Bozemama’s Countdown to Summer
May 31, 2013
Posted By: Bozemama
OK, so it happens to be cold and drizzly in southwest Montana right now, but I still feel it. Do you? If you are a parent with school-age children, then I’m pretty sure you do too. Summer. It waits, lurking expectantly around the corner; beckoning our kids with a bewitching grin and promises of lazy days, bare feet and watermelon seed-spitting.
For weeks now, my seventh grader, Hermione, has been declaring with the dawn of each new day that this day is officially her last day of real school because there’s a field trip or a standardized test or an assembly or . . . whatever. Today, her nine-year-old brother is participating in that end-of-year ritual that all fourth graders so look forward to: the infamous (and insanely giggle-worthy) puberty video.
Yes, the reminders are everywhere, even if it is – in fact – hailing outside. In exactly 11 days, three hours and 42 minutes, the 2013 school year will be over and our children will be footloose, fancy free and expecting something from us for the next three months straight. Yaaaayyyy.
But there is good news: In our June/July issue (which hits stands next week), we at Montana Parent have compiled a seriously substantial, no-kidding-folks guide to dozens of family-friendly hikes, activities, events, festivals and day trips in Bozeman, Helena, Livingston, Moonlight, West Yellowstone and Butte.
We are so pumped about all the crazy cool stuff we’ve compiled that our fun-tastic editor (and mama of three), Leigh Ripley, is actually challenging you – our beloved readers – to the following:
Be brave, leave the comforts of home behind and plan a weekend of cultural discovery around a festival not taking place in your hometown. Stay in Montana, but not your own zip code.
Are you up to this challenge? I know I am – and not just because I like to do what Leigh tells me. The kids and I have big plans for our third summer in this treasure of a state: We are giddily anticipating the Annual Fairy and Wizard Festival at Tizer Garderns in Jefferson City, along with little sojourns to Big Fork and Flathead, but we’re also looking forward to relishing all the delights (big and small) that our Gallatin Valley has to offer.
The countdown to Camp MamaPapa has begun. Get ready; get primed; get our June/July issue. You could try doing summer without it, but why?
Kisses,
Bozemama
