2026, July 20-26

Another week where some of us are away from home while others hold the fort. Landon and Jocie made their way back to Utah, Mike and Eliza went down to Simi to help out Papa O. and Alie, and Hallie and the pets welcomed Amanda and Frankie for a few days. 

We really enjoyed having Landon and Jocie come up and were sad that they had to return to life back in Utah, but so it goes. Bye, Kai! Until next time! 

We are now fully and officially Montana residents, down to our car. For those who don't know, Moatana's Motor Vehicles Division has an incredibly wide variety of themed license plate for drivers to choose from. We chose this one from the Montana Food Bank Network because of the cool bear.  

Post Malone and Jelly Roll came to Washington-Grizzly Stadium for a concert on Tuesday. Prior to their arrival, a whole crew with several trucks came to town, taking up lots of parking space and snarling traffic patterns. As Mike and Hallie took Kai for a walk, they took pictures. Hallie would have loved to have gone, but those ticket prices were way too spendy.

Mike caught sight of the bucks as he was throwing cardboard boxes away. They're not quite as skittish as the fawns. 

On Tuesday, he and Eliza flew out from Missoula to LA to spend a couple of weeks in Simi helping out Papa and Alie. As they waited for the plane, Eliza and Dad did some drawing. Mike thinks the bee he drew didn't turn out too badly. Eliza also made woven bracelets as she waited. 

Off we go into the wild blue yonder!  

6th Street traffic was pretty miserable on concert day. There was a lady sitting checking every car that went to the end of the street. Once Hallie got to Starbucks, she didn't leave the neighborhood by car the rest of the day.

Dad and E patiently waited for the Van Nuys FlyAway bus before getting picked up by Mike's sister Emily and going to Mercado Buenos Aires in the Valley. Words fail to express how yummy the alfajores, facturas, and empanadas tasted! There's just nothing like the real deal from people who know what they're doing. 

Of course, the trip to California was more of a work trip than a vacation, and work started as soon as we got into town with loading items from Amber's garage into Papa's truck for Emily to take up to her new house. 

Meanwhile, now it was just Hallie and the pets at home. She saw the fauns on her and Kai's afternoon walk. 

Mike went nonstop on Wednesday, starting with a morning walk to clear his head before launching into cleaning and organizing. 

He rounded a corner and encountered this little guy, who gave him a start before he realized it wasn't real. 

He and Eliza took a break to get some Tommy's. Hallie was jealous from a far.

They packed a box truck with more items to take up to Emily's and then drove up to Palmdale, unloaded the truck, visited with the cousins, and headed back to Simi. 

Among the items were old videos and a few of Alison’s Authors’ Faire books from her Vista school days. 

Hallie and the UM Starbucks staff had their daily visit, and Kai even got a pup cup. 

Hallie ran a few errands before Amanda showed up. She saw these fun banners at Target for the UM students. 

Hallie made sure that Ferg said hi to Mike. He seems fully recovered from his injuries. 

Amanda showed up late in the evening. The girls stayed up quite late chatting. Hallie and Amanda found some fun Disney-themed merchandise. They are going to WDW at the end of October, and this bubble wand will be going with them on their trip. Who said adults can't have bubble wands?

They celebrated Pioneer Day with (pizza) pie and (root) beer (of course!) at a local restaurant, MacKenzie River Pizza, Grill & Pub.

Mike and Eliza got Dutch apple pie and root beer to share in Simi. 

The ladies in Missoula also did a painting project on sneakers. They needed saddle shoes, so why not DIY them?

Hallie had gotten a blind box, and inside she found a rare Nightmare Before Christmas snow globe. The first Halloween decoration is out on a shelf.

Mike found sunflowers on his Saturday morning walk. 

Hallie and Amanda spent their Saturday morning up in Polson at the Flathead Cherry Festival. Check out the size of this chicken sandwich! 

They took the puppies, who seemed to enjoy themselves. 

And the ladies enjoyed local fresh cherries. They may not last until Mike and Eliza get back. Hallie said, "Probably not."

Hallie got other goodies, including Huckleberry Banana bread and a map to log our travels as we embark on new road trips. 

Mike and Eliza went over to Carly and Shad's on Saturday afternoon so the girls could visit and play in the pool. 

Mike and Carly supervised Shad as he worked on a home improvement project. 

Sunday morning Amanda and Frankie had to return to Utah, but not before breakfast at the River City Grill near Bonner. Check out this massive cinnamon roll.  

Safe travels! 

