7/2-5 Look out now!

I have spoiled myself this year (and I have a sweet husband who has urged me to do so).  Not only did I get one new lens, but TWO!  They go hand in hand and complement each other, so it only made sense to go get them both.  My newest lens I ordered as my 'holy heck I'm old now' gift to myself.  I ordered it while on vacation and had it delivered to Thad and Kelly's house.  I usually don't have so many faces to focus on with new equipment.  I'd say this scenario worked out beautifully!  Some of my subjects are smiling more than others, but as you know by now, no smile required.  I WILL take your picture one way or another.  LOL.....  I think I'm pleased with the results, especially since it's this lens' maiden voyage.  What a fun way to capture some special vacation moments with family.

Big brother is always SO FUNNY!

Cold and tired, but contemplating go back for more....

1....

2....

3....

.... where'd they go?!

Every once in awhile you just have to stop and smell the roses..... or listen to the waves.

I should like this picture more.......

....but this one is actually my favorite.   

And THIS is what happens when you leave your camera unattended!!!

Ok, everyone.  This concludes our time in Idaho.  Boy, what fun did we have!  Next stop:  WASHINGTON!!

7/2-5 Coeur d'Alene, ID

These next two posts are a little disorganized.  I wasn't sure how to order the pictures I took on my phone and my other camera, so I decided to split them into two posts rather than chronologically.  I'll proceed with the camera pics.  We left Flathead Lake in an RV (literally, Rod and Valene....LOL....) caravan.  We were all headed west to Coeur d'Alene to spend the 4th of July holiday with Thad and Kelly.  It reminded me of almost two years ago when we had just arrived home from China with Emalie and we were headed to Thad and Kelly's wedding.  We did a caravan that trip, too, the difference being we had stopped in Missoula along the way to do some shopping.  You know a little of this, a little of that, a new trailer.  Yeah, you know the deal!  Thankfully, we're all a little older and wiser this trip (did I just say I was thankful for being older?!).  We had a great few days on the river with Thad and Kelly.  They hosted a very fun party on the 4th.  See for yourself.....

I love these 'on the go' pics.  See mom and dad behind us coming around the corner?

Entering our 4th state of the vacation.

I'd never correlated a summer holiday party with a puzzle, but I love the idea. 

Selfie's gone wild.... looking one way.....

.....then the other way.  LOL......

Is she not the cutest, little Betty Crocker?!  Whatever Kelly fixes up is always such a treat!

Look at that lawn chair symmetry.  Oh yeah, and the beautiful river in the background.  HA!

I think the puppies enjoyed having the kids around.

I know the kids enjoyed the puppies!

Soon she'll be out there swimming around, too, I'm sure.

The BBQ on the 4th was so tasty!!

Kelly's friend has an adopted daughter from China.  Can you believe these two special girls are from the same area in China and that we all stayed in Wuhan during the adoption process?  It's a small, small world!

We have complete driveway envy.  Thad and Kelly's driveway can accommodate  TWO RV's and half a dozen more cars.  It's insanely wonderful, long AND flat.  ENVY, I tell you!  And I'm not even going to get into the envy for the beautiful, flowing river they have running through their backyard!  I'm so glad they let us turn their property into a campground every so often!!

Emalie loved playing football with the boys.  They were so good with her, too!

Fun family photo. 

As darkness came, Thad started up the fire.  So cozy and relaxing to sit around and watch the boats go up and down the river. 

Emalie (hmm...mmm.... I mean Spiderman) and Grandma.

Spending the 4th of July on the river was amazing.  I won't bore you with my incredibly bad attempts at fireworks phone photography, but let me tell you the experience was phenomenal.  We all stood out on the dock and watch the sky light up around us.  We were like bobble-heads turning first one way then the next trying to take them all in.  Pretty awesome.  The only one who didn't completely love it was Emalie.  She was a little scared and VERY cuddly throughout it all.  I'm not complaining-- she won't want to cuddle like that too much longer!

Thanks, Thad and Kelly, for a fantastic stay at your place.  It's always a "Food, Folks and Fun" experience when we visit.  Thank you for everything!!

6-30, St. Ignatius Day Trip

The Mission at St. Ignatius is one of those places you drive by time after time and think 'boy, I'd like to see that some time.'  Well, that 'time' finally came!  On a day when mom and dad had other commitments, Sven, the kids and I finally went to see it.  And thanks to the picture of the sign, I can let you read the background on it! I must admit that after touring the old churches in Germany, I wasn't that impressed with the Misison.  It's neat, I'll grant it that.  But after seeing so many amazing, different, really old churches in Germany, it's hard to compare.  More appropriately, I suppose, it's hard NOT to compare.  But now when we drive by, at least I can say, "I've been there before!" as opposed to the 'someday' sentiment that had become commonplace.  It's definitely worth the time to stop and see it though.  Although it may not be as old as the history we found in Germany, it's an important part of our history as Montanans.  Go take a look!

After our time at the Mission, we decided on a snack.  Better yet, we found a great restaurant in St. Ignatius (I know!  Who knew!!) for lunch.  (Altitude Bar & Grill for those who may want to go.  It's owned by a retired military guy, by the way.  We met him, and he and Sven had a nice chat about various things.  The service was great and the food was awesome.  Really, go try it!)

Cute family selfie, right?  But wait, somebody is missing.....

.....and this is how you incorporate a preteen member of your family into a selfie.  LOL.....

We thought about heading to the Bison Range, but decided to only go as far as the scenic pull-out.  We didn't need to go further than the walkways around the parking lot after we spotted this sign!

On the way home, we decided to do another first and stop at Ninepipe Wildlife Refuge.  Just look at the sign we were greeted with here.  Sheesh!!  Oh well, off we went into the wild.  I guess I could always battle a grizzly off with my long lens.  Yeah, right......

As you can tell from the quantity of photos included in this post, I did not use my phone camera this day.  I quite enjoyed liberating my cameras from their pack and getting some landscape shots!  I'll be adding the watermarked images to my gallery on my website....eventually. (Hey, I took a LOT of pictures this trip!)  I'm happy to report that we encountered neither rattlesnakes or grizzly bears!