Today we woke up in a scary place "without a plan".  That hasn't happend all summer.  We had thought about going to the Irish Festival in Butte but I got a text from a co-worker last night that the only thing going on today was Mass.  So we all got ready and headed out for church at Hanneford Street Bible Church.  We let everyone sleep so we went to the late service.  Oddly enough we finally got to hear the pastor speak. The whole time we have been there this summer we have only heard him once. There have been lots of guest speakers throughout the summer.  He had a great sermon on how it is each of our responsibility to share the gospel not just the pastor's.  We also got to witness a baptism. They had this big moveable pool that was sitting in the front of the sanctuary. (we are still trying to figure out where they store that thing) They baptized a little boy.As always the music was good and we got to see our new found friends.

After church we went home and got the kids settled and I took Gretchen out on a date.  We went to a restaurant called the Staggering Ox. This place is quite unique in their sandwiches.  They bake the bread for their sandwiches in a can and then cut out the inside. So imagine a small paint can that has the rings around it.  That is what the bread looks like and it is stuffed with whatever kind of stuff is on your sandwich along with some dipping sauce.  You can also buy the insides of the bread and eat it by itself or with cheese dripping over it.

We came back from lunch and decided to give Gretchen the afternoon off. So I took the kids and we headed out towards Boulder to a creek we found about a month ago.  We stopped on the side of the creek and got in the water. It was a perfect day. It was about 85 degrees and the water was perfect.  Caleb built a dam in the creek.  The rest of us spent time walking on the rocks and enjoying getting cool.  Joshua found a rock that was shaped just like a chair and he went and got Rebecca and brought her over there so she could have a nice cool place to sit in the water and write in her journal.  Of course, what good would playing in a creek be if no one fell in? Caleb, Sarah and Christina took the fall for the family this time.  I can't say they minded since it was hot and the water was cold.  The oddest part of this was that if you fell against any rocks on the water or rubbed against them you got these little tiny leaches attached to you. It was very gross and even grossed Caleb out (which is very odd). Luckily they just wiped off. We had experienced this in Yellowstone but they were actually bigger and the creek we were in there was much more used so there weren't as many. Regardless we all had a great time. When it was time to go Joshua said "why should we leave we are in paradise". 

As we left we tried to go down a couple of roads to get to a recreation area that we had seen a sign for. Now one of the things we have learned in MT is that you just never know when your road will end and turn into dirt. You may also see odd signs like "please keep all wheeled vehicles on the road" or "this road is no longer maintained and is a cattle crossing". There are many other signs but these were the best for the day. We got home to find Gretchen sitting on the porch reading and looking relaxed. So to continue the day we grilled out on our tiny little grill and had an awesome dinner.

It is so amazing how God provides everything for us including recreation places like the creek we went to.

This morning we decided to let everyone sleep. The last few weekends have been pretty busy. However, Christina woke up around 7. So she and I took off in search of donuts for breakfast and in addition found chocolate milk at 1/2 price (awesome). There is no Krispy Kreme here so Safeway Donuts had to do.  On the way there we had seen a garage sale so Christina asked to stop on our way home so we did.  It was for a family adopting a child. We finally made it home and just in time. Joshua and Sarah were up. So we all got to enjoy our donuts and chocolate milk. 

After everyone was up and about we decided to hit the Helena Farmer's market.  This is always a favorite because there is always fresh Kettle Corn. The kids love to watch them make it.  The lady that was making it told Gretchen that they are having to go farther and farther out to find corn because of the drought that we are experiencing.  The vegetables looked awesome so we bought a few for our dinners this week and of course we had to buy some homemade bread and Huckleberry Jam.  However one of the things we had spotted the last time we were at this farmer's market was a booth that had some awesome pictures of Montana. So we went back and got one of the mountains in glacier as a reminder of how beautiful it is here.

