End of Year and Graduation

Whew, can't believe this is the 3rd post in under a month! What will I do - I guess it's because I had another BIG project come to an end a week ago, so I have lots of time to actually take pictures and then sit and post about our life. I hope it isn't just because everything is new in our new location. I should treat everything new as they are new experiences for the girls. I do have ideas for more big projects, but they are going to wait until the fall when the girls are in school and then the winter when I don't want to be outside.
Anyway, enough about that. Of course at the end of the year, there are fun activities and I have posted a couple of them. AR's class did the last fishing trip of the year. I understand they do about 4 - we were here for 2 of them, unless the fish release was one, then we did 3. So, did I ever mention that Montanan's are big on fishing? They want to teach the up-coming generation how to embrace this sport. Their anti-drug slogan is "Get hooked on fish, not on drugs". I think it is only the 4th graders who get the fishing trips, but I am not sure about that. I kind of hope they do it every year. The last one was at the same pond as the ice-fishing trip was. One of the moms said they were reading how this particular pond is stocked with - she said either - over a thousand or thousands- of fish. WOW, it's not that big of a pond. But with 200+ kiddos coming there a couple times in the year, plus whomever else wants to fish there, I guess they need to make sure there is a supply of fish. We were able to keep the fish in February, but they requested that we release what was caught this time around.
There was an introduction by the local fish and wildlife guy, then the man whose family donated the pond and land spoke for a minute. His grandparents homesteaded this particular land, arriving 5 years before Montana became a state. They lobbied for a school, and right at the trail-head signs is the original bell from the Pine Grove school. They rang it to start the fishing off. I think they did it to warn the fish that hundreds of worms were headed their way. We didn't see too many fish caught and most of the worms were lost because of locked reels and bad casts rather than nibbling fish. There is one gal who, just as NG and I were leaving, hooked into a fighter. Well, it turned out to be more than a fighter. It was the largest rainbow I have ever seen!

Pine Grove Pond before the arrival of
200 4th graders - calm and peaceful

AR and her casting skills

A dandelion bouquet is always fun to find 

Playing in the water is a must.

This is the largest rainbow I have ever seen! One little friend
was waiting with a ziploc for her to put it in - don't think it fit.

Well, my title included the word graduation. NG had her graduation today. NO, she is not that old and time hasn't flown that fast. She actually just finished preschool and is now ready for Kindergarten. In her words "Mom, I am ready for all day kindergarten now!". I think I am, too. I wasn't so sure as the district we just moved from isn't starting all day until 2015. But I think NG will be ready for it. I am actually worried that she will be bored - but I will keep up with that and do alternative things if that happens. So, here are pictures from her school ceremony today. She has had a wonderful teacher. Mrs. W is a rocket scientist among other accomplishments - she worked on a space shuttle earlier in her career. She just graduated with a Master's degree a couple weeks ago, but unfortunately I don't know what that degree was for. She will be back teaching preschool next year - she has been a great teacher for our 4 months we have been here. Really opening up NG and helping her learn new things. In fact yesterday we were talking about breathing in and out and I said you breathe out Carbon Dioxide - and NG said "That's right, Carbon Dioxide - I learned that in school" She has done that about a lot of things.

Afternoon preschool class of St. Matthews School.

 It's been a great year and hard to change schools and leave behind good, good friends. But it's been fun making new friends and I am looking forward to the summer vacation ahead!

Memorial Day

According to most people around here, Memorial Day is one that has a high percentage of being wet and dreary. Not so this year. It was a bit overcast, but the day was warm and so pleasant. We decided to head to the hills and complete our first hike. Well, the hills are only about 10-15 minutes (max) away. This trail-head was probably 7 minutes drive from our house - and that includes going back for AR's glasses. The road leading up to the trail-head had some cars parked alongside, and the first trail-head didn't have any parking. We kept driving and got to the other trail-head and there were only 2 other cars parked. In WA, a lot of times, there will be cars parked on the side of the road leading up to a park or trail-head so that one saves having to have a trail pass or get a fine for not having one. Well, we were a little worried as we don't have a trail pass. The "rules" board said that MT residents (ie: MT license plates) don't have a fee. Hooray for getting my plates changed over already!
Off we went. I noticed mostly that the forest here has no underbrush, and looks like it is just a park needing a good mow job. I noticed that in Sweden, too - like someone actually comes along and takes care of all the off trail vegetation. The trees weren't crowded together and there was not a lot of moss and rain forest looking stuff hanging overhead. I don't know if that is the way it is in all the forests around here, but it was that way at Lone Pine State park. I assume so. NG was really interested in the flora, so we took pictures of every flower so we could try to identify them later, rather that stop and pick a bouquet along the way. She did pretty well, except coming back down it got a little steep, but she held onto Dad and slid most of the way down. AR pretended to be a horse and she was our 'scout' letting us know what was coming. We met only a couple people on the trail. When we got to the top - we saw that you can also drive all the way - there is an interpretive center there and of course a gift shop - and a nice picnic area. The overlook was spectacular of the whole Flathead Valley. I took what I hoped could become a panoramic photo - but the computer that has my editing program on it has bitten the dust, so I don't know if I can make that - plus it ended up being about 8 photos, so that might be too long to make into one photo.
AR and NG made up names for all the areas of the hike and found things that look like things in the fallen trees and natures debris.  I hope I can remember the correct names.

