Annual Summer Get Together

So much has happened in the past few weeks that I am at a loss on where to start with all the pictures I have, but will start with the family vacation and then follow-up next post with the BMW rally.

Summer is here and man is it hot.

The only way to cool off from the heat is to have your kid douse you with water and relax.  This may look ridiculous, but it was very relaxing.

 

We headed out to my parents place on the 3^rd to visit with the whole family.  My brother and his family were already there so we got there and got right to it having a great time catching up and getting the kiddos all wound up.  That of course is my forte and I really liked wrestling with them and making the whole house shake and my mom all concerned that someone was going to get hurt.  That is when you know you are right in the sweet spot of being rambunctious.

 First day was at the museum and living history house at the university campus.

Day 2 was an attempt to go to a rodeo in Livingston, but upon arrival finding it was sold out was a bummer.  We then went to the Bozeman fairgrounds and watched the local fireworks.

Kiddos having a great time

Isn't America a great place to live.

 

Day 3 had us going to Nevada City for a train ride and view of the historical buildings.

James was influencing Joey with the low hat thing.

The train ride was a huge hit with James and the whole crew.

Does this look painful to anyone else?

 

My bother being an active fisherman brought me out of retirement and we got a chance to hit the water with the old man and have a great time in the outdoors just hanging out.  I had some moderate luck and had a blast catching three different species two days in a row….not bad if I do say so myself.  Seeing as I will be back in MT to see Mom and Dad in the not so distant future I bought a yearlong pass so next time I go out there I can get out on the water again.

Big brown I caught

A nice rainbow of my brothers.

Night time at the house had outdoor games of red light green light, mother may I, and using a metal detector to look for junk...I mean, treasure... around the yard.

I think we played hand and foot every night and had a good time doing it.  Kind of frustrating when you help someone else play and they beat you, but I guess that just means I am partly a winner as well.

Took the two boys fishing one day.  They really like to throw rocks.  Joey caught a fish after James and I left.

James wanted to do everything Joey did.

Went out to Buffalo Jump State Park and climbed to the top.

Fed the neighborhood horses.

Tami and Justin came on Saturday and we had a great time as a huge family riding in the 15 passenger van to Yellowstone and running all around the park.  It was pretty busy there and finding a spot to park was a challenge, but we had some good times all the same.

Does this look like fun or what.  It would have been a bit better it Matthew did not blow out all over his clothes twice.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

It was the best time we have had together as a huge group family and had just enough downtime with just enough excitement that made for one really great vacation.  Summer time in Bozeman rivals about anywhere in the world.

10 Years of Marriage...10 long years.

We had a great time a couple weeks ago when we had a chance to see Joel and Abby when they swung by good old Greenacres for lunch and then a run to CDA for a walk around the town.  They claim to have the longest continuous dock in the US or something like that so we had to go out on it.

James doing his best fantasy island impression.

Brenda and the boys

Then we got to see a bunch of cars at Car D'Alene which just so happen to be going on that weekend.  We had to get a picture of the two of them in front of this car because at their wedding they had the same car.

 

A couple weeks ago Brenda had a chance to go down to Sunnyside and see her family and visit with Whitney who was visiting from Minnesota.  I had a couple of work meetings that precluded me from participating, but they had a good time all the same.  Originally I had a lot of work scheduled for the Sunnyside area, but with all of scheduling and conflicts this work has reduced significantly more than I anticipated so all the plans I had of being down there for extended periods of time is now segmented to short stints.  That is how it goes with my job sometimes.  Two weeks ago I got a call on Friday and had to be in Salt Lake on Sunday (Fathers day) so off I went.  Got back on Monday, but that was the type of thing that happens more frequently than you might imagine.

Fathers day afternoon I got a chance to pick what I wanted to do.  Since I had to get on a plane that night, I had a case of the Mondays a day early and spent the day watching Phil throw away the US Open.

And here is a picture of the ladies when they went out for a night on the town.

Got a new phone for work and now I really feel like I have jumped into the future.  I now have a smartphone and got to take a few pics with it.  Here is Brenda testing the slides strength.

Matthew has started to get ticklish.

I finally got the hammock set up in the yard.

 

Brenda and I just got done celebrating our ten years of wedded bliss.  I know there were many naysayers out there, but alas I have been able to keep a woman somewhat satisfied for ten years now which is no small feat.

 

For our anniversary I had the great idea of going to a small shed in the middle of nowhere without running water or electricity.  This is when you know you have married the right one for you…she was totally game and had a blast.  Last Friday we headed out to Montana to visit a Fire Lookout for our anniversary. 

This one just so happened to be named Sex Peak….and no, I am not joking.  On the way we stopped and visited the hot springs in the area and although it was about 85 outside, we had a great time hanging out in the pool without any kiddo responsibilities.  Thanks to Jim and Jan for taking the rugrats off our hands and they had such a good time I think they were kind of sad we only stayed one night…the kids that is, not Jim and Jan.  Friday was so clear and nice we kind of wondered what the lookout would be like in a storm.

 

Just look at the view you get for $30 and a little planning.

Sunny and warm there.

We thought about going out to dinner, but with views like we had up there we had to plan on cooking up there.  Of course cooking during camping falls on me and I was more than happy to cook steaks, brussel sprouts, rice and bread.

The next morning we had a chance to see as a lightning and rain storm passed overhead.  We had a blast and are looking to visit another one in the future.