....and then it became tooo quiet

School!

Up and ready to go early.  He would have liked to take his squirt gun to school...

He could not WAIT to get to the playground with the other kids

His Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Bush tells him what to do

We got a flash of him running around before we made him come say goodbye!

"Leave me alone!"  "I just want a hug!"

What a Birthday looks like around here

For the boys birthdays, I can't help but be a little reminiscent of their actual births.  Shawn and I each notice the clock throughout the day and start sentences with "Remember that right now we were...?"  As in, at 4:30 in the afternoon five years ago I was frantically calling his office telling him to come home to take me to Helena because my water broke.  It's fun, and I hope we continue to remember these things forever.

For Tyler's fifth birthday, he wanted to go swimming, so we went to a big aquatic center over in Cody.

But first, we ate yummy Mexican food on an outside deck.  What a treat!

And then we swam.  Tyler swam more than us, as we were spending most of our time making sure Cash didn't drown.

Later we got home and poked around in the yard.  My sunflowers are Mammoth.

Frantic gift-unwrapping

You know your kid is ready to start school when you ask him what kind of cake he wants, and he says a "semi-circle."  He insisted on this, so I made a lumpy, huge cake.

We capped off a great day with watching a parade of farm machinery go by the house.  Many of the fields are ready to combine or harvest, so the farmers are pretty busy (well...busIER than normal).

Floating the Shoshone

We met up with some friends and coworkers in Cody to spend a few hours rafting the river.  It was such a great time, and even Tyler and Cash got to go.  I went the first trip down, and then the second trip Cash needed to nap so I was able to take some pictures.

Shawn is in the single kayak, and Tyler is in the raft

Tyler switched out towards the end to get into the kayak with Shawn

A Deserted Ranch

We get so tired of walking down our sunny, sometimes dusty road.  I told Tyler "we should drive somewhere and walk."  His eyes lit up and he danced around and said "A Hike!" 

So I searched my maps and brain, and decided to drive through Bighorn Canyon and see if there was a trail that had shade and water.  Not an easy task, since most of the shade is provided by giant rock walls along the lake.  

Pryor Mountain wild mustangs

 We ended up finding the Caroline Lockhart historic ranch inside the National Park boundary.  There was a little road to walk and several buildings to check out.  She was an author, failed actress, and later in life owned the newspaper in Cody.  The interesting thing is that she went to Moravian Seminary in Bethlehem, PA.  She walked streets back there that I have walked on!

Her brand on the chimney L/Heart

Definitely a rugged woman of the west

Lovelies in the Garden

Photos from my garden this morning.

I had several old packets of "wildflower" seeds that I scattered.  I had hoped they would attract more bees, but it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference in attracting them.

I do love the flowers that grew out of the miscellaneous packets

We will have a lot of work when all the green tomatoes ripen

After this "melon" grew a little, we have decided it is actually a pumpkin!  Next summer I will keep seed packets and label plants better

Mr. Lincoln Rose

My little lovelies check daily for strawberries.  We expanded the patch to accommodate all the runners.

BOO!
The best shot I got of the owl that hangs around at night on top of a light pole.

Spectacular Weekend

This weekend I did something that wasn't even on my bucket list, but I added it and crossed it off.  Meg had the ability to stay at a work bunkhouse on Mystic Lake, just on the edge of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in Montana.  

Getting to this little "cabin" included the bonus of riding a tram up a STEEP hill, and then getting onto a little miner-type train along the mountain.  The cabin and tram were there for power company employees to work on the hydroelectric dam, and since it wasn't being used this weekend we were able to check it out. 

At the power station, loading up gear with our new pal Marvin.  We thought we might have to hike in, so we prepared our backpacks just in case.

Of course, you can't tell how steep it was.

Top of the first tram ride.  We jumped off and got onto another little train car.

Jen and I feeling pretty lucky.

The pipe carries water over and straight down toward the power generator building.  The force of the water going straight down helps spin the giant generators.

The little dam on Mystic Lake. Our cabin was to the right. 

We went for an afternoon hike to "earn our dinner."

Happy Birthday Meg!  Fruit and brownie batter fondue.

The little bunkhouse we stayed in.  Better than camping out, especially since it was windy and rainy in the evening.

The water pipe and also route the tram took along the mountainside

We decided to hike the 3.5 miles out in the morning.  It was 99% downhill--pretty easy but rocky!

Special treat towards the bottom--huckleberries!  I tried to overindulge without holding everyone up.