Last Day of Summer Hurrah

We've had a pretty low key summer. We didn't go anywhere but Billings and the mountains, and most of the days were spent here in our house or down at Grandma's playing with cousins.  Jason had the day off today and we figured that since it was the last day of freedom for the kids, we'd better do something fun.

Yesterday everyone spent the day throwing around ideas of what we should do.  Katelyn suggested going to Laramie or Old Trail Town in Cody, and Jacob wanted to go to Chuck E Cheeses or play football on the high school football field.  Out of those suggestions, Chuck E Cheeses was looking like the best option since Laramie is quite the drive for a day trip, Dallin would destroy Old Trail Town and would be interested in looking at old cabins for about two seconds, and playing football on the HS football field would have been way more fun for the boys than the girls.  I wanted to go to Chuck E Cheeses like I wanted shot in the head so I was relieved when Jason suggested the zoo in Red Lodge and then playing at the park. I was even more relieved when every single member of the family was equally excited about it.

But holding true to tradition in the Bischoff house, because we had a plan in the works, someone had to get sick.  Kinlee went to bed last night with a slight fever and woke up this morning burning hot.  When her fever reached 102.8, I called the clinic to make an appointment.  Thankfully they were able to squeeze us in at 10, and it was discovered that she had a bad ear infection in her left ear and was in a lot of pain. We got her antibiotics and Motrin and then argued with ourselves about what we should do.  The older kids were trying to be understanding, but I knew they were heartbroken about the thought of having to miss our day of fun. After all, they reminded us, it is the last day of summer....like all fun is going to end and they are going to have no free time with the start of a new school year. Kinlee needed a nap (which she could take in the car), and I figured she would be just as miserable at home as she would be out and about so we decided to go anyways. The afternoon trip turned out to be just great, and Kinlee was even feeling better by the time the evening rolled around.

The wildlife sanctuary was fun.  It isn't very big at all, but most of the animals were out and about, you could get pretty close to them, the sky was overcast, and there was a slight breeze. After an hour and a half or so there, we hit up the grocery store deli and took the kids to picnic and play at one of the funnest parks I've been to. I would drive to Red Lodge again just to let the kids play at the park....and to look at all the beautiful old houses.  I wish people still built houses like they did a hundred years ago (although I understand why they don't. it would take buco bucks to build a house with all the details they used to do), and I dream about living in a house similar to the ones across the street from the park.

 On the drive home, Jason asked the kids if they had had a good summer. They both replied they did and then said that their favorite part was today. I'm glad everything worked out for the best and that Kinlee is starting to feel better.  Goodbye Summer of 2013.