Our Lady of the Rockies

While Maria and her family visited this summer, we zipped down to Our Lady of the Rockies.  Sadly, it's been years since I have been to Butte to visit.  We spent the day learning of the travails the crew forged through in order to bring the statue to the mountains overlooking Butte.  What a die hard group of men! 

As I dropped my daughters off at their apartment a couple weeks ago, it was reassuring to see the statue above the city and a reminder that Our Lady is watching over them as they live away from the protection of home. 

Not the best angle of Mary ~ but all I could do with the enormity of the statue.

~Louie and Nickles~

My three precious daughters ~

I don't even know what to say about this picture ~ 

What a couple of nuts my sons are!

Annika and Isabelle ~

The tour guide kept stating that he had the entire statue in the frame.

I wondered  how that was even possible since I had failed miserably.

A Random Hike

I wanted to camp the weekend of the Seeley Tri so we didn't have to be driving well before the crack of dawn in order to arrive on time.  Shannon was a trooper and hauled the camper up mid-week so we could get a camping spot.  I went up a day early to hike and swim.  Naturally, I had no idea what trails were around, not having looked at a map or anything, but whatever, we were just going to wing it, which isn't really in my nature.  As stated previously, I am a point A to point B hiker.  I like knowing when I am going to be done, be it two or twenty miles.

We headed off in a general direction where we thought there was a trail head.  We arrived at the end of the road 12 miles later to find the remains of what we thought was a trail sign and a trail heading off into the brush.  We grabbed our water bottles, towels (you never know when you may encounter a swimming hole) and headed out.

Soon the trail crested a hill and began a rather steep descent into a valley.  My rule of thumb is never, ever, ever walk DOWN on the outbound hike.  But I did.  And I told the kids we'd just walk for a bit and see where the trail was heading.  Then, we encountered a section of the trail which had been totally demolished by what Eric thoughts was a bear.  But why stop then?  Did I mention the day was close to 100 degrees?  Soon I thought I heard a waterfall, so we decided to walk for ten more minutes, which turned into an hour.

While walking down the trail I suddenly stopped...it was a teaching moment!  "Kids! We're Democrats!  We have no idea where we are and no clue where we're headed.  We're ignoring all the warning signs (bear and heatstroke) AND we're hoping for a marvelous outcome!  How does our situation model the current political situation in our country?!"

While it took a bit of explaining for Dom, Eric and Annika caught on pretty quickly.

We continued on, not wanting to waste our hour of hiking.  A mile or so later we crossed our first of several small waterfalls.  Then it was a race to the bottom of the valley. When we arrived we discovered a beautiful crystal clear lake.  A dip in the water hasn't felt that good for a long time!

We still had to hike back out, but it wasn't as bad as hiking down.  Crazy, I'm telling you!  As Annika said, "Now we know where we are and where we are going and we have a goal.  Mom! We're Republicans now!"

Okay, okay....that may be offensive to some, but I just don't frankly care any longer.  I feel rather disenfranchised by the entire political system.  I want to form my children and not have the world do that for me!  And I want them to think things through, not rely on CNN or Fox or whatever other news source may be available.  Anyway....I derailed.  Back to the story.

We made it back to camp before Shannon arrived.  After listening to the kids tell of the adventure with momma, he was absolutely amazed that his wife actually strayed that far off the beaten path and wanted to see the trail and lake for himself.  Fun fact - the following day when we hiked in, the trail was more torn up, trees had been ripped apart and piles of bear scat had been deposited on the trail.  Thank Heaven Nickles had been whining so loudly the day prior - he probably scared all the bears!

It was a great adventure - one that my children will never forget.

   

   

What Did You Do This Summer?

What did you do this summer?  I always struggle answering that question.  What did we actually do?  Each day is filled to the brim, mostly with hard work, sunshine and water.    

As crazy it may seem, vacation really isn't my thing during the summer months.  After a dreary winter I want to soak up all that Montana has to offer during the summer months, even if it is as simple as our fabulous sunshine!  This summer began with a new raft for momma and I couldn't love it more.  It maneuvers through boulders and rapids with ease, unlike the raft we used in the past which required Herculean strength to get through a set of rapids.  And with me at the oars it was never pretty as we bounced off many a rock. Along with camping and discovering some new places, I felt like summer was a success.....whatever that means!  I hope to hit the river a couple more times in the forthcoming weeks.  We gotta seize any benefits to homeschooling that we can!  

One of my favorite few days of the summer ~

Privileged to watch a friend's nine children.

My kids thought they were in Heaven, as there was always someone fun to play with!

Assembling the boat ~ 

Hiking with my girls near the Canadian border ~

Sometimes it feels as though we are in two different countries :o)

"And these, son, are elk tracks."

Fields and fields of lupines ~

Making cookies with a handful of littles ~

I wouldn't have suggested giving any to the neighbors!

