Family trip I want to remember = lots of pictures

Near the middle of October we headed to Montana for a long overdue visit to my sister's home. I am so happy that we were finally able to make the trip, she is one of my favorite people. We spent the first night with her in a more remote part of Montana at their family cabin. The area was beautiful, and so peaceful. The kids woke up early the next morning and went out into the forest to play. I love this type of forest. The lodge pole pines with little undergrowth make it very easy to find children. They had a blast with their cousins building a fort with left-over cabin building supplies. This is the stuff memories are made of, and they didn't want to leave.

This area of Montana is well known for their sapphire mines. I was able to sift through a bag from one of the mines and find a few while the kids played. Something that I didn't know: sapphires aren't blue when they are raw, they need to be heat treated before they turn blue. And it turns out that sapphires aren't always blue, they can be green, purple and even pink. It just seems wrong!

I found a beauty.

Then we headed into town and a lady at one of the shops analyzed my sapphires. It costs a lot of money to get them cut and heat treated, so I told her thank you, and decided that I may do it someday when I have money to spend on frivolous things. So in the meantime, I can say that I had fun searching for raw sapphires and found a few. I can check that off of my bucket list.

In town, there was an awesome old-fashioned candy shop that we couldn't pass up.

It was kind of funny that Hannah's cousin Hillary, told us that Hannah reminded her of Pippy Longstocking and she lent us the movie to watch before this trip. The whole time we were here, I kept thinking of the scene where Pippi goes into the candy shop asks for "38 pounds of all different sorts of sweets." (Hillary we still have your movie, and will get it back to you soon, thanks Hannah and Johnny loved it.) Sadly we came out with an amount of candy that could almost rival Pippi's. Yes, jewelry is frivolous, but candy is a necessity. And, no, I don't plan on re-thinking my priorities any time soon.

It was such a cute little mining town, and we loved walking through it.

These next pictures are of a museum that we visited on our trip, all of the animals are native to Montana, and are stuffed. Surprisingly it was an amazing experience, how often to you get to take a picture of a squirrel this close. Okay, maybe that is pretty common....

But how about this picture of a wolf, yeah, that's something you don't see every day. I hope to never be in a position where I have the opportunity to photograph this expression on a live wolf.

While we were there, John, had his first real hunting experience. My brother-in-law decided to take him coyote hunting. John has never been into guns or hunting so it was fun to see him decked out in camo, holding a gun. Though I was a little concerned about his safety and the safety of those around him.

I had a wonderful time visiting with my sister and I wish that we lived closer, she has a beautiful home, and she fed us like royalty. How did she become such an excellent cook? I had to include this last picture. Sometimes I wonder when I became so weird, but this was a fun craft project. I helped her decorate her house for Halloween, and this is what I came up with. A lovely wreath made out of dead plants from her yard. I can't wait until our next visit.