More Summer Vacation

Okay - to be honest I am quite pooped! After Hemlock Lake we came home for one night and then went up to my sisters house in Plains the next day. We spent one night there and then packed up in the car again with her family and drove another hour or so to another lake that was a bugger to get to (about 19 miles on a very dusty dirt road once off the highway). We spent about 4 hours there, packed up and headed back to Plains. Unfortunately my camera decided not to work so I have no pictures of that little excursion. We spent another night in Plains and went to church with my sister and her family on Sunday and then headed off to Flathead Lake Sunday evening. The next day at Flathead some friends of ours showed up unexpectedly and we decided to go back to their place and load up their boat and drive it around the lake to my parents place. Andrew had tons of fun. He's only been on my parents' wave runner so this was his first real boat ride.

We are finally home for a while now and Tim is back at work after 7 days off. Boy did he need that vacation badly but we are both glad to be home! My lawn desperately needs to be mowed though and I've got lots of laundry to do. I don't care though, anything to keep me out of the car for a while.

Hemlock Lake Hike

We got back today from a great hike in the Mission Mountains. Tim and I realized that after 9 1/2 years of marriage we had yet to do a real, honest to goodness overnight backpack trip together as a family. With my parents having their home on Flathead Lake, that has pretty much become our recreation spot. But I married a true outdoorsman and that just doesn't quite quench all of his outdoorsy desires. Tim grew up hiking in the Missions and he tells Andrew stories all the time about his trips. He still goes at least once a year but we've just never gotten around to doing it together. Andrew has been dying to go hiking in the Missions like his daddy and catch some fish. So that's just what we did - finally! We camped at the trail head to Hemlock Lake and hiked in the next day. We spent about 5 hours on the lake - Tim and Andrew caught a couple of yummy fish that became our lunch and Andrew and I were kept entertained by a very curious deer. We hiked out that evening and camped another night. Andrew is quite the little trooper. Hiking 8 miles in a day in the mountains is nothing to sneeze at and this was just his maiden voyage. It was fantastic fun but I am soooo looking forward to my memory foam mattress tonight!

Oh thou blessed huckleberries
Reaching the wilderness boundary (a huge fire went through this area a couple years ago)
Oh so pretty
Chugging along

We made it!
These boys love to fish!
This silly deer kept coming around to check us out.
(she's next to Andy's right hip in the picture)
Mom & Andrew

4th of July!

We are back from 6 days on Flathead Lake and are completely wiped out! We had planned a huge (100 plus people) family reunion up there over the 4th but most everyone cancelled at the last minute because of gas. I don't blame them as most were coming up from Arizona. My brother Aaron came over from Seattle so of course we had lots of fun with him. Andrew just adores him! Actually everybody does. (Any nice chicks out there looking for a good catch - he's single!) And my sis, Nikole, made it over for one day with her 7 kids. My Uncle Fred and two of his grandkids were able to come up for a few days also. And beings that we weren't going to have a hundred people, we invited Tim's parents up along with his grandma. Tim's grandma is not a huge fan of water but he conviced her to go on the wave runner with him! The weather was beautiful and the lake was fantastic! I'm a little sore from wakeboarding yesterday and having my head banged around while being drug on the tube. (Once you get past 30, stuff like this just hurts more.) Aaron is by far the best tubing partner as he gets the giggles and you can't help but laughing the entire time. Andrew had a blast driving the wave runner and getting a little more brave on the tube. But he is definately worn out! He was so ready to get home and play with his best friend, Ben. Thanks mom and dad for letting us raid your lake property!

Lexie, Wiley, Bailey & Andrew
Andrew
Andy & Grandma Sue
Sending Aaron back off to Seattle.
Thanks for the giggly tube rides Aar!