This little guy is getting pretty creative in the kitchen ~

For a couple months I always had a vase full of flowers ~

Okay ~ these two just crack me up ~

A bunch of kiddos waiting for the fireworks to commence ~ 

You hunt the elk, you gotta learn how to serve it.

Backstraps stuffed with onions and jalapenos, then wrapped with bacon.

No one was complaining!

Playing at Grandma's pond ~

A girl evening getting beautified......

.....while the boys camped and ate....what is that?!? Gatorade and cookies??

Leave it to Daddy.

And then it was the girls' time out ~

Huckleberries, huckleberries, huckleberries ~

A hiking adventure with the uncles ~

 

Family Camping Trip - Dell

We headed out on our first family camping trip with the trailer.  As we were pulling out of the driveway the thought crossed my mind that I may enjoy the planning, packing, and the logistical aspects more than the actual camping.  Shannon has mentioned I may be a bit of a romantic ~ building little white picket fences in my mind, versus what our life really is.

When we initially discussed buying a camper Shannon was quite firm that campgrounds were not in our future.  We were going to camp out in the wilds, nowhere near civilized society.  So our first trip was planned accordingly.  As we drove up this incredibly bumpy, dusty road I was certain we'd be alone, surrounded by a gurgling brook and open blue skies.  An hour and a half later we arrived at "the spot" to find another camper parked right next to where we planned to spend the weekend.  There was no going back, so we settled in for the next few days.

We spent the following day searching for fish and lakes while feeding the mosquitoes.  Saturday was Shannon's birthday so he got to choose how we spent the day.  Now, I am a point A to point B hiker.  Wandering over hill and vale ain't my gig.  But Shannon.....he loves exploring the countryside.  And explore we did.  We found elk and deer at over 10,000 feet, a giant spring spewing from the mountainside, tepee rings, wildflowers that boggled the imagination, and a rock hillside up which my boys scaled - starting a small slide in the process that momentarily stopped my heart.

While it wasn't quite the romantic trip I envisioned when we first purchased our little #homeaway it was a successful weekend - even when our freezer pooped out with all the birthday ice cream inside.  I can't wait to head out on another adventure.  Meanwhile I'm striving to keep my expectations realistic. Skipping through fields of daisies singing The Sound of Music probably is not in our future.....at least not without some small catastrophes along the way.  

Early morning fishing ~

Clear blue skies ~ crystal waters ~ and a million mosquitoes

Changing tactics....surely they'll bite on a mosquito.

Joshie and his socks ~ fashion trends must begin somewhere.  

In search of cool water ~

#bouquetsfordays

One of my little guys on fire duty since the bigs were all fishing ~

The best thing about trailer camping ~ we almost stayed clean.

"So, we chased elk through that saddle. But today we're headed up the hill right below that snow."

#burningquads #mountainspringsnevertastedsoyum

"I'm not even tired at all.  Like, I could hike for another day. I mean, I'm kinda dizzy right now, but I could still hike for another day."

Studying rock formations.

This was the funniest ever.  Nickles' swim trunks tore the first day, but he refused to wear anything else for the duration.  Hence, his right cheek was perpetually hanging out.

This was just a couple hundred yards from the headwaters, which were gushing from the mountainside with this quantity of water.

A little mountain goat.

We are so small amidst God's magnificent creation.

I cannot even come close to explaining this profuse wildflowers.  Had we even been a week later I am not sure that there would have been as many blooms.  

My eldest son, who enjoys not shaving for a few days here and there.  

The Maiden Voyage

So. Back to the camper story ~ a friend gave us a camper a few years ago. It had a bit of water damage and was generally kinda gross yucky not clean. I liked the idea of a little camper, but would not sleep in this one.  Call me a snob. So, in typical Nistler fashion, Eric and I did minimal research and dove right into remodeling it. It turns out that when there's minimal water damage showing, there's major water damage behind those walls. As we removed the interior paneling, the entire wall crumbled. Not a project Shannon had the time or the energy for, we gifted it to a 'friend'.  Curiously, he still speaks to us.  

Anyway, we decided we'd buy a camper after Christmas.  It made sense at the time.  So one wintry "Emergency Travel Only" day we set off for Kalispell since there were a few up there we wanted to peek at.  The salesmen were super impressed as they skidded around the lot in their golf cart, toting us to look at all their travel trailers.  We ended up getting a pretty good deal on one smaller one that seemed as though it would serve our purposes well.  We didn't want to spend a ton of money on something that we weren't even sure we'd enjoy or use.  

Now that it has finally stopped snowing in Montana, we are beginning to test out the new digs.  When Maria, Pat and their family were visiting from Michigan, Shannon took the boys out for one night and the girls out for the second night.  I'm not sure how much sleep the adults got, but the kids sure enjoyed it!  

A morning hike on top of the world ~

It appears as though they're eating the good breakfast I sent - Gatorade and Oreos.

Shannon said he never knew buns could be so funny - hot dog buns, that is.

Morning light~ and not an elk in sight.