Today we got an unexpected call from one of the ladies we met at Hannaford last Sunday. She invited us to go to White Sandy Beach with several other families for the afternoon. So we loaded up the car and met them at this beach which sits on the shore of Holter Lake. No the beach does not have White Sand and there is a beach next door that is called Black Sandy Beach. Appaently we are getting more acclamated to the climate and temperatures because this time the kids got right in the lake and stayed there nearly the whole time we were there.  Some of the kids that went on the hike last night there also so there were some familiar faces.

We even got to meet a couple of families we had seen at church on Sundays. Oddly enough we thought these ladies were single moms with only 1 or 2 kids when in fact one of the moms has 7 children. They were giving me insight on what it is like ot live here in the winter (it does not sound glamorous at all).  I am so glad we won't be here for the winter!  I really enjoyed visiting with these nice women.  That was such a blessing.  Three of the four homeschool too. 

One of the things the kids enjoy doing at the lakes here for some strange reason is playing with this moss that grows on the lake.  They get into wars with it and put it on each other's hair and who knows what else.  During one of these wars one of the boys (not ours) was throwing this at some girls and when they threw it back it hit his mouth and got stuck in his braces. Isn't that one of the grossest things you've ever heard?

Since the POPC youth group was spending the afternoon today watching the batman series and then going to see the new movie our kids decided we had to mimick that here in MT. So last night we watched the first one and tonight we are watching the 2nd one but I can guarantee we won't be at the theater at midnight to see the premier of number 3.

Christina says:

We have many trees and one was very high.  I almost climbed to the top with Sarah and Caleb's help.  Joshua was sitting down there waiting.  I was the highest In the trees.  It was Fun to be in the trees .   Love, Christina

My mom left today early in the morning.  While we drove to the airport at 4:30 am I drove very slowly down our road thinking there could be deer pop out anywhere.  We drove up to two fawns in the middle of the road.  They were so cute and very slow to move.  Their mama probably forgot to tell them what to do when they see headlights!  They safely made it to the other side and mom & I were on our way.  She arrived home safely after a long day of flying and almost missing her connection in Atlanta. 

The rest of our day was just a lazy summer day.  I  sat outside with Rebecca enjoying the sun and cool breeze in the morning while the others played in the woods.  At night Sarah, Caleb and Rebecca joined the Hannaford Bible church youth group to climb Mt. Helena.  The kids had a super fun time meeting new friends.  The weather was perfect to hike but my kids did wish they had taken the harder trail like they did with Tony a few weeks ago.  As we drove home after the hike the sunset was beautiful as we drove to our house.   

Today we went to many places:

First to Goodwill to look for another puzzle.  Rebecca is hooked and wants to do another one!  After one we started in MS which was 1000 pieces I said no more 1000 piece puzzles but guess what we bought???  The smaller one didn't look as pretty or fun so now we have a huge puzzle to try.  At least Rebecca will join us in this one since she picked it out.

Next we went to the Archery place to get Sarah's bow fixed.  i had been told about this place 5 wks ago but have never make  it out there.  Now I wish we had gone sooner.  They have a place the kids can practice archery and also an outdoor trail w/ targets for members of the Club.  We will see if we join the club since we only have 6 more wks here but we can use the indoor facility for a daily fee.  The kids are excited about that!

Then we went to use a Free coupon (from riding Trolley last week) at the Carousel.  My mom even rode!  :)

Then we went to the Painted Pot to use another Freebie - paint an ornament!  I love painting although I never do it so I was excited to go.  The kids all love to paint too - again we just rarely do it.  The owner told us we could paint an ornament free or take $5 off another piece in their store.  The kids all picked a 6 in. tile to paint.  They really got into it and enjoyed it.  We were there 1.5 hours .  :)  My mom also painted a tile.  They will be fired and then we will pick them up next week.

Christina says:

I picked a tile to paint on.  I painted a pretty flower pink and they had these stencils to use.  It was really pretty.   I had to paint three coats of everything I painted.  The store had suckers for sale for a dime so we all got one.   When we get back to MS you can see my tile if you come to my birthday party.  :)   My grandma painted a smaller tile but it had a vase with flowers on it.  The end of the story.   

Bless the Lord , O  my soul.  I am really thankful for the beauty that surrounds us daily!!!

