Resburg Highlights: Second - The Idaho Museum

Whenever we have visited my parents, they generously offer to take us to the Museum of Idaho.  It has hosted some great exhibits in the past that our family has loved seeing. (The Gutenburg Bible, the Titanic...)

    This time, they were hosting the King Tut traveling exhibit.  It was beautiful, and kept the kids' interest.  My only regreat was that Noel (who loves Egytian history) wasn't along with us.

Sylvia's favorite item was this bed. She thinks she should have a golden animal couch too.

My mom was great, going around with the kids, reading interesting facts about King Tut.

This was my favorite piece.. a hippo hunter standing on  raft.  Maybe because I had such a great time SUPing  (Stand Up Paddleboarding) the week before.  It is so graceful. They don't show the actual hippo being hunted, because it is the animals sacred to the evil god Seth, and would bring bad luck into the tomb.  I think I would like to try harpooning fish on a paddle board sometime.

The exhibit was beautifully displayed.   With all the gold glittering around, you could imagine how stunning it would have been to discover it all packed into one place.

 In another room of the museum, they feature Idaho history. Sylvia enjoyed playing in the log cabin exhibit.  - She is laughing because we have just informed her that pioneers did not make Ramen noodles for dinner guests.

 My mom brought a rabbit into the exhibit to help Sylvia make some rabbit stew instead of Ramen noodles. 

 Then mom started going wild and crazy.  The rabbit started hopping everywhere...landing on her head.  She is a crazy grandma sometimes.

 Part of the musuem has animals of the Rockies in it.  My dad felt like imitating a bear.  With parents like this, it is amazing I turned out as normal as I did!  :)

 Sylvia thought giving  a buffalo an eskimo kiss would be a good idea.

    It is fun touring indian and mountain man exhibits with my mom.  She has spent so many years teaching Idaho history to her 4th graders that she is an expert on every object in the place.  Walking around with her is like having our own professional tour guide.

     After the museum, we just had to get some ice cream.   My dad is famous for treating the kids to GIANT  Dairy Queen cones.   Tragically,  DQ's are very scarce where we live, and cherry dipped cones seem to be unique to Rexburg.   Sylvia thought it was a very tasty end to a fun day.

Rexburg Highlights: First - The Water Park

     Rexburg has a number of things that are a must-do when we go visit.   First, is the water park.  Along with being free, it is next to a carousel, and sells incredibly cheap cotton candy.  It is the perfect place to survive 100 degree desert afternoons.

   My mom proved to be an experience carosel rider with Sylvia.  With all the grandkids she takes here, I'm sure she could get frequent flier miles if they offered it.

 Sylvia loved pretending to be a mermaid in the water. 

 Mattias was a good sport and played for hours with Sylvia, while my mom and I sat on a blanket and read or visited.   Below is Mattias on the right, with Sylvia on the left hidden by an impressive splash of water.

Cotton candy in Wisconsin sells for $5 a bag, but here it was only a dollar.  The kids were in heaven.  They would've lived off the stuff, if I had not set a limit to one bag each.  (Mean mom points with that one!)

Asher's Mountain Music Camp

    We drove down to Idaho, and dropped Asher off at the "Mountain Strings" chamber music camp at Herriamn State Park. He spent the week there, with musicians from all over the U.S.

Later in the week, Mattias and I drove up to hear a Paganini concert by their guest artist.  The concert was great.. but the we had to wait for an evening thunderstorm to blow over. It left the sky with a dazzling stormy sunset.

Later in the week, the student came down to town to put on a concert for the locals.  The venue was beautiful.  The Rexburg Tabernacle had a great sound, as well as beautiful craftmanship.  The kids played well.

 At the end of the week, we all drove up for a dinner and chamber music recital.   Here is Asher getting ready to preform with his chamber group. 

I think it was a good experience for Asher to spend a week with other musicians, and play is such a beautiful environment.  Asher said it was very busy, and they played for 7-8 hours a day.  He had some good arm muscles when the week was over.

Last Day in Montana

  All right... all right.... I've fallen behind of my blogging.  So shoot me.  It is  partially because we lost a camera, had my laptop crash, and had our main PC crash all within a month of each other.  

    Now, with a new camera, and our computer up and running again, I'm ready to catch everyone up on our wild and exciting lives.

     First, the end of the summer trip. One of my favoirite days was the last day we spent in Montana.
Even though we lived in Montana for years, I had never hiked to the legendary Morrell Falls, near Seely Lake.    The hike is is over 2 miles.  Sylvia was a good trooper. The falls themseleves are about 90 feet, and with REALLY cold water.

 The kids had fun cooling their feet off in pools of water at the base of the falls after we had arrived.

The falls were loud, and beautiful.

 Greydon, our cousin, was always ready for a laugh.

    My favorite part of the day though, was after we hiked back and drove home to Missoula.  We rented SUPs  (Stand Up Paddle Boards) from a shop in town and headed out to Frenchtown Pond.     The water here was warmer, peaceful, and shallow enough for the kids to play in without me being worried.

    I had a blast paddling around the pond on my board. Asher and Mattias gave Sylvia rides on the other board, kayak style.  It is a fun sport. I'd definately like to try it again.

    When we got back to the grandparents house, we ate and packed up for an early exit the next day.  It had been a great adventure.

July Fourth - Let the Explosions Begin!

