The Wyman's: 2012

We rolled out of Bozeman and headed straight to Fort Peck. The kids got to see more of Montana than they probably wanted to but they were great travelers. Kara probably begs to differ. She heard "Pout Pout Fish" about 40 times on the way to Canyon Ferry and had a similar, yet equally "fun" drive to Fort Peck. She's way to used to silence or listening to adult music on car trips! Trip highlight: Lunch in Jordan. I haven't been there in 17 years, Friday, October 13, 1995 to be exact. Luckily, this visit was not nearly as eventful.

Dax, Kya, and Ryker hitting the lake

There it is, the old scanoe. Glad she went to a good home and I was able to visit. We've got a lot of history.

Headed to Dinosaur Egg Island (Don't look it up on a map. It's made up. There was acually a lot more to the name, but I've forgotten it.)

Yep, quite the crew team right there.

I rowed back with the kids and Nikki swam. We were totally racing...at least the kids thought so. We smoked her! The kids were pumped.

Sandcastle time with Jeff and Jesse

Um, did you guys bring kids? No? Great, have mine, I'm going to have a beer.

Kya was detrimental to the castle moat. She kept over filling it until the side would break out. Too much Kya! Too much water!

Thanks for the play date guys.

Pontoon!

What's under this thing anyway?

6am bike ride so we didn't wake up all the other campers

Oh, look at this new fun thing I've discovered

Marina for ice cream

Yep, there it is, the plaque that everyone (okay maybe a handful of people) talks about. Second plate in the second column. Drum rollllll please..........Ty Zinda, biggest Northern. You may also have heard about it because apparently Bret is supposed to be on it too, but has been omitted for reasons that cannot be explained by said fish story tellers.

Waiting patiently

Coffee, ice cream, and hula hoops. Not much else there but Tshirts, bathrooms, and "The Plaque."

Cosmos and Opie

Ryker and Kya's favorite ride

Too hot to nap mama!

Our tents behind Jerry and Linda's cabin.

One night while putting Ryker and Kya to bed, we were reading Richard Scarry's What do People Do book. The book asks, What does your Daddy do? Ryker answers, "Fishes for yummy fish!" What does your Mommy do? Ryker: "She used to work in an office, but now she takes care of us and takes us on fun adventures!" Yep, that pretty much explains our summer. One fun adventure, especially through the eyes of two little kids. I was sure to remind him, as I always do when the subject comes up, that our fun adventures are fully funded by his father working. I don't want him to grow up thinking that playing all day is how life always is, especially when you're an adult. We're good at finding cheap and free things to do and entertaining ourselves, but most things cost something so you need an income. We talked about the gas we put in the pickup to get there, the gas for Ty's boat, the food, ect. They came up with: swimming suits, towels, tent, snacks, and bikes. Yep all that stuff costs money. Ryker reminded me that his bike was from the Easter Bunny though, so we didn't have to pay for that one. Oh yeah, scratch that one off our list. Our conversation was so long that Kya was sleeping by the time we got done reading the next couple pages. We're enjoying our time, but know this might not always be the case. We were lucky to have such a fun summer. We are lucky to get to spend so much time together now. We're lucky to live the lives we live. Very lucky.

View from our tent

The neighbor girl loved Cosmos and didn't seem to mind Ryker either.

Cosmos is definitely more charming though.

Pull me in Kya. This is taking forever.

Keep pulling Kya.....getting closer....

My friend Kara and her family joined us for a day. Thank you for making the drive with 3 kids! We had a blast!

Kya got this chicken sausage back at the cabin and wouldn't eat it, but wouldn't let go of it either. She packed it around, dipped it in the water, dropped it in the sand, ect, ect, ect until I finally tricked her into giving it up and fed it to Cosmos.

Loading up

Ice run

Here we gooooooo! Ryker, Kya, and I.

Kara Z., April, Ryker, Kya, and I

I'm guessing this is the most kids this boat has ever seen.

AJ, Kya, and April

"Hold on to your hat Grandma Patti!" It took her losing it one time into the water for Ryker to tell her almost every time the boat started to move. Then he would laugh hysterically.

