Our newest family member

Saturday, August 15th at 4:00 pm we met our new family member. Meet Aline Wani from Switzerland. She will stay with us for the full school year. Aline is 15 years old and 1/2 inch taller than Dylan. Yes, he was frustrated.

Her first outing was to Leslie's sisters house. Uncle Chet and Aunt Christy. Their son Chad has a 57 Chevy that he rebuilt from ground up. He is constantly replacing blown engines and just finished the latest and greatest engine at 2:00 am before we arrived. Just in time for Aline to have a ride of her life.

Aline had never seen a 4-wheeler. Chad decided to give her a ride she will never forget. It has as much balls as his car. Riding wheelies and hitting jumps alone with speed was something she had never experienced. When all said and done I asked her if she would do it again she paused and then said yeah, with a huge grin.

Just looking at her face tells you how much fun she had.

Just the first of many good times we plan to have together over the next 10 months. Aline is going to be a fun person to have around. I am glad we decided to try another exchange student.

This is for you Mr. Clark!

Wow! Our yearly trip to Costco. While in Montana the guys were planning an excursion while the women go shopping. Before the guys left I asked them to make sure they had a camera and my smart ass brother-in-law asked us to make sure we had a camera. So that is how this blog come about.

Before entering the huge Costso store to spend all the guys' money.


Houston, we're in!
(We got lots of funny looks while taking this picture. We didn't care it was all about "Kainaan"!)

Making our escape. Check out the two cases of Kokanee (Canadian beer) we bought just for you men. If you ever get the chance to drink this beer you must try it.

Packing the goods! First things first.
Priorities!!!

Melody and Kainaan you are the best.
Wish we lived closer together but yearly events will never be forgotten.

Hungryhorse Reservoir Dam

This is the first time we have ventured to this area. Not sure why, because it was very close to town and it was a beautiful drive. Melody and Kainaan said they have camped in this area before. We did see a camper who had license plate from Kansas.

Tim enjoying the view. It was a long way down to the bottom of the dam. Nothing like you would see in Kansas.
Brooke and her cousin, Aspen.


The view from crossing the dam.

Still snow in the mountains in July.

"I don't know what heaven is going to look like, but it's got to be close to this."

A happy camper told us.

Osprey tending to her young. This nest was at the top of a tree that was even with the road.

The guys had gone out for an adventure while the girls shopped for the week. Travis and Kainaan took them to shoot a 41 cal. pistol (Ruger Black Hawk) and to pick huckleberries for the first time. The pistol was what the local call "bear spray".

This was at the dead end of a very long and winding mountain side road.

New Adventures

It seems that every time we go to Montana, Melody and Kainaan come up with new ventures for us to embark upon. Huckleberry picking time is sporadic but this year it was awesome. Leslie got scared when the guys talked about making sure someone had a hand gun on them while in the forest. Thank goodness we weren't challenged by the bears for the berries.

Huckleberries are a little smaller than blueberries but look just like them and have four times as much flavor. They grow on small bushes close to the ground. We would roost on trees that had fallen to pull the berries.

We were able to bring enough home to make huckleberry jam and one awesome pie. Tim may have a new favorite pie. Thanks for the suggestion Aunt Shae.


Obviously bears were recently present. This fresh pile of scat reminded us to watch our backs.

Dylan carrying the tired girls back to the vehicles after pickin'.

The sun shining through the trees made the weather perfect for pickin' and the mosquito's were quite sparse. Leslie did happen to upset a nest of bees though and a few of them reacted as expected. She survived the brutal attack with merely a few welts.

Not only were the berries in season but the wild flowers were in full bloom. This pictures doesn't do them justice.

Chillin' in the pool!

Another one of our favorites (for the girls) is the water slide park. While Dylan is riding his bike down the mountain side and Tim is getting Ripped in the bar we took off to go play in the sun. Not quite Oceans of Fun, less crowded and more chances to slide.

Brooke didn't care if she had anyone to go with her she went full speed and didn't stop until it was time to go.

Cassidy enjoyed the tube rides but spent a lot of her time helping the little ones down the slides.

I think this is why Cassidy enjoyed the slides so much. Check out the big grin on their faces.

These four slides are close enough that kids race each other down. This pictures doesn't do any justice for the view you see when you get to the top. You are surrounded by mountains. It truly is beautiful.

You can see a little of the mountains in this shot.

One of Brooke's favorite spots was the huge hot tub in the middle of the park. After walking up the slopes several time she would go rest in the hot tub. They would only let you in 15 to 20 minutes at a time before making you get out. That worked good, just enough time for her to catch her breath and off again.

