I just like this picture, one of many we took while visiting Nipomo
this weekend. We enjoyed an overnight stay at a development that
invites potential buyers to experience the neighborhood. The Taste of
Trilogy, a great idea. Made it hard to leave.
Kaden really enjoyed walking up and down these concrete dividers that
were like benches for watching tennis, kids in the park or the
playground.
Tarah set this all up and we had a great time.
CIMG0044
Kaden and I enjoyed a special treat this afternoon in Ventura. Just a
little SoCal livin’ with our little man.
CIMG0011
well maybe the petting zoo.
I’m not sure who had a better time at the Ventura County Fair yesterday. I sure enjoyed taking Kaden through the petting zoo to see all the cool animals and truth be told, I had never seen a kangaroo in person until yesterday. My favorites, and I’m going to assume they were Kaden’s too, were the baby deer, the donkey, the kangaroo and the pig. They had goats, chickens, ducks and a llama, but the kangaroo stole the show, everyone wanted to pet it.
For the record, I didn’t let Kaden bite the donkey’s ear. I’m sure that was a rule on the rule board and I didn’t want us to get kicked out when he was only 10 mos old.
Celebrating our return to paradise with an evening @ Padaro Beach Grill. What a nice vacation we had. Very rejuvenating. Work tomorrow!
– Sent from my Palm Pre
I’m going to just combine these three days and wrap these blogs up, I’ve been working on this for 3 hours striaght. Its much easier to do this as things happen. I should have kept the commitment through the vacation. . . next year.
Day 5 began with Dani and Mike leaving for their golf trip and catch their plane in SpoCompton. Tarah and I got up and went and grabbed coffee. We also started a morning fire down by the lake, as the morning was pretty cool. Guy invited us to take a ride in their jeep up to the lookout, which was a lot of fun. It was cool to see where the Jocko Lake fires were. Remember the “Seeley Burnin’” post on the Cousins’ Blog (which needs more posts!).
On day 6 basically everyone was gone except for Uncle Mike, Ry and Dad. This was the same day that Mr. Bob Buhl came to town to be dad’s golf partner for the rest of the week. Thanks to my awesome wife Tarah, I had a chance to golf with the two of them that afternoon.
Day 7 we cleaned the trailer and thanks to Uncle Guy and Auntie Robin, we cruised back into Missoula with the top down in their jeep. I’ve always wanted a jeep and I sure enjoyed the drive into town and around town. Kaden rode with Grandma home, but once we got into town, we threw his car seat into the jeep and cruised downtown Missoula. I really appreciate Missoula, its got a lot to offer and enjoyed walking around despite how hot it was. We saw people surfin’ a wave in the river, people getting ready for Music in the Park and a cool brewery just off the beaten path. We also had a chance to finally visit Grandma (Great Grandma to Kaden). It was good to see her and reminded me how much I missed having her up at the lake all week. I really look forward to next year and her joining us up there. Get well Grandma, we missed you and love you and have been praying for your recovery. You can do it!
Here’s some shots of us around town in Missoula:
That night we had pizza at Grandma and Papa’s and enjoyed hanging out with Riley at the MacKenzie River Pizza Co. waiting for our takeout. Great Pizza and service. Before we grabbed that pizza though, we took some pics of Kaden in Papa’s 49er. He loved it:
And finally, a cool picture of brothers and sisters reunited under less than ideal circumstances, but together nonetheless:
Unfortunately, I did not take many pics on Day 4, so we’ll combine these posts. Fortunately, Dani took a lot of pics of our time on the river. I believe Tarah was surprised about how much fun she had on the river, rafting down the Blackfoot. I know I was. I had thought we’d only want to go half way, but once we hit the halfway point, we were having so much fun floating down the river with everyone, we passed the car that had been parked for us to take back to Seeley. Grandma and Aunt Karen took care of our little man while we were gone.
Thank you mom and Karen!
Before we went hit the river we walked over to the the farmers market which I had never been to either. A lot of firsts for me on this trip. Guy and Robin joined us “kids” and we checked out what Seeley had to offer. Interestingly enough, there was a flower grower there (yeah, yeah, yeah, always workin’), which 
surprised me considering the climate and that he field raised his lilies. It was interesting.
Dad was bent on renting a big raft and taking us down the river and we did. I’m glad he took the lead on this and made it happen, because it was a definite highlight of our vacation. Thanks Dad!