    The day started off pleasant enough, a community pancake breakfast and old fashioned games at Fort Missoula.  Little did I know it would end in with crazed Firework Frenzy.

    Here Sylvia and Greydon realize that they are not the same weight to make a teeter-totter work properly.  Maybe Sylvia didn't eat enough bacon at the breakfast. 

     Sheep and pig petting were also favorite activities.   Here Mattias and Greydon are taking the sheep for a little walk.  Mattias feels bad he missed the 4-H sheep raising experience the older kids got.

      Sylvia also thins we should get some sheep... I don't think she understands that they aren't all as friendly as this little lamb.

    We spent a long time playing several games of jacks outside the old school-house.  Asher and I switched back and forth as the reigning jack-champ.  Greydon improved quickly and was a good sport.

I love seeing my smiling boys.   This was a game called Squish Everyone into the Backseat.  I don't think they will play it again soon.

     Mattias made a killer chocolate cake from scratch, and I decorated it.  We used fresh serviceberries and strawberries from Brad's garden, with cream.  It was delicious!!!!!   (The sparkler did burn out before we finished singing the national anthem though.  We will have to sing faster in the future.)

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      Jesse and Sarah brought out some almost-military-grade smoke cover canisters for the boys to have fun with during the day.

       Little did we know the surprise that they had in the basement. Hundreds of dollars of mega-fireworks they picked up at an indian reservation (from "Pyro Paulie") on the drive here.

      We became experts in artillary shells, "cakes", and Roman candles.   - Although after having a couple roman candles explode in peoples hands... we decided to not hold them for shooting any more.
   

It was like opening gifts at Christmas... Jesse was Head PyroManiac, and Mattias became his loyal apprentice.

Greydon enjoyed opening the boxes, but prefered to sit farther away from the debris fall-out zone  for viewing them.

      Sylvia was also a little uncertain about her first sparklers... but was a pyro champ by the end of the night.   She was able to light off several fountains we had picked out including the very prettily packaged "Unicorn" fountain.  (Sadly, no unicorns shot out when she set it off.)

   Below is the McMullin Pyro Team.  You may wonder where Grandpa Brad is?  Taking Liz to the town show... because they did not realize how truely astounding aflame their front driveway would become in their absence.  The local show paled in comparison to our near death experiences.

Wasn't it Uncle Colin who first  wondered "What happens if you toss a lit Bee in the canal?"   

     The canal in front of the house soon become a whole new venue for the pyro team.  The spinning Ground Flowers were truly magical when Uncle Jesse lit them and tossed them into the water.  It was really beautiful!  It kind of looked like pictures of a nebula that you would see through the Hubble telescope.
     Anyways,  I thought it was even cooler than the war zone exploding over our head.  The team worked their way up to having four people lighting double combos of shells at the same time.  It was very exciting to see if the last person left at the end of the driveway would actually get their fuse lit before the other shells exploded right next to them.

      Everyone ended the night in one piece, and smelling like gunpowder.  The kids giggled on the living room couch past midnight, trying to wind down.  It was a very amazing Fourth of July.

Surviving Family Pictures

      Family pictures can be painful, especially if you have lots of little children wiggling about or crying.   Thankfully, there were only a couple wiggly children this reunion, and one face-licking dog.

   The group picture went quickly.  This is a shot of everybody getting lined up for it.

The core McMullin family (without children, spouses, or dogs) looked pretty handsome together.

     I thought the attending cousins had a cute picture, although it was sad to notice that all the families had siblings missing for some reason or another.  - Mostly because they were older and cooler teenagers now with lives that are more exciting than family reunions.

      This picture is for Noel.  McKenna and Shandon were very sad to note you were not at this reunion.  Hopefully they will train out and visit us sometime in the future.

Cousins Hiking the "M"

   On our first day back in Missoula, we thought a little bonding time was needed with our cousin, Greydon.    So, while all the VIP's in the family were off playing golf,  the kids and I hiked the "M" and went to the carousel.

   For those of you not familiar with the M mountain, it is on the  edge of town, behind the university.  A giant M (now made of concrete) has stood on the side of the mountain for a hundred years or so.  The trail up usually has a steady stream of joggers sweating and huffing and puffing their way along. This morning though,  the weather  was cool and windy, so all the fair-weather hikers stayed at home.

      The trail zig zags up 11 steep switchbacks, gaining you 620 feet in the half hour or so it takes to hike it.   The view from the top is impressive.  We also saw a fox catching it's breakfast along the trail.   Here Greydon and Mattias are trying not to topple down the mountain.

     Unfortunately, Sylvia did topple down the trail on the final switchback.  After washing off her knees and hands we decided the Carousel was the perfect medicine for skinned knees.  Here is a goofy faced picture of some goofy cousins.

    I love the artistry of the carvings on the horses.  Sylvia branched out from her usual ponies (Pal and Avalon) and rod a new one, "Cherished Angel"  It had an adorable dog carved on the back, and lots of butterflies all over it.

    Here is our smiley carousel expert. The horses go a top speed of 11 mph, so it is an adventure for the big kids as well as Sylvia.

     Greydon figured "Paint" would be his lucky horse, but unfortunately none of the boys were able to catch the brass ring and win an extra ride.

     It was a fun was to start the South-of-the-Canadian-Boarder McMullin reunion.  Hanging out with cousins is always an adventure.