Work continued on the house. We decided to have Bob complete the frame on the back deck and we will stain and put the top boards on ourselves! We also had Bob move the Washer/Dryer to another location in the basement....so much better as we now have room at the bottom of the stairs! The other big improvement was removing the wind monitor and extra satellite dish from the rooftop. That was a job for Danny & Jerry! Looks much better and eliminated a lot of noise when the wind blows.
3rd – Treated ourselves to dinner at Kimbers...been working hard this week!
4th – We all went to Denita & Steve's for dinner and fireworks!
6th – Doug & Fran's 12th Anniversary. We all brought food and had a wonderful bar-b-que at their place.
9th – Dixie & Fran went to Havre to shop for groceries and 'stuff'! They brought pizza home and we dined at our house!
12th – The siding and deck is complete. We painted the first coat on the deck railing and Dixie painted the house foundation. Lot's of painting for one day! Dad came over and we met Jack & Carla at Kimber's for dinner. Doug/Fran & Denita/Steve are all gone for the weekend.
13th – Put a second coat of paint on the deck. After church we went to Hogeland and prepared lunch at Denita's for Dad. On the way home we picked some 'rock' for our landscaping in front of the deck.
14th – Moved the motorhome to the driveway and tried out the 30amp plug that Bob put in for us. Stocked the motorhome for our trip to Great Falls and Clinton
16th – Drove the motorhome to Great Falls. Dad went with us. Dixie took Dad to two appointments – foot maintenance & a annual VA doctor visit. We went to Borries for dinner.
17th – Dixie & Dad had blood work done first thing in the morning. Doug flew his plane to Great Falls to pick up Dad. We all had breakfast at Perkins then we headed for our RV Rally at Bearmouth RV park between Drummond & Clinton. We made a stop at Lowe's in Helena for house stuff. The drive over McDonald pass was a bit trying. It is quite steep and we started to heat up a bit. It was slow going but it beat the road construction near Roger's Pass. We arrived at the rally around 3p. We had a nice gathering that evening and Bill & Gloria came from Missoula.
18th – we drove to the 39 miles to Missoula and did a little shopping and took Levi to lunch at Famous Daves. That evening was a potluck with the rally group.
19th – we drove the 15miles to Garnet Ghost Town. The road was bit rough but it was interesting. From there we drove to Phillipsburg. We walked around and stopped at their local brewery and tested on of their brews. Once back at camp we went with the group for dinner at Eckstrom's Stage Stop. We had a great meal and conversation!
20th – Made the 175 miles drive back to Great Falls. The trip over McDonald Pass was much better today – not as hot outside!
21st – we prepared for our visitors. Dixie found out she had a colon infection called 'C Dif' and started 10 days of antibiotics. Not sure what caused it but it has been going on for over 3 weeks.
22nd - Micheala, Tim, Adriana & Dillon arrived from North Bend, WA around 6pm. We put some burgers on the grill.
23rd - Dixie has her annual doctor visit. The kids did some shopping. Brandon, Kat, Bailey and Nic arrived around 530p. We had Italian Beef sandwiches and visited. Bailey & Nic went with us to overnight at the motorhome.
24th – Once the crew got ready we all went to Gibson Park and took our family picture. Kat had brought their camera and a tripod. From there we stopped at the visiting Vietnam Memorial. Then it was lunch at Montana Wheat Company. We were then off to the Malstrom Air Force Museum. That took awhile as all us non-military people had to have a background check. Next stop was the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and a walk from there to Giant Springs. By the time we got back home around 6p we were pretty tired. Luckily dinner was in the crock pot. After dinner we played a game of “Hillbilly Rummy”. A good time was had by all.
25th – Dixie had an appointment to see a upper extremity specialist for her elbow. Dad's car wouldn't start so Brandon, Tim & Mike tried to figure out the problem but didn't have any luck. Once all were ready to go we picked up some Subway sandwiches and packed our lunch and headed to Ryan Dam. We enjoyed the falls and lunch. We decided to stop at the hiking trail near the dam so a hike along the Missouri River. An the way back we made a wrong turn and ended up stopping at the river on lower river road. The kids and some parents decided to spend some time skipping rocks!!!! Our Steak Dinner was mostly prepared and cooked by Brandon...(thank you very much). It was delicious! Then it was time for another game of Hillbilly Rummy!
26th – It was time for the family reunion to break up. Every left around 10am. It was sad to see everyone leave but we had a wonderful memorable time together. It was a first really! We packed up the motorhome and put it in storage at Dicks RV until the next trip on Aug 7th. Danny & Lexi flew in late last night and stayed at a hotel. Dixie picked them up in the morning and they road to Turner with us. Denita & Steve came for a fair concert so we saw them for a short time before we headed back home. We picked up some sod and left a lot of our stuff for Denita & Steve to take back on Monday. Steve also couldn't figure our the problem with Dad's car. We got to Turner about 530p. We went to the dance for Tom Fairbanks's retirement however Lexi didn't want to stay so we went back and Danny stayed. They overnighted with us much to Lexi's disappointment. She planned on going to 'Shay's house'. It's the Wii machine not Shay!!!!
27th – We put our down. We stopped at the park for Bonnie & Donnie's 50th Anniversary party and then went to Hogeland and prepared dinner at Denita's.
28th - 31st – Monday & Wed we went to baseball. Tues we went to Denita's so a shrimp dinner. More work on the house. We painted the outside soffit and the inside door frames. Thurs Denita& I went to Havre for groceries & stuff. We also stopped in at the Timber Creek Assisted Living place for a tour. It is a very nice new facility and a perfect place for Dad – just not sure he is thinking he is ready for that yet! We brought some chicken back for dinner.
Jun 16-30 2104...Work was to begin on the house on the 16th however, it rained and some of the crew were in a car accident. Bob Graff, the contractor and 3 guys came out on the 18th and began pulling off the old siding. Wow, the house sure looks different when it is down to the bare wood – and all kinds of different wood it is! You can see the original house from 1933. Also found that looking into the attic that you can see the original roof line, complete with shingles. Work continued throughout June. The new windows were installed, the wrap was put on a house and then the new siding started going up. During this process Mike & I stained the wood for the front deck.
The 19th was the first day completely 'crutches free' for Dixie. It's slow moving but nice walking on 2 legs again!On the 26th we drove to Fort Benton for our FMCA meeting. We were unable to stay for the rally. We drove on to Great Falls and overnighted. On Friday we picked up Aunt Marge and headed for Turner. Aunt Shirley and Levi also came for the festivities. That afternoon we went to Hogeland to attend the school reunion. On the 27th and 28th we all attended the 100th Anniversary for the Hogeland American Lutheran Church. We enjoyed visiting with a lot of people, including previous Pastors. Dixie especially enjoyed talking to Pastor & LaMay Nybroten. LaMay was her 4th grade teacher! The church services & meals were wonderful.
On Sunday the 29th we all put together dinner and enjoyed it at Doug & Frans! It was a great weekend with family and friends.
The 30th Dixie took Marge back to Great Falls. We enjoyed brunch there and then Dixie went to a follow up doctor appointment for her knee. From there Marge was dropped off at the airport. Doug & Fran were also in Great Falls. We did some Home Depot shopping, had dinner at Boston's Pizza and overnighted at Dads.