Mike keeps whittling away at whatever his dad lets him take on. It's a pretty monumental task. 

Eliza has been a great help, and both are taking breaks as they can. Eliza went on a walk down to the Arroyo Simi and caught a view of this egret. 

Later in the day, we went out to visit Emily and the kids another time. Aren't these two just the cutest?

Ferg chose to sit with Hallie even without a blanket on her lap. 

Wildfire season has followed the heat in Montana. Here's the view of the sun in the west at the end of a hazy Sunday. 

2026, July 13-19

We have just hit the Dog Days, but our dog has been feeling the heat for a while. Landon and Jocie came up for a visit, various deer let us fairly close, Eliza took to the trails, and we finished watching a wild World Cup. 

Now that Eliza has her e-bike, she has been going out a couple of times a day. On Monday while Mike was at lunch, she called and got to come join him and his coworker John. Mike made sure Hallie knew the girl was safe and fed. 

The heat really has been quite excessive this week. Poor puppy went out to play catch and spent the rest of the afternoon recovering. 

When she isn't riding or watching police dash cam videos on YouTube, Eliza has spent a fair amount of time playing video games. She and Landon have stayed in touch that way. 

Eliza also got a trail ride in this week. The riders got close to a moose cow up Pattee Canyon. 

Mike enhanced the little bee character he drew a while back. Eliza thinks we should name him Haaland (after the blonde Norwegian footballer). Landon and Jocie suggested Bumblefight. Hallie doesn't have a name for the bee. If you have any ideas, pass them along. 

Ferg continues mending, and he's now able to walk on all four limbs. Hallie caught this shot of him with his favorite human. 

Kai just loves to play. Hallie is taking at least one picture a day of him while we still have him. As of Sunday it is 24 days until Kai returns to Utah for good.     

We caught sight of deer from the local herd several early evenings this week once the shade started. We saw four does all in a row one day. 

Argentina played a hard-fought semifinal game against England to make it to the final. Mike got out his flag and good vibes. 

Eliza got herself a treat from Dairy Queen on her rounds about town. 

She and Mike are going to California next week. Ferg decided he might want to come along. 

Another "play with me!" pic from Kai. 

Along with the four does, we saw a pair of fawns later in the week. 

And then we saw three young bucks on another day. Someone online said that the deer get hot just like people do. 

Argentina has had a habit of late come-from-behind victories. We joked with Miguel and Priscilla that he had at least three heart attacks over the last week or so. 

Another Kai pic. Sleeping Beauty. 

Happy to be here. 

Landon and Jocie arrived on Thursday night. We got some Asian fusion from a local food truck, and Eliza decided to act a little goofy. 

On Friday, Hallie and the kids joined Mike and John at the Lodge. 

Hallie found the fawns with their mama on a walk later in the day. 

One of Mike's heraldry friends sent him a 3D-printed rendition of his arms all the way from Michigan! 

The girls ran a few errands over the weekend. They kept Jocie's parents up to date on their goings-on. 

Hello again, little fawns! 

On Saturday morning before the heat got too much, we walked over to the farmers market at Caras Park. Mike got his sweetheart some blooms.

Eliza took to the road, this time riding up Pattee Canyon all by herself. Unfortunately, on Sunday her battery died while she was on the trail, and Mom and Jocie had to come to her rescue. 

But that was Sunday. On Saturday, the kids went floating down the Clark Fork. They got caught in a little thunderstorm that cooled things down for a little bit. They chose to take cover under a bridge overpass for a bit until the rain let up.

Guess what? More deer! This time we saw them in the alley a couple of houses down while enjoying the cool breeze in our backyard. 

Kai (who was unleashed) thought he needed to take a closer look. 

Jocie caught a shot seconds before the dog sent the deer scampering. Silly puppy. 

Argentina faced Spain in the World Cup final. Unfortunately for Argentina, Spain played an excellent game and won in extra time. 

Hallie looks like she's ready for a month's worth of soccer games to be done. Mike held out the vain hope that Argentina would wake up and not bank on last minute hijinks, to no avail. 

Sad to see the GOAT not get another Cup, but the better team of the day won. Congratulations, Spain! Well played. 

While Mike finished watching soccer, Hallie took the kids shopping. Landon hates shopping, but he was the one who needed some shoes and clothes. So we went to Famous Footwear, TJ Maxx, and Kohls and then grabbed pizza at Front Street Pizzeria on the way home. Hallie said she is leaning towards Front Street being her pizza joint of choice from the ones they have tried so far. Mike thinks he agrees.