After a nice lunch at home and a rest we decided to go to the Wild West Fest at the Klefner Ranch which is about 10 minutes from our house.  This is an annual event in Helena and everyone has told us we should attend if we had time.  So off we went. This ranch is a really nice place and has a big old red barn with a stone foundation.  In the bottom of the barn there were booths for things like knives, guns, old time clothing, the NRA (didn't expect that did you), wood statues, and lots more.  Caleb, Joshua and Sarah took a big liking to the knife booth. In the upstairs or main floor of the barn there was a silent quilt auction. Also this room was serving as a ballroom for the Wild West Ball tonight. People dress up and come and do old time dancing.  Outside there were wagon rides and horse shows.  We enjoyed the horse show and we had a couple that enjoyed horse rides. At the horse rides we met this nice couple from Butte who told us they came here for a visit 10 years ago or so and went home and sold their home and moved here. They have been here ever since and told us not to let the winters scare us.  Yes, we told them we were headed home at the end of the summer.  This is like the 6th story we have heard like this but we are holding strong.  We got to hear some old fashioned gospel music performed by the band from the "Cowboy Church".  There was a sewing booth where Christina got to sew a little bag on an old time sewing machine worked with her feet. There was also a small set of T-Pees setup with indians which the kids enjoyed looking at. 

We left the ranch and visited one of Gretchen's all time favorite restaurants from when she was a child "A&W" where she and Joshua purchased freshly brewed Root Beer.   She has been eyeing this place since we got here in June.  We took a drive through the small town of East Helena.  We tried not to blink and miss it. Then we headed to Costco. I don't know if we have said in our blog how odd it is to us that the town of Helena rolls up the sidewalks early every day.   I am not sure that businesses here really want revenue. We walked into Costco at 5:55 and were told they were closing at 6 pm.  I had to check my watch to make sure it really was Saturday and sure enough it was.  That was the quickest trip we have made to Costco.

All in all it was a Great day and we got to see what it was like 200 years ago here in MT. 

Friday was nice because Mom let us not do school.  This gave us the chance to climb the mountain again (can you believe it).  That makes it 5 times at least for the week. We are getting great exercise here. In fact we have climbed it so much that Sarah has worn her shoes out so we had to go look for some for her. Afterwards  Sarah went to lunch with Dad.  They had a great time. For the last several weeks each of us has taken a turn going to lunch with Dad and this week was Sarah's turn. She got to go to the Pita Pitt where she got a buffalo chicken pita with double hot sauce. She loves hot sauce. 

While Sarah was at lunch with Dad we got to go to the Classy Flea.  Joshua found several things he liked. This was also a great place for Caleb since he loves second hand stores.

I am always looking for  a bargain.  When we went on the Trolley tour around Helena with my mom in July I found out the Montana HIstory museum is FREE after 5 on Thurs.  So I thought we would do that today.  After the kids' LONG hike I wasn't sure we should go.  I didn't want to be dragging the kids through some museum and them complaining the whole time.  I decided we would go anyway and we didn't have to stay long of course.  The Lord surprised us!   The museum has several rooms .  It helped that the first one we went in was the hands on kids room.  My kids loved it.  There were two saddles up on something so the kids felt like they were getting on horses.  They loved that since we haven't been on horses yet this summer.  The kids room was really well done.

 Throughout the museum we saw old photos of places we had been like Glacier Lodge and a buffalo jump.   The kids got so excited to see things they had seen in real life!  We saw  a white buffalo in the museum!  That was very weird.  They are extremely rare.  There was a room about Montana during Lewis and Clarks time here.  We had just seem the musuem in Great Falls so the kids really liked this room too.  Of course , as with almost everywhere we go here there is a LARGE bear for the girls to take my picture by.  I have a feeling I will be receiving many bear items  or pictures as gifts in the future.  This bear was a grizzly and especially fierce looking.  Yikes!

The third floor had a military exhibit which the kids enjoyed too.  Caleb loves to see old weapons and they had plenty.  I have been reading In The Garden of Beasts about the Amer. ambassador to Germany at the beginning of Hitler's leadership and it was a little unnerving to see the Nazi items they had at the museum.

We had such a fun time at the museum!  The kids said they want to go back.  I am thankful they all enjoyed it even after the long hike which Rebecca will tell you about.....

    Mom guessed right when she said that she might recieve bear gifts in the future! Sarah and I never miss an opportunity to take Mom's picture by stuffed bears or anything bear related(especially in museums). I think I probably took 20 pictures of this one stuffed bear that was showing its teeth. Don't worry, the pictures were taken at 20 different angles. Mom is definitely going to be suprised at what I pull together for her Christmas present (and birthday since it is right after Christmas). Sarah and I are already working on it. =)

