Day 95 - Hikes/Food/Packing
Today is our last Monday in Montana. I got to go to work while everyone else slept in. Of course, my adventures in hiking over the weekend have me walking pretty stiffly. Naturally I would be stuck in meetings in the basement of our office building which has no elevator so I got to do lots of stairs today. Our offices in Helena are on Last Chance Gulch which is a street that has been turned into a walking mall. Its name comes from the 4 men who founded Helena. They were looking for gold and they decided that they would look one last time and they struck pay dirt and became millionaires. In fact, Helena at one time had the most millionaires per capita in the entire country. That was your MT history lesson for the day.
Gretchen was quite excited for today because she officially started packing (which she likes to do anyways). So when I came home there were boxes throughout the house. I am now worried because everytime we pack like we are moving essential things get packed away. As the week goes on I will let you know if there are things missing (like utenzils to eat with or someone's underwear).
This morning Rebecca went for the last time to Hannaford to use their piano and practice her music for POPC covenant choir. When they got there they found that the sanctuary chairs were all stacked up. They ran into the youth minister (Gezer) and he told them that each fall when they kick off their fall activities ( this Wednesday) they bring in all these huge blow up obstacles for the kids. Apparently one of these is like a huge slide as tall as the ceiling. One of Caleb's friends told him its like the show "Wipe Out". Apparently Gezer never really understood that we were only here for the summer so he had a good conversation with them all.
Afterwards the kids did their normal hikes up the mountain but apparently decided to do them multiple times today so as to get in extras. There is some quota they are trying to meet by the end of the trip. When they got home the girls had planned to cook some "party" foods for dinner. So we got to have lots of fun foods for dinner and at the same time we are trying to eat everything in the house. So don't be supprised if we come back a little heavier than when we left. All the weight is being put on this week. For example, if we have half a box of cereal left we are eating it all or if their is meat in the freezer we are cooking it and eating it. This is all in part to try to reduce what is in the kitchen. We are leaving a few things like the spices for me to use when I travel back here in the fall. I am very thankful we don't have to use all the cinnamon or thyme. That would have been really hard. We are also giving things away that we just can't eat and don't want to leave.
While we were eating party food Gretchen went to dinner with my co-worker Jean to the Mediteranean Grill. She will have to give you the review. Its a great restaurant downtown close to my office.
It was another beautiful day in Helena (Minus a short rainstorm this afternoon). As we were looking through some pictures tonight we realized just how fortunate and blessed we have been over the summer.
...... Dinner with Jean was really fun! She has joined our family a few times on outings this summer or for dinner in our home. Her one son is grown and she enjoyes kids so she has been glad to have some company with us this summer. She travels here from Virginia to work on the project tony is leading. She and I had a great time talking and the food was delicious!!! I wish we had gone out a few other times this summer. There are several restaurants downtown that I never went to. I don't want to stay here longer though to go to them. :) I am excited about coming home!