Ted and I joined all of Jeff and La’s family in Montana for days of fun together. This was the first time we’ve met our newest great-grandchild, William, who is (gasp!) eight months old!!! (It’s been a challenging year for Ted and me to travel.) Here we are with William and his big brother, Ollie, who is already 5 years old.

We took pictures of Gigi (Great Grandma) and Grandpa Ted with the newest family member, . . .

. . . and pictures of Grandpa and Grandma with William. It’s easy for Ted and me to be excited about great-grandchildren, but it’s hard to believe we have children who are old enough to be grandparents!

Jeff and La planned wonderful activities for our visit. One day, we spent the afternoon on Flathead Lake.

Kyra looks excited about being in the water.

In fact, it looked like so much fun, Ollie jumped in after her.

Jeff rented a tube to pull behind the boat. Inflating it was a bit of a challenge, but it provided hours of fun.

Ollie wanted to ride solo on the tube. He’s done this before and kept signaling “faster, faster.” Of course, whoever was piloting the boat kept the ride more gentle than for the grown-ups. but Ollie’s ride ended in the water, just like everyone else’s.

Jeff also rented a wakeboard. Here’s Zack taking a turn on it.

There were games and toys to play with at the house. Here’s a game of Smashball. Ollie was the ball boy. When a ball went out of bounds, he ran in with a new ball so the game could continue while he retrieved the out-of-bounds ball. With the help of his stuffed dog, Chase (lower left corner), he kept an eye on the game and always had a ball ready for play.

William was more interested in playing with something less physically active.

Naturally, Jeff, Alex, and Zack played some board games.

In this round of sheephead, all the players passed. Zack is holding up the blinds, which pretty much explain why everyone passed. If only we’d known what was in the blinds!

Ted and I bought a rocket toy for Ollie, and he loved it. Grandpa taught him how to stuff the parachute into the rocket nose. Then Ollie sets the rocket on the launch pad and runs out of the way before the rocket launches!

Here’s why Ollie had to look so far upward. That rocket really flew!

One time, the rocket landed in a tree, requiring Grandma’s tree-climbing skills to bring it down and return it to Ollie.

Another favorite of Ollie’s was the scooter Jeff and La bought for him.

Jeff wanted to try the scooter. I think Grandpa needs a bigger scooter. It should be at least be big enough for his feet to fit on the platform! (Christmas idea for Jeff?)

There was plenty of food for everyone, and it was all delicious. Each of the kids took turns preparing a meal and the rest of us offered helping hands for anything needed. This evening, it was kabobs.

William seemed to be too hungry to wait for the corn to be husked and grilled. (He ate some grilled corn later.)

It was nice enough to eat outside while we enjoyed the views of the forest and the lake.

One day, we had lunch at one of Jeff’s favorite places–Rosa’s–to satisfy our pizza cravings.

Zack showed off a magic trick. (The secret is how you place the can in your hand.)

Yes, we always had plenty of food!

One morning, Jeff took family pictures with every combination of the ten of us that we could imagine. Some of them were portrait-like; others were goofy.

This is Jeff and La’s beautiful family group.

Here are Ted and I with our “Montana family” grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

This photo includes the entire happy group. During our visit, we celebrated Zack’s and Kyra’s birthdays and, when we left, we gave Kyra extra hugs. She is leaving in August to spend a year abroad in New Zealand. We can’t wait to hear about her adventures there, and we’re looking forward to our next get-together with the family.