is Kimber sportin' a super cute dress that Grammy made her! 

The next few pictures are from the boy's trip to Holter today...  here are some crawdads that they were able to catch.  As well as a stick and a flower!

Dane showing off one of the crawdads they caught!

Even though he only went a few times, swim lessons really helped Dane's confidence around water.  Here he is splashing around and having a great time!

Fishin' the Missouri with Dane

Monday we decided to give Dane a special day.  He's been missing his Daddy since Clint switched to afternoons, so we thought that a special day fishing on the River might be a lot of fun for him.  So, Kimber went to daycare and we hiked down to the Missouri for the morning.  It is a tough place to take Kimber at this point anyway.  She only wants to be on my back for a while or if we are hiking and then she wants down.  She is walking but not that great and as you will see from the pictures it was really muddy.  Plus, Dane felt pretty special!  Here are some pictures from our great day!

Dane's getting his Daddy a minnow. 

 One of Dane's goldeneyes.

 My special catch...  yes that's right.  It's a carp!  They actually fight pretty good! 

 Dane actually caught the first bass of the day!

 Dane's pretend "sailboat".  He talked Clint into riding his "sailboat" with him.  It was pretty darn cute!

 It was truly a little boys paradise.  Look at all that mud!

We all had a really fun time. It was pretty hot though, I think it got up to about 104 here yesterday, which is hot for Montana.  Luckily we had a nice cool sprinkler to run through last night!

In addition, today I got some good news.  I lucked out and drew a bull elk permit for the Beartooth Mountains which is a pretty great area.  I am SO EXCITED and can't wait to start hiking and scouting!  

An awesome visit and a fun fourth!

Clint's parents left last Sunday after a great visit.  They were amazing and helped us so much while they were here.  We did have a little fun as well.  Here are some pictures from our fishing trips.

It's a walleye!

Just chillin'

Bill with a nice trout

Sheri and Kimber enjoying lunch

 I also picked Dane up a kite one day so Sheri (Nana) and I took him to fly it at a local park.  The wind was pretty light so we had to run a little to keep it up, but it was so fun.  I think I had as much fun as he did.  Plus all the running tired him out!  Awesome!

 This was taken on Holter during one of our fishing trips.  I thought it was so beautiful!

 The day that Bill and Sheri left we decided to just hang out and have some fun.  So, we headed out to Freezeout for some bowfishing.  Dane thought that it was about the coolest thing EVER!  He was telling everyone about shooting carp!

Clint ready for a shot

 

Kimber is quite the walker these days and has a great time trekking everywhere.  Here she is bringing me a rock!  What a treasure! 

and of course, there was the fourth.  My mom came over on Sunday night and we lit a few fireworks for Dane.  Here he is with some sparklers!