Capturing these kiddos

We had really beautiful Fall weather last week and I did my best to get out with my camera and try to document these kids of ours. They seem to be always on the move and are hard to capture very easily ... any photos together tend to have one or both of them making silly, grumpy, angry faces while poking at each other :)  It was totally worth the effort though, with them growing and changing so much I want to see and remember this precious stage!

Celebrating!

August is a great month for celebrations for us as both Jason & I have our birthdays. This year Jason was off work for both our birthdays and we got to enjoy family days at two different local lakes. It was really great and we are grateful to get to live in such a pretty place with easy access to outdoor recreation.

The start of the Sturgis motorcycle rally coincided with Jason's birthday, so we really wanted to find a place that was free of the near-constant rumbling of motorcycles and a place that wouldn't feel busy. We popped the canoe onto the jeep and headed to Deerfield Lake. It is just enough off the beaten path that there were only 4-5 other groups there and with the 5 mile-an-hour boat speed limit, it was very peaceful. After getting our fill, we headed home to grill some delicious steaks (in the middle of a thunderstorm) and gorge ourselves on Mile-High Mud Pie. Amazingly delicious!

Mabel even caught a tiny fish! 

For my big day, we headed down to Angostura since it's the only local lake with actual beachy type sand. We went down early to beat the ski boat folks a bit and had a wonderful beach day together. We followed it up by a fun afternoon in our backyard with take out from a local Indian/Nepalese restaurant and a frozen "strawberry fluff" dessert after. It was great!

Getting out of dodge

With the arrival of covid-19 this year, we didn't expect to be travelling at all this summer. So when some Idaho friends asked if we wanted to meet up in Montana for a campout together, we were thrilled!  In true Carrie form, I had to look and see who else might just be in the vicinity to hang out with as well. We found one other family not too far away and made plans for a camping visit to their home town and then were excited when Jason's family also made plans to meet up with us for several days -- near one of the gateways to Yellowstone! 

Our first stop was to Salmon, Idaho where we got to camp right on the Salmon River (and have the campground all to ourselves!) It was really great to see Kaitlyn, a friend from my Moscow MOPS group. Kaitlyn's husband was going through school at the same time as Jason, so she & I connected easily and have continued to keep in touch since we left three years ago. It was fabulous to see her and her family.

Our second stop was near Anaconda, Montana (a surprisingly cute town) and a really beautiful campground, tucked into the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. It was awesome to see our friends who initiated this whole trip and great for all the kids to get to be together -- Luke & Connor have been friends since they were two! The only downer was that it rained nearly the entire time. With temperatures in the upper 30's and 40's, it made for some pretty unpleasant tent camping. Luckily for us, the Hayes family had just purchased a camper, so we were at least able to get out of the cold and wet at times, but it just wasn't what we'd hoped for with the kiddos. 

Our last destination was in beautiful Paradise Valley, just north of Yellowstone to meet up with Jason's family at a lovely rental home. It was really great to see all of them and especially fun to get to explore the area together. And, we had MUCH better weather, hurray! :)

On the road again!

A quick stop at the spectacular Grand Tetons National Park - amazing!!

Camping alongside the Salmon River - 

So much fun with friends!

A great day at the river together!

On to Montana for more camping -- super beautiful, but so so wet!

One afternoon without rain - so lovely!

Drying out at a KOA campground cabin and spending a day with just us. 

Yellowstone National Park with Jason's family 

Riding to see Old Faithful with Grandma Marilyn in the backseat - the kids LOVED it!

More amazing sights at Yellowstone

Passage Creek Falls hike -- Mabel needed to turn back early, so she & I missed the falls, but they look beautiful! 

Fun times around the beautiful house Jarvis & Marilyn rented for all of us. 

4th of July fireworks fun :)

Loving Summertime in the Black Hills

I heard cicadas this weekend for the first time this season and was so pleased. In this area, cicadas are one of our "sounds of summer" and it made me happy all over again that at last we are in the full summer swing. There is much to love about the Black Hills in summer -- everything is super green, the weather is balmy, the days are long, the creeks refreshing, there are super crazy thunder/hail storms and best of all, we can go outside without layer-upon-layer of clothing on! I am trying to soak all of this in.

We also got to celebrate Jason last month for Father's Day which was great. We sent him on an overnight solo backpacking trip into the Black Elk Wilderness area for the weekend. The kids and I hiked around beautiful Sylvan Lake and then they made him one of his favorites, cherry cheese pie! (pretty much all on their own!)

Other big news is that Mabel learned to ride her pedal bike! Pretty exciting milestone for her (and us!)  We've also started having outdoor playdates with a few friends. This has made our small world feel just a tiny bit more normal which has been a huge blessing.

Finding Lakota Lake

Last weekend we had the pleasure of checking out this lovely little lake. We have found that our usual lake locations are very over-crowded this year and have been on the hunt for a kid-friendly water spot. Lakota Lake did not disappoint ... it wasn't crowded, had several spots where the kids could access shallow water for wading and swimming, had an easy hiking trail around it and best of all (for the kids), it was loaded with crawdads!

Attempting "dispersed camping" -- Black Hills National Forest

For a while now Jason has been wanting us to give dispersed camping a try. I wasn't really familiar with the term, but found it basically means that you go to a National Forest area and pick a spot to camp {for free!} and hang out until the lack of any facilities gets the better of you. I was game to try this at least once and last weekend we went!

The Black Hills stretch across the South Dakota border and into Wyoming and on the Wyoming side you are allowed to have a campfire while dispersed camping, so that's where we headed - a place we hadn't yet explored!

Overall, things went really smoothly and we had a great time. Two years in China has prepared me well for alternative toileting situations and the kids were thrilled with that aspect. My only struggles were things that come up anytime/place we camp -- long, miserable nights because I feel extremely cold and I sometimes feel flustered trying to prepare meals with limited table/cooking space. Otherwise, we really, really enjoyed not having to stress about the kids making noise ... there were no neighbors, anywhere. It was a relief to not have to feel self conscious that our kids are AWAKE at 5:30 am and ready for the day. And, Jason found us a beautiful spot to camp in. Definitely something we'll try again.

Beautiful hiking right from our campsite.

Marshmellow time! (I forgot graham crackers!)

Welcomed back home by a beautiful sunet.