How Close Was That?

The Prairie Family has company! My nephew and oldest sister came to town on Tuesday. We have had fun playing already, even though the weather has been sketchy. The first day they were here The Nephew went fishing 3 times! : ) We all went to the reservoir next to our house the third time. If it wasn't windy out I think we would have had a campfire too. We still had fun though.

We didn't catch anything but the evening was beautiful and worth being outside and touching worms. : )

Yesterday we had an adventure to town and I got to go to a movie in the movie theater! This only happens 2-3 times a year for The Prairie Mama, so it is an exciting experience! (I am so laughing at the fact that I am actually writing this! We're easily pleased by the little things here on The Prairie.) My sister and I saw The Proposal...SO cute! And The Nephew saw another movie...um, don't remember what.

Today was The Big Adventure day. The most desired activity of their trip was The Prairie Daddy's offer to go up to Foster Reservoir. Foster is our reservoir (or at least the water in it is ours) up on Carter Mountain. It is a 45 minute drive on 4-wheelers and it is in the Shoshone National Forest. It is one of my favorite places to go...pristine, wild and gorgeous.

I checked the weather before we left and knew that there was a good chance the skies would change in a hurry while on the mountain. We took along a picnic lunch and headed out with plenty of rain gear (just in case).

This is what the skies looked like when we left. This is Carter Mountain. See where the rock face meets the tree line in the middle right of the mountain? That is where Foster Reservoir is!

Here is a view looking back down toward the ranch

Here is my oldest sister and her son

Here The Nephew and I are...and the back of The Prairie Daddy's head

Cool views...

The 4-wheeler fleet

The Prairie Family

And this is what started happening in the skies...

Foster Reservoir

Check out this storm cloud
We were all standing around, enjoying lunch and then all of the sudden some lightening struck and like surround sound the roaring thunder went from one direction all the way around us. It was crazy. We looked at each other and simultaneously agreed it was time to get off the mountain...fast.

As we were loading up I offered rain coats and everyone took me up on it. We bundled up and at this point it began to sprinkle. We got on the 4-wheelers and headed out. The pace was much quicker on the way out then on the way in. We stopped for a bit to let my nephew catch up. I was driving my sister and The Prairie Daddy was driving The Prairie Kid. Lightning struck about 1/3 of a mile away and my sister and I jumped and gasped like never before.

We switched me from driving my sister to driving my nephew just to make sure we were really keeping pace. He was cautiously making his way down but at this point the lightening was so close and surrounding us and we knew the downpour was quickly inevitable. It was crazy at times that we were not getting rained on but we were literally surrounded by storm in all directions.

Soon we weren't just surrounded...we were in it. It was an exhilarating trek down the mountain. There were places that we were sliding on the mud like we were on an ice rink! I felt like I was in a video game it was so fast, surreal and adventurous. When we hit paved road again I "floored it" and hit 50mph in no time at all.

When we got home we were all soaked on our pant legs and our adrenaline was soaring. It continued to rain for a long time after. We had so much fun going over the details of our trip. At one point my sister shared she about lost control of the 4-wheeler and started to tip. She stuck her foot out and caught herself and pushed herself onto all 4 wheels again. Whew! We just made some memories to last a lifetime!

On Tuesday when I drove to Billings to pick my family up we went shopping for a little while. I treated myself to something I've wanted for quite awhile. Even though Prairie Life can be hard, dirty work, who says you can't look cute at the same time? Well, I debated on whether to wear these on the trip this morning but when my sister needed a pair and I could let her use my black ones it made the decision for me. So, I definitely got these broke in this morning!