On The Road Again....

We left the farm and headed down what's known as "the Swan" to the prettiest little lake named none other than Lake Holland. May I say, Miss Holland was thrilled. We found a place to camp and headed out for a hike. This was just one of many pit stops.

The "easy" 1 1/2 mile hike wasn't so easy when you're carrying Reese most of the way. But we were rewarded with these water falls. Holland Lake makes our highly recommends list.

Holland (our budding photographer) snapped this one of her Poppa with Greer. Did I mention how beautiful Holland Lake is? We named our little whipper snapper quite well, eh?









After dinner, we sat on the shore of the lake and watched trees go up in flames during a controlled burn. They looked like Roman Candles... the trees just imploded. It was pretty amazing. (Click on the picture to get the full effect-- I promise, it's worth it).

And here's a little closing shot to put a smile on your face. Hopefully, you won't turn me in for Internet Porn. We're having a little issue lately with Reese and nakedness. We hope it's just a phase she's going through. Anyway, this is Reese's version of a victory dance after she stole Holland's most treasured pets: Daisy and Chewey. Bedtime in the camp trailer--- we're talking pure entertainment!

(PICTURE HAS BEEN REMOVED-- SORRY!!! AS ITS BEEN POINTED OUT, ITS PROBABLY NOT THE SMARTEST TO HAVE A NAKED PICTURE OF MY CHILD ON THE INTERNET!!)

Montana... How we love thee!

Every September, we pull the kids out of school and trek on over to Montana to see Grandpa and Grandma Barker. We stopped halfway up near LoLo Pass to camp. It was in the 40's when we went hiking. Notice Zoe's breath fogging up the shot.




At the end of the trail, we found these amazing hot springs. Holland and Greer stripped down to their skivvies (yes we have blackmail photos for when they are dating) and pretended they were mermaids.

Here's the view we woke up to the first day on the farm. This is where Byron grew up-- and pictures don't do it justice.

Meet Grandpa Fred. He's a hair shy of 90 and we joke too onery to die. Byron spent a good chunk of our vacation working around the farm with his dad. The girls just run wild and love every minute.

And here are the girls with Grandma Kay. We had the best time. We visited Grandma at her store, went to lunch, met our favorite Montana cousins-- the Burtsfield's to play at a park (where Holland fell in a duck pond-- I'm not kidding), then went back to their house for a sumptious dinner and lots of playing.

Finally, here we are back on the farm with the star of the trip-- Sprocket. We rescued Sprocket last year on our trip to Glacier National Park. She was as skinny as a Greyhound and looked as if she had battled with a bobcat. We took the abandoned, starving, injured little pup to Grandpa's farm-- where he has fattened her up and renamed her Sweetie.

**Trip factoid: On our way to Montana this year we had another close encounter with a lost dog. We found a hunting dog wandering the highway up near the border. We took it to the nearest neighbor and called it's owner. This was only after Greer said and I quote "Holy Cow! Are we the royal dog catchers or what?"

Ice, Ice Baby

There's no better way to escape the heat then to hit the ice rink. Especially when the cousins are in town. Byron took the day off to take his sister Korri and her girls-- Addison and CeCe skating with our girls.

Reese and I watched from the sidelines... sigh....

The girls all did great!! No ice packs for the Barkers. In fact, Holland was doing shaky spins by the end of the session.

Our Last Hurrah (with a little pain thrown in...)

Every Labor Day we go camping with our good friends-- the Moomey's and this year, the
Hoffman's. We went up near Lake Cascade and camped along the Payette River.

We hiked into Blue Lake for fishing and a picnic.

Here's "Destructo" mugging for the camera. Look at that smile... it's all part of her M.O.... to make you think she's an angel.

We had a fabulous weekend until the very end. Our friends had headed home, Reese and Greer were napping and Byron decided to take Holland fishing for a few minutes. They headed down to the river and, well, there's no way to make this any more exciting--- Byron slipped and fell. He landed on his side on top of a log and heard a loud crack!

Let's just say broken ribs are right up there with childbirth (at least that what it seems). By the way, this picture was taken before the great accident of 2008.

The Lazy Days of Summer are Long Gone...

No more sleeping in, lounging about in our pajamas and eating bonbons! I swear that's what Byron thinks we do. Anyway, Holland started 2nd grade. Her teacher is our much-loved neighbor. And Greer is a big kindergartener. Wow.

Reese actually cried that she couldn't go to school. Guess this is the closest she'll get for a while.

The girls ride the bus home together. Yeah. They survived day one. Now onto day two....

Yellowstone Escape

Here we all are "before dirt". Our first full day on our Yellowstone vacation. Byron is standing with his hand on my shoulder. Reese is in front. My mom and dad are sitting. Mom is holding Ellery (Marc's). My dad is holding Greer, then Holland. Katie, then Dana, Derek, Lindsey and Doug are in the middle back. Rachel, holding baby Soren, Marc and their daughter Addison are in the back on the right.
One of the many beautiful geysers at Yellowstone.
Aunt Rachel had shirts made up for all of us. This is one of my favorite pictures... showing the birth order of the grandchildren. Clever, eh?