    Before we went to the musuem, the Franklin 5 did a double hike while mom rested. We climbed to the top of the mountain and then took the trail by our house to the Lime Kilns. I have to say we learned a few lessons along the way. One of the lessons was to never let a 5 year old take a back pack full of water up the mountain. It doesn't work. Christina didn't realize what she had gotten herself into. We had already walked 10 ft on the trail and Christina said that her back was sweaty and she wasn't going to carry it. Thankfully, I was able to convince Christina to carry it half way up the mountain, due to my amazing persuasion skills. She is quite the trooper. Joshua, being the gentleman, volunteered to carry it up the rest of the way. I'm not even going to go through the details of the other backpack problems we encountered on the way down and when we went to the Lime Kilns. Although, I will let you know that I made Christina carry the backpack for the majority of our long hike. Believe me, she won't do it again. The other thing we learned was that when you go on a 2hr hike in 96 degree weather you need WATER!!!!  I know that it's common sense to bring water on a hike but as for a few of us.......well, let me just say that our "pride" interferred.  If we go on that long of a hike again, we will ALL bring water.

~Rebecca

Since our weekends are so full of fun we are often tired on Mondays!  However, we rallied and did some school so that when we get back in Sept. we won't be too far behind.  Caleb thinks we should not do school now but just go later into June next summer.  Somehow I don't think he will want that then when it is time to go to the pool!

Caleb has a new saying "Daily Deer."  It seems everyday we see deer around here!  Many times while driving to run errands we see several deer in a yard on a residential street.  The fawns are so cute with their white spots.  We have seen many fawns lately.  We haven't had the deer in our yard in a while though.  Maybe we have scared them off.  :)

We ran some errands yesterday and are preparing for two August Birthdays - Caleb and Christina.  Christina , of course, can't stop talking about hers!  She thinks we are having a party here and at home.  My brother will be here for both birthdays so that will be great fun!

Sarah has turned into a real British girl this summer!  I don't think it is because of the Olympics - she started talking in a British accent before they started.  It is hilarious to hear her have a whole conversation in her new accent.

Somehow only doing 3 hours of school is almost as exhausting as doing a whole day.  We are trying to still enjoy some Montana things each day.  The weather is amazing!!!  It was nice and cool this morning and I got to take a walk before everyone woke up.  As I returned Christina met me in the driveway all dressed so she and I took a little walk to see the horses just down the road.  They were very close to the road so we could !!  Before my walk I woke and opened the curtains.  I got back into bed with my Bible and watched the sunrise.  It was so beautiful!!!!  I love watching the sunset around 9 or so in the evenings now.  The colors in the sky are fantastic!!!   Lam. 3:22 says "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness."!!!!    I am so looking forward to getting home but am very thankful for the beauty of our surroundings for the next few weeks.

Gretchen

This morning Gretchen and I woke up around 7.  Shortly afterwards Christina came bouncing in.  She and I took off to the kitchen to make pancakes. In MS we have a gas stove and here we have an electric stove (one of those flat top ones).  For the past few months the most cooking I have done is scramble some eggs in the mornings.  I was quickly reminded again this morning why I  prefer gas over electric.  I burned the first pancake and nearly the 2nd because the eye was so hot.  I never have this issue in MS when I make these but Gretchen says its due to the electric vs gas cooktop. Oh well, that just meant that we had to smell that burnt smell for the morning in the house.

We got the kids up shortly after everything was ready and got them moving.  It is no small feat to get our household of 7 out the door on time on any morning and today was no exception.  Although even against all odds we made it out the door for the 2nd day in a row on time (amazing).  I don't know if we have told you or not but the dress code for Church here is quite different than the Churches in the south.  The words casual dress can be stretched in lots of ways.  So this morning when Gretchen first walked out of the closet I thought she had truly taken on the culture here because she had on a t-shirt with a skirt.  Thankfully I just caught her in mid-dress.  We were headed to early church at Hannaford which is at 9 am (so we had a little extra time vs early church at POPC).  Today's service was great. The youth pastor (Gezer) who is from Brazil preached.  He was very entertaining and had a good message on how we all need to worry only about what God thinks and not others.  We have to stand up for what we believe in otherwise we will get consumed into the culture we live in and our freedoms will no longer be around.

