Montana vacation car list, August 2016

Our vacations just keep getting better. We went to Missoula and Helena. Had adventure. Relaxed. Spent quality time with lots of different friends. Enjoyed near-perfect weather.

We also played a game I got from a book I read this winter: The Secret to Happy Families. Throughout the trip, I rewarded the kids with points for this and that (hiking 1 mile,  learning the names of 10 plants, getting the brass ring), promising them a reward if they both reached 100. The reward turned out to be a stop at that crazy 10,000 Silver Dollar place, plus money to spend on souvenirs.

As always, it was hard to leave Missoula. Just what are we doing in Seattle again?

Here's the list of memories we made on the way home in the car.

Rocky start:

• Toilet overflowing in Spokane
• Hiawatha Trail: flat tires, crash, crazy bus ride
• Missoula VRBO not ready

Heather, Paul, Lucy, and Oscar!

• Closing down the Carousel
• The brass ring on Paint!

Montana Splash. Fun slides. Great lap swimming!

Downtown Missoula:

• Protected bike lanes!
• Farmers' market 
• Scooting by the fountain
• Piano in the park

Potluck with Vicki Watson, Mark, and Marnie:

• Holly hock dolls with Vicki
• Tillie thought Mark might be Santa Claus

Dinner with Sandy and Troy:

• Double D
• Three yellow jacket stings (Tillie)

Farmers market

Water sampling with Vicki

• Mermaid hair
• Playing in the river

Bridge Pizza

Philip:

• "L" and Philip's
• Coffee with Philip
• Drink with Philip outside at...Old Post?

Nimrod's and cave

Butterfly bar with Tillie

• Her first ice cream soda

Tristen's birthday:

• Huckleberry pancakes for birthday breakfast
• Sushi
• Too much mochi

Saw Miles at Bernice's!

4th of July with Frank and Beth and Maddie:

• "The turducken of berries"
•  Watching Lion King
•  East Helena fireworks
• Amazing dinner
• Guitar around fire
• Sleeping giant
• Mount Helena
• Ray at the Merc

Gateway to the Mountains:

• Man Gulch Fire
• Geology
• Eagle with fish
• Osprey with snake
• Mule deer

Margaret and Carrol

• Saloon
• Hot tub under the stars
• Piano, guitar
• Caroll's art
• Old jeep
• Boner the bird
• Playing in the river, flyfishing
• Bear scat
• Moose pump
• Trout! on a Japanese flyrod
•  Bats

Playing near Brennan's wave

Date night for Chris and Anna:

• Old post
• Dancing at Union Club
• Paula

Doug:

• And his cherry tree
• Headwaters of the irrigation ditch

Run

Blodgett:

• Swimming three times.
• Tillie hiked SO FAR. 
• Smelling Ponderosa pines
• P pine, huckleberry, Indian paintbrush, quaking aspen, spruce, Douglas-fir, princess pine, twinflower, kinnickinick, gooseberry, elderberry

He really missed her

Tillie and I recently spent a long weekend in the Midwest, celebrating niece Ashten's high school graduation. We got back late, after Tristen was asleep. And in the morning, he got up, walked right past me, and super-hugged Tillie. I guess he actually missed her. Child care provider and friend Heather took this picture later in the morning. The effects of our absence lasted more than an hour! But less than a day. ;)

Will run for chocolate

Thanks to Kathy Jones, who got me running in January. I've really been enjoying our Sunday runs around Green Lake. And even though I did fewer than half the training runs on the plan Eric provided...it was still fun to run the Hot Chocolate 15K. Beautiful day! Great, gently sloping route. And the best company ever. Thanks to Amy for coming out to cheer us on! Below: Tristen helping me pick up my race packet and after the race.

Artisan door and Chris versus Seattle rains

In his never ending quest to declare victory over Seattle rains, Chris completed a shelter that we hope keeps water from leaking through our kitchen door this winter.

I always thought doors had little roofs to keep people waiting at them out of the rain. Turns out, doors have little roofs to keep rain out, because it's really hard to make a door that doesn't leak at all.

Nice job, Chris!

Worms eat our food scraps

We're so lucky in Seattle that nearly everything is either recyclable or compostable. All of our food scraps can go into our yard waste bin -- and it costs us nothing to have it carted away to the Cedar Grove composting facility.

The trouble is, we're gardeners. So inevitably we end up buying our own food waste back from Cedar Grove. I've noticed that, as the city composting program has flourished, the quality of compost from Cedar Grove has declined -- or at least, it seems drier and woodier than before. I hypothesize that the composting facility is getting a higher ratio of yard waste.

Meanwhile, our garden isn't half as productive as Shelly and John's. They separate yard waste from food scraps, maintain an above-ground bin for yard waste, and feed their food scraps to worms, using the worm castings to nourish their veggies. I decided to try their worm-bin technique to see if I can get the same results.

The kids and I took the wagon to Ace, purchased two 20-gallon bins, moved some plants, and dug two 20-gallon holes right outside our back door. Then Chris drilled holes in both the bins to let soil critters find our compost, sunk them into our holes (burying the bins makes them rat-proof), and mulched around them. We shredded newspaper for worm bedding and purchased our first batch of worms from neighbor Xander, whose family has been worm composting for years. We're now layering food scraps and shredded newspapers. When one bin is full, we'll start in on the next -- and let you know how it works!

Third grade

I'm feeling extremely grateful today for these incredible, healthy children. Tristen is super excited to start third grade: loves his teacher, his school, and learning. I only cried a little this year. :)


















P.S. Other first days.

32 pounds

We picked 32 pounds of organic blueberries at Barbee farms. The bushes were so full, the berries so ripe, that they just fell from the leaves into our buckets. After berry picking, we stopped at a river and jumped in. Then we came back and froze the berries in some 16 over-sized mason jars.