The Tale of Two Hikeing trips: Part 1

Summer around here means getting out into nature and showing how tough you are.

For Jill's first outdoor, backwoods experience we went to a part of Birch Creek just past Teton that Matt really loves.

We took a picnic, the fishing gear, and of course Jill.

The stream was too rocky to wade down, so on the way in we hopped some fences, worked out way though some forests and marshes, and finally found a dirt path that led here:

to the perfect picnic spot. We are, then Jill and I took a nap while . . .

Daddy caught dinner.

On the way back we found the ran into the owner of the fences we previously jumped, and he very kindly showed us an easier way back to the start. Thank you sir, We very much appriciate your hospitality.

New Tricks

Jill's new trick this month is called the roll and grab, followed shortly after by the get stuck in the corner and cry.

As you can see, her favorite things can be found on the lowest shelves.



When she goes for the books, I just don't have the heart to stop her. How did she know?

mirror games

Here are some sides of Jill you don't see when she's being her shy self in public.

Enjoy!

As you can see (if you look close up) we like to play right next to the mirror too. Jill is a pro at high-5's.

This is not an Emergency!!!

This week, Jill did something neither of us expected. She called 911!!!!

Are you shocked? We were.

Have you noticed that cell phones these days come programed with Emergency contacts at the top of your contact list. We didn't notice either until we let Jill play with Matt's phone during a country drive. She expertly opened the flip up top, pressed the button for contact list then pressed the button dial.

We would have never known, except out new car has an automatic blue tooth feature which sent Matt's dialing phone though the speakers of our car.

So that is the sad story of how we got onto the 911 call registry, and why Jill doesn't get to play with cell phones any more.

Speaking of State Flowers

Can anyone identify this little gem. It didn't quite seem to fit in with the rest of the wild flowers I've been seeing around here.



But it's definitely in my Rocky Mountain Wildlife identification book.

How about the first person who guesses right can have a small knitted award for sharing your knowledge.

A Bit of Home

After being in Idaho for so long, I like to pretend I'm an Idaho girl, but every once in a while something reminds me that I'm farther from "home" than I pretend to be.



Like this field of GIANT blue bonnets. Here they call them mountain blue bells, but they can't fool me!



See how tall they are. All the way up to Matt's middle.

And look! Even some pink ones!!!

Well, like Dorothy said, "I left home to find that evrything I was searching for was right in my own back yard,"
or in other words,
"There's no place like home."

Happy Birthday to Me . . .

Thank you everyone for your sweet birthday wishes. For my birthday, (because of an enormous sale at a local piano store) we decided to go ahead and make that inevitable, and very joyful purchase of a . . .






Piano!

And look, here is our first "family picture" by the piano. As you can see, we are ALL thrilled, and we ALL play it often.