The Smith Smiles: May 2009

Monday, May 25, 2009

Hannah fishing.

They are trouble together!

Fishing buddies for life!

Sula Mountain lookout.

Headed up Sula Mountain.

More Memorial Weekend pictures

The view from Sula Mountain(Hannah and Jackson slept through the whole trip)

Tent city

Hannah in her rain gear after a sunny day.

The family at Painted Rocks.

The girls at Painted Rocks.

Memorial Day Weekend

Painted Rocks Reservoir

The Smith Family finally got to enjoy their first camping trip of 2009 this weekend. The girls were so excited they could hardly stand themselves. We choose to go down to Sula, Montana for the weekend. So...I've decided I'm getting old...or maybe just spoiled having a camper. We didn't go way out into the back woods or even to a Forest Service campground...yep..we stayed in a campground with full hook-ups. My excuse was that is usually rains over Memorial weekend and Jackson is still so little, it would be nice to have electricity.....yep..I'm a wimp. The place was really nice, it had a playground for the kids and also a fishing pond just for the kids. It turned out to be a pretty great spot!
Friday we had great summer weather, the kids got to play and we even fished for a bit.
Saturday was another great summer weather day. Went on our first Geo-cacheing adventure(of course it was an easy one for the kids) The kids refer to this as looking for a treasure....what a great family activity. It was actually kind of fun! We also drove up to Painted Rocks Reservoir....a place we had no idea was even there. What a beautiful place! Checked out a couple future campgrounds and headed back to camp. Of course...it wouldn't be Memorial Weekend without some rain....Yep...Saturday night it started raining. It stayed pretty warm but was just wet.
Sunday....rained most the day off and on. At least it wasn't freezing cold...or snowing...just wet. We hung out at camp. Dan and Robb decided they were going to climb this cliff while Keri and I and the kids watched. We were fine until they started scaling rocks! Later we decided to drive up Sula Mountain and found a Lookout(old fire lookout tower). It was a creepy steep narrow road but totally worth the view. I had to have a couple beers to calm my nerves on the way up! Did a little "treasure hunting" on the way back to camp. This one was bigger than the first so the kids were pretty excited to see what was in it!
Monday- a typical spring day...warm...little chilly...windy....cloudy...sun...warm...little chilly..... packed up camp let the girls fish again. The sign at the park said the pond was stocked with trout so the kids could enjoy the sport of fishing...however the place feeds the fish daily so the fish don't want to bite the kids hooks.....whats the point? Kalei was practicing her casting skills and was doing pretty good. Hannah found a worm and was packing it around showing everyone. She would swing it around like it was a piece of string..... pretty funny.
Next weekend we are headed to Hermiston.......just the beginning to a busy summer!

I think he is saying "Get this hat off of me!"

Hanging out by the fire in his "lawn chair"

Having donuts in the morning!

Playing horseshoes.

First camping trip 2009

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Jackson

Jackson taking his truck for a walk.

Hula Girls

Hannah's video is short, but so are her Hula moves.

Hula Girls

Mama's Boy?

I offered to take the girls to swim lessons tonight so Dan could get the camper prepared for our Memorial Day camping trip. Dan says "You're going to take Jackson too right?" Apparently the minute I leave the house Jackson just whines. :)

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Dance

Jackson dance's to music and it's pretty funny. I was trying to get a video of him but he wasn't cooperating too much. The girls are pretty funny to watch too.

Weekend Report

Wow...what a great weekend we had! Grandma Judy brought the girls home on Friday. We got to spend Friday evening hanging out with Grandma Judy and then Saturday morning Grandma Judy the girls and I got to go check out some yard sales. After a quick trip around Lolo to check out the sales we stopped at home picked up Jackson and went into Missoula to the Saturday/Farmers Market. Missoula has the best Saturday/Farmers Market for a smaller city. So the next time you make it to Missoula make sure you make a trip downtown for some fresh veggies or a cute little crafty item. After shopping we had some lunch then make to Lolo so Grandma could head back to Idaho. A couple of hours of rest and then off to a Birthday Party. Busy day! Today(sunday) we hiked up a local hiking trail, Waterworks, about a 2 mile round trip I think. The girls are such troopers, Kalei of course had to walk the entire way and didn't complain once until getting closer to the end. She also tripped on a rock and skinned up her knee pretty good, this was very traumatic. Hannah walked all the way to the top and then decided she needed to get in the back pack. The girls thought it was pretty cool because we could see all of Missoula and out to Lolo from where we were. Pretty exciting for a 3 and 5 year old. Jackson usually just sleeps as soon as we put him in the back pack. He's a good little hiker! After our hike we packed a lunch and picnicked in a local park. The only bad new's I have is that I forgot the camera so I have no pictures from this entire weekend! Dan says I can blame that on him. :)