Camping at Holter

The fourth camping trip of 2009 was July 22-24th at Holter. We decided it was finally time that we took the boat out and enjoyed some time in the water. Holter is always such a busy camping spot, but we found this middle of the week trip to be just perfect. There were enough people around to engage in conversations with and find a playmate for Abbie, but not too many that it was cramped.

We spent very little time at the camper other than to sleep or eat (and we all know that I did plenty of that). We spent all of our time down at the "beach" or out on the lake in the boat. It was such a relaxing enjoyable time with the girls! So many memorable moments.....

Rylee took in a lot of the activities herself. She LOVED splashing in the lake. In fact, as we sat on the back of the boat we had to keep a firm hold of her since she kept trying to get more and more of herself in the water.

"I am swimming by myself!!"

Hollywood---Look out!!

Jeremy decided this was the trip that he would teach Abbie how to fish. She has been asking for this since the beginning of summer, so I picked up the Barbie fishing pool during the Walmart trip and Jeremy picked up the big red and white bobber during his pre-camping shopping trip to Big R. He didn't buy hooks because he was certain that Abbie would spend this trip just starting with the basics and that would be enough to appease her for this trip. Boy did she show him!

Here are is the beginning....





Once we docked the boat for that day, Rylee and I went up to start dinner and Abbie and dad spent a little longer down at the docks working on casting. Jeremy said he showed her one more time and then went about getting the boat ready for the night. The next time he looked over she had definitely figured out casting..not only was she casting out as far as Jeremy could with the Barbie fishing pool, but she had accrued an audience of 10 or so that stopped to watch her.




Since she was now an expert fishermen she decided she should teach me...


We even started Rylee out on the basics


Grandma Nate and Grandma Nita came up and spent one whole day with us. It was so nice for them to drive up and we sure enjoyed having them!!



Some time was even spent solving the world's problems...

Husband Day--July 19th 2009

Family day during the summer has taken a different spin. Because I have chosen to turn down any opportunities to work this summer and instead do nothing but spend time with my family, we can do "family day" any day during the week, not just Sunday. Every day Jeremy is off is family day!

I have noticed, however, that my husband isn't the focus of my summer and my attention is focused on both girls with an occasional "Uh huh" to Jeremy when he offered a comment or question. I had realized the only alone time I had with Jeremy the entire summer was when he took me to dinner and a movie for my birthday, but even that afternoon didn't allow for REAL conversation about something other than our kids. Suddenly it seemed I hadn't talked to Jeremy about himself in months.

I decided we need to have "husband day" one day/evening per month. This is something I have called "date night" in the past but it has fallen to the wayside often so I have decided to call it something similar to our famous Sundays. Family day is something I look forward to all week and hold it precious to my heart, husband day should be the same. I hold Jeremy precious to my heart and he deserves my undivided attention at least one time per month.

Husband day for the month of July brought beautiful weather and a phenomenal 4-wheeler ride in the Highwood Mountains. We saw beautiful scenery and had the opportunity for plenty of conversation! It was nice to hear how he was doing and be able to listen without helping Abbie complete a craft project or change Rylee's diaper.

Please hold me to this....there should be a monthly post about what we did on "Husband Day." What will August bring?

I love him so much!!!

Once we started climbing it seemed like you could see forever...

Only in Montana at the end of July can you find a snow drift this size...

We included Troy and Becky on the first ever "Husband Day" (they don't even know they partook in such a piece in history). We enjoyed their company very much and still were able to have our own alone time while we were riding the 4-wheeler and the drive in the truck.

All it took was someone saying, "I bet your ATV can't make it up there on that rock."

Abbie's Swimming in July 2009

We enrolled Abbie in swimming lessons again this summer since we feel it is so important for her to become a strong swimmer if she wants to eventually tube and water ski. This year Abbie tried out her swimming skills on her own, unintentionally, but isn't there a point after so many lessons that you want to see if your child is actually learning something? How do you test that? As a parent I wouldn't just throw Abbie in and see how she does....Abbie showed us how she would do though.


Abbie and her friend Taylee were dunking their heads under water while they were waiting for their turn to demonstrate their swimming skills to their teachers. One particular time Abbie was dunking up and down against the wall when it wasn't her turn and she dunked, let go of the wall, and got too far away from the wall to grab it again. At least that is what I think happened because the next time I looked over I saw her paddling like mad to keep her head above water and make her way back to the wall. For a split second I thought she really is going to make it back to the wall but during that split second I managed to get out "Abbie, Abbie". Jeremy looked up and the next thing I knew he was in the water, tennis shoes and all, and Abbie was once again holding onto the wall...and her daddy!

The important thing was that she didn't panic, she didn't get scared, and SHE WAS SWIMMING!!









Abbie's Level 2 Class


Wearing goggles has turned into a big deal. Not only does she wear them during lessons but she also wants to wear them in the backyard pool, in the shower, and possibly when she even gets a DRINK of water.


Big success this year--Abbie put her WHOLE face in the water. Last year she thought she was putting her whole face in, but it was really her mouth.

Rylee's Mastered the Crawl

It's now July 14th and we have given Rylee a few weeks to perfect her crawling skills and took another video. She is definitely moving faster and so the gate is up on the stairs and we have to be on our toes at all times. Rylee is a "mover". She doesn't like to be held without standing up, turning over, and moving all about so now that she has the ability to move on her own...LOOK OUT!

When Did Eating Become So Funny?

Jeremy was feeding Rylee squash for lunch today. Was it the squash that was so funny? Actually you can hear Abbie in the background making her laugh. Abbie is the only person who is always successful at making Rylee laugh a good hiccup-causing-laugh. The sound of Rylee's laughing brings a smile to my face because she just lights up when she smiles and laughs.

