Summer Travels 2015 - Part 4 - The Farm (aka: Montana)

August 21 - 29

It is our annual summer tradition to go to the Scoffield farm in Townsend, Montana at the end of August.

My kids know this is how it works and they look forward to it every year.  Why the end of August?  Because the corn is on and they LOVE to pick and eat fresh corn every day.

This year was no different and we drove to MT for a week on the farm.  What WAS different this year (and so so so fun) was that Laurie, James' youngest sister, and her kids were already at the farm for their vacation and we got to spend the first few days of our trip with them. 

Kiely, Laurie, Landon, Madison

We haven't seen them in a few years and my girls always love playing with cousins.  I loved having two dedicated babysitters that kept my girls occupied from sun up to sun down.  

 

For the first few days of our trip I literally didn't see Elin unless it was meal time.  She and Kiely were besties on this trip and did everything together.  They even had to sleep together the last few nights before Kiely left.

They built a super cool fort and spent a lot of time building and playing in their fort. It had a refrigerator (red cooler they filled with ice and popsicles), a trash can, a walkway, blankets and pillows.  I wasn't really allowed in the fort but I hear they did a lot of dancing, coloring and singing.

The other thing that occupied a lot of time at the farm was playing with and caring for Snowlake.

Elin has ridden Snowflake in the past when we have been in Montana, but Anikka has never been brave enough until this year.  After she got over her initial nervousness, she had a great time riding on Snowflake and even got brave enough to lead him while Elin was riding.

Elin liked to lead Snowflake around too...sometimes he was not as cooperative as others.

 We also did other fun things:

-We went to the river one night to fish, have a fire and roast s'mores

- We rode motorcycles, four wheelers and combines.

- We celebrated James' birthday with a steak dinner and peach pie and Landon's birthday with paella and an ice cream cake.

-We went to the Pink Flamingo for lunch.

When the Baker's had to leave to go back home, I had some very sad little girls.  But we had such a fun time with them.

 The day after the Baker's left, we took a little drive up into the mountains.

When we got home there was a black bear in the yard which caused some excitement for the rest of the night. In fact, the bear in the yard is what my girls tell people about when they talk about their trip to Montana.   While trying to scare the bear away it went up into a tree.  Anikka asked me "when it comes back down, can I pet it?"   Um yeah....probably not.

My girls also had their first ever sleep over.  GG and Papa kept the girls overnight so James and I could have a "date" and spend the night at Chico Hot Springs.   It was the first time since Elin was born (yes, that is FIVE years ago) that we have left them overnight.  They didn't seem to care at all that we were gone and had the time of their lives with GG and Papa.  In fact, when we got back Anikka asked me if we were going on another date.  I thought she was worried we were leaving her again and said "no, we are staying here the rest of the trip".  To which she said "well, you can stay here tonight but then you and Dad need to go away again so I can stay with GG".

We had just as fun of a time at Chico Hot Springs.  We relaxed in the hot springs, had an amazing dinner in their dining room, and had a REAL night of sleep with no kids.  

On our way back to Townsend, we saw another black bear.

As always, we had a great time at the farm.  The girls love being outside and doing all kids of farm things.  At the end of our trip Elin said "I think I'm a country girl now".   Yes she is, for at least one week every summer.

Maija