All good things must come to an end, and this includes our sunny, relaxing, and super-fun time with family in Spearfish. One of the primary reasons we decided to move into a Turtle in the first place was to be able to spend more time with our family and friends! We’re lucky to have so many people we care about, but unfortunately they all didn’t want to move to Portland so we could all see each other all the time. (This was not without a fair amount of recruiting on my part.)

Who wouldn’t want to live near these two adorable buddies?

Because we’re all so spread out, when it comes time to allocate a week or two of vacation every year, choosing to visit one person’s hometown is always at the expense of another’s. As we floated down the river two summers ago concocting this absurd idea about living in a Turtle, we mentioned how cool it would be to visit our friends and spend more than a few rushed days with them. To not have the looming feeling that we need to pack all the fun in right now before it’s all over. To be able to see them in their natural habitat, living their life, and we just happen to be neighbors and can go to lunch, or take a hike together, sit around drinking coffee, whatever!

So we’re just loving that this quality time we dreamed about is really happening! While we were in Spearfish, we got to attend Andy’s niece and nephew’s band and choir recitals, soccer games, First Communion, and both of their birthdays. (We timed the trip just right to ensure we’d get lots of cake.) We got to make meals with his mom and sister, drive through Needles Highway, listen to lots of the Hamilton soundtrack, do art projects, play board games, have a few beers on the patio at Crow Peak, eat ice cream at Leone’s Creamery (YUM!) and work on home projects together. Everyday things that make for great bonding and fun memories.

These memories include:

Amazing South Dakota sunsets. Amazing.

Lots and lots of freedom to explore and climb trees!

An unending frisbee course.

Free time and clear weather for Turtle projects.

A special “Cat Tea” that Andy’s niece invented and brewed up for Gracie. A zesty blend of catnip and warm water. 🙂

A birthday party at the Spearfish Gymnastics Academy, where we got to jump on trampolines into a pool of foam cubes! And then the kids buried Andy.

More sunsets and exploring.

Lots of time together outside.

More frisbee! We played a lot of frisbee.

Andy’s absolutely to-die-for salmon recipe! Thanks to Roger and Mary for sending the salmon with us! It was very well-received by all. The most moist and flavorful smoky salmon you can imagine.

It was a such great time together! Happily, now that we live in the Turtle, we don’t have to wait another year or more to do it again! 🙂