Sean Flies in to Missoula!!

It is always more fun with the party dad around.  So, when Sean flew in to visit, we were all very happy.  First stop was the Saturday morning farmers market, where we shared our favorite street pirogues with him.

 Syliva was excited to find lots of strawberries in Grandpa's berry patch.

 She was very proud that her basket got more than mine.  (Although I think Grandpa helped her fill it!)

 Grandma Liz is becoming famous for her superb waffles.  Tasty, and speedy.  Three cheers for her new waffle maker:  "Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah!"

 We have had some afternoon fun hanging out at the LDS institute.  It is tough to believe I graduated from there almost 20 years ago.  Asher's tennis playing skills seem to translate over to the ping-pong table.  He was fierce.

 I had a good time playing a fierce game of pool with Sean.  He claims her became a pool shark at the McMullin family reunions in Canada.  Mattias was thrilled to have a piano to practice on.

  We also got to watch the first time 80 mph winds came off the mountains, and tore though the neighborhood.  It knocked down a section of Brad's fence, and one of his apricot trees in the back yard.  Luckily they had the McMullin branch clean-up crew from Wisconsin to help clean the yard.

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 The up side of the storm was that the power went out, and it was kind of dark and chilly.  Mattias lit a fire in the fireplace and made us hot chocolate, while we played cards. It was cozy.

 Another day found us again in the Rattlesnake.   Sylvia seems to think everything is funny.

 The best part of this Rattlesnake outing was the swarm of butterflies by the creek.  Syliva loved trying to catch one on her finger.  They seemed to like Sean's blue pants best.

Coastal Adventures

The joke in the family is that when I look at places on Google Maps, they all look so close, that I invariably ask "Why not visit there, and there, and there?" After all, New York is just a jaunt from Wisconsin.. and Nova Scotia is not far from there... and Greenland is just a little ways off shore. - You get the idea. Noel seems to find the most amusement in my view of global geography.

 At any rate... that is how we ended up at the Oregon coast. What is another 1,400 miles after crossing the country in same distance the week before? I also wanted to spend my 40th birthday doing something other than laundry. - Thus a trek to the coast was born.

 Below is Asher's face when we first pulled into our campground on the coast. The first site of the ocean is pretty spectacular. His voice kept going up with aniticipation..."Oh! Oh! Oh!" as his fingers drummed against his chin.

 

 We headed down to the beach.. where everyone promptly got totally soaked.

We spent hours chasing in and out of the waves.. 

At low tide, we walked to the far end of the beach (Cape Lookout, Oregon)  and climbed up on some rocks to watch the waves.  The boys developed a rating system, and spent an hour judgeing the height of the various waves by how close to use they splashed spray.

Sylvia relied on Asher to protect her from the ocean.  She decided after the trip that she prefered swimming in a swimming pool.

We had a great time beachcombing.  Sylvia found a creek flowing onto the beach that was perfect for washing all our sand dollars in.

The beach in this area is over 2 miles long... and we walked most of it - back and forth.  We had a good time looking for sand dollars, and trying to avoid "sneaker waves".

This picture was taken by some people also out enjoying the sunset.  It was a good way to end my 40th birthday.  I think though, that for my 50th... I'd like to spend it above the Arctic Circle in Sweden.  - We'd better start saving.

Since the tide pools along our campground beach were less than impressive, we got up early the next morning and went to Cape Kiwanda, about 30 miles south.  It had some spectacular rock formations, and great tide pools.  We got there at 7 am, in drizzling rain, but nobody cared.  It was amazing scenery.

The plants in the pools were almost as exciting for me to see as the animals.  I loved the lacey pink plants edging several of the pools.  We also were very surprised to pick up a pretty shell and have legs explode out and start wiggling.  Sylvia screamed and threw the shell in the air.  We are now familiar with hermit crabs.

Sylvia thought it was very exciting to discover a heart shaped tide-pool.  I'm sure God made it just for her.

This beach was really fun to explore on.  It had lots of rocks jutting out into the waves, so it was a bit like a maze to find your way around from one to the other.

On the last day, the sunshine cam out... and the kids decided to try a new game.  (Their old game had been to stand in the water for 3 hours, up to their waists, get totally numb from the cold, and not get knocked over or sucked out to sea.)   This new game was were the boys would form a blockade, and try to keep Sylvia safe from the waves.

It didn't always work as planned.  But, it was exciting to watch.

This wave coming in the picture below continued on, totally rolling everybody over on their backs, and scraping them along the sand.  Asher had the pressense of mind to grab Sylvia and keep her head above water as they were being tossed along like little pebbles.
    After that wave, Sylvia decided this was not a good game to play... and we moved back about 30 feet where only our toes got foamed.

The boys were a great help with cooking dinner and setting up and taking down tents - even in the pouring rain.  Sylvia relaxed the last night, and enjoyed drawing picutures of ocean rocks covered with fairies, mermaids, and characters from Avatar.

