Thursday, August 15

August in Montana

Most of us will be spending the entire month of August on the lake in Montana.
 
 
And sometimes at Glacier Ntl Park

 
But most of the time in the water

 
 
And ending the day with a sunset


Or earning another junior ranger badge
 
 
And kayaking with mom
 
 
My first week in August wasn't spent with my family on vacation in Montana, I was at the UW attending class and learning lots.  But when that week was done, I caught a really tiny plane to a fairly small city in MT and promptly starting smothering my family with love.  Hannah couldn't join us this year, maybe next! 

This is my 13th year of vacationing on this lake with my hubby's family in their summer home.  It's very relaxing!  Each year our vacation gets a bit longer until this year it will take up the whole month. 

Nate really likes our morning walks, just him and me for at least one hour and we walk about 4 or 5 miles each day.  At 18 years old we get to talk about all things related to his soon to be move to Santa Barbara for school.  Nate is my walking current event conversation starter so we had some deep talks on race, Christianity, adoption, and political issues.  He has really stretched my head lately, and my heart.

Liam is loving all things outdoors, especially the lake!  He is frequently swimming both with or without his life jacket.  He is in our kayak constantly, which puts a grin on my face as it is one more skill and activity he can do to enjoy nature.  We've brought loads of library books and movies on vacation so we are reading lots and he likes all the new stories. 

Tommy is an absolute fish in the water!  Last year he couldn't really stand being in the lake but this year it's a complete LOVE.  He always wears a life jacket and usually has an inner tube with him for fun.  His giggle and splashes in the lake make me smile.  We continue to do our homeschool summer routine with about an hour a day or a little more devoted to phonics, his little sight word books, math and number sense and lots of literature being read aloud.  Tommy and I are using "Pigin" as a more effective way of communicating lately rather than our previous use of ASL.  I'll write more later on that topic and the idea of getting our gypsy son a service dog.  We are researching the Coltriever breed of service dogs for their ability to alert when paired with people with Alzheimer's or Down syndrome.  He continues to keep us on our toys with his wandering ways.

Colin and I are really enjoying our down time.  We purchased a new rv which is much larger than our previous and able to sleep at least 6 people.  It has some nice "Tommy proof" features for safety and we've added a few like alarms on the exit doors in case he wants to "exit stage left" when we aren't looking. Our new rv is really nice and will make camping as a family, and bringing grandparents and friends along really easy!

Stay tuned for more pictures from Big Sky Country!

Tommy Adventures