9-23, Miss Emalie

Since Homecoming night was going to be all about Nik and his date, Homecoming afternoon was all about Miss Emalie.  She got caught up in the excitement of it all, and I was able to convince her to have a turn in the studio.  I'm so glad this Chinese dress still fits her (and yes, we have more saved for the upcoming years!) because I think the color combination is stunning on her!  (Yes, I know, 'stunning' may be a strange choice of words for a 6-year old, but really, look at her-- can you find a better word?!).  Love my beautiful 'baby girl'!!

.... and one just for me!

9-23, Homecoming?!

I'm still in a little bit of shock.  Yep, that's right-- Nik went with a date to the Homecoming Dance!  Man, oh man.  The wonders never cease.  What's even more amazing is that he 'allowed' us to cook dinner for the both of them before the dance (and no, we didn't sit there with them asking her questions and embarrassing him.... maybe next  time....lol.....).   The best part of the evening, for me anyway, was the photo shoot we had in the studio before dinner was served.  Poor kids-- her mom played my assistant helping with posing and I went completely trigger happy firing away like it was a 'real' session.  Oh, was that fun!  You'd have thought she and I were the giddy school kids!  All of my years of photography education, equipment investing and basement remodeling were so worth every ounce of it to have been able to capture this moment.  It was a truly happy momma moment.  I'm ever so tempted to post a baby picture here, but I'll fight the urge.  Anyway, take a look.  Here's proof:  Nik is growing up.

9-1, Labor Day Camping

There's definitely a different feeling in the air during the last camping weekend of the season compared to the first weekend of summer.  At the beginning of summer, the warm sensation on the air is a welcome relief that winter is over.  There is excitement of the summer trips to come and the anticipation of the 'lazy days of summer'.  At the end of the summer, the cool sensation on the air is a hint of the winter to come.  The excitement of what is to come is replaced with a reminiscence of what has already passed.  Instead of camp fires and hikes, time will be filled with homework and holidays.  I used to love the changing seasons more than I do now that I'm getting older.  I don't know if it's because I'm disliking the cold more or if I'm becoming even more sentimental about the passage of time.  The summer of 2017 kicked off with a great Memorial Weekend of camping with my parents in Buena Vista.  It's pretty hard not to be nostalgic as the summer camping season winds down when it began so memorably.  The Labor Day camping weekend did have its own unique memories as well since it was the first time that all four of us had been camping in our new trailer together.  We enjoyed the newfound room to relax and stretch out in the new Nash.  We think it will be a great new 'little home away from home' for us.  It is a little disappointing to have a new 'toy' that will only be used a time or two before the snow flies.  Is it crazy that I'm already anticipating NEXT summer?!

The aspens are already changing even though it's only Labor Day! 

The contrast of the sky and leaves mesmorize me every time.

Totally in his element, right? 

Sunburst through the whispering aspen.

Love the range of colors when the leaves change.

Serious, serious business.

No, I don't know who that is, but I loved the glow of colors that enveloped him while he fished. 

The new NASH proved itself well during our first family outing.

8-5, Heading Home

After what seemed like a long spread of time and miles, we embarked on our journey home.  It was an odd journey-- we'd left two family members along the way..... Nik at the wilderness camp and Squish awaiting its new family at Metra RV.  I'd say it felt good to be going home, but it honestly didn't.  This marked the real end of summer.  School was to start in a few days, and we knew we'd be making the roundtrip back to Bozeman in less than 2 weeks.  Our minds were on Nikolas-- how was he doing? was he ok? what would it be like when we picked him up at the end of the camp? how would that adjustment be?  what would it be like just the three of us at home?  It was an uneasy feeling as we made our way south.... from one home to another.  As these thoughts swarmed in my head, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw this spectacular scene.  It was an assurance of the beauty along the way..... in front of and behind us.  Aside from the uncertainty of Sven's job over the summer, my concussion and slow to heal symptoms, and the turbulence of a lot of activity, it was a vivid reminder to focus on the bright spots.  (But, does summer really have to be over?!)  

8-4, New Nash

The last camping trailer we bought was 5 years ago during a trip to Idaho for my brother's wedding when Emalie had been home less than a month (no, we never do anything halfway or easily at the KraussHaus).  We thought it would be the perfect trailer to age with us as the kids grew.  It technically could have been-- it checked all the boxes-- but the one thing we didn't consider was that growing children have growing bodies-- legs, arms, feet, etc.  We'd noticed over the summer that somehow our once perfect trailer was seeming tight and squishy.  The kids were commenting on how they didn't like that I was always kicking them out of the trailer when it was time for meal preparations.  I didn't like that when I was trying to get from my bed to the bathroom that there were legs protruding into the walkway, and the words "excuse me....excuse me" were becoming part of the trailer tango.  Well, as a descendant of my mother, the words "let's go trailer shopping" are music to my ears.  Sure!  Let's do that-- sounds fun!  This time was different though because we found one we liked, really liked.  So, in true KraussHaus form, we bought a new one and traded in the old one enroute home to Denver after Yellowstone.  (No, we never take the easy way out!) We can't sing the praises of Metra RV in Billings (Montana) enough.  They were so awesome to work with.  They did everything they could to make this happen for us on our limited timeline (because of course we closed on the paperwork at 5:30 on a Friday night when we had to be back in Denver on Sunday!  (Ha, I think we may be just a little crazy sometimes.....).  It was hard to say goodbye to 'squish'.  We had some great memories in that trailer.  But, since this is our 4th trailer, we know we're going to make some good ones in this one as well.  Come take a tour of our new little house.......