Back to School

Tuesday was the official end of summer for Makayla and Hailey.  Makayla has hammered her palms on the Monkey Bars, so playgrounds are out.

We decided to check out the Western Heritage Museum. This cool building used to be the public library back in the olden days when Grandpa was a kid. You can see the words "Parmly Billings Library" in the sandstone over the door. Parmly was the oldest son of Frederick Billings. Fred donated the money for the library when his son tragically died of pneumonia at the age of 25.

Out front stands Frederick Billings, waiting endlessly for a hug.

Inside are all of the beautiful details you find in structures built in 1901. I got the senior citizen's discount admission price, now that I'm almost as old as this building.

I have not been in this building since my children were elementary age. Wow, was I impressed! In the last two decades, they have turned it into a kid-centered paradise. Hailey dubbed it "awesome". We were the only people in the museum, other than the front desk person.

 

There are lots of places like this one, where you can sit and listen to a recording of historical events pertinent to Billings.

They've collected little vignettes, using furniture and accessories from little towns all over Montana so you can place yourself in the scene while Grandma tells you about the weird music player on the table

or this odd keyboard-ish thing without a screen.

There are lots of interesting toys to play with.

You know you're in Montana when a buffalo watches you while you play.

They have dress-up sites scattered around, like this one by the old school house.

It may be that not all of the costumes are vintage.

I told the girls these are the exact kind of desk I used in school at their age. Makayla checked to see if I left anything behind.

Hailey was in love with those boots. She really thought she should borrow them for her first day of school. Party-pooper Grandma nixed the idea.

The girls played for a really long time in the school. Makayla made us some lunch

 

sewed us some clothes,

 

 

and both girls practiced riding to school on their horses.

 

After viewing all of the ancient memorabilia, Makayla came running out of the bathroom, all excited to show me the strange vintage toilet. She wondered if that's the kind I used in the olden days, and said she didn't really like it because it is hard to use. 

 

Hmm. It's a good thing we are the only people in the museum today.

 

It didn't show up on the camera, but this room has 

 a zillion twinkling lights with music the girls enjoyed dancing to.

There's also a room about the not in our town story in Billings,

 

complete with chalkboards to write your own message.

After several happy hours, the single staff person begged invited us to go home so she could too. 

 

Is it just me, or are these girls getting a little pose-y? When I pull out the camera, they go into "look at me" mode. Geesh, it's like someone takes their picture all the time.

We found an acceptable way to 

celebrate our last day of freedom in style, then it was time to go home to get ready for the next day's

 

first day of school. Yahoo!

 

Here is third grade Hailey,

and Kindergartener Makayla.

They wanted a picture of their heavy backpacks.

 

 

Makayla's is so heavy she needed to carry some of it in a separate bag.

 

Good luck, you two! Have a great first day of school!

 

Anatomy of a Remodeled Rental: Week Three

Prepare to be underwhelmed.

This has been another week of great, but undramatic work.

 

We picked out flooring. If you squint, it looks like expensive oak, right?

 

 

It's actually vinyl. It's very inexpensive, mostly because you install the strips yourself. It's easier than tile because there's no grouting and the cutting is much easier. It's also cheaper than linoleum because we save on labor costs. We are using it in the kitchen and bathroom.

 

I realized we needed to order kitchen and bathroom counters.  We are late- it takes three weeks to order. That means we will miss our Sept 1 deadline. Rats.

 

Even choosing the least pricey Formica option is expensive.

It will have a rolled edge, cause that's what is cheapest.

 

Stan has textured all of the ceilings and spots that need texturing.

Here's the old fireplace corner.  Stan has gotten so good at texturing, I don't think anyone would guess this is not his profession.

Stan finished the tub surround. Things are now ready to be tiled. This week he will take a break from the house to reroof. The roof was totaled in June's hailstorm, and the insurance company finally got over to checkout the damage. It will soon be too cold for the roofing material to set up properly, so Stan will roof while I prime and paint this week.

In a side note, there's a large herd of bizarrely tame deer that live on this street.  Tonight I spotted these five fawns (who still have spots) with one adult female. The fifth one is to the far right, hiding in the grass. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing the female was babysitting. I hope for her sake these aren't all hers.



 

Summer's End

As our summer draws to a close,

we've worked on packing all the fun we can into the remaining days.  

 

We visited the fair,

checking out the baking winners, while (barely) resisting the temptation to sample.

We drove cars,

terrified ourselves and got slightly sick riding the Pharaoh,

twirled on the tilt-a-whirl,

and flung ourselves

into the sky.

We visited the house of oddities,

 although some of the genuine displays were a little hard to believe. Okay, a lot hard to believe.

At some point during our fun, we ran into Grandpa munching on a turkey leg.

We got

our faces painted,

and watched the lemur races.

We even found Mom, who took us on the scary ride.

We wore ourselves out.

We revisited all of our favorite city playgrounds,

and picked all of Grandma's cherry tomatoes at least a dozen times.

Tomatoes make some of us feel like dancing.

We went to the beauty salon

to get a back-to-school trim. Hailey got a whole 2 inches whacked off. She's practically bald now.

We found some new raincoats from Target's closeout,

and went exploring in the rain.

We saved the world, (which is hard work) then we

took a break.

We found some fabulous new rocks for our rock collection.

We practiced our geography skills,

and watched our daily temperatures change from the high 90's to the low 60's.

 

We went back to Target to go shopping for all of the supplies the school insisted we needed. It cost us $146.39 for two girls. That doesn't include the tissues, box of crackers, and box of band aids we already had. Isn't that crazy? I don't know how families afford to get their kids ready for school.

Hailey's list included 50 sharpened pencils. Fifty. 5-0. I've only used 37 pencils over the course of my entire life. Maybe they're building a ladder to the moon with all those pencils?

We've packed our bags and we're ready to go!

School starts Wednesday: Kindergarten for Makayla, 3rd grade for Hailey.