bitterroot valley, montana

bend, oregon!

we said good-bye to a great summer by squeezing every last drop of fun.  mistie and simon joined us for a road trip to bend to visit a whitefish friend who has moved there and started her family.  it was awesome!  this is us in an old lava field just 5 minutes from their house.

 jo and lo are showing you where we are going next... top of the volcano!!

 here's our posse on the rim of the volcano.

very impressive crew...

looking down into the crater...  the lava flow actually rerouted the deschutes river in the distance.

 american gothic??  pickin' corn for dinner.

 the deschutes river runs through the middle of bend.   awesome parks, beaches and shuttles for floating, run all through town.

 mt bachelor... we want to ski you SOON!

 south sister... we want to climb you soon!  spent the day at elk lake coming up with a plan...

 there is a short window at the end of the summer when you can climb the south sister without crampons and extra gear.  the standard route runs along the ridge from the right and can be seen summiting right to left above the highest snowfield.  we are ON for climbing it next september with the 3 husbands.  we are going to put up my folks in a nice place, nice dinners, and they can watch the little ones during our adventure.  
you can still get 'r done after kids!
we mountain mamas love to GRD.

fishing our super secret fishing hole

neighbor arlie and johanna's trout, not bad for 4 years old.

drew's big catch!



greer and her catch



this was elle's catch...no, no, no.  the kids had as much fun with the bait as the catch.

this is elle's real catch, great job!

logan said  "wow!"

super strong fisher-people!

hiking in the park!

starting off our 3 1/2 mile hike to the end of two medicine lake, in glacier national park, with the prince family from tennessee!

greer, super hiker and montana mountain princess!

the boat ride back to the other end was a great treat.  it was the ultimate kid hike.

great lunch spot on lake josephine with mt gould in the distance.

mmmm..huckleberrry ice cream is the best after a big hike.

more huckleberry ice cream!

never a dull moment on the trail.



running eagle falls, see the double falls?  top and bottom. named for the virgin blackfeet warrior princess.




frolicking in the mountains, nothing better.



hiking in the hood..

 who needs trails when you have a big pile of dirt?!  jo and cousin lily playing princess of the mountain.

 picking beargrass on the valley view trail with jada and joe.

 view of therriault pass from the front yard...

 hiking up to therrriault pass.  thimbleberries and indian corn were taller than the kiddos!

 johanna led the way to the top in her teva sandles, white "wedding dress" with a princess raincoat to round out the ensemble.

 at the top!  see glen lake and lick lakes in the distance? a little to hazy to see koocanusa in this picture.  i don't know who taught them to pose like that????

great hike prince  and geremia families!

cuffe family get-together

in honor of bob's folks' 50th anniversary, the family met up to celebrate at silverwood amusement park and a campground on wolf lodge bay of lake courdelane in idaho.

 the roberts family of korea!

first snow cones!

 the oliver family from colorado!

 the aftershock roller coaster was ea hit!  see ryan and becca, 3rd and 4th from the back?

 the cousins!