our summer as vagabonds

We had probably the most unique summer of my life so far. We had a great (long) trip driving from Michigan to Montana, the highlight of which was stopping at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead in DeSmet, South Dakota. 

 If you are ever going to be traveling remotely near DeSmet and you maybe like the books even slightly, I highly recommend stopping at the homestead. It costs $12 per person to get in, and it is worth every single penny. Everything is hands-on for the kids, and you learn a lot about pioneer life.

 We got to ride in a covered wagon.

 go to prairie school, 

 ride in a little pony cart, 

make our own scratchy rope,

 see antique farm equipment,

 and a newborn calf,

  and play with kittens in the sod-roof barn.

 My great-grandpa Chate had a wagon like this that I rode in as a tiny girl, and it was fun to see the boys in one too. They did not like the idea of traveling across the country with all their belongings in one of these. 

 The boys imagined eating dinner in a claim shanty

 and did some laundry outside of Ma and Pa Ingalls' house. 

This was probably the coolest part for me (not the laundry)--this is a replica of the house that started as a claim shanty and was added onto twice by Charles Ingalls when the family finally settled in Dakota Territory--and it was built on the EXACT spot as the original house! It was so cool to be inside and think of Laura, Ma and Carrie doing chores, Mary snuggling Grace and playing the organ. I definitely got a little misty-eyed. 

The next day, we stopped in Wall, South Dakota. There are Barbashave-type signs for at least 50 miles approaching Wall, advertising the drug store and their famous free water. We decided we had better stop and see what the excitement was all about. It was a typical tourist-trap, complete with souvenir t-shirts, harmonicas, socks, shot glasses, music boxes, and taxidermy. (Jed discovered a jackalope and was instantly convinced they are a real creature. He spent most of the remainder of the trip staring out the window, convinced he would be able to see one if he just looked hard enough.) The drug store is also a working pharmacy, clothes and jewelry store, museum, and restaurant. We took some time to take it all in and have lunch. Dave had a hamburger and the boys had hot dogs, but I had a hot roast beef sandwich that is the stuff dreams are made of, seriously. SO GOOD.  

 Jed is mad in this picture because he was messing with some sort of breakable dust-catching decoration and Dave got after him.  

 Outside in the courtyard of the drug store, they have a little splash park (which we did not play in, much to the disappointment of the boys) and these fun animal statues. 

 the boys thought riding the jackalope was the best thing ever. 

 After two days more hard driving, we finally made it to Butte. We had a lot to do right away when we arrived, so we stayed in a hotel our first night. It had the coldest pool I have ever stepped foot in, but the boys swam anyway. And they loved riding the luggage cart.

 Since we didn't have a rental lined up, the USFS allowed us to stay in one of their 5th wheels for a few weeks at the Sheepshead Recreation Area north of Butte. It was beautiful there! We saw moose, deer, herons, beavers, eagles, ducks of all sort, bluebirds, woodpeckers, tons of ground squirrels and plenty of cows. We enjoyed having campfires often and throwing rocks in the lake. Living in a 5th wheel wasn't my favorite thing, especially when the camp host got drunk and beat his girlfriend and she came and hid in our trailer in the middle of the night and we had to call the sheriff. After that the camp host was fired, so we borrowed a different trailer from a sweet man in our new ward and we became the camp hosts for the rest of the summer (the FS had to take the trailer we had been living in and give it to a work crew). It was a huge blessing because we didn't have to pay rent all summer, but it was hard because we had a 20 minute drive to town to look for housing and do laundry and use the internet. And we weren't camping--when you're camping you have the luxury of going home. That trailer (all 20 feet of it) WAS our home. It was lovely and hard all at once. Still, we managed to have fun.

 The boys took a few baths in plastic tubs.

 This is the 2nd trailer we lived in. It was cozy!

 I think this is a summer the boys will remember all their lives. They had a lot of fun poking sticks into ground squirrel holes, splashing in the lake, pretending to be scared, laying on the hammock, cooking hot dogs over the camp fire, and just getting dirty. Perfect summer for two fun brothers. 

 This was probably the messiest day. I had kicked the boys out of the trailer so I could make lunch, and they took all of Hank's cars and put them in the fire pit and poured water in the fire pit so the cars could be "mud monsters." And then they became mud monsters themselves. I was so glad they had fun but that was the day of the ward Pioneer Day picnic and I was trying to get ready to leave for town. Life is never dull with these boys!