    

A Sea Serpent

A Dragon's eye

NG insisted this was an alligator

From below the lookout

 

  This was just the most perfect day! We then went out to HuHot, which is AR's and NG's favorite place to eat. We decided that most Saturdays would be: chores, take a hike and then go to HuHot. I wish we could switch up the restaurant - and maybe we will, but that will be fun to explore what the area has to offer.

I think this was called Daisy Field - but it was probably more creative than that

 I can't get these two to get any closer on this post to make it look more panoramic....

 

At the Farm

WHAT? you say! Yes, a 2nd post in under a month. Well, it is the end of the school year and there are definitely things to document. Kudos to me for taking my camera- and even more for taking pictures.
NG's preschool class went to the farm. This is not an unusual outing for a preschool class, but it so happens that NG has always been afraid of anything that moves that isn't human. It can be big, small, gentle or not - it doesn't matter, she is scared of them. You can talk until you are blue in the face about how gentle little Rover or Fluffy is and how much they love people - especially little children - it doesn't matter. She never had any kind of experience that soured her to the animal kingdom. She loves stuffed animals, going to the fair and visits to the pet store. As long as said creature is contained or on a leash she is ok with them. Even leashed animals are something to be wary of, but that is better than being free. We have several friends who have a dog or cat - even guinea pigs, and they have all been so gracious to put their furry family member away in a room, or on a leash in the house, just so NG can come over to play. She always comes up with "Mom, I'm not scared of MoMo any more" "I like E's cat Mustache now." But when reality hits, she is more skittish than a little white mouse around a cat.
Well, the day at the farm was a fun day and guess what! NG actually reached out and petted a donkey, goat and 3-day old lamb!!!! No coaxing or even helping - she did it on her own! This is momentous.
Also, this farm is not just your Gentleman Farmer's farm. It is what is left of the current owner's grandparents homestead - which just a generation ago was 1400 acres. When the grandparents died, their children sold off all but 350 acres and this family is still living there. They do raise cattle, sheep and goats for selling off. It was so generous of them to open their property up for our class to visit.

This goat tried to climb through
the fence to get some attention

Here is the donkey - NG is in the black jacket
almost center

Proof - she is petting the goat.

This lamb was 3 days old

Running across the field to the next activity

 Thanks to Rancher Glen and is wife Trisha (I think that were their names) for letting us come. After checking out the barns and livestock, they took a "walk" across this field. On the other side was a little picnic area where we ate lunch and the farmer provided makings for s'mores. We then gathered specimens from the forest - aka: pinecones and lichen. Then we headed to the creek (pronounced crick in these parts), to collect what specimens we could find in the water. It was a wonderful day and NG fell asleep on the way home, as I am sure most of the children did.

I didn't get my camera going fast enough - the rancher took that bucket through the gate. All the sheep were on the other side of the pasture. As soon as he opened the gate - they all started running towards him with no thought but who would get there first. The lamb he picked up at the end was just 3-days old.

Montana History

Well, I realize it's been a while since my last posting. I guess I should just give up having that be the first line of every post and accept the fact that I won't be a frequent poster. There are of course changes in life in the last year, and this post will hint at the question of my May 1st 2013 post. We are currently in Montana and there (maybe) will be more of that later. But just the last 2 days, I spent with AR and the 4th graders from her school on a Montana History trip. This was just an incredible trip. I actually remembered my camera and even more miraculous was that I took pictures - almost 200 of them! And some video. I think I am able to post videos, too - we shall see. I guess I should also say here that we moved here in February and 2 weeks after arriving, AR's class had an ice-fishing field trip. Montanan's are extremely proud of their state, but they are also very much active in outdoor activities. They make sure that the next generation has exposure to and develops respect for the outdoors. The ice-fishing (yes, I took my camera to that and will (maybe) post about that another time, too) was put on by the fish and wildlife department and so they had lots of volunteers out there helping the children with baiting, patience and education of fishing. They also had demonstrations on water/ice safety. More on that (if) when I post later.

