Today was a better start of the school day. I woke up and got the kids school material all ready, lined up, organized and ready to go. Well, mainly Bella’s stuff as Bia knows and finds her stuff pretty well. I got Bella’s books, sheets and online work all ready to go. She woke up in time today, so first thing I did was go over the work for the day, and where it all was. She seemed happy with that process and got going right away, no complaining, no procrastinating, just getting work done.
Bia had a test right away, and that was not good. She hates timed tests and this one was timed, very fast, she was crying right away and frustrated. I told Bella to only ask for my help when she really needed, not just when she wanted, so I could help Bia, and she understood and continued her work. I went to help Bia, calmed her down, told her to go wash her face and calm down and I’d help her. I told her she didn’t have to do it all, or do it fast, just that she needed to try to get it done, and we’d finish it later on. She went, washed her face to calm down and wipe her tears away, came back and started the test, on her own pace and not worrying about the class. And things got back to going well from there. So far, it’s 9am and everyone is still doing well, getting work done and moving on.
I went for a run around 10, and it was nice. I ran through a nice neighborhood, along a bike path that went towards a mountain. I ran 4 miles total, so not enough to get to the mountain, maybe another 2 miles would have done it. It was another beautiful day, no clouds, blue sky, sunny and warm. There was a helicopter that landed in a field, as the nicer neighborhood ended, maybe its nicer than I thought :).
Carol continued doing laundry, on heavier items today, she worked on lunch and we helped the girls finish their work. They were both done around 2pm, so we left to explore Helena a bit.
I wanted to check out the Gates to the Mountains, which is a boat ride between mountains, but they don’t operate Mondays and Tuesdays in September, so we were not able to make it. The next place was to check out Mount Helena, which is the only park in the US that is actually a mountain.
The place is not a traditional park so it was kind of hard to find. It is basically an area that is designated as a park, and has a bunch of poorly marked trails. Google maps took us to a neighborhood as far up in the mountain as you could go, and that was it. Just a street, with like 3 parking spots and no signs. Eventually we spotted a trail right there and decided to go check it out a bit.
We didn’t go too far, just walked up enough to have nice views of the city, took some pictures and tested out the new binoculars we bought yesterday. I think they’re good, and will definitely help us spot wildlife easier from far.
From there we decided to check out the Great Northern Carousel, which is downtown and was very close to us. We found parking very easy as it was kind of not busy at all downtown, and we had to walk maybe 2 blocks to get to the place. Unfortunately, it was closed for the season. We were able to look inside, and it is basically a normal sized carousel, maybe even on the smaller side, but instead of just horses, they have bears, pronghorn, elk, etc, all the wild animals from here. The girls had seen they had ice cream too, and were very disappointed they were closed.
There was a tunnel nearby, so we walked through it to see what was on the other side, and it was a nice park, that is also a school (university or college, can’t remember) fields area. We walked around a bit, and it was nice there. Warm day, nice breeze, nice views.
The girls were enjoying running around, and checking out the different exercise equipment they had scattered through the path.
We walked around for about 45 minutes, and decided to stop at a brewery we had seen on the way there. That was a nice stop. Place was very cool, and also empty, well, it was 4pm.
Carol and I got some local craft beers, and the girls got Shirley Temples (kiddie cocktails) which came with lots of cherries, and they loved it.
After that, we decided to have dinner at the Ramen place which was right in front of where we parked the truck.
The girls had never been to a Ramen restaurant before, so they were excited. Food there was awesome! I had a spicy one, and it was amazing.
All bowls were empty, Bia even had all the juice by turning the bowl down her face hahahah.. The girls ordered some Japanese soda too, and to have it you need to pop a marble at the top, which then stays loose as you drink, they loved the flavors and the gimmick.
We had a great time there for dinner. Lots of laughs. Before heading back, Carol wanted to stop at a Hobby Lobby, so she took the girls and I waited at a Chilli’s and had some beer. And that was our day, not full of new adventures, but relaxing, fun and very enjoyable. I really liked Helena, it’s a bigger city with a smaller city feel.