Bismarck or bust!

Well, we survived – Coleman Vacation ’07! It was fun, but it was such a LONG drive. Instead of getting off at 4am on last Saturday – no body even figured we would, we got off by 7:30am. Not too bad… We arrived in Glacier National Park around 7 or 8pm that night a took a little 2 mile hike to a waterfall – it was beautiful! Then we camped out that night, got up early on Sunday morning and headed off for a 3 mile hike in the morning around a lake and then a little nap and rest time, till the afternoon when we took another 3 mile hike to this beautiful pass filled with Mountain Goats and Big Horn Sheep. So that was fun. It was so beautiful – lots of flowers blooming! Then we took the “Going to the Sun” Highway – don’t know if you know much about it, but it’s straight up on the Left (heading down) and straight down on the right (about 3000 feet!) It was a scary road as it wound like 30 minutes up the mountain, but so beautiful! We camped out again that night and took it easy on Monday… We went to Lake McDonald and explored all the little areas (by driving!) We headed out to Idaho in the afternoon and found a great little campsite… Then Tuesday, we got up and met up with Ruth and the three boys in Spokane, WA. We had a great breakfast and then headed to Winthrop, WA just east of the North Cascade Mountains. It was the cutest little town in Washington and would have liked to spend more time there, but we met Katie there and hung out a little. Then we headed another 3 hours West to Bellingham. It was a beautiful city, right on the water! The next morning we got up and drove about an hour south to Anacortes where we caught a Whale Watching boat. That was a fun day – we got to see all kinds of Orcas – I even got to see one breech! We weren’t quite as close as we wanted to be, but it was still a magnificent sight! Then on Thursday, the boys got a chance to go Deep Sea fishing for Salmon – They didn’t catch much, but I think they still had a great day! Sam had a 25+ lb. fish up to the boat and fought it for a good long time, until the fish took a dive and rubbed the line against the steel down rigger and snapped the line. He was pretty disappointed! But Judah caught a little Shark – so he was pretty stoked too! Anyway, the girls went to Orcas Island and did some shopping and girl stuff! Then on Friday, we climbed Tabletop Mountain to get a clear view of Mt. Baker! It was beautiful, but very cloudy, so we didn’t actually see Mt. Baker pretty much the whole time. Oh well. It was kind of funny because when we left Bellingham, it was beautiful, in the 70’s. And then Katie didn’t really tell us what to wear, so by the time we got up to Tabletop Mt., it was 41 degrees with clouds so thick you couldn’t see 5 feet in front of you and snow EVERYWHERE – and we were wearing shorts, tee shirts and tennis shoes! Needless to say, we were scrambling for long pants and coats. I think it all worked out well though. There were lots of snowball fights and crossing over glaciers. Tons of fun! Then after we finished there, we drove back to Bellingham and then drove another hour southeast of Bellingham to a camp site, where we camped again and got up early Saturday morning to head back to Bismarck. We stopped in Seattle for a while to visit with Sam’s cousin who lives there, and so we got a pretty late start. Anyway, needless to say, we made it back in one piece and if I ever ride in a car again for longer than an hour, it will be too soon! 🙂 Just kidding!

Well, most of the guys from Sam’s Montana trip backed out on him, so he ended up cancelling that trip. I wasn’t too disappointed. Now we have a list of projects to work on for the  next week and half. Then we have a Family Camping trip on next Wed. and Thursday, then my fam comes to town starting on Saturday and we get to do a bit more travelling – I’m really looking forward to it. Although, since we have not been in our house all summer long, I’m hoping to get it airred out a bit and up to guests staying in it standards!

Well, besides that, we have a long list of things we want to get done before school starts, but that’s the crazy thing, school starts in two weeks here! Ahh…. Sam is starting to get a little overwhelmed, because that means he’ll be back to teaching SS, Wednesday night Jr. High Confirmation and Sr. High Rock Solid – EVERY WEEK! So it’s always daunting when the new year starts, we want it to be such a good year and everything is so new, it’s just answering the questions “How do we teach these kids about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?” Anyway, in October, we’ll start our weekly Sr. High Bible Studies as well, and we’ll have a brand new group of students, so that’s a little scary too. But we don’t like to start it all at the same time. It gets to be a bit overwhelming. But I do love the Fall. I like the routine of things. I’m already getting excited about decorating with Pumpkins. Fall comes early to ND, so that’s kind of fun. Sam will start planning for our Family Fall Festival on September 16th, and that’s always tons of fun! It’s kind of the kick off to the season! We go to this great pumpkin patch and get a little red wagon and walk around grabbing whatever kinds of gourds and pumpkins – it’s great fun!

Well, I suppose I should get some work done, but keep in touch for updates!