This is What It's All About

We've been taking turns watching kids so that two of us can go out kidlet-less for an extended activity. Liz and Lisa went out mountain biking a couple times and I watched the 7 kids (aged 9, 7, 5, 3, 2, 2, and 2). Yesterday, Lisa watched all the kids while Liz and I went on a horseback ride. We went out the dirt road and took a right at the last fence-post at the end of the road and, following a deer trail, climbed the hill up toward the mountain. Sagebrush, juniper trees and lupine dominate the rocky terrain and, from the hillside, we see the entire Ruby Valley from Virginia City all the way toward Twin Bridges with the pine-laden mountains growing from the drier hills. We pause at the top of our hill and take in the view amid our conversation. Snow-capped peaks can be seen and the well-irrigated grass field sway in the afternoon wind. I can see how Lizzie can spend her entire summers here without missing the Bay Area a bit.

We lead the kids double (and sometimes triple) on Jay and Woody around the driveway when we get home. Ava just comes running when she sees a saddled horse. She loves to put on Brynn's riding helmet and cries when it's time to share a horse or put him back. She knows the horses by name and always says goodnight to them (as well as the rabbits) individually when we walk from the main house to the guest house where we're staying. She likes her new routine and there's much hope on my end that she'll follow directly in her mother's footsteps.

With all the little kids asleep and the bigger kids watching a movie in the house, Liz, Lisa and I retreat to the back of the porch that overlooks the rushing creek and each of us plops down in a log rocking chair, cushioned, of course, with a Pendleton southwestern pillow and blanket, with a beer each and finish our easy conversation. We are amazed the week has just flown by and acknowledge with dread that tomorrow is our last day here together. We plan for next summer - this time with husbands. However, knowing it would be different with men, we also plan that we should arrive a few days in advance of our husbands so that we can get our "girl time" in.

So, today we will go to the swimming hole or try some fly-fishing (the rivers here are actually reknown for their fly-fishing). It's sort of a lazy day in which we will have to work out opportunities to clean out the car, repack our stuff and get organized for the 1,000-mile drive back home.

Road Trip - Old Faithful

We're on the road - a girls' weekend while the men stay home, impossibly embedded in "real life."

We traveled 4-hours Friday, after stopping by to visit newest cousin, Brody, in Sacramento for a couple hours and to visit Ainsley and Patrick in Tahoe, to Reno where we stayed with soon-to-be road-trippers, Lisa, Brooke and Brynn. The next day, we traveled 7-hours through Nevada to Twin Falls, Idaho. The kids did fairly well, considering, and we rewarded them with swimming in the indoor pool until all were justly exhausted. All feel asleep well (whew!). Sunday, we traveled 4-hours to West Yellowstone, Montana. Lisa and I have discovered that we'd created a bit of a groove finding that the 3rd row carseat, which we first thought would be a separation anxiety problem, is proving to be a great place for the little ones to rotate to take naps. Ava takes the morning shift as she can always fall asleep shortly after 9am. Brynn follows after lunch and, usually, Bettina gets the last afternoon shift. Today, however, there was no late afternoon shift with our shorter drive. So, when we arrived in West Yellowstone at around 1pm, we wandered the touristy streets a little bit to stretch all our legs until Bettina (who didn't get a chance to sleep during the day) convinced us it was time to do some more swimming. We are quickly realizing swimming pools have huge advantages for travelers with small kids.

Monday morning, we packed up and drove into Yellowstone park. Not 10 miles into the park, and we had already seen a herd of elk grazing 150-yards off the road, a young moose who crossed the street just in front of us and a herd of 150+ bison (buffalo) lazily enjoying the sunshine right next to the street. We made it to Old Faithful around noon-ish and watched the amazing natural geysers. Again, we ended up timing everything just right, before a sleep-depraved tantrum from Bettina. As we headed out of Yellowstone and Montana, Lisa and I peered through the read-view mirror to the most amazing site of all: four children all fast asleep at the same time! This was a first in our 1,100 mile excursion! We enjoyed our grown-up-girl time during the rest of the 2-hour drive to Aunt Lizzie's.

As we were coasting down Aunt Lizzie's driveway Lizzie was coming up, leading Blake and Katherine on Jay for a quick ride around their 14-acre property. After some visiting, dinner, and a few beers for the moms, we settled the kids down for the night. We look forward to showing you more of the house nestled in a grassy valley between two mountain ranges later on in the week.

Raising Cain & Cowgirls

The girls and I went to see Misty this week. The intention was to meet a friend who was going to watch them as I got in a quick ride, but she'd forgotten to tell me she couldn't make it. Well, let's take Misty out for a nice brushing...

The intention was to see if Ava was nervous in the saddle by herself or if Mommy could get a cute picture before she wanted down....she never did want down.

The intention was to see if both girls could share a saddle and take a cute picture before one of them wanted to get down....neither wanted to get down.

We ended up walking around the barn for 1/2-hour and the girls singing, laughing and chatting excitedly about the whole thing. Seems we've got ourselves some confident little riders who need some riding helmets now. Was that my intention?? Perhaps...(wink, wink).

Oh, Give Me a Home!

One week and counting...

In one week, the girls and I will pack our bags, and the minivan, and head out in search of buffalo. We're taking a quick stop in Reno to pick up my long-time friend Lisa and her 2 girls. Six of us, four five-and-under, making our way across the buffalo plains to Yellowstone (with plenty of DVDs and VHS's!). A cowgirl trip with kidlets!

After Yellowstone, we drive north a couple hours to our other friend's "ranch" in Sheridan, MT (most locals don't call a patch of land a "ranch" unless its 5,000 acres+. Us Californians, however, like to call their 14-acre spread a "ranch" - they must mock us so!) . She'll be there with her rabbits, horses and her 3 kids.

We're so excited to sit our bandana'ed little bodies down on the river bank with our feet hanging in the water, watching the horses graze and making all kinds of wonderful western summer fun. Montana, here we come!!