Montana in July

We spent July 13-23 in Montana to use up the last of our leave before Jess gets out. We had a fabulous time with Grandma and Grandpa, enjoyed the heat wave (over 100 everyday) and loved playing with aunts, uncles and cousin's. My favorite thing that we did was floating on the river, and Jess' was either working on the ranch, fishing or floating, not sure which. I also got to read 3 books while on vacation which I loved. We look forward to the next trip. Now it's time for us to buckle down and get ready for the future. Jess interviews the first week of November. Lots of excitement to come, we'll keep you posted. For now, enjoy the onslaught of MT pictures!

Our big day in Helena

We started the day out by joining the Livingston ward for breakfast at their ward camp out up at Mill creek. (not in Helena) Rich Melin cooked up a delicious breakfast of blueberry pancakes, sausage, bacon and hash browns. Very yummy
Our next stop was the carousel. We ate hotdogs and rode around and around. I only rode once, because it made me a little sick. I couldn't even watch it- I know I must be getting old!
On the ferry boat at Gates of the mountain. This was a very pleasant ride. It started out very hot, but we got rained on and everything cooled of. I love the water.
Everyone on the boat squeezed in under the cover once the rain started, accept for Matthew. He laughed and jumped and patted in the rain and loved every minute of it! Sheer joy!
T Jay even got to drive the boat on the way back. I called his name to take this picture and the whole rest of the day he scolded me for making him take his eyes off of the water, "because I have to watch where I'm going."
We also stopped at a BBQ on the way home, but I don't have any pictures of that. It was a great day and we were all bushed by the end. The kids fell asleep on the way home and were carried straight to bed.

Fishing trip

Jess, T Jay and Uncle Mike went fishing. This is the captain of the ship!
Jess' catch, some kind of trout- brown I think! He's very proud, and in hog heaven! This is the first time Jess has fly fished in a very long time and he remembered how much he loves it. Hopefully he can go again in Sept.
Mike taking his turn at the oars. Mike fought a big fish, but the fish won by stealing his fly. Better luck next time.
Taking a break.
Going fishing

Fun at Grandma's house

Making raspberry jam with Grandma. They helped pick the raspberries in Grandma's back yard and helped her squeeze them though a cloth to get most of the seeds out. They had so much fun.
Grandpa was teasing T Jay and ran off with T Jay chasing him. Grandpa ran to his room and came out with a sword in his mouth and one in each hand! The kids thought it was really funny. T Jay is posing like grandpa. He is going to build the grand kids a pirate ship tree house at the ranch, so he is collecting pirate things for the kids to play with.
Sword fighting with Grandma and Matthew refereeing.
This is a walker that Jess used as a baby (& all of the Melin kids). Matthew really liked motoring around in it.

Camping at Pine creek

We borrowed Rich's pop-up camper and headed out to Pine creek campground. Angie and Davey camped with their pop-up and Rich's family and Mom and Dad Melin came up for a dutch oven dinner. We had so much fun with everyone!
T Jay and cousin Danny playing in Pine creek.
Heidi, Addie, T.Jay, Danny and Summer on the bridge. This was right next to our site and was a great source of entertainment for the kids.
Angie (Jess' sister) is excited about S'mores!
The other source of entertainment! the hole! We asked them if they were digging to China and they told us no, they were going to dig all the way over to under the picnic table!
Dirty Summer from digging! We hosed them off under the water spigot before bed! We had a great time!

Floating the Yellowstone

All of us before we got on the river. I didn't dare take my camera in the water so we only have before pictures.
T Jay and cousin Danny waiting to go. they were so excited!
Summer decided to make good use of her waiting time and stamp her nose!
The kids excited to go. We put the kids in a rubber raft, and the adults all had tubes. All of the kids took turns sitting on our laps. Summer sat with me the whole time.
T Jay looks so big to me!!