What I have been up to

I have been playing a lot of tennis lately.  We had City tennis tournament where I signed up for three different events and the weekend after that we had our women's 4.5 team competition in Missoula.  I am sure all of us had tons of fun, with nice dosage of tennis combined with great food and drinks.  Here are some pictures documenting the last two weekend.

The Naked Walls

We have lived in our condo for almost four years now, and even though we have a lot of furniture and many other things to fill in the empty spaces, we still do not have much stuff up on the walls.  Several months ago I was scouting interwebs for some creative ideas, maybe something I could even afford to buy.  That's when I came across this painting.  Of course I did not want to spend almost $200 for it, so with a little bit of creative problem-solving, I decided to paint it.

... and so far so good

Friends & Fridays

Second Art Walk of the summer was a great way to spend a Friday evening.  It is nice to walk around downtown Bozeman, go into different shops, enjoy free glass of wine, run into people you have not seen for a while.  

This outing was following by a cozy bonfire, hot dogs, and smores at Brian and Anna's house.  

Heading Home

Tuesday morning we headed back to Bozeman.  First, we did stop at our favorite coffee shop.  They are two minutes walking distance from the house and we visited them almost every day while we were there.  Cowgirl Coffee makes delicious drinks and we had to replenish our caffeine supplies. 

Bella was completely exhausted  and slept for 7 hours straight.

American Pie

One of the only times, except for Christmas, when I feel like baking.  Here is the evidence: 

The 4th

Whitefish puts on quite a show.  The fireworks were amazing.  I could live without the loud noise that some of the fireworks make, but I guess that is part of the ear deafening appeal.  

When it got dark, we headed over to the city beach.  The place was completely packed with people, some of them had spend all day at the beach, waiting for the show.  Andy and I decided not to leave Bella in the car by herself (we were convinced that she would get scared and bad things would happen).  I am not sure it was a better idea to take her with us.  

The fireworks lasted ten or fifteen minutes and after they were over, massive crowds of people tried to make their way out.  I am glad we decided to walk over, because I am sure it took close to an hour for people to be able to drive home.

Backyardigans

Lots more pictures from our trip to Whitefish.  It was so much fun to see everyone.  Avi and all the other kids spend most of their time hanging out in the pirate ship, the "Black Pearl", that was build by grandpa Rod.  

Every day spend there was hotter than the one before.  I successfully managed not to get a sub burn even though we did a lot of walking in the middle of the day.  My favorite part of the whole trip was the fact that I could actually call it a vacation.  Being away from Bozeman for more than two or three days feels good sometimes.

    Playing Bachi Ball

    I decided to participate in the 4th of July tradition of blowing things up.

    This was Matt's handy work.  He blew up grandpa's bucket.

    An interesting smoke bomb that Eben discovered.

    Ava and Zahn decided to run through the not-so-child-friendly-looking smoke.

    Some cuddle time with Bell-Bell, who was not all that impressed by human fascination with explosives.

The Lakes

I love being near water (definitely near it if its a freezing cold lake).  Both Andy and I (and I guess Bella too, because she is a pain) wake up early in the morning and decided that for some ungodly reason we should go for a run.  Half an hour later we both feel great (a cup of coffee away from awesome).  Jogging with Bella is challenging, she runs like a drunk puppy, trying to trip you or run into you.  Andy is nice enough to hold her leash and put up with her sniff-stops.  Even with all the running it is almost impossible to wear her out so we take her to the lake and make her get the tennis ball our of the water.  What we call exercise she perceives as boat load of fun.

Sunday night the whole gang got together at the Docks to listen to grandpa playing with his band.  The evening was the perfect combination of amazing people, beautiful weather and yummy food.