 Dave gave them a tiny ride on the work four wheeler one day and they LOVED it.

When we would come in to town, it was an all-day affair. Usually we would meet with our realtor and see a house or two, break for lunch at the park, and then either see another house, go to the store for groceries, or go to McDonalds for free WiFi. The boys were amazingly patient and usually really well-behaved all summer long. They put up with me feeding them hot dogs for dinner several nights in a row, slept on a make-shift bed all summer without complaining, helped me do laundry in a bucket, and still were happy and helpful and mostly obedient.

 Here is the inside of our trailer: above, the boys' bed/couch,

 the bathroom (behind where I was standing is the shower)

 our bed,

and the kitchen. The pictures aren't very good at showing scale because everything was so tight that it was hard to get a good picture. 

I'm so grateful to have had this tiny space to spend the summer. It isn't something I would want to do again (am I whining? sorry) but it was a huge blessing. We were able to borrow it for free and save money all summer, and then when it started getting cold enough that the water froze in the mornings, we were able to find a rental immediately, for the right price. This summer has reinforced for me in so many ways that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers, even if the answer isn't always what we want, and He strengthens us and buoys us up to help us get through whatever challenges we face. I'm really grateful for our vagabond summer! 

farewell Oscoda

Well, as I mentioned when I last posted, we have moved from Oscoda to Butte. We moved back in June but I want to try to go back and catch things up a little bit, so bear with me. It was a whirlwind at the time! We kicked June off by having a big yard sale. I have had a yard sale every year since we moved in, and I was appalled at the amount of stuff we still had to get rid of! Granted, not knowing where we would be living made it a lot easier to get rid of stuff :)

 During the yard sale, Jed was going into the house to get something for me, and he came back and said "mom, I think there are skunks under the porch!" Sure enough, there were three baby skunks snuffling around under our porch.

so adorable!

 It couldn't have been worse timing. Dave was already being a huge trooper by handling the yard sale while I went out of town with my girlfriends for a weekend in Detroit, to go to the Dixie Chicks concert, and on top of dealing with the boys and the yard sale all by himself, he had to deal with these skunk babies. He handled it like a champ, as always. He found a lady who takes in orphaned skunk babies, made a ton of money at the yard sale, and had the house spotless when I came home Sunday night.

The following Friday, Jed and his friend Elizabeth were playing outside and came in to notify me that they found MORE skunks! Apparently we hadn't gotten them all the first time around. Oh, Dave and I were sorely tempted to keep one and raise it for a pet. But, state law in Montana is more strict than Michigan regarding pet skunks, plus I didn't think any hotels would take kindly to a pet skunk on our move, not to mention landlords. And, when we are permanently settled I want to have chickens, and chickens and skunks (even domesticated) don't mix. So, we gave the cute rascals to the same rehabber and they are currently flourishing with their siblings. 

 Jed had his last day of school the middle of June. He was such a cute little end-of-first grader!

nothing like candid photos to keep life real!

Jed with his teacher, Mrs Revord,

and with his best friends, Alex and Elizabeth. The kids were so happy when school was over!

We spent the few days between the end of school and the arrival of the movers by enjoying our backyard, 

 and having a last hurrah at the beach. It was a perfect day to say farewell to one of our very favorite spots, even if in the back of my head I knew the movers were boxing and loading all of our stuff onto a truck. It was so nice to be able to hang out with our friends and get away from that mess for a little while. 

My girlfriends threw me a good-bye party a little earlier in June and it was so nice to just hang out with my mommy friends, enjoy good food and yummy drinks, and a bonfire. I will miss all my Oscoda friends, but especially Jen and Laura. (Enduring the summer without them has been so hard!)

 Saturday the 18th we went back to our empty house (we had spent the night in the honeymoon suite of a local hotel--all four of us!) to clean and say goodbye. Jed and Hank walked through the empty house and bounced their bouncy balls they had saved out, and then they went to Laura's so we could clean quickly and get on the road. We had so much help from our branch family and we got things sparkling very quickly.

last lunch with friends, while watching some tv

Laura fed us lunch, prayed with us, gave us the clean laundry she had washed (seriously, she was a lifesaver) and got us on the road safely after we got done cleaning. It was so awful to not be able to drive for the tears in my eyes, but at the same time I was so grateful to have been loved so well during our four years in Michigan. I hate saying goodbye, but I wouldn't change a thing, because heartache means you have had joy and fond memories. Thank you again to everyone who got us on the road!