I'm not sure when the last time I actually ate at the food court in the mall.  I sometimes get coffee but actually eating there?  Hmm, not often.  However the other night, we met up with our other family.  I say other family because the kids have adopted each other.  They want to be related so bad, everyone except for Isaac.  They don't want to adopt him and he doesn't want them either. Well no one will admit it.  We were going to go to Red Robin but for a group of 11 it was going to be 45 minutes.  Too long with kids.  So we walked over to the mall.  It was maddening.  Everyone wanted to eat somewhere different.  John gave Job and Lona cash, and the rest of us used our credit cards.  That was strange.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  We ate, talked, took pictures and the kids disappeared into the mall.  We then drove down to Boulevard Park for a concert on the lawn.  Isaac said the songs sound a like.  I think that if we listened to music like that it would be different.  I found it amazing the types of people that hang out at Boulevard.  I am so used to my little corner of the world with people that are like-minded and have the same lifestyle as I do.  It's good to get out and remind myself that there is a whole other world of people.  I have no idea what got into Lona's head but with all the people dancing by the stage, she wanted to start a train.  And she did, a little one with 4 people, and only one was a stranger.

We wrapped up our Montana vacation with playing Tennis Soccer at the Tennis Court.  The whole goal is to lob it over the net to the opposing team.  You can have three touches on each side, like volleyball.  I can't do it but t hen I have no trapping skills in soccer.  The rest of them had a ton of fun.  I did walk down to the creek area when I saw some deer.  They were hilarious.  I would walk sideways towards them. They were watching the whole time and if I went behind a bush they would try to peak their head around to see what I was doing.  Then if I got into their safety space, they would take off into the bushes only to come out 10 minutes later.

As I spent time in my Hometown this summer, I wanted to capture some of the things that meant a lot to me as I was growing up.  When I was in middle school, I would stop at the library almost every day and check out a book on the way home.  I still have some favorites that I remember from that library such as the Riddle Master of Hed, The Moon of Three Rings, and the Three Investigator Series.  My summers as a high school student were spent at the baseball games selling concessions to make money for cheerleading.  Once I was driving, I was allowed to "cruise mainstreet" one weekend night a week.  I tried to explain cruising to my kids and they laughed at me.  They just don't get it.  The court house, well I didn't really spend any time there, it's just such a huge building for our town.  Lewistown is the county seat so of course they have a big beautiful court house.  The city park with the giant missile is the same park that has the baseball field for the Lewistown Red Bird baseball team and the hilarious sign about no horses, dogs or other domestic animals - only in Montana.  The deer are everywhere in town and they eat everything.  The Judith Theater had tickets for $4 when I was in highschool.  It was so expensive for me because I only got $10 a month allowance when I wasn't working so I could cruise or go to two movies.  I didn't buy any candy or popcorn because I couldn't do that with my allowance, besides I really only like plain (no butter or salt) popcorn.  I guess the theater has added another screen so they can show two movies at once and the drive-in is gone.  That was a fun time but I didn't go very often.  My highschool was FHS (Fergus Golden Eagles) and the colors are blue and gold, same as Isaac.  Funny how that works out.  When I was in middle school, I would sometimes go to the Bon Ton and get Vanilla cokes.  It wasn't really a hangout place but at one time before my time, it was the place to be.  The buildings downtown are all the old 1900 era building but many of them stand empty now, so sad.  It could be a destination town like Port Townsend but for some reason it isn't.  The area is beautiful and cooler in temperature than the surrounding large cities.  The railroad has pulled out so the tracks that crisscrossed town have become running/biking paths. I found an old stone house for $44K that I would love to talk John into getting but that isn't happening.  I drove by the house we first lived in when I was in 3rd grade.  It still has the lead glass windows.  I wonder if the pantry is still stark white and the stairs to the basement and basement walls are still the same color.  Have they kept the giant pocket doors and the claw foot tub?  In the fall, there is a "What the Hay" contest where people from all over the county take hay bales and create displays.  You can drive around the county looking at all the displays that people have put up.  Kind of like Christmas Light displays only this is with hay bales.  One of the displays is still up and it's Medusa's head.  It is supposed to advertise the What the Hay contest but I think it's creepy.  The kids agree.