Today we went downtown with my mom to see a few more things.  When we rode the Trolley last week touring Helena, we were given some coupons for free items for all the trolley riders .  So we went to a gift shop first for our free item.  I thought it would be a postcard but no - this Birds & Beasleys gift store gave us a choice of several items.  Christina and Caleb got elk horn whistles.  Rebecca got Huckleberry jam and the rest of us picked out a small framed painting of a bird.  I looked through the whole store for a mountain bluebird and found one!  I have been enjoying watching them in our yard so now I can take a picture of one home with me!  The store was really neat to walk through and we met the 81 yr. old owner/painter who talked with us for some time.  She asked us what the MS state bird is - whoops - I forgot that one!  So someone looked it up on their phone and it is the mockingbird for all you who have also forgotten!  :) 

Then mom took us to lunch at Taco Del Sol where we got lunch and our free drink .  It is so beautiful to walk around downtown because the weather is perfect!   I really enjoy it.  My brother is coming Aug. 17 for a week so I am sure we will be touring again downtown with him.  After lunch we went to Reeder's Alley nearby . 

I thought this had shops in it but I was wrong.  It was a neat place to see though.  It was brick homes/buildings built in 1880's and used by the  miners.  The first cabin built in Helena was also there!  Boy was it small.  It actually looked short too - like a hobbit house.  Then we went to the Park Ave. Bakery to buy a delicious chocolate cake for our anniversary to eat after dinner.

The rest of the day was fun playing Dominoes, grilling for dinner and working on a puzzle with my mom.  We have now done 2 small puzzles which I love to do but don't make time for in MS.  The Lord has blessed us so much this week with my mom.  I am so glad she came. 

Today, after church, Dad took everyone except Mom and Grandma to the local Rodeo in East Helena. When we got there it was raining and the wind was blowing very hard. Normally, Mississippians would turn around and leave, scared off by the weather; but we've learned to tough it out in Montana because the weather/rain doesn't last very long(according to our 52 days of experience here in Montana). Although the Rodeo looked small from the outside, the Rodeo itself was pretty big considering the fact that it had eleven events and several fun things along with it. My favorite parts were the barrel racing, bull riding, and the child sheep riding event. The sheep riding event was really cool. It consisted of 5 year olds( and younger) holding on to sheep for dear life. I've figured out that this is how cowboys secretly train the next generation of bull riders. It was very entertaining. Sheep have now officially been added to my list of animals that I want. I personally think that the Rodeo could have been more enjoyable if it had been faster paced. At least half of it was the speaker speaking about sponsors and complimenting on how great a crowd we were. I prefer the action part of the Rodeo.

                        Rebecca

Church was good this morning as well. We went to Hanneford Street Bible Church again.  The only problem is that now that we have been there more than 2 or 3 times we are starting to be recognized.  So it took longer to get out of church today.  The man that sat in front of us apparently heads up the men's ministries. I just have to say that I have never seen such a list of things to do.   They ranged from a weekly Bible study to an annual Antelope Hunt which I was given grave details about.  I have to admit all these things sounded great.  He introduced me to another man and his son. This of course produced more stories and tales of the many events that go on.  They were really nice and offered to take me and the boys fishing guaranteeing we would catch fish. So I am probably going to take him up on that since no one else in town can give me good enough directions to be able to find a fishing hole where the fish are biting.  Just as I was headed for the door I had another man approach me and introduce himself to me. He had lived in Atlanta like we did years ago and loves it here in Helena. When he found out we were only here for 3 months he pointed out another family in the church who had come for a 6 month stay 8 years ago.  I know this will sound alarming to all of Gretchen's lady friends who are reading this but I am trying very hard not to buy into this.  Besides they don't even have sweet tea here.

As Rebecca pointed out the rodea was fun. The small town of East Helena does know how to put on a show.  We are used to the rodeo in Jackson which does run at a better pace and is much bigger.  It's probably not our last rodeo in Mt.  One of the events I wanted to tell you about was another kid event.  As we were sitting in the stands they asked for all the kids 10 and under to come down to the arena if they wanted.  So we blindly sent Joshua and Christina.  The contest was that they had to take off their shoes and put them in the back of this small pick up truck.  Then the truck would take them to the other end of the arena and scatter them all over. The contest was to see who could find their shoes and get them back on and come back to the starting position first.  We initially thought they were going to do barrell racing on foot. Once the kids were off Joshua found his pretty quick and made it back. Christina was a little lost in what she was suppose to be doing.  After trying to socialize on the field she finally realized she was supposed to be finding and putting her shoes back on. Eventually she made it back. Everyone got prizes and seemed to have fun.

