Odd and Ends

Art and Craft time doing their Kiwi Crates. 

 Fresh eggs! The chickens are starting to earn their keep, well, at least one is. Of course they are not laying them in their coop so the kids and I get to go on an Easter egg hunt everyday. 

 Loving the summer sunsets. It has been a crazy wildfire season but the smoke makes for very red and pink sunsets. A fire this year in North Eastern MT burned 270,000 acres. It has been a privileged to see how the MT community has come together in support of the farmers and ranchers in the area. Montana Strong. 

 We also harvested fresh peas from our garden. I'm happy that Grandma knows what she is doing and planted these for us. It's been fun sharing this with her and the kids. 

 A little breakfast before a big day of library story time and swimming. 

 Mikayla is really coming along in her swim lessons. I took a day off last week to take Mikayla to visit her new pre-school and get the new license registration for the camper and car. Since I had to go to Towsend I figured I would take the day and go to Helena to enjoy some shopping. Mom and the kids decided to come with me. We did a little shopping and then we headed to a water park. It was a wonderful place that had water slides, diving boards, a lazy river to float on and a small wadding pool for kids. We had a really fun time and can't wait to go back. 

 We have had a family of deer visiting us lately but usually they stay to the empty lot to the east of us. This night however, while I was out with the chickens one of the deer came up along side the shop. The chickens were not quiet sure what to think of the deer and the deer wasn't sure about the chickens. 

 Cogburn wanted to know what I was going to do about these intruders. 

 All is well and both the chickens and the deer went back to grazing. After I went inside I saw that there was another doe with 3 fawns in the front yard. It was fun watching them. They came to visit over the next week as well. 

 Jon and Michelle came out for dinner and we decided to go check out some of the planes at the Three Forks Fly-in. 

 This was my favorite. It was a scenic tour plane for the 20's-30's. It had amazing wood detail. 

 It even had a little toilet in the back where the circle window is. I don't know how any could actually sit on it but it was interesting regardless.

This one, while it doesn't look like must was actually probably my favorite, because it was the same kind of plane that my dad had when I was little. Airplanes hold a special place in my heart because of the fun experience Kyle, Dad and I shared flying around the hills checking cattle. Kyle and I would fight over who got to ride up front and Dad would make us rotate every other trip. I always hated when I had to sit in the back because I got air sick and had to just fall asleep. I didn't fly on my first commercial plane until I was 18 and was fearful that I would get sick, but it all turned out okay. 

 After the airplanes we headed to Headwater's State Park to enjoy the beautiful cool evening. 

 Some fun little critters that were there when mom and the kids went to the park a few weeks earlier were hanging out again. These little guys were fun to watch. 

 Smoky skies.