After Church we headed back home to pack up and get on the road. Today's trip in MT was to go see the legendary town of Great Falls and hopefully see the falls.  Great Falls is about 1 hour and 1/2 from Helena so not too far.  We took our picnic lunch and spread it out at a park there in Great Falls.  The first thing on our list was to go to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.  This was a great place to learn more about the Lewis and Clark adventures.  I am just amazed at what these men had to do and what they faced.  It was really cool to see all the different artifacts of theirs and the Indians they had to deal with along the way.  Great Falls was an area where they had to pull their boats out of the water and carry them 18 miles around the falls which took 10 days of their journey.  The odd part is that there are 5 falls all together so you have to drive down river to see them all.  We were quite disappointed to find that in the early 1900's that at almost each of the falls a dam has been built right above it so it is not quite as natural as it was when Lewis and Clark found it. In fact one of them is completely submerged in the dam.  It was also interesting that the landscape in Great Falls is very different from the other parts of MT that we have been to. It is more flat with not as many mountains. 

After the Interpretive Center we drove next door to see a Natural Spring which Lewis and Clark found and a fish hatchery (for trout). The spring was awesome. It pumps 150,000 gallons of water a day into the Missouri River and it is so clear you can see down 10 feet or more. Out of the spring is what is called the shortest river in the world.  It is about 20 or 30 feet from the spring to the Missouri.  The kids especially liked the fish hatchery.  We were allowed to walk around a viewing pool that had the mother fish in it and then we could see through the fence over into the other pools where there were literally hundreds of smaller fish.  There was also a lovely park surrounding the spring and we played there for a few minutes also.  Today was a very hot day in MT so playing under the trees where it was 10 to 15 degrees cooler was nice.   Our kids constantly comment on how nice and soft the grass is in people's yards here (and the park).

Great Falls due to its size is also one of the places people in the state go shopping.  The girls had been trying to find an Old Navy and there was one here. Actually the only one in the entire state. so we spent an hour or so there and headed home.

I wanted to apologize for a previous post.  My mother-in-law pointed out that I apparently cussed without knowing it. I spelled the word dam incorrectly. Hopefully no one took offense. 

Our day today started at around 7:00 when we woke the kids to be prepared for a Float Trip down the Missouri River with several families with Hannaford Street Bible Church.  We left our house about 8:15 in order to arrive at the put in spot which was at the Wolf Creek Bridge parking lot. There were a total of about 22 adults and children.  There were 2 8 person rafts, 3 single person kayacks, 1 2 person kayack and a 2 person raft.  After getting our cars shuttled to a couple drop off locations and back the convoy set out about 10:30 into the Missouri River.  As a side note it was 52 degrees this morning and the wind was blowing.  We actually ran the heat on the way there. So you can imagine that our expectations were that we might freeze on this river.  However, that was not the case.  What a blessing it was for us to get to go on this trip.  The kids all got along so well. Caleb and another boy Tyler took one Kayak and  Joshua and a boy named Justin took another kayak.  The girls went in a raft with me, Gretchen, another couple and another lady.  The water was amazingly clear.  There were these tall weeds that were on the bottom of the river and looked almost like beautiful blond hair floating on the bottom.  Christina really liked rowing and splashing the boys in their boats .  About an hour and a half into the trip this really nice man who was with us named Keith came over in his single Kayak and asked if anyone wanted to take it for a spin.  Sarah volunteered and did an awesome job and just loved it.  She even got stuck and got herself out of it. 

After about 2 1/2 hours we pulled out for lunch. We had left one of the trucks there with all our food in it. So one of the guys pulled out a handy little grill and we had hot dogs and potato salad.  You would have thought we were way down south.  We took a nice long rest and then cleaned up lunch and got back in the water.  This time we changed around where the kids were.  Caleb and his new buddy Tyler took a 5 yr old (Carson) in the 2 man raft while Rebecca and a girl named Callie took Christina in the 2 man kayak.  The adults did a little flip flopping of who sat in which boat and a couple of the guys left and went home at this point.  As we got back in the water it was a pretty fast current so Keith took his single kayak and went down to stay with the kids as they happened to be way ahead of us all.

On this part of the trip 1 guy in each raft got out their fishing gear to see if the trout were biting. We could see them on the bottom of the river. The guy in our raft (Glen) pulled out all his fly fishing stuff.  I have never really just sat and watched someone fly fish until today.  This is a lot of work.  These guys are the die hard fisherman. he had all kinds of things pinned to his shirt so he could quickly get to them.  Unfortunately even with all his tries he didn't catch one.  There were also several very deep parts of the river and some people went a swim.  By 2 in the afternoon it was around 90-95 degrees.  The scenery as we floated was just beautiful. There were many rock walls/cliffs and lots of farm land.  We got to see a couple of otters and the kids saw at least 4 snakes to their delight.  There were lots of canadian geese and lots of pelicans. Yes they have pelicans and sea gulls here.  That was one of the strangest things to get used to when we came here. There was also a big Ospry Nest that had a couple Ospry and their babies in it.  There were also these beautiful blue dragon flies that would fly across the raft and sometimes land.