I know I've said it before but I am so lucky that she is such a happy baby!

Rylee's On the Move

Rylee has been getting up on her hands and news for several weeks and rocking back and forth. In the last few days she has started to figure out to put one hand in front of the other to actually move. Today, June 30th, she actually figured out crawling at 7 months. She doesn't go super fast, but she definitely goes.

Columbia Falls

Jeremy took 2 tilts off from the Fire Department which basically gave him the month of June off for us to spend some time together as a family. Our last family "camping" trip of his vacation we headed up to Columbia Falls to take Abbie to the waterslides. Remember we had to cancel our camping trip right before this due to some wiring issues with the truck so I was worried that we wouldn't make this trip either, but we left early on Father's Day without any hitches.

Sunday, Father's Day, was just a travel day where we just took our time heading to Columbia Falls and then set up camp at an RV park right in CF. Monday we awoke to a rainy day so we decided to take in some sites around the area. We drove into Whitefish and Kalispell and did some shopping and sightseeing along with some game playing back at the camper.

Tuesday we awoke to a beautiful day so in the morning we took in bumper boats and mini golf. It was perfect since we were there early enough that we were the only ones on the boats so Abbie got to drive her own.

Abbie driving her own boat also meant she got to squirt on her own. She loved to squirt Jeremy and I but didn't like to be squirted. You wouldn't think the 4-year-old would be able to figure out driving the boat and running the squirting component at the same time but wow, Abbie really picked it up quickly. Big disadvantage for mom and dad!

The afternoon we spent at the waterslides. The weather was perfect...warm enough to play in water but not too hot to cook us. Rylee took in the waterslides by playing in the kiddie pool and hot tub as well as relaxing and taking a nap.

Abbie liked the waterslides but took time between sliding to play in the hot tub. Abbie really only likes swimming in pools with water the temperature of her bathtub at home...difficult to find so she opts for hot tubs instead.

Regardless of whether it was Jeremy or me, this is what it would look like as we started up the hill

And this is what it looks like not long up the hill. Abbie is no dummy!

Here they come

And here is the end and big smiles...

Pre-Father's Day

Father's day weekend was a beautiful weekend, one we should have been camping, except we had some wiring issues with the truck and camper that Jeremy had to resolve before we could make the long pull to Columbia Falls. Instead of camping we did take in some of the beautiful weather in the backyard...

The girls and I had already done our Father's Day shopping and had even hid Jeremy's gifts in the camper so that while we were were camping on Father's Day we could pull them out and surprise him as he needed them...one gift was a fold-up reclining chair (something that Jeremy has mentioned for several years) and another was a set of BBQ tools. I was so proud of myself that I had thought of these "camping" gifts and how fun it was going to be to surprise him with them while we were camping...he changed the plan slightly.

We had to go to Ace Hardware for something a few days before Father's Day weekend, while shopping Jeremy saw a 8' windmill that he wanted for the yard. He looked at the windmill several times before we left the store and then point blank told me, "I want the windmill for Father's Day." Now what?? Needless to say the girls and I went back to the store and bought the windmill and figured Jeremy was worth spoiling. I am such a sucker!!

We gave Jeremy the windmill on the Saturday before Father's Day and he put it together that day so I took some pictures of the girls in front of the windmill.

And here is the whole thing..

Rylee at 7 months-pretty cute kid if I do say so myself!

Too Tired to Play

I take Rylee with me in the bathroom, most of the time, while I am showering. Sometimes I put her in the bouncy seat, sometimes in the walker, sometimes on her belly on the floor. Rylee was in her walker with me in the bathroom on the morning of June 19th (this is important only to note that Rylee is 6 months here). Rylee's schedule at this point is to go to bed sometime between 8:30 and 9 pm then sleep until 5:30 where she gets up, has a bottle, and goes back to sleep until 7:30 or 8 am. This is fantastic for me since I enjoy going back to bed for a few hours too.


This particular morning she followed her regular routine and so once she was up and going I jumped in the shower to get ready for the day. I looked out to check on Rylee and was surprised to see that apparently she was still tired and wasn't ready to get up for the day.


I decided to wake her up right after the pictures since I thought the steering wheel was going to leave quite a mark on her forehead.

2nd Camping Trip of the Season

We headed out camping again the very next weekend in June. We left on Friday the 12th and stayed until Sunday the 14th. This was a different camping experience than we have ever experienced before...we did it by ourselves!!! We always camp with other families and this weekend we decided to head up just by ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the trips with the other families but I do enjoy our time together as a family as well. This trip ended up being a perfect balance.

We left town Friday morning just after 8 and so had camp set up before 11. We cooked lunch, hiked around a bit, threw rocks in the creek (one of Abbie's favorites), played some games, and then it was time to cook s'mores all ready! Saturday we got up and Jeremy made his famous big camping breakfasts and by the time we had the dishes cleaned up we had company for the day. Anita and Jerry drove up for the day and so did Travis and the kids. It was perfect...family time but we enjoyed the time with Grandma and Grandpa and Abbie enjoyed having Mac and Ryen to play with.

After last weekend's cold and rainy weather I went out and bought Abbie a pair of rain boots so that we wouldn't constantly be changing out of wet socks and shoes. As it turns out she thinks they are quite stylish and wore them most of this DRY weekend too.

Helping Dad chop some firewood

Just relaxing a sec

Rylee took her 1st 4-wheeler ride

Speaking of 4-wheelers. Mac and Abbie spent a good part of the day taking turns driving the 4-wheeler. They sure had a good time...

This is a year of first for Rylee and this weekend was no exception. All of the kids wanted a popsicle and so Rylee tried one out too...

Yummy!