This was after "Uncle Ty saved Cosmos' life" according to Ryker. We came back from the marina after getting ice. We'd been gone about a half hour, maybe longer. All of a sudden Ty slows the boat down and pulls up alongside Cosmos who'd been out swimming for quite some time. He was just b-boppin around in the middle of the huge lake. We think he started out following us. Anyway, Ty jumped off the boat and hoisted his big hairy butt up the ladder onto the swim deck. I was on the tube and told Ty that I'd just swim back to shore with him and he'd follow me because I didn't think Ty would be able to get him up the ladder. Ty insisted that he was too tired to swim back and Ryker agreed. Ryker was very concerned about the old dog because he "gets tired and is old." Funny thing is, Cosmos can swim forever. He is very buoyant! He followed Kara and I in the scanoe that morning and he was like a puppy out there. Okay, maybe an 8 year old dog. Anyway, he gets sore from even a little running anymore, but he can still swim for quite a while. Anyway, Cosmos was delighted to be aboard and we figured if he wanted to come that bad, we'd take him on the rest of the trip and not back to camp. He was tired enough that he laid down in the front. Mom fed him peanut butter pretzels. You know, because he was probably hungry after all that swimming. Quick, give him that sausage Kya still had the death grip on! So that's the story of Uncle Ty's heroic efforts to save Cosmos' life as far as Ryker and Kya are concerned.

She knows I want her to get rid of it. Now she's just taunting me. See her there, holding it up for the camera? Ugh.

There it is in her right hand.

It was somewhere after this that I took it and threw it to the dog. She kept crawling in the water and it was covered in sand. What a little goof. I think at this point she was only holding on to it because we were all trying to get it from her. Real funny joke Kya. Carry a sausage around for 2 hours....ya goof!

We unloaded at a sweet beach called Camp Crazy. Probably not on the map either...I'm guessing that's just what Ty calls it.

Conn making himself at home with someone else's sand toys.

Nice levy man.

Huddle up kids. Here's the plan....

Ready? Break!

Don't tell me you didn't get tagged. The hand print is on the butt!

"Let me down!"

Conn teaching Ryker how to crawl

Leaving our beach stop. Back out for some more tubing. Both McCabe girls on the tube this time. Kara was sure that Autumn wouldn't want to go because she'd be too scared. Don't put your fear of water on these two Kara! They were ready to get after it! Nikki and I kept asking them if they were okay and having fun because sometimes by the looks on their faces and the death grips on the tube it was hard to tell. When we finally stopped Autumn had tears running down her face. I asked her why she was crying and if she wanted to get off and she replied, "No, I'm just so happy" in the cutest little voice. Thank goodness because I was a little worried she was scared and I hadn't noticed.

The boat had a little breakdown. Probably at the best time possible though. The 4 most likely to ask Ty annoying questions while he was trouble shooting were out on the tube. Six less bodies on the boat helped too. Yes, they had a lot of questions, but Nikki and I weren't looking at an engine so we had all day to answer. Plus, we sang some songs and discussed our plans to tow our tube to shore abandoning our captain had he not got it fired up again. He got it going and we headed back to the dock, giving captain Ty even more super hero status. He can fix boats you know. I had just gotten done telling the girls that their Mom was getting on the tube next too. They were all for it. You lucked out this time O'C. Maybe next year. Or better yet, maybe another snorkling trip in Mexico....I'll bring your fun noodle.

What's going on Ty???? Why are we stopping Ty? Why are you getting under that seat Ty? What if the boat doesn't start Ty? Are we out of gas Ty? Why, Why Why Ty!?!

Headed to the water for a drink.

Just a friendly visit I guess, but there was some speculating when he was heading down the hill. There were a lot of people on the hill when Cosmos was out in the middle of the lake before we picked him up so maybe they called it in.

Too much fun! Kya was already asleep in the tent. Long days make for early nights for them and relaxing evenings for me. Win, win, win! If I could only figure out a way to avoid getting up at the crack of dawn, I'd be set.