A few memories of note:
1. Mike losing his sunglasses. Sad. However, he was trying to keep Ry from spraying him with the gun and any of us would have done the same. We walked the river for a bit trying to see if we could see them floating down at the bottom. . . nope.
2. Flipping our raft in the rapids. Tarah was tired of taking the brunt of the splashes through the river, so I decided to go ahead and float sideways through one. Big, but funny, mistake. The boat flipped over and Tarah and I, along with all of our stuff spilled out. Tarah lost a pair of shorts, but thanks to Mike’s experience, the first thing I grabbed was my sunglasses and hat! Thanks Mike! Uncle Mike caught our boat and slowly we regrouped onshore. We didn’t do that again.
On day 4, we got up early and played golf with Dani and Mike one last time before they left the next morning. The course was really wet and Tarah and I were not playing well, so we opted for 9 and went and
had breakfast. The afternoon was pretty mellow, with most spending time down at the lake.
One thing I haven’t mentioned was that each night one of the “families” were responsible for dinner. Nick and Jenn had the first night and made fajitas, Tarah and I had the second night and made salmon, Mom and Dad made spaghetti and Mike and Dani made tacos. That was pretty nice too and fun. Mike and Dani made dinner on the fouth night, the night before they left. . . to go golf the Coeur d’Alene Golf Course. . .rough.
This day started with a hike up to Merrill Falls. I had never hiked to the falls before, which made this a great venture with the hiking gurus, Mike and Dani. Granted this hike was like walking through the mall for them, but it was a very fun little hike to do with Kaden.
Kaden fell asleep in his pack, the pack that Uncle Nick and Aunt Jenn gave us for times like these. The pack is definitely one of the best gifts we received before Kaden was born and we sure enjoy our time using it.
After Kaden got up from his nap, it was onto the boat and for a little swim on the north end of the lake. Lots of fun with everyone, especially jumping off Guy and Robins boat. Little Kaden wasn’t too into his little life jacket though and just wanted to hang with mom 
, which means mom couldn’t jump into the lake.
That night’s fireside chat included a fun lightning show and thanks to Mike, I learned how to capture a few of the lightning strikes with our camera. Pretty cool, so cool that I even had one of my pictures published in Missoula’s local online news source: New West Missoula. Check it out: http://www.newwest.net/city/article/storm_drenches_western_montana_but_lightning_brings_a_few_new_fires/C8/L8/#comments
Kaden’s third plane ride proved to be a bit of a challenge. We had to get up at 4.30 a.m. to catch our 6 a.m.
Kaden did not want to be on this plane
flight and I certainly appreciated Bob’s effort to get us there. His willingness to push his dodge caravan to the 80 mph mark may have made the difference on making or missing our flight. Thanks Bob!
Kaden didn’t care too much for his flight between Salt Lake and Missoula. We were one of those parents. He just had a fit and did not want to be on that plane.
Mom and Karen picked us up at the airport and shuttled us up to the lake where Dani, Mike, Nick, Jenn and Dad were waiting to play golf. We had an itinerary of events that we had scheduled and golf was at 3.06 p.m. and we were running late!
We made it and had a great time unwinding from a stressful travel day smackin’ the ball around the course. It was fun to see everyone together and it was great to see Dani and Mike out there. Mike hadn’t met Kaden yet and it was sure fun to see them together. . . Uncle Mike.
By the way, Mike can golf.
Enjoying a moment while Kaden hangs with Grandma
Yes. You are right. I did not write one post on my computer while I was at Seeley Lake, compared to my one-post-a-day commitment I made at Black Butte. Why? Well lets just say Seeley was a different experience. Mom had sent me a text prior to our leaving Black Butte, saying (and I’m paraphrasing), “you going to BlackButte first is like us going to the all-inclusive resort and then staying at the tentalapas.” I have to say, there was some truth to that.
Staying in the 5th wheel was tight quarters and certainly not condusive to the life of a 10 mos old. Where Black Butte didn’t have any grass outside for the kids to hangout on, Seeley had the grass, but also had the glass.
We missed the cabin.
That said, we still had a great time and the McGees helped make the time as comfortable as possible with our little man. Thank you McGees!
We also missed my Grandma and Papa. It just wasn’t the same up at the lake without them and I wonder what the time would have been like with them there with all of us. Next year.
Enough. The next few posts are my effort to reinact the blogs I would have posted daily. Enjoy!
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