The Trip - Day 7

July 16, 2011

Went to the Farmers Market. The kids enjoyed sampling honey and fudge. We also bought vegetables and strawberries to sit on the curb and eat for lunch. Below Asher is giving Sylvia lessons in the secrets of opening pea pods successfully.



We wandered over to the children's' museum, and found an unexpected source of entertainment for the boys. They had a Water Works exhibit, that was meant to teach younger children how to divert water, as it pumped out of different spouts, and flowed down the table.


Asher started out by playing with the diversion panels alongside of Sylvia. It was a harmless enough beginning.

Mattias started testing the changes in water pressure, as various pumps were blocked.


You could see him morph into mad-scientist mode, as he started connecting various lengths of pvc pipe to certain pump spigots.

Asher became his assistant. With his longer arms, they were able to make even more elaborate creations, which turned into water cannons. It was really cool.

Eventually, everyone was soggy wet. By the time they had used the principle of increased surface area to double the water cannon's water pressure, they were about to soak the ceiling of the museum.


The football-goal-post water cannon pattern proved to be the most effective.


I was sure the staff had not considered the warped minds of boys this age when they installed the exhibit, or they would have put it someplace with 30 foot high ceilings. Not wanting to pay for ceiling damage, I decided it was time to go.




Sylvia had moved on to other exhibits, a favorite being the bubble machine, where she could get trapped in a giant bubble. Sylvia and I would return another day... without the boys.

The Trip - Day 6

July 15, 2011

I took the kids to Bonner Park, the Childrens Museum , the library and Great Harvest this morning. Sylvia made a mask at the museum, which she had a good time modelling around the house, until all the feathers came off.

She even let "Paws", Grandma's dog (a birthday gift from Sylvia the previous year), model her mask. Sylvia and Paws had many adventures during our stay.

I never tired of looking at their beautiful yard. It is like the Garden of Eden - sans serpent.

Brad has worked hard to tidy up all the garden areas, and trim the orchard. It is a beautiful veiw, especially at sunrise and sunset. I loved tenting in the backyard. It got down to 40 degrees at night, without the Wisconsin mugginess. I awoke fresh and excited about life. Even though it reached the 90's during the day, the nights were always cool.

We couldn't believe that we were putting on sweatshirts and wool socks to huddle under blankets on the porch, when poor Sean back home was suffering through a heat wave that was actually killing people.

The Trip - Day 5

July 14, 2011

Brad was working on paving the edge of the driveway today. In the morning boys helped Grandpa lay sand, and some blocks. Later in the day, we attended a 50th wedding anniversary party of some fellow church members, and got to see lots of friends from long ago.



All that visiting though, made us feel the need for some solitude and open space. Where do we usually go when we need a break, when in Missoula? - The Rattlesnake.

Sylvia loved trying to imitate Noel and the boys, creeping up a downed tree trunk next to the trail.

Noel was the most successful in climbing along the tree branch, which ended at height around 15 feet off the ground. Perhaps it was due to her new 5 toe Vibram shoes.

Seeing Sylvia climb up, and slide down this hillside along the trail brought back years of wonderful memories. All the kids have worn out their pants, shorts, and snowsuits, doing this slide in all seasons. It must be a genetic thing.



The river was running high after so much snow and rain this year, so we had to walk up the trail to the bridge in order to find a place shallow enough to wade in.



The water was freezing cold... as Asher discovered.

Mattias thought that was pretty funny... until he tried it.


Everyone got into the action, counting out loud to see who could stay in the longest.


After he came out of the water, he spent the next five minutes telling me how it was numbing all the nerves in his feet, and he might never recover. Sylvia didn't seem to mind as much. She and Asher tied with 50 seconds in, as the co-winners of the freezing water competition.

The Trip - Day 4

July 13, 2011

The best part of today was seeing Sylvia skip and jump with joy when she saw "Pal" and "Avalon", her two favorite carousel horses. Here she is, reunited after 2 years with "Pal's Pal", her favorite pony.



Asher tried to look cool while riding, but failed miserably. :)


The carousel can bring smiles to all ages, even Noel.


Mattias kept busy trying to create a math formula to predict who would get the brass ring from the dragon's mouth, depending on how many riders there were, and how many rotations the carousel did. The random variables were too much for him in the end though, and he never came up with a solution. Maybe next visit.



Brad and Liz were wonderful hosts... letting us drag them around to all the sites on our "Must do in Missoula" list. Today was carousel and "Out to Lunch" in Caras park day.

We used to attend "Out to Lunch" every Wednessday in the summers that we lived there. The older kids were too cool to hoola-hooop down in front of the bandstage, but Sylvia went with me. Afterwards, we cooled off in sprinklers in Brad's backyard paradise. Below is Sylvia, eating a popsicle, and getting a "back scratch" from the sprinkler.

The boys had a good time holding each other in front of the more powerful rotating sprinklers out in the pasture area. Everyone came in soaked.

The Trip - Day 3

July 12, 2011

Buffalo Gap campground had a neat badland bluff close by. The kids had explored it at sunset the night before, but were excited to climb it again this morning. They climbed it a couple times, as I packed the van. I climbed it with them finally, just before we left. It had a great view.


Mattias turned out to be quite the mountain climber this trip. He really enjoyed the hiking and exploring.


Sylvia also showed great promise as a mountain climber, feeling very triumphant as she bagged summit after summit.


Speaking of summits, it was wonderful to see the snow capped rocky mountains again. A few more years, and those will be the peaks we will be standing on top of.

We stopped in Bozeman, at the Museum of the Rockis for an evening break. Sylvia is in love with anything to do with Dinosaurs, thanks to the PBS show, Dinosaur Train. She claims to be a T-Rex herself.. but I'm just not buying it. For one, she is dressed in pink... no self respecting T-Rex would wear pink t-shirts.


We rolled into Missoula that night after a thunderstorm had hit. The dramatic lighting made it seem like an epic arrival, worthy of a fantasy movie. - It foreshadowed our many adventures to come.

The Trip - Day 2

July 12, 2011

We zipped through Minn. and N. Dakota today. As we approached our campsite at the far west side of ND, we passed a stunning valley. Mattias sat up in his seat and yelled "Mom! What was that!" Apparently he had been sleeping as we've passed through the badlands before. We decided to spend some time camping and exploring the area more on the return trip.



We pulled over at the rest stop overlooking "Painted Valley", then drove another 15 min to our campsite at Buffalo Gap, in the National Grasslands. Very nice site. We will go there again.

The Trip - Day 1

July 11, 2011

Three days before, I had been talking to my father-in-law on the phone. (He lives in Missoula, MT).

When I heard that he hadn't mowed his long back yard grass all summer, in hopes of a visit from us (because the kids liked making "nests" in it previously) my heart about broke. I knew we were missing out on a wonderful opportunity to see family this summer, and it would be a tragedy if we didn't just start driving and go.

Three days later, found us loaded in a van: 4 kids, one dog, and myself. Sean couldn't get 3 weeks off work at a moments notice... so he stayed behind and held down the fort.


Day 1: drove 5 hours, camped on the boarder of Wisc/Minn. At sunset, a thunderstorm rolled in. At midnight, our neighboring campers started frantically rushing around packing up, because they had heard tornadoes were on the way, and they were heading home. After I heard the local tornado siren go off, I got everybody out of the tents, and into the van, where we spent a stuffy, nervous, low-sleep night.