to the river

There are times when the only reasonable thing to do is strap my children into their carseats and drive away from our house. Away from dishes and laundry and dinner-that-should-be-made...usually we head for water...



The other evening was one such evening...



Mike was planning to hunt until dark, the afternoon was hot, the girls and I were feeling restless...



My daughters are becoming (to my absolute joy) complete river-rats...



It is a week until the first official day of fall, which in Montana, means very cold water...

but apparently no one told them that summer was (nearly) over,





although there were signs everywhere.





Oh, and Amelia looked up at this beautiful ancient tree and said Mama, look at this cottonwood, and is it wrong that I am more proud of that, than when she tells me the sounds each letter makes, or counts to eleventy-six?



We spent a few hours by the river, then drove the road back home slowly...singing along to all the CDs that have been in my car all summer,







savoring the air that still smelled like summer, windows rolled down, mountains rising purple in the distance, everywhere we looked.