Onto the Montana History trip. As the state capitol is 4 hours away, we had to be on the buses by 6 am. For the first time all year, I did not have to drag AR out of bed on a school morning. She jumped right up and as a result, we got to the school with time to spare. Our bus (the 3rd one) was actually a little late, so we ended up waiting out in the cold (it was around freezing, and snow had actually fallen early that morning). I saw that they were school buses, and thought "Oh, great! bench seats for all day travelling. Well, I am assuming with all the long distance travelling the students have to do, they have these special buses for those occasions. The outside looks like a school bus, but the inside has touring bus seats and a dvd player. It was quite comfy.

She didn't look too enthusiastic. It was not a posed
picture, and remember, it was an early morning.

However, our bus was having a few problems. There are a few steep hills going out of town, and the first big one, we were struggling up. On the way down, we were all choking from diesel fumes. Turns out (one of the other parents drives for UPS), with diesels, it is common for gas to build up when going up hills (build up in what I do not know), and when going down the other side, the engine has to burn that off resulting in excess fumes. We had to have most of the windows open to vent. Also, the parents in cars following said that we were blowing black smoke out of the exhaust. There is a long steep hill about halfway between Missoula and Helena and at that point we were struggling to get up to 10 miles an hour. She was about to pull over, when the bus got a little 2nd wind and we made it to the top! Well, not too much later the bus driver slammed on the brakes and we heard a loud CRACK. A lot of the passengers were sleeping or resting (also, our dvd player didn't work). It woke all of us up and we learned that we hit a deer. The deer must have jumped at the last second, so the windshield was mostly cracked. That was a topic of excited conversation for a while. We also heard the drivers following us description of the fate of the deer.

1st stop Helena and the Capitol Building. (well, there were bus problem stops and a rest stop after Missoula). The building was built in 1902 and a few years later had to be expanded to allow for the growing state. Montana is proud of it's history which begins (of course) before the white man came. There is a lot of art depicting the native Americans, Lewis and Clark and others who helped settle the area. In fact, in the cornerstone's time capsule is a list of the first 1700 settlers to come into Montana.
 A funny story: On top of the Capitol is a statue called the Goddess of Liberty. During construction of the building, a statue arrived by railroad from a company back east. Nobody knew what it was for or who had bought it. The statue company's records were destroyed in a fire, so nobody will ever know for sure why the Goddess of Liberty was made. The Capitol builders wanted a statue for their dome, so they used this one.


I have never been in a capitol building - or many government buildings for that matter - but this one is really elegant and is full of art - statues (of the first ever Congress(wo)man, etc) paintings and murals. The building was renovated to be all the same colors and decor as it was back in 1904.

AR's class in front of Capitol building

AR close up - with her teacher right behind. Mrs. B.

 The 4 Founding "Fathers" of Montana- paintings are directly below the Rotunda

The Trappers

The Indians

The Miners (Montana is known as The Treasure State)

The Cattlemen

Rotunda 

Painting of completion of Railroad

Grand Staircase

Charlie Russell's painting of Lewis & Clark meeting the Indians
It is 25 feet long and 12 feet high

One of the murals in a senate room

Filling out their schoolwork about the Capitol building

Can you see him?

Mostly his head and neck

 Next stop was "Gates of the Rocky Mountains" state park. On the way we passed a mountain that is referred to as "The Sleeping Giant"

Close-up of head

Proof that I was on the trip

 This is part of the Missouri River where there is an unusual perspective that when you are coming up the river, the limestone cliffs look like they are parting or opening like a gate. We took a 2 hour boat ride through the part of the river that has limestone cliffs on both sides. One of the areas of interest is call Mann Gulch. In 1949 there was a fire here in which because of certain conditions, the fire jumpers were caught and surrounded by the fire. 13 of the 16 jumpers died in that fire, but because of it, there were lessons learned which helped current wild-fire fighters learn important techniques to fighting forest fires. There are also a lot of formations of the limestone that look like certain things, and we saw some wildlife and pictographs also. The river is about 20-25 feet higher than in Lewis and Clark's day because of the Holter Dam which is down river. This part of the river is also flowing south to north. If I am able to add video, you will hear the voice of the boat driver who was very informative. The trip was about 90 minutes and he talked the whole time.

Opening to limestone passage. It took them several hours to
travel this part of the river. Our return trip took a few minutes.

Limestone cliffs

All the caves and formations are just a result of
water pockets left behind from ice melt or rain

In this there is "The eye of the Rhino".
I thought the formation up to the right
was the horn. Actually the eye is
the opening at the very bottom,
left-center and the horn is to the right.

Can you see the Elephant's
face and trunk?

The Canyon Monster

Some pictographs which are
approximately 1200 years old

The River Crocodile

Mann Gulch

 OK, so now the placing of photos is driving me crazy right now. I know they are taking up a lot of space - and I'd like to make them more coherent to the text, but at least I am uploading just what I am talking about and not all of them at once. I am going to put in one or two videos showing the Gate part of the river. I think you just click on it and it should start to play. Also, if you want to see a picture better - they are all being put in small - then just click on it. I am pretty sure the first one is the gate opening, and the second is showing the gate closing.

