Happy Birthday, Coleman!

Cole and his family came to the cabin to celebrate his third birthday and Oh, what a party we had!

His sisters are loaded and ready to go canoeing.

First we went canoeing.  

We even had a picnic lunch on an island in the middle of the river.












The next day we went to Yellowstone National Park.

Bad hair day for this old guy.

All tuckered out.

On the following day we walked on the nature trail and visited the Johnny Sack Cabin.

Cole and his siblings at the Johnny Sack Cabin.

 Along the trail we saw the cow and calf we have been watching for a few weeks now.  The calf was having fun splashing in the water while her mother looked on patiently.

Later, they rode ATVs

In his happy place....

before eating a wonderful cake and ice cream that his mother made for him, and opening presents, finally!

ATVs (four-wheelers) are Cole's favorite thing.

Happy Third Birthday to Coleman.

Big Springs Campground

We have a gem of a campground nearby.  There are not full hookups like sewer and water, but there are well kept pit toilets, nicely tended campsites, and a paved road.

There are 15 single camp sites and one group site.

Group site

The group site has three fire pits, four tent sites, and six picnic tables.  There are also a few camp stove stands.

Each camp site has a paved pull through, picnic table, fire pit and camp stove stand.

Prices are reasonable

Campground map and legend

There are also two group picnic sites with ample parking and three or four tables at each.

No ATVs are allowed inside the campground, but there is a nice parking area set aside as you enter the campground to park your ATV so you can come and go from there.




Best of all it is a short walk to Big Springs, the Nature Trail, and the Johnny Sack Cabin, open daily from 10 am to 4 pm.


 Here is the Forest Service's link to the campground. http://goo.gl/l4blXc 

Evening Ride at Harriman State Park

Last night we went to Harriman to ride bikes after dinner.  The sky was threatening rain and that added to the fun.

Swans on Golden Lake

We stopped at the Warming Hut for a few minutes.

Silver Lake

Lucky Dog Retreat - A History

Today we went to Lucky Dog Springs with some friends from home, Bryan and Brynne and their three darling children, Spencer, Ivie, and Olivia.

Things were much the same as the last time we were there.

Then tonight in a text Brynne said that Bryan's Aunt Rexa, who they are staying with up here, knew the real name of the place and it was called the Lucky Dog Retreat.  It was run by an older couple 30+ years ago.  They served one dish - whatever the cook decided to make that night is what you got. According to Aunt Rexa, there were only six tables but they had an incredible gourmet menu or selection each night.

I searched online for Lucky Dog Retreat and found quite a detailed report and assessment made for the USDA forest service by the Oliver Conservation Group in March of 2011 found here http://goo.gl/UMGbU4. There it is called Lucky Dog Ranch.  The report is 37 pages with nice black and white photographs from 2011.  The buildings each have names and the purpose, physical description, and then present condition are all nicely described.  It is all very interesting.

Here I quote from the first page, "The Cache-Targhee National Forest acquired the site fourteen years ago in a land exchange with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), at which time the history and significance of the ranch were unknown. TNC owns all of the buildings until October 2011, when they revert back to CTNF. The property deed currently requires TNC to dispose of the buildings, but both TNC and CTNF were reluctant to remove or destroy them until the site had been documented and its significance determined.

"The purpose of this project was to document the site and the buildings, research their history and
past use, and determine the historic significance of the Lucky Dog Ranch. An additional purpose
was to provide information to guide future actions, ranging from preserving and interpreting the
buildings on site to permanently removing them."

So some of the mystery is solved.  But this report still does not answer why the best cabin, originally built by our own Johnny Sack, has been torn down.

The Last Little Bird Flies Away

Today our wonderful family and their delightful friends all left us.

Here.  Alone.  The hardest part was probably saying goodbye to our darling youngest child, Sarah.  She has accepted an invitation from Jacob and his family to live with them for a few months away from home, to hopefully get a job and continue to make decisions regarding her future, like whether or not to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

This ends a chapter in the life of her parents. We have spent almost 33 years in this chapter called 'Raising Children Without a Manual'.  Tonight I feel useless, like I am freeloading on this planet.  I hear the feeling passes with time.  I sure hope so.  We miss our children dearly.





Being parents is a funny thing.  Some days you don't know what you were thinking in having kids.  But most days you can't imagine how dull life would have been without this amazing experience and the chance to bring sweet souls to this life.  And the deep feelings of love you have for a new person, and then another, and more one at a time.  If you never needed God before being a parent, you sure do once you are one. You learn to appreciate your own parents like you never have before.  You begin to feel a portion of what our Heavenly parents must feel.  When we make them proud.  When we mess up.  We are so very proud of all of our children and what they are doing with their lives. What do people do for entertainment who choose not to have children?  I can't imagine that either.  Family is everything.