    The point of the trip was to show Sylvia the ocean... and have a good time. It was a success. Everyone was amazed by the beauty of the coast, and the power of the ocean waves   It is so big.  No pictures can ever really show how big the ocean is.   It was very memorable.. . and definitely worth the trip.

Fun in Missoula

Of course, all true Missoulians know that the first place you have to visit when you get into town is the Carousel. Hand carved and wicked fast, it entertains teenagers as well as children.

Sylvia got to ride her favorite horse... Pal.  They have been friends now for 5 years, since Sylvia first rode the carousel.

Mattias showed his talent at grabbing for the brass ring (a game the outisde riders can play), and won an extra ride.

Asher enjoyed himself, but of course had to look nonchalant about the whole deal.

Sylia had a great time leaping through the sprinkler in the back of Grandpa's yard. 

She later made a fortune, picking up pine cones from the back lawn.  Grandpa paid 5 cents per cone, and about had to take out a loan to pay up.

  The boys were hard at work this morning helping grandpa stain the back fence.  They were so sad when they ran out of things to stain. 

  Our favorite spot to to visit in the area is the Rattlesnake.  This years Who-Can-Stay-In-The-Water-Longest competition was won by Mattias.  Note the look of pain on Asher's face.  The river is high, and comes directly from the snow we can view on the mountains around the town.

  Sylvia was feeling artistic, and started writing with a stick dipped into water.

 Her signature did not last as long as Clark's did at Pompey's Pillar... but I was impressed.  I'm sure Clark's mom was proud of his writing as well.

Back at the ranch, we had some target practice against some fierce pinceones, a water bottle, and cardboard box.  Sylvia was getting the hang of it by the end.

Asher loved shooting the rifle, and was feeling very macho,

Mattias aimed in the general direction, and did a good job mowing the lawn around the targets.

Grandpa also joined in on the fun... but I must say that the writer of this blog was the only one to knock off two pinecones with one shot.  - A feat that will insure her fame for many pellet gun sessions in the future.  It will give her off-spring something to aspire to.

1500 Miles, headed West

What do you do with three kids, when driving 1500 miles to Montana on a small budget?  Lots of camping, and free activities, like rock throwing and marshmallow roasting. 

 Sylvia likes her s'mores with well-done marshmallows.   She stuck her marshmallow in the fire, and announced  "Let me show you how it's done!".   She pulled the marshmallow out, covered in flames, and leaned back to watch it burn.   It was very sticky entertainment - but very tasty.

The first night we camped in Maplewood State Park (Minnesota).  The park was deserted, so we had the beach to ourselves.  The kids threw lots of rocks, and Mattias and Sylvia gathered up dozens of snail shells,.

                                          Sylvia was very proud of her snail collection.

              The lake was beautiful, cold and windy.  A perfect place for McMullin camping.

The second night we stayed at Makoshika State Park in Montana.  The big entertainment here was stomping and sinking in quick sand.  They had fun trying to sink boulders as well.  There was much mud to scrape off legs and feet afterwards.

On our last day of driving, I noticed a newer park at Pompey's Pillar in eastern Montana.  Having caught a bit of Lewis and Clark- itis from my mom,  I decided we had to stop.   They allow you to hike up to the rocky pillar that Clark named after Sacajawea's year old son, Pompey.
 

At the top of the trail you can see a window frame with bullet proof plastic in it, covering the section of rock where William Lewis signed his name, and the date July 25, 1806.

 The kids were glad when Mom had finished her history side-trip, and we drove on to Missoula.

Sylvia turns 6 Yrs Old!

It was a wild a crazy day at the McMullin house on June 6th. Some goblins had stolen the Fairyland guard dog, Maya. The birthday guests were turned into fairy helpers, and started a quest to find the lost dog. After fun games (bean bag tosses, pin the nose on the goblin, and more), the successful fairy helpers celebrated with a grand party.

     Of course there was a Fairy birthday cake to be devoured by hungry fairy helpers. It was bright pink inside, in case you were wondering.

Sylvia made a birthday wish just as she was about to blow out her candles.  She said "I wish for more My Little Ponies!"   Luckily a few of her birthday guests had anticipated her deepest desire, and she was very thrilled to open a few ponies in her present pile.

    Another exciting gift was an afternoon of horseback riding lessons with her sister, Noel.

 The lesson wasn't just about riding horses.  The girls learned to catch, lead, groom, saddle and generally take care of the horses.  They learned how to clean hooves with a hoof pick, and how to properly adjust a saddle blanket.

     Sylvia was very nervous to lead a big horse along at first.  She kept looking back at the big hooves coming awfully close to her.  By the end of the day though, she was a pro.  Not only could she walk a horse anywhere she wanted, she could ride one as well.  She was walking all around the arena, steering in different directions, and stopping when she wanted.  I just looked in amazement.

One of Sylvia's favorite games was to try to ride and catch Noel on her horse.  Noel was learning to trot, and having great time.  She kept smiling, and said she likes it even more than diving.  I was so glad to see my girls having a great day together.  Sylvia could only walk on her horse, but she would take shortcuts across the middle of the arena to try to catch up to Noel.  We will have to do more in the future.