Eagle's nest

What a fantastic boat ride. Here are some of the flora and fauna we saw. The close-up of what looks like lichen or moss actually fooled the botanist (Kelsey?) who documented it. He called it Kelsey moss or something like that. When it was further studied, it was found to actually be a member of the rose family. There were a couple very small plants that were in bloom, but we didn't get close enough to see the extremely small blossoms. There is an osprey nest, a Bald Eagle nest with eaglets, some big horned sheep - but I think I only got the female, which has small horns and they are the exact color as the stone, so they are hard to see. We also saw turkey vultures in flight, ravens, loons, goose and pigeons, but I didn't bother to capture them :-) I guess I didn't get the osprey nest.

Moss type plant that is actually a rose.

Can you see the mountain goat in these pictures?

 The Ponderosa pine is the state tree.
They really packed a lot into this very long day. The next stop was another hour long bus ride away. To First People's State Park Buffalo Jump. This was a really fun stop and AR's favorite part of the whole trip. Our group first did the traditional games, and then went to the top of the Buffalo Jump to learn how the Native's got the bison herd to stampede over the jump.

AR with her stick

Explaining the game - similar to field
hockey. Rules: sticks stay below the
knee and if everyone clumps around
the ball, the "ref" calls break and
re-throws the ball.
Get the ball into your goal

 AR got right into this game. She is all in black in the pictures above and to the left. In the others she has a white shirt with pink long sleeves. The ball was traditionally made out of a bladder and is the size of a nerf basketball.

This game the children had straight sticks (thankfully no eyes were gauged out) In the video you may hear one child crying - he got hit with a stick on the arm, but was right back in to the game. It was called Double Ball. The players had to carry the balls on a stick - the balls were connected with fabric - and try to throw it onto or over the goal. 1 point for getting it in the goal, 2 for over the horizontal pole, and 3 for getting it to land on the pole. One team got it on the pole!

 Here the children were taught two games. The first being a game which helped build stamina and strength. They had to scream and run. When their scream stopped they planted their stake in the ground. The second one they kicked a little ball with a tail, down and around a stake in the ground and back to the finish line. The video is of the whole group running and screaming. Before that, they had to do it individually. AR got further when she did it alone. 

 

Love the Big Sky country!

To the Buffalo Jump! What they did was pick a fast, brave and smart person. He would be the Buffalo Runner. He would study the herd and determine which one was the lead cow. A herd will always follow the matriarch. Buffalo have bad eye-sight, but good smell and hearing. The runner would dress in a baby buffalo hide and go close to the cow. He would make sounds like a lost calf. This would make her want to bring it back into the safety of the herd. He would always keep just enough distance from her so she couldn't see him well, but keep following him. The herd, in turn would follow her. The runner would lead her to where some others were waiting dressed up in coyote skins. This would cause the herd to panic and start stampeding. Further on would be people hidden behind rock piles - the piles formed into the shape of a funnel - to funnel the stampede towards the jump. They would yell and scare the herd more. Meanwhile, the runner is still in the front leading them all towards the jump. He would jump over the cliff, landing on a lower ledge and crouch down as the buffalo spilled over the ledge of the cliff. The tribe would use all of the buffalo and every piece of it for different uses.

All the docents were just wonderful!

Looking over the jump

From the jump, we went to a park in Great Falls to have pizza and play for a little before heading to the Ursuline Center for our overnight stay. This building is over 100 years old and was originally a school run by nuns. Our group stayed in one of the big

dorm rooms which used to be a
classroom. The kids were so tired out from an early morning and a packed day, they were all asleep within minutes of lights-out. The next day we went to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls, then went to see the smallest river in the world - the Roe River. Then it was lunch and heading home - another 4 hour drive.

They carved little boats just like L&C

Our docent for the morning.

Replica of one of the long boats
the group had to take up and around
Great Falls

Quote of Thomas Jefferson for why
the Corp of Discovery was necessary

Dressed in period clothing. AR wearing
a winter coat.

AR in front of a replica mud house

AR and friend B- Look out for grizzlies

Bison

Bison hide with a story in pictograph

The Missouri river at Great Falls

The Roe River - shortest in the world @210 feet long

 The last thing I want to mention - good job for sticking this LONG post out! - is before we left the Ursuline Center, the children all put on a little skit for us. They were all in a big circle on the outside edges of a big room. We parents all stood in the middle of the circle to watch them perform.

Note: I worked hard to hold back the tears - part of the song says "Montana is our home" - another reminder we are no longer in Washington!