Montana Vaca/Birchmont 2012

We left Minnesota on the 10th for Montana, the Harris family's introduction to little Grace.  They were in love.  And Grace is their 8th granddaughter so they definitely know their girls. 

Below is a picture of Papa Harris with some of his granddaughters. 

We took a day to drive into the Wolf Mountains on the Crow Reservation to pick Juneberries.  There is only a few weeks out of the year they are ripe to pick.  You can see from the picture that the terrain was not stroller friendly.

Juneberries

Before leaving the mountains, Tuff and his dad fished for some trout.

Jerry caught the granddaddy Rainbow Trout for such a little pond.

We stopped for a group photo near the area where we fished and picked berries.  Left to right is Jay (Tuff's brother), Lorna (Jay's fiance), me, Tuff, Amara (Tuff's niece), Melody (Tuff's mom) and Jerry (Tuff's dad).

Grace also got her first experience on a horse at the corals in Colstrip, Montana. 

Blowing bubbles.  A trick she does daily.

She was so spoiled in Montana by all her family.  Beauty sleep.

At the Northern Cheyenne Tribal offices turning in paper work for Grace's enrollment in the tribe.

What?  You can't enroll me today?  Nope.  We have to wait to see if she gets voted in in November.  She missed the summer deadline.

 
Driving back to MN sporting a onesie from Auntie Jeri Lyn.

Tuff beat boxes and Grace can't get enough of it.



After returning to Minnesota from Montana we headed out the next day for Bemidji, a town just under two hours north of Staples.  We met up with the Grove family.  Rachel and her son Eli are in the picture below.  We stayed in a little cabin on lake Beltrami. 

Eli loved holding Grace.

The Grove family enjoying the lakeview and sunshine.

Grace doesn't know where she is.  She just goes with it.  Loves her lambsickle. 

Figuring out her Jenny Jump Up.  I call it the Go Go Goodie.

The week of the 23rd marked a six day golf tournament my family attends each year, the Birchmont.   This year I did not play but Tuff did.  It was his first tourney.  You can click the "Birchmont" link above if you are interested in the results but Tuff did not play well. 

At the golf tournament competitors get pretty loud with thier outfit selections.



I managed to take Grace to the course a few times while Tuff played to snap some pictures.

My nephew Beck participated in the Junior Junior Division at age 9.  He finished runner up.  It was so cute to watch the little competitors.  Our neighbor Emily caddied for him.

Tuff captured Beck roll in a birdie putt on the third hole.  These kids are good!  One of them actually got a hole in one!

Another double rainbow:)

One of the nights of the tournament was the long drive competition.  First up the junior division.  

 
More fun at the cabin with the family.  The water by the dock is so shallow we had to walk the boat in and out.




 Grace enjoying her dock time at the lake.

Long day on the boat will tire you out!



The last day of the tournament, we drove back to Staples to join in the second half of my 10 year class reunion.  It was nice to catch up with everyone.

Back in Staples for August.  Let us know if you are in the area!

Vacation Days

The Fourth of July in Minnesota was a blast!  Haha.  Bad play on words, I know.  We played a neighborhood golf tourney, the Firecracker, in torturous heat but still managed to have fun.  Afterwards had a pool party, BBQ and fireworks.

Fireworks princess, doesn't even know there is a pool party going on.

What topped off the pool party for me was the belly flop competition.  It came down to two final contestants and my Uncle Joe took the prize!  You can see how red their stomachs are from multiple rounds of belly flopping.



Around 8pm a wild and earie storm hit the area with tons of heat lightning and big winds.

Video of the crazy storm

The storm passed and the fireworks show was on.

 

On the Fifth of July we headed to Lake of the Woods, Ontario, Canada for some fishing and fun.  This is an annual trip for my parents and a large group of their friends that they often refer to as Camp Wannamingle because the men and the women stay in separate bunk houses.  Tuff had a blast catching fish and the first day fishing, along with my dad, caught the camp's dinner, fried walleye.

The boat is packed and we're ready for the nine mile ride to the island.

Captain and copilot.

Boating in Lake of the Woods, you really need to be aware of what is in the water.  There are hundreds of rock formations and islands all over the water; many unseen.

Camp Wannamingle.

Upon arriving Tuff and my dad took the boat around the island fishing.

Oma, Grace and I never went out to fish but instead enjoyed each others company on the island.  In the picture below Oma rocked Grace to sleep.

Day 2 of fishing.  In the background is the women's bunkhouse.

Grandpa and Grace.

Catch of the day.

Shore lunch.  More fried walley this time caught by Uncle Joe.

More down time on the island.

It turns out that children under the age of 16 only need a birth certificate to travel via driving across the United States/Canadian border.  That is how Grace made the trip.  No passport for her yet. 

Inside the main cabin.  Tuff rocked Grace to sleep this time.  

Trying to hit golf balls from our island to another.

 The morning before we left Tuff was out on the dock of the island fishing by 5am.  Here he is with a nice sized small mouth bass.

Morning of departure.  Waiting to get all packed up.

Packing out.  You can barely see Grace because she is already sleeping.  The sound and movement on the water puts her right to sleep.

For those of you unfamiliar with Lake of the Woods, here is a little tidbit I found on Wikipedia that helps:

"Lake of the Woods is over seventy miles long and wide, and contains more than 14,552 islands and 65,000 miles (105,000 km) of shoreline. It would amount to the longest coastline of any Canadian lake, except that the lake is not entirely within Canada. Lake of the Woods is also the 6th largest freshwater lake located (at least partially) in the United States- after the five Great Lakes."  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_of_the_Woods)

Here are some in between happenings including Grace's first swim!

Putting those thighs to use.

Today we are in Colstrip, Montana for about a week stay before coming back to Minnesota for Tuff's first competitive golf tournament.  Go Tuff!  For our next blog post you will get to see how each of these went.  Until next time...