TravelingMel

It's that time of year...time to can and freeze.

I haven't had much time to report on the garden this year and I know you have been wondering.

We've had tons of spinach, kale, pak choi and lettuce. The broccoli was pretty good this year, but I wish I had planted more.

Big H bought me a case of super yummy cherries. I froze a bunch and made cherry jam with the rest.

We've been throwing the kale into smoothies, stir fries and everywhere else we can think of. Then we made kale chips--oh so delicious. (Roll the kale in a little olive oil, garlic and salt. Bake in oven at 375 for five minutes. Flip and bake another five minutes.)

Kale before it became chips.

I've been stocking up on pesto. We have 13 servings in the freezer. I'd like to make about 11 more. Most of the basil has come from the farmers market since I only grew a few plants. Note to self, plant a ton of basil next time. I grew purple basil this year since it was pretty. Purple basil doesn't really make purple pesto.

And some of the regular basil...

So, I've gotten a good start, but still have a lot to do before winter...

Finn gets his boogie on...

The Pebble Creek trail was all about endless meadows and more wildflowers than should be legal. Henry is going to break the dial on his mouse scrolling through these photos.

We did a lot of talking with our walking. Partly because we were a little concerned about running into Griz (we kept finding mountain sides where we wanted to spot a bear, but not near the trail) partly because we are trail talkers.

We laughed about the Double Rainbow Guy (oh my gosh, it's so intense!), we stopped at lots of flowers and Heather told me the entire story of The Titanic (and she almost made me want to see it, but it turns out the ship sinks in the end..). I got caught up on everything happening in Jackson and Heather knows more than she cares to about Livingston life. And of course we talked about our pups.

Total miles: 12.5

These cheery flowers welcomed us to the Pebble Creek trail.

Looking across scree and down the Lamar Valley.

Me: Pretend you are holding up that rock with your poles, it'll be funny.
Heather: No it won't, but you'll think it is, so I'll do it.
(It would have been if you could have seen her poles.)

These pink paintbrush kept stopping us in our tracks. And led to much discussion about why paintbrush show up in so many different colors. Is it their genes or their environment?

Another meadow chock full of wildflowers that a photo can't do justice to.

Are you feeling a little jealous, yet?

Geranium.

We headed into the shrubs here and eventually they were above our head. This is when we really started yelling "Hey Bear!" often.

White paintbrush to add to the pink, red and orange ones we saw.

Winter prep.

Monkey flower.

Fringed gentian

I can't find this in my flower book. Anyone know what it is?

Taking a break by Pebble Creek and cooling our feet and legs. We were a little sore from the previous day's downhill.

Almost to the trailhead at the Pebble Creek campground.

Meet the Double Rainbow guy here.

I can't get part 2 to embed, so go here to watch it.

We sure do like that Boiling River. Even when it's not so boiling.

Since my mom is working in Yellowstone this summer, we are even more motivated to visit the park than usual. On this particular Sunday mom met the boys and I at the Boiling River.

We walked in the half mile, got into our swimsuits, and as I prepared to leisurely soak my worries away in the hot springs and gaze across the river at the mountains, I was reminded that I had an almost-two-year-old and almost-three-and-a-half-year-old with me.

Anders started climbing the crumbling rocks and Finn was quick to follow. Mom tried to spot them and they threw rocks into the river. I finally got them into the (cool) pool and we had fun throwing rocks, splashing and playing. Then they were back to climbing.

Anders throws rocks into the Gardner River.

Finn gets a little help from grandma while walking over slippery rocks.

The Boiling River pours over algae covered travertine ledges into the Gardner River.

More rock throwing. It's what we do.

Pretty daisy.

Aww shucks!

Checking out the Boiling River at it's source.

After hiking back from the Boiling River, we drove up to Mammoth to get our National Park passports stamped and for mom to spoil the boys in the gift shop. Of course, we had ice cream at Mammoth before heading home.

We got back from Glacier just in time for Livingston's biggest celebration: the Livingston Roundup. It starts on July 2 and keeps on going until the last horse has bucked on the night of July 4. We kept going an extra day since July 5 was an official state holiday and I am an official state employee.

On July 2, we attended the parade. You may remember last year's fun. This is our 4th year in attendance and it is still just as much fun as the first time.

There is hooting and hollering; horses and mules, rodeo queens and clowns, politicians and freaks (make your own joke).

As usual, H took our chairs our to the parade route at 7 in the morning. It's the only way to get decent seats for the 3pm parade.

My mom came up from Yellowstone for the day to join in the festivities.

Anders is still not a fan of the sirens on the 5 million rescue vehicles that start the parade. This is his third parade and the first time he didn't cry.

These twin sisters were the parade marshals.

I'm a little jealous of her.

Finn makes a break for it. Is it because we made him wear those socks?

Trying to stay cool while enjoying the parade.

Notice that Finn is holding his shoes. He kept taking them off and throwing them into the street to express his frustration.

There they go again.

Kids waiting for the next candy throw. Anders and Finn collected quite a bit, but never noticed that it went missing. The chasing is so much more fun than the having.

Henry took photos too, which I am sure he will post soon along with his pictures from Glacier. I'll let you know when he does.

Brooke has some great photos at her blog. I especially enjoyed her "Over forty and feeling foxy jean short man" and am a bit disappointed that I somehow missed him.

Also, part of our Roundup fun:
Art walk and western photo (Oh, yes we did!)
4th of July Rodeo for H and I. Big and H and Mogie were so generous to come over and watch the boys for us.

And the ever popular sushi and s'mores.

I was working at a coffee shop Monday afternoon and chock full of writer's block when Mike, Kathy and Phoebe came in. I invited them over for a BBQ, of course, then rode home to tell H we better start preparing.

Then, I thought sushi would be even better. Am I wrong? No. H and I made sushi back when H had a beard and Anders got his hair cut too short.

We enjoyed a dinner that I am still drooling over. Naturally, we followed the sushi with marshmallow roasting and s'mores in the yard.

Men oblivious to kid chaos. Just for a second, though.

Not quite done.

Mike, Kathy and little Phoebe.

Finn is a fan.

S'mores are nothing to mess around with.

A lot of my greens bolted while we were in Glacier. These lovely yellow flowers belong to the pak choi. Luckily, I have a whole lot of frozen spinach, kale and pak choi in the freezer to get us through the winter.