God Bless America, even North Dakota

We are back on American soil. (We were only in Canada for a few days, but still!!) After Big Sky, Montana, we drove north to Glacier National Park for three days and then up to Banff, Canada for another three days.

I am writing this from my hotel room in Minot, North Dakota after being in the car for 13 hours today - left Canada at 6 a.m. and finally crossed the border at 4:30 this afternoon. The kids have been troopers, so we rewarded them and found a hotel with a water park and they are currently swimming their little hearts out.

We stopped at a DQ for a snack this afternoon (which they also have all over Canada, by the way) and Maggie said, "It's so good to be back in America!" We laughed. The only difference our kids even noticed in Canada was that some of the signs were in French and English and that they have different money.

Banff was absolutely breathtaking. The only thing I wanted to see that I didn't was a grizzly bear. We saw a black bear in Glacier National Park, so I guess I'll have to be happy with that!

Pictures coming soon!

An Abrams Adventure

The Abrams family is off on a 2-week road trip; an epic adventure that will include trips to several national parks and end up in Canada.

We spent one night in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park on our way out west; then got to Big Sky, Montana, where Scott is attending a medical conference for a few days.
Theodore Roosevelt Park is beautiful; it's like the badlands of South Dakota with trees and water.

There is a huge bull snake stretched out under this board...made me awfully glad we were staying in the Rough Riders hotel and not in a tent!
Jake couldn't wait to get his hands on it; thankfully, there was a park ranger there who said he should probably just leave it alone. Yuck.

We made it safely to Big Sky, Montana and I have to say, the area is beautiful. If you ever have a chance to go, the Big Sky resort is amazing.

It's about an hour north of Yellowstone, so we took a day, packed up and drove to Yellowstone. We saw ALL the sights - Old Faithful...(which the kids were not super impressed with - they thought the fountain in Fountain Hills, AZ was way cooler - I had to explain to them that this was not man-made, which made it cooler, but they disagreed.)


This elk was injured, which allowed us to get really close for a great photo. We also saw a wolf and bison.

We took the Uncle Tom's Trail to see an amazing waterfall - the "trail" is actually about 300 metal steps; VERY STEEP. I do not like heights, but I persevered, nearly hyperventilated, and made it down. And then I had to go back up.

It was definitely worth it.


Our favorite were the mud volcano and the thermal pools that made really cool bacteria mats.

If you've never been there, it is worth a trip. Smelly, but worth it. We got back to Big Sky about 10 pm and fell into bed.

The kids have been dying to do the zip line since we got to Big Sky, so today, the three fearless members of the family harnessed up and took off. Mom watched; very proud of her brave family.
Maggie was a trooper. You could not pay me enough to strap myself to a harness and then fly down a cable; 60 feet above ground.

Jake was very adventurous...he even went upside-down a time or two. Just like his dad. :) They definitely get their bravery from him.


We'll be in Big Sky another day or so and then it's on to Glacier National Park for a few days, and then to Banff, Canada. We've already put 1200 miles on our vehicle. We're thinking it will be about 3000 by the time we're done. :) More updates to come....

Sonshine=Mudfest

Every July, there is a Christian music festival called "Sonshine" about a mile from our house. Thousands of people attend; I think between 30 & 40 thousand each year. Of that 40 thousand, about 12 thousand people are camping out there.

Add that to the five inches of rain we've gotten in the last 24 hours and you can imagine what a mess it is.

They've had to close a few parking areas because so many people have gotten stuck.


We've been going to the concerts, but I am very glad to be home in my dry, warm bed every night! I've seen people buying new pillows, etc. at WalMart and rumor has it the laundromats have been packed.

Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 90's, so we plan to bring several cans of bug spray when we go, in preparation for the great mosquito hatch. Fun, fun!

Awards

Let me preface this post by saying, I need a new camera. You will understand fully when you see the following photos.

Our school gives out end-of-the-year awards at an awards ceremony the last week of school.



One student in each grade gets the "Christian Character" award - the student who exhibits kindness, respect, helpfulness, etc. And what do you know, Miss Maggie got it for 2nd grade.



Not to be outdone, Jake got the National Fitness Award...after which he informed me that he missed the Presidential Fitness Award by four seconds while he was running the mile. His statement, "I would have totally gotten it, Mom, if I hadn't stopped to pick up those snakes." Yep. Sounds about right!

The Face of Summer Fun

Does this look fun to anyone else?

Run, Scott, Run!

I got up bright and early this morning to watch Scott run the Green Lake Road Race, a 12-mile race around Green Lake that he does every year. Before I left, I had two thoughts - I need to remember my chair and I need to remember my camera. Guess which one I forgot.

Anyway, he did great, set a personal record and finished in a time of 1 hour, 44 minutes. Stud.

We've had a couple of busy weeks; various members of my family were here for a week in mid-June and Scott's family spent part of last week here. They took Jake and Mags home with them, so things are very quiet around here.

Someone asked me this morning what projects I had planned to do while the kids are gone. Hmmmmm. You'd think I would be eager to finish up some things that have been hanging over my head for the past year (finish painting windows, paint the guest room, etc.), but to be honest, my only thought was that I was going to spend a lot of time reading on the dock. So, if you want to stop by, that's probably where I'll be. I have extra chairs...just bring a book. I'll even provide sun tea, sunscreen, sun glasses. Hopefully God will provide the sun!