Every summer we try to go backpacking at least once. This year, we finally got to go over Labor Day Weekend. We went into Vanity Lakes and explored 5 small lakes - I think we caught fish in four of them. James' sister Kathleen came into town on her way to college, so we picked her up at the airport and then took her out in the woods for four days.
Friday: Jessi James Kathleen & Kathy at the trailhead.
Hallie, Jed, Hannah and Stella hiked in a few hours earlier with Opa and had a great campsite picked out.
Saturday: Top Row: Jed, Kathy, Kathleen
Bottom Row: Stella, Gil, Hannah, Hallie, James, Jessi
Saturday: Hannah stayed for the entire weekend and was always ready to go fishing!
Saturday: Opa rescuing Hannah's lure.
Saturday: Kathleen fishing.
Sunday: James and I hiked to the ridge way way way way above our campsite for an incredible view of the lower lakes. Our campsite was on the far right lake (it looks dark blue/green) near the log jam (a light tan spot at the upper left edge of the lake).
James checking his compass at the top of the ridge.
Fireweed. James' mom makes jelly using the blossoms of this flower. They blossom from the bottom in the Spring and by Fall only the tops have flowers. So hopefully Sharon gets to pick them when they have lots of blooms!
Sunday: James & Jessi on the ridge above the upper lake.
We had very interesting weather. Friday was beautiful and warm and perfect for hiking. James' watch has a temperature feature, and he checked the air tempurature in our tent each morning. Saturday morning: 62 degrees. Beautiful day with high fluffy white clouds.
Sunday morning: 52 degrees and it rained until about 10:00 a.m. complete with thunder and lightening. James 'toasted' Hannah's socks to help dry them out after our soggy morning.
Monday morning: 37 degrees and SNOWING! 4" at our campsite as we packed up camp.
Jessi & Hannah.
Kathleen and James
Gil & Kathy
Monday: Gil Hannah Kathy Jessi James & Kathleen.
James got "first tracks" all the way down the mountain. We even had to brush off the suburban windows before driving away. We finished the weekend by a visit to Kirkham Hot Springs - perfect for soaking out cold toes and tired shoulders!
Mountain Home's airshow featured the Air Force's Thunderbirds. We went to the Saturday show and realized that the Thunderbird weren't performing. They were in Reno, NV for their airshow on Saturday and then flew into Mountain Home at the very end of the Saturday show to do their orientation flying before their actual performance on Sunday. So we did get to see the Thunderbirds fly in formation across the airfield and fly around quite a bit. We also explored some of the other aircraft. Some of my favorites:
James and "The best thing in the air" The F-22 Raptor. This one is based out of Alaska.
Another picture of the Raptor - pretty intimidating military fighter jet!
The Air St. Lukes helicopter - this one doesn't have a tail rotor! It uses a vent exaust system to do the job of the tail rotor.
The predator - an unmanned aircraft for observation and advanced scouting. They sometimes have air-to-ground hellfire missiles. Pretty cool!
F-18 Hornet used mostly by the Navy and Marines - we saw the pretty version in Twin Falls when the Blue Angels performed!
This particular Hornet says "409 Nighthawk Squadron Activation - July 6, 2006." My mom's birthday and the day James & I got engaged. So I had to take a picture!
This is the C-17 Globemaster - the enormous cargo transport plane. We toured one that had some statistics about how big it is and how much cargo it can hold. The sign said it could carry 11 African elephants. I asked one of the airmen if they'd ever transported an elephant. No, but they did transport the whale from "Free Willie" - he said the water in the tank shifted as they landed and the weight and the shifting water broke the landing gear (no harm to the whale).
The white aircraft at the top of this photo is the F-4 phantom - the Air Force's primary fighter jet in the Vietnam War Era. The small aircraft in the center is the P-51 Mustang - from World War II. The gray aircraft at the bottom is the F-15 Eagle - the current fighter jet (until the Raptor phases them out). They call this flight the "Heritage Flight" showing the history of the Air Force fighters.
Lava formations in Craters of the Moon National Monument.
Jessi and James at the North East Enterance (near Silver Gate, MT).
Ravens - at every parking lot and every store.
Deer - on the road into Tower Campground.
Chipmunk - this guy was near Old Faithful.
Antelope - this one was on the one-way dirt road on our way to the North Enterance near Gardner, MT.
Bison - everywhere!
Sheep - along the highway in the park between the North Enterance and Mammoth Hot Springs.
Elk - hanging out in the town around the park headquarters - Mammoth Hot Springs.
Moose - Grand Teton National Park - finally saw moose in the last eight miles of road on our way out of the park.
Frog - scared me as I came out of the restrooms one night!
Lower Yellowstone Falls
Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park
The geyser drains and all is empty and quiet. 
The geyser fills up with water. 
Sploosh!
Jessi James & Kathleen near Kathleen's apartment. Good Luck Kathleen - study hard!
We have a family of squirrels that live near our backyard and are fun to watch from the windows. This spring there were 3 really little squirrels, one of which was absolutely fearless about exploring around the outside of our house.
We keep this purple flower pot full of water for the squirrels to have some drinking water.
Helping me blow out candles - Carter, Stella, Jessi, Tyler & Aspen
James, Jed & Kurt jumping off the edge.
Synchronized skiing?
Jessi & James in their summer ski duds
James beginning his 360
Jed's 360˚ 
Annual family photo with Oma-Great. This is just grands and great-grands.