Up again Early --- We have to pick up Chris, (the Escort from the Philippines, he flew over here with them. We need to go to 3 Forks for their well-child check up with Doctor Johnson.
First though came the dilemma of solving this question: if Chris in 45 minutes to the East, and we have to go 45 to the West, what time do we leave or how do we get him here ? 7 a.m. we have to leave ? It would take 1 1/2 hours just to go get him.
Then Julie Blockey helped solve the problem by telling us she worked in Belgrade where we are, and would bring him out at 7 a.m. when she comes to work ! Yeh ! We can pick Chris up at 8:15 and get to where we are going.
This is also the day that Jlt tells us that Jmk has been sleeping under her bed in the mornings because he is lonely. They come from orphanages where many kids sleep together, so we understand.
This will be a LONG DAY ! We have accepted an invitation to go to Anna's Wambeke's Youth Center, and also to a rodeo in 3 Forks in the evening. AND we are planning to go even farther west, while we are in 3 Forks and go to Lewis & Clark Caverns. I have been there, and I know kids love them. Johnny has always wanted to see them, too, so here is his chance. Afterwards, he will understand why we are not taking his mom --- there are so me tight spots, steep stairs and a place where you have to slide down to the next room, somehow by separating the top of you from the bottom of you, and moving it more to the right than your bottom has to go. Tight & twisty squeezes along the way, and bumpy. I forgot about this little roughness. Great for kids. AND a very busy day.
Whenever we go anywhere in the car, they often fall asleep. Travel has been no problem. So far. Except that while we are going very slow stuck in construction traffic between Belgrade and Manhattan (they have to resurface the roads & highways in the summer !), Jmk opens the door, and I pull off the road immediately. Chris tells him we can't open the door while we are moving. I was only going 20 mph but it scared the rivets outa me. Ever been glad you were going so slow in traffic ? However, they will be enticed by the windows, locks and doors the entire time they are here, and finally we will have to lock them in more permanently with the kid lock, but they will figure it out, and I will try to use the window lock but they will always catch it the moment I have to open it for a good reason (like to stop at Yellowstone Booth before entering the Park) and they will make the windows go up & down as much as they can---either to frustrate us or to have "wars" with each other. Eventually, Johnny will take the fuses out of his truck, and out of my windows, but that will have other problems !
Anyway, after this episode, it takes forever to get back into the traffic, because the line of traffic must go all the way back to Bozeman, and no one wants to let us in. Finally I can pull back in in front of a semi-truck, but it is not my favorite thing to do.
They do very well at the Doctor's, and entertain themselves, but also, they are tired, and so pretty quiet for the most part. There is a nice play corner for them, books, so they have plenty to do while they wait for each other.
BUT, I am already tired and exhausted, so since Johnny and Chris are there, I sneak out to the car and catch a few winks and that really helps. After they come out, we go to Anna's Youth Center, and J & J get to try all kinds of games, ping pong, and foose ball, watch & play TV games, have snacks, pizza, and other treats, and we are here 2 hours, at least !!
Then as planned, we go to Lewis & Clark Caverns --- such a cool idea on such a HOT day !
We arrived at the caverns about 12:30, go get signed up for a tour, and go find a lunch spot I thought might have tables in the shade, but instead we got mosquitoes and a see saw for a table. I can 't even reach the ground where I sit down, but we got some shade for a while, because we move the table. BUT, it is still a flat table an a sharp hill, held up on one end with a few rocks ! NOT real stable.
We take the tour. The kids do really well,and enjoy the Beaver Slide. Jmk wants to be first, though, and we have a challenge keeping up front with him. They show no fears when the lights go out and where the cave is the darkest. The problem we had was the guide. She talked so fast, that I couldn't understand her so I ask her to speak slower so our visiting kids from the Philippines can easier understand her. She trys, but isn't too good at that. At the end, she asks if she did better, and I answer, "better". I can't help wondering if the Chinese guys on the walk could understand her fast words.
Next, we check out the gift shop, and tell them not to touch, but the first thing at the door is the really cool magnetic rocks, and we all have to touch that !! oh, brother ! Since I live with an "gotta have ice cream Sherer" (I think they believe that 's what makes them tall & skinny!), we have ice cream.
Then, Chris, deb, & J & J decide to hike---I had asked if they wanted to walk down to the camp ground, what I thought was 1.3 mile, but it was 1.8 instead. Took longer than I expected. But when I said "walk down", I found myself and Chris nearly running down to keep up with J & J !!! We stopped them to warm them that if they fall, the rocks are very sharp and they would get very hurt. That didn't stop them. We finally had to warn them off rattle snakes, though we saw none (PTL !!!), but that didn't slow them down either. So I said I needed to see them and when I couldn't keep up, and they got too far, I would go "YOOHOO !" and they had to stop until I caught up. Then they started playing games, like hiding when I called, and letting us think we were left behind, and then they popped put behind a tree or rock. It was fun, and made the hike go faster than I expected---UNTIL THE HILL: Then Jaymark goes, "How far" Answer: "Until we see the campground." "How far is the campground ?" I don't know---we'll know when we see Johnny, who had driven the car down, and was to have dinner waiting for us, chairs out, water poured, and he did. But Jmk didn't like the last part of the hike where we had to hike up hill to get over the last hump. "How long ? How long ?" Same answer---but it did seem longer than I expected, and it turned out to be 1/2 mile longer than I expected, yet I have hiked here before, so I knew we were almost there. Once they saw the campground, though, off they took, running downhill again. BUT we couldn't find Johnny at first !! We got some drinking water, and had to get them wet to cool them off. Jlt didn't like the water on her and made an awful face. SO did Jmk, but at least he retaliated ! The hot day needed us to get wet and it felt good, but finally we all (including Jlt) got just enough wet to be happy.
We did this for a few minutes before they ran off to the climbing gym/playground equipment for the next 15 minutes, and while Johnny got the cold part of the meal out of the cooler. Jny came over to show us he had found a nice spot under some trees, and it was already 5:45. We didn't have much time to play, and all I had dreamed of coming down the mountain was the moment I could show them the great play ground and then sit in a chair read, watch them & take a nap while the guys watched them. Got jiped of my nap. No time. Eat & go to be at the Rodeo on time to meet the Wambeke's. The day went so fast !!
The rodeo was also very cool, though I haven't been to one since 1979. I was a bit worried of the kind of people who like being thrown off animals like that ! I can't even imagine what J & J were thinking. I can't tell if they like the Rodeo or not, and I know they had to be very tired. They did well, though, so we got to see most of it. It was so cute when they leaned over to me and said, "Time to go" but we really couldn't yet, as the part they wanted to see was supposed to be next. But it wasn't, and J & J said to me again, "Time to go home now" and soon after that, we were able to leave. They slept all the way home that night.
They fell into bed, and I didn't even care that they didn't clean their teeth or went to bed dirty. They cleaned those teeth though and wouldn't forget that. But, we bathed the next morning.
Chris stayed with us tonight, because we are taking him up to Canyon Ferry tomorrow. Good Night !!
For some reason, there are no pictures of this very busy day --- I don't know how that happened.