1st weekend after school back. Weather has been horrible with smoke all week and this morning we woke up with some blue sky! Rains yesterday also calmed the dry soil.
Boys went in a bike ride and Abbie let the chickens out to roam. All the chickens are laying eggs now — of all different sizes! We got one last week that was the size of a goose egg and it was a triple yolker!
This week started the first week of school for the Donaldson Crew. Hunter drove to school this year and stopped off along the way and got a special treat of a box of gold fish from Kirra. 💕
We have a 10th, 8th, 7th and 4th grader. It’s going to be a great year!
Abbie turned 12 and she celebrated her special day by waking up and going for donuts with her brother, Hunter. We spent the day getting her room together. Abbie asked for a “big girl” bed for her birthday. Nana gave us her bedroom set that Kevin and I have and also her headboard and footboard. The headboard and footboard fit a full sized bed so it worked perfectly for Abbie’s new bed. We ended the night with sushi and ice cream.
We love you Abbie and you make our family and the world a better place!
Noah with his new job just got a dirt bike as well. Today they went out together for the first time over to a friends house to ride.
Here is a picture of Noah on the first day he got his bike a couple weeks ago.
Here is a picture of them riding with some friends. Noah at the back of the photo, Hunter is on the right side.
This years campout was a little different with no fires allowed due to drought conditions. It makes you realize how much a part of camping the campfire is. How it becomes the gathering place for meals and talking with its light and heat.
Nonetheless we made the best out of our 5 days away! Our friends the Christoff's came up for a couple days/nights as well!
We met up in Beautiful Black Butte Ranch this summer. The MacDermotts ended up with Covid so they stayed at our house while we all stayed in BBR. While it wasn’t what we had planned and it was very disappointing it made us happy to know they enjoyed some quiet family time of R&R, days in the pool and some lake days. Charlotte and Anna especially loved looking after Holly. They thought they were her dog trainers.
We look forward to the next time we can all be together. Grateful for family! ❤️
Hail storm out of nowhere today at our house. Kelly was in town and she didn’t see any of it. Hailstones the size of ping pong balls. Abbie and I scrambled to save our potted plants by getting them under cover but trees and flowers are feeling the pain today.
We decided to go out for dinner but instead of trying to fight the hordes of tourists at restaurants we packed up food for a picnic and went down to an area of the deschutes called the big eddy. It was nice and quiet.
The lighting was really nice this evening. And of course Noah wanted to get pictures of him mid-air jumping :)
Our main vacation this summer was a trip to visit our friends - the Kerr’s. Their family has a condo on whitefish Lake in Montana. After spending a couple days in northern Idaho we arrived in whitefish July 10. The days are long there in the summer, staying light until close to 11 pm. Lots of time to. Explore and play.
The condo itself is at whitefish lake lodge and is beautiful with views over the lake.
What’s nice is that the condos have access to the lodge amenities such as the private beach, pool, and pool bar.
The lodge itself looks like a really nice place to stay. Couple pictures from inside.
The family has a boat so we went tubing with the kids lots. With the early hot weather this year the lake was already warm for swimming.
On one of the days we hiked the “Danny-On” trail at big mountain (where the skiing is in winter). Hot but beautiful and the ice cream at the lodge at the top made it worthwhile. We rode the chairlift down for some great views.
There was a trail ride rental shop with a Big timber sled out front in Columbia falls that we had to stop and see.
We spend a morning shopping and exploring whitefish town.
Overall an amazing trip that was too short. We love Montana. Second summer in a row visiting and I’m sure we will be back.
While on our trip to Whitefish we journeyed into Glacier National park to see some of the amazing sites. We went in the evening and had amazing weather and the lighting was great for photos.
MacDonald Lake
Going to the sun road
Logan Pass
