July 24-27 This was a travel rest over weekend at Zach’s cousin Lisa’s (and spouse Matt’s) sweet home in Missoula, Montana. More city than we had planned, but their home is set back in a more rural area so it was very similar to our farm stay in Paonia. The kids got straight to work playing with their second cousin Quinn. We did lots of hanging out by the Bitterroot river, the kids swam across a pretty wide portion of the river to get to a rope swing on the other side. We also hiked 5 miles in the Bitterroot wilderness, ate lots of good food (including pizza and take out Brazilian – no cleaning up was a real treat!). We spent a day walking around downtown Missoula and learning about the old industries that helped get the city established.

We also spent a good deal of time here resting and doing absolutely nothing in the inviting backyard while the kids took their runs down the homemade slip n slide, listened to neighborhood horses neighing and the next door ducks quacking up a storm. Each night a teenaged male buck visited the backyard, we saw baby deer one morning, and there was no shortage of birds singing and hummingbirds drinking. We loved Missoula and it’s kind people and laid back vibe. It was especially nice to spend extended time with family that we only get to see every few years.