On July 6th Alex, Leo, and June arrived, and the activity immediately doubled! The cousins have such a great time together, and they spent every minute together swinging on the tire swings, digging in the dirt, riding Artie and the horse, hiking up to the railroad tracks, helping G'pa, playing games, and anything else one of them could dream up!
It was a little too cool and cloudy to go to the lake on Ben's birthday so Amy found a great alternative -- the Amazing Fun Center in Coram. We rode go-karts, played mini golf, and spent over an hour trying to find our way out of a huge wooden maze. We were too tired to stop for dinner afterwards, so just picked up takeout from one of Ben's favorites, the Fart & Slobber Inn. No birthday cake for Ben but rather Amy created a yummy brownie & ice cream volcano!
We always look forward to a night at the rodeo in Columbia Falls, where the kids get a close-up experience with all of the rodeo action! Another favorite activity is a trip up Whitefish Mountain to the ski resort, where they all rode the lift up and zipped down the mountain on the Alpine slide.
One of the highlights of the summer in Whitefish is the Farmer's Market on Tuesday evenings. It is so fun to spend the evening sitting on a blanket at the park, trying all kinds of interesting tastes from the food trucks, browsing the wide variety of food and craft vendors, buying local farm produce, yummy kettle corn and Sweet Peak's homemade ice cream for dessert, plus the fire department lets the kids check out the fire trucks and helps them squirt the fire hose!
The Vernons had plans for another family adventure in Denver in a couple of weeks, so we sadly had to say "good-bye" to them and put them on the plane. But a couple of days later we went back to the airport and picked up Tara! She had been working in California and took a detour on her return trip to spend a few days of "R&R" with us. We went hiking behind the house, and Tara helped Livi and Belle climb her "moss rock." We introduced Tara to the Farmer's Market, and made another trip to Whitefish Mountain so that she could ride the Alpine slide. Ben, Amy, Belle, and Livi also spent part of the afternoon traversing from tree to tree in the Aerial Adventure Park, "an obstacle course in the trees!" Tara and I kept our feet on the ground -- taking pictures of the daredevils and enjoying the view from the patio at the lodge.
One of the Cosby family goals this summer was a trip to Glacier National Park. We wanted to hike two trails, which turned out to be a little too ambitious for the girls to do in one day, so we actually made two trips to the park. We drove the "Going to the Sun" road to Logan Pass and hiked to the Hidden Lake Overlook. (The trail to Hidden Lake was closed beyond the overlook due to bear activity.) We saw lots of Big Horn Sheep and mountain goats along the trail that was often covered with ice/snow. It turned out to be a little easier going up than coming down for me, and I ended up sliding down parts of the ice covered trail on my back/bottom!
On our second trip to Glacier we hiked up to Avalanche Lake. Other than hiking the trail there is no other access to the lake, which is absolutely breathtaking. There are three giant waterfalls cascading down the mountains that encircle the lake. The water is ice cold, but Belle and Livi held their breath and waded in!
Most days the girls enjoyed sleeping late, doing chores to earn $$ to spend at the Farmer's Market, creating projects, and using their own set of tools to craft "things" from the wood pile out at the barn. Alex and I helped Belle sew her own pair of pajama pants, and Livi made her first attempt at crocheting. Belle and I read "Where the Red Fern Grows" together, then used a box of tissues watching the movie. We spent another night at the rodeo, completed several puzzles, had picnics around the fire pit, and shopped in the little shops downtown.
We tagged several activities as Amy's birthday party, including our first ever trip to Beaver Lake, paddleboarding and a picnic at Whitefish Lake, and a final evening at the Farmer's Market. The girls were excited to help their dad make a special berry cheesecake dessert to help her celebrate.
While all of this nonstop activity was going on Lee was working, working, working! He occasionally joined in the fun, but most of the time he spent all day, every day outside working on his projects. We all helped him some, but he was mostly grateful for Ben to help with things that I am just not strong enough to be of much help! He spent hours painting/staining the trim on the house, built and hung the front and back doors on the barn, put up an arch at the entry to the barn, put a water line in to the barn, and built a hay crib in the corral. With the help of some contractors, he accomplished some other goals: painted the outside of the shop, got electricity to the barn, and put a toilet in the wash room in the shop. Did I mention he never stops working??!!!
Whew -- enough, enough! But July at Sigh-Bar was nonstop!!!
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