Our day closed out with Gretchen and I getting to go on an anniversary date. After a good meal we drove to the top of Mount Helena (as far as you can drive that is) and got to sit out and enjoy the view.  It is amazing how everywhere you might go in the world has its own beauty.

Today is our 22nd anniversary.  The weather in MT is a little different than Miami Fl 22 years ago.  Just so you know on our anniversary we go throughout the day and Gretchen reminds me of the different things we were doing and where we were. So the question that comes all through the day before our anniversary and on our anniversary is "Do you know what we were doing 22 years ago at this time?" Who would have ever thought we would have 5 kids, homeschool and be in MT 22 years later.

The day started with getting everyone up for an early start.  After a good breakfast that included sausage, biscuits and Huckleberry Jam (from MT) we were ready to go.  Going places in MT in the summer requires a couple things: water bottles, light jackets/sweatshirts and a change of clothes (in case of getting wet). I keep getting told I need to carry layers with me everywhere I go.  Suprisingly enough we were in the car by about 8:40 and on the road.  Our destination was Bozeman where a farmers market, The Museum of the Rockies, Montana State University (MSU) and the Madison Buffalo Jump reside. 

The first stop of the day was the Bozeman Farmers Market. It is slightly larger than the Helena one and is held on the Gallitan County Fairgrounds. The first thing we could hear was violins playing. The first thing we smelled was kettle corn (our favorite). At this point we knew we were in the right place.  We got to try fresh ground pepperoni, kilbasa, guacomole, jellies (lots of rhubarb), honey, croutons, and many more things. There were lots of fresh vegetables. People here eat fresh peas and snap beans as if they were M&M's.  We got to see some awesome crafts like wine bottles melted into special dishes, home spun silk, yarn spun out of alpaca hair, buttons from elk horns, homemade jewelry and many ways to use a Montana License plate. We left with some pepperoni sticks, snap peas, strawberry rhubarb jelly, a beautiful dish from a wine bottle and of course a half eaten bag of kettle corn.

Next we took a quick driving tour of MSU which has a beautiful backdrop of the mountains. Oddly enough our next stop "The Museum of the Rockies" sits on the edge of the MSU campus.  Montana is one of the places in the world where lots of dinosaur fossils have been found.  Outside sits a "Big Mike" a very large T-Rex.  Once inside we were able to tag along on a guided tour of the dinosaur section. There were tons of fossils inside and one of them is the largest T-Rex skull in the world measuring about 5 feet. After the dinasour exhibits we strolled into a native american exhibit and then we were taken to exhibits on how life was in the old west all the way up through the early 1900's.  The museum is also currently housing a special exhibit on Napoleon Bonaparte which was very interesting. We also got to go to the planetarium and see a show on all the different constellations. Outside there is a working ranch to go through, which included a cool blacksmith's shop. In addition, there was a Lewis and Clark exhibit that had a replica of one of the boats they used for supplies along with a canoe that had been made out of a tree.  Bozeman which sits on the Missouri River is on the path that Lewis & Clark took.

We finally packed up at the museum and left town. About 20 minutes outside of Bozeman is the Madison Buffalo Jump.  The Buffalo Jump is a large rock face (cliff) where the Indians (over 200 years ago) used to drive the herds of buffalo over it.  They would plan this for months and then as the buffalo fell to their deaths or severely injured themselves there would be Indians at the bottom ready to finish them off.  The ladies would immediately start chopping up thousands of pounds of meat and skinning them. There are several of these Buffalo Jumps around the state and in the summer you are allowed to walk up and see where they fell. There are buffalo bones and Indian arrow heads that can be found 5-10 feet in the ground where this was done for hundreds of years. This was also an exciting place for us.  Caleb, Rebecca and Sarah decided to take the walk to the bottom of the cliff and ran into a snake along the way. They also believe they continually heard rattlesnakes the whole time they were hiking. (we won't ask why they continued hiking)

All in all its been a great day seeing more of the Montana countryside and visiting these fun places.

Today the family took a trip to Gates of the Mountain Park and boat ride on the Missouri River.  This river has high cliffs that surround it and when Lewis & Clark were traveling out west and got to this point on the river they thought it ended because it looked the river ended. As they continued to get closer to what they thought was a rock wall and rounded  a corner in the river the wall appeared to open up in front of them as if it were a gate. As they passed through, Lewis watched as it appearedt that the gates closed behind them as well.  About 22 miles up the river is a dam and the overflow fills this basin and created a lake.  This is where we boarded the boat.

We got to see a bald eagle and osprey as we traveled down the river. On one side of the river is the site of a tragic fire in 1949 called the Mann Gulch fire that killed 13 men and burned 5000 acres.

