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
After departing Bayview we headed north to Sandpoint on our way to Whitefish Montana. Sandpoint is a great little town of about 8-10k people. It’s on the northern part of the same lake Pend Oreille. There is a great city beach with warm water and a charming downtown area.
This summer we are again heading to Montana but a different area of the state. On the way their we decided to take a couple days in Northern Idaho to celebrate Noah’s 14th birthday. We rented a floating house on Lake Pend Oreille. (Pronounced “Pondaray”). The lake is one of the deepest in the US and is known for a US naval research center on the lake. The place where we stayed on the lake was Bayview which coincidentally right near the naval center.
On Noah’s birthday we did some gifts in the morning. Noah got his main gifts couple of days ago - a bass guitar. Late morning we headed out to a swimming area called beaver bay in Farragut state park not far from where we stayed.
After swimming we went and picked up food for dinner and a cake for Noah! Back at our place we took advantage of the warm weather and swam some more! The lake was warm because Kelly even decided to take the plunge.
Noah and Abbie left today for Young Life Camp at Washington Family Ranch in Antelope, Oregon.
They should have a blast!
We have another driver in the Donaldson family!
Hunter got a 91% on the written test and a 96% on the driving test. Way to go Hunter!
Kevin building the chicken run. 🐓