Cassidy and Sira heading up for another round.

Nestled 'tween the mountains at Dickey Lake

Dickey Lake. What a beautiful lake. This is where we have gone to celebrate Aspen's birthday for the past three years. Her choice I might add and what a wonderful choice it is. We love this place as much as she does. As you can tell the water is three or more shades of blue and clear. Something about the glacier melt makes it appear this way. P.S. glaciers are cold!

Dylan holding the birthday girl Aspen who turned 6 this year. Dylan spent six weeks with her three years ago and they still have a brother/sister like bond.

Cassidy the non stop babysitter. I like this shot as it shows the hues of the water.

Our beautiful Mermaid!

Uncle Kainaan giving Brooke a ride in the Mother Ship.

Just to give a little more on how clear the water is, Brooke is using a squirt gun to douse her sister and Aunt Shae with the cold water. Aunt Shae did get even, though. Can't say as if I blame her. Did I mention glaciers are cold?

"Summer Teeth"

summer big

summer little

summer there

summer not

Bubba D thinking that the water wasn't very cold but only got into it up to his waist.

Cassidy helping again.

Mommy giving my little lady some well deserved lovin'.

Montana Family

This is the wonderful family we get to spend time with one week out of the year. Granted this one week is way to short but the time we spend with them is worth the tremendous travel time it takes to drive up there. (22 hours)

Little Miss Aspen Mavis. Each year we seem to arrive right in time for her birthday. Not entirely accidental. Her birthday is actually July 16 but she has only known it as the Sunday after the Kansas family arrives. She likes to celebrate it at Dickey Lake. A beautiful lake with the most peculiar water color from glacier runoff. More on that later, though. Aspen turned 6 this year and is ever bit as beautiful as the picture above. When we arrived at Columbia Fall Aspen was sitting beside their mail box waiting for us. We were all greeted with a big smile and a huge hug. How sweet was that?

Lil Pill. WOW! Where do we start. Melody (her Mother) had warned us that she does not warm up to people very easily and it took most of the week. But it was so worth it. This picture shows how much personality this little girl has. One minute she will let you hold her and then the next she get upset if we look at her. She wouldn't hug her Uncle Tim until the day before we left. That to the special coaxing from Dad. Thanks Kainaan! Lilly now is a "big girl". Melody decide to potty train her while we were up there so we could all help. Thank goodness it only took a couple days. Way to go Lilly. You are a Big girl!

Miss Maddy Roo. I can't being to say how cute this girl is when she grins it lights up the room. As seen here she is offering a knuckle sandwich. Be careful. She means it. Her delightful grin is compensated by her fiery redheaded attitude. She can and will turn it on and off in the blink of an eye. Her sweet moments do outweigh the 'tude times, though.

Sira Jo. As a 9 year old she is a very deep thinking intellectual girl. It was such a nice surprise that she chose to spend a whole week with Aunt Mel as to be with us during our visit. She is lives a considerable distance away and this allowed us to see her daily. Cassidy and Sira spent a lot of time together. It is so hard to talk to her and remember that she is only nine because she is so much more intelligent than an average kid her age.

Cassidy spent a lot of time with these three girls. She takes after her Mother in the love for little kids. When the big kids were off playing we always knew the little ones were in good hands. You are great Cassidy!

Dylan has sprouted quite a bit since the last time his aunts saw him. He knew he was taller than his aunts but he couldn't wait to find out if he passed up his Uncle Kainaan. Unfortunately not, Uncle Kainaan was 1 inch taller than Dylan. Don't worry Uncle Kainaan, I am sure Dylan will pass you up soon.

Uncle Kainaan (the dog whisperer). Not only is he an extraordinary cook (thank you very much) but he is always a good time to be around. Full of life and energy that never ends. He has that go with the flow attitude while taking control of things to make the most of the situation. I am so glad Melody was able to drag this kid out of his Oregon roots and make him her husband.

Cassidy was comparing her height to her Aunts too. Uncle Travis (Michaela husband) is very tall. Cassidy will need to grow drastically to catch him. Uncle Travis grew up in this area and is the only true local in our family. Travis likes to hunt and fish like Tim. Tim hopes to one day go on a hunting excursion with him. Hopefully more than just gophers.

This is their Uncle Dennis (Tim's brother). He lives a ways away therefore we don't get to see him much but when we do it is always a good time. Dylan hopes to go to Montana and do some big game hunting with him. We will see if grades permit that?!?

Tim's Mom. Married to her job but wishes to cheat on it occasionally with a man for periodic dinner dates.