The most important thing about this trip was that there was a bathroom on the boat. :-)  (especially with 5 women in the group)

The afternoon had the boys playing Folf with their new buddy Noah again.  Once Tony came sputtering home in his little red truck we ate and then watched a new movie called "John Carter".

Today, we rode the Trolley that goes around downtown Helena. It was one hour long. We saw Lime Kilns,Mansions, deer sitting on peoples front porches, and what not (just kidding we saw other things too). Here's a list of people's favorites : Mom liked the Mansions, Grandma liked the old houses, Rebecca and Christina liked the Capitol building or as Christina says "I liked the Government", Sarah liked the old houses, Joshua liked the Lime Kilns, and Caleb just liked the Trolley. The man who drove us was named Buffalo Brian and was very entertaining. He showed us where people mined for gold and where they used to live which was cool to see.  We also learned a very interesting fact: In the late 1800s, there were more millionairs per capita in Helena than in any other city in the US!!! 

At night, Mom and Grandma went to see a play called Ragtime at the Grandstreet Theatre in downtown Helena while the rest of us watched movies.. 

~Rebecca & Sarah

Our experience at the Grandstreet Theatre was superb!  The theatre is very small so you practically walk in the door and the last row of seats is right there.

The performance was excellent.  A huge cast performed so well and sang beautifully.  Mom & I were not familiar with the story but we really enjoyed it!

I also took a walk by myself and found these beautiful yellow flowers standing at attention to the rising sun.  The flower face sought the sunshine so beautifully .  Oh, that we would seek the Son just as they did! 

I really loved the Trolley ride.  I enjoyed hearing so much of the history of Helena.  I want to take Tony back to ride one time with me again.  The kids however, I know don't care anything about going again.

We miss you all!  Love,Gretchen

In Helena there is a very large Cathedral that can be seen for miles. It sits kind of on a hill and its steeples rise above most of the city. Gretchen and the kids took Grandma to the cathedral for a tour.I will let one of them give you all the details of it.  The evening was spent by having a co-worker from Xerox over for dinner. Rebecca and Christina put on a violin concert for our entertainment.  I think we have found a new way for Rebecca to make money. As I was walking to lunch today there was a 10 year old boy playing his violin on the walking mall and people were dropping him money in his case. So I told Rebecca that she might need to do that to make some extra money while we are here.

    The Cathedral was very big and beautiful. it was five stories high in the sanctuary. There were many stained glass windows that were nine feet tall or bigger. The beams that were holding it up looked like they were made out of granite but they were really made out of a plaster with steel beams in them. Only three families in the world can make that plaster. It was awesome. The doors were four or five inches thick and twelve feet high and were very cool. My favorite part was probably the big doors. I also liked  that each stained glass window was probably worth more than a million dollars. I wish they had a cathedral in Mississippi.

        Caleb  

Today Grandma (Gretchen's Mom) traveled all the way from Sunny (very Hot) South Florida to the Wild Wild West. Although she didn't have boots and a cowboy hat on she was happy to be here after a 12 hour trip.  It was another beautiful day here in Helena.  The boys got to go play some more Folf with Noah and we have truly graduated to independant parents because we let them walk back.  Gretchen did get a little worried when they didn't make it back around the time she thought they would. Of course, they did stop to explore the old Lime Kiln that was on the way.  The girls had taken their own walk as well for their daily outdoor exercise.  Rebecca has spent the last couple days trying to catch up with friends back home in MS. 

This afternoon Gretchen's mom flew into the massive Helena airport which contains all of 4 gates. I am sure that by the time she leaves she will be on a first name basis with eash of the airport employees. There are a few that you will see show up in more than one location kind of like Peticoat Junction (for those of you old enough to remember that show).  After catching up and eating dinner the boys and Christina decided to use the waterhose to create mud holes next to the house.  This dirt does work a little differently than TN black dirt, FL sand, GA red Clay or MS Yazoo Clay, it lathers up real good and turns a light brown as it dries.  They were quite proud of showing me the things they made with the mud.

No wild stories for the day or major adventures. As I am writing this it is approximately 11 pm and my 3 oldest children are trying and I emphasize trying to finish a game of risk started last week.  They have come out a couple times for advice. The last news report was that Sarah was making somewhat of a comeback and Rebecca was really the mastermind by tricking the other two into strategies against each other. Regardless we will have someone who dominates the world in this game before they go to bed tonight. (In reality they have to stop because we need the table back).