Finally about 4;30 we all ended up at our pull out location (Stickney CreeK).. This was a nice shallow part of the river so everyone was out in the water.  The kids had a great time and are now asking for a kayak and to come do this again.  All of them got to kayak by themselves at some point (even Christina). (Christina is planning how she gets her own kayak when we kayak with the Shelts )  By the time we got our car and got home it was 6:30. Needless to say we are worn out and ready for some Olympic relaxation.  Once again though we got to see the beautiful world our Lord created and we got to spend the day with Believers which was awesome.

This morning we woke up to 46 degrees and it was wet outside.  Yes it is August.  I went to work and mentioned this to a coworker and she told me that you know you are in Montana when you have to use both the heat and the air conditioning in your car in the same day.

    This week, Caleb, Sarah, and I decided that we were going to climb the mountain by our house every day until we got to be really good at it. So today was our 5th day climbing it. It's a climb of 600ft which is as tall as a 60 story building!!! When Sarah and I had been hiking the mountain in last few weeks, we had taken the trail up the mountain which normally took us about 20 minutes. Well, now that we're serious mountain climbers, I decided that we should find a faster way up. Sure enough, there was a four wheeler trail straight up the mountain! It's definitly more rigorous than the real trail since it is straight up. This trail has become the girl's official hiking trail. As for Caleb, he usually just wanders through the woods until he makes it to the top. I would do the same but I don't want to get my legs scraped up walking through thorny plants, knee-high grass and anything else you might happen to walk through. Besides, I already get scraped up by doing other outdoor explorations in the woods or the prairie grass by our house.  Caleb always seems to beat Sarah and I. Yesterday, he made it up the mountain in 8 minutes!! Sarah and I made it up in 12 minutes. Life is so unfair. I could probably beat him if I wanted to but I'm not always in the mood for racing straight up a mountain. If there was strawberry cheescake ice cream waiting for me at the top, I could beat him!!!! I have to say that Sarah and I are really improving. Wednesday we jogged down the mountain in 7 minutes flat. Yesterday, we decided to break our record along with Caleb by running down the mountain. Our record breaking time was around 4 minutes and 40 seconds!!! That means that we dropped 600ft in less than 5 minutes. We are quite the insane threesome. As you can tell, we're very inspired by the Olympics. Caleb hopes he can one day have a record breaking time of 3 minutes. If he makes that time(let's all hope that he doesn't for safety reasons), I guess I'll have to follow in his footsteps. I always feel obligated to do the dangerous things that he does. And of course, if I do it, Sarah will feel obligated to do it too. I don't know about your family, but there's always a chain reaction going on in ours.  

~Rebecca

Today was very uneventful.... Caleb, Sarah, and Rebecca are entering a photo contest so we went to Walgreens to get the 8 x 10 's and then to mail them at the Post Office.  Their photos are great and I can't wait to see if they might win or get Honorable Mention.  Caleb has been quite the photographer on each of our road trips!  He takes about 100 - 200 pictures at each location - like that many just at Old Faithful and that same number at any other stop we made in Yellowstone.  The Walgreens photo assistant commented that since his camera has over a thousand photos on it - it may be time to delete some!  Caleb doesn't believe in deleting ANY photo!!! 

After we got home from our short trip of errands , I worked on getting some school stuff ready for Thursday.  We plan to start some school since my brother will come Aug. 17 for a week and then we will only have a week left here.  We will try to get a little work done before our final summer vacation at the end of Aug. :)

I realized I left some school at home that I really wanted to accomplish here in MT.  Bummer!  The kids are fine with my mistake I am sure . 

I took 3 kids to the pool Wed. afternoon but we actually went too late.  We only got to swim for about 50 min. before they closed the pool for swimming lessons.  The "waterpark " part was still open so the kids enjoyed that and I enjoyed the sun with my book for a few minutes.

Wed. night Tony took Joshua, Caleb Rebecca, and Sarah to hike Mt. Helena again!  They convinced him to take the Powerline trail again (the VERY steep one!)  They had a great time and said the sunset was amazing up there!  They came home to a full moon which I had been enjoying out on the porch .  I love moons when they are low and huge in the sky!  Tonight should be another awesome moon show. Praise The Lord!