Bubbles!

One of the highlights of the whooooooooole trip to Montana was the car wash.  With Sukijan washing the car every day, we hadn't really been to a car wash in a long long time. Jaffa and Eben wanted to do it again and again and again!

 

Fire lookout station

Zeric bravely drove the hour-long drive up the bumpy windy road to get to the fire lookout station where Christin's friend Patrick was spending the summer.  The view was phenomenal.. of course.. as Patrick was responsible for spotting fires for many, many miles in all directions. 

 

 

The Daly Mansion

We got a great lesson in American history, too, by visiting the Daly Mansion.  Marcus Daly (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Daly) was the "copper king" back at the turn of the last century, and in 1910 he built a summer home in western Montana.  The house has more than 25 bedrooms and all of the latest technology of that time.  Invitations were sent out in January for friends to join for specific dates over the summer, and you didn't want to get the attic rooms because they were the hottest ones! (AC was not one of the latest technologies back then.)  The grounds were beautiful too, with a pool and tennis courts.. big trees and gardens.  What a lovely place!

Huckleberry picking

They are small, but soooo worth it!  It was our first time huckleberry picking, and as can be expected, many many went into the mouth and not in the bucket :)  My favorite part of the morning was when Zeta hesitated tromping into the woods, saying, "BEARS really like huckleberries".  Thankfully, we didn't run into any competition!  And, we found enough to really enjoy them on vanilla ice cream after dinner. Yum!!

Along the way, Jaffa found a "nature challenge" for me.  She brought me the smaller piece of this stump and challenged me to find its match.  And I did! She wasn't with me, so I brought photographic evidence of my success.  She was impressed :)

Other than the fabulous taste of the huckleberries, the view was awesome from up there too.

And we had our scouts on the lookout for more bushes along the way back down too!

Montana means friends

 The weather is fierce in the Big Sky!

As has been our tradition the last few years, when we leave the rebellion, we head north.. to see Art and Christin up in western Montana.  It's always such a wonderful visit full of good food, great conversation, and animals :)

 

It was great to see Stormy again, and the goats!

The kids were put to work immediately, and fought over who got to rake poop.  It's a useful skill, one that I'm sure I can put to use soon..

The boyz and their ride

Andy was sampling Jaffa's jeans while she was braiding Stormy's mane.. works for everyone.

.. and now braiding of the tail.

 

This is one handsome boy!  Welcome BuckBuck!!

 BuckBuck's mama Ebbie makes some fabulous milk, and so Christin makes some fantastic cheese!

This is Ebbie, the magical milk maker. 

Isn't she beautiful?

 hangin' out

 

Handsome Andy looking for a smooch

 

Petey

Pretty Ellie in the garlic shed

The Sunday jump

And then Sunday came.  The day that Uncle Bob jumps out of a plane and grabs a plate on the field.. and the winner wins half the pot of money (the other half goes towards funding the next rebellion).  This plate looks like a lucky one!

 

Go Uncle Bob!! Pick our plate!!

(alas.. not lucky this year..) 

It was a great rebellion... we were sad that it was over, but happy to have seen our people and had some good times together.  Already looking forward to the next one in 2017!

Lovin' Lava

We love hanging out in Lava Hot Springs!  This year, both Jaffa and Eben were big enough for the big fast slides at the pool.. and ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip, so they went!  (Their wedgies were nothing like the ones I got!)  It was a fun afternoon of being brave over and over and over again..

 

 

We also took some time for relaxing in the hot springs.  A bit boring.. but the kids challenged themselves to see how hot they could go (as each pool is a different temperature)!

There were other things to entertain us in Lava too.. the arcade, the coffee shops..

.. and a fab pizza place!

While we would have liked to have spent more time up at camp, we really like hanging in town too!

Pioneer Day in Bancroft

When we are lucky, Pioneer Day falls on the same weekend as the Rebellion. 

We were lucky this year!

The parade is pretty cool.. lots of horses and trucks, and CANDY.

 

 

Once the parade had gone down and back Main Street, we headed to the rodeo.  This is a cultural experience for us east coasters.. and quite exciting (once we got over the right-wing commentary, and what the rodeo does to the animals).

 (notice the leg in the air behind the horse.. great pic, maybe not too great for the rider!)

 

 

One of the events was to have all of the kids under 8 years old come into the corral and try to get the yellow ribbons off of the calves' tails.  Jaffa and Eben opted out.  But lots of kids and poor calves!  All was going well until a few of the big steers (and their big horns) wandered into the corral too.. yikes!!  Thankfully a couple of the fathers took no time jumping in and herding those steers back to the pen.  Not really an instinct that Zeric and I had.. but all ended well!

Smith Rebellion 2015

Hooray!!  It's rebellion time again!  We LOVE hanging out with the Smiths in Idaho, it's always good to get caught up with everyone, meet new additions, and see how much the kids have grown.

 

 

 Tavia, Bishop, Jaffa and Dasia - this is the fifth picture of these girls together :)

 

 Love the smell of that sage brush

 

Beautiful Idaho

Men in hats

 The Zerics

We had a batik cowboy shirt made for Grant in Indonesia, and he loved it!

 

We brought a basket of things from Indonesia: coffee, spices, fabric... for the silent auction. 

Jaffa had an opinion about who got it, and was prepared to pay "all my piggy bank" for it!

Eben perfected the art of roasting marshmallows this trip. 
He even got his own roasting stick. 
He was super generous about making the perfect mallows for everyone's s'mores.

Love the fooz ball, and Megan kicked butt with her round belly!

Zeta and her kids ...but missing Mickey :(

Zeta and many of her grandkids

Happy times!