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In addition to the Magnificent Seven and the Longmont Yahoos, I have a local group of board-game friends and enjoy spending time with them. (Yeah, I guess I play a lot of board games!) Today part of the group got together to wish bon voyage to Brian and Marie, who are heading south for the winter. Like many people around here, they love Montana summers but aren’t fans of the winter. They have grandkids in Las Vegas, and that’s a big draw… as is their modest little home in Arizona.

We’d planned to have dinner at the Sitting Duck, but found out this morning it’s closed for the season (another bummer about summer versus winter around here). That meant the old fallback, Rosa’s.

Regardless of where we ate, we knew the food would be good and the company better.

The funny thing is that we’ll see these two in a couple of weeks, when we meet up with them in the Caribbean for a cruise. And on the cruise we’ll be– you guessed it– playing board games.

Other than being far too small, with narrow doors, our garage is great. We love the expansive wood cabinets, the large workbench, and especially the amazing lighting. But over time, the concrete has been getting dirty and deteriorated. In the winter months– and for much of the summer as well– we walk through the garage many times a day going between houses. We decided it was time to clean up the place.

We hired a crew to install new epoxy flooring. We’ve seen it in other homes, and it always looks spectacular. In addition to looking good, it feels nice (on my bare feet) and it’s really easy to clean.

This week they came over each day. On day one they used a diamond grinder to take off the top layer of concrete and rough up the surface, then on day two they poured a base coat of epoxy. Day three: atop that they sprinkled a gazillion little black, white, and grey ceramic flakes. Finally, on day four, they overlaid everything with a topcoat. This is what it looks like now:

We still have to wait about three days until it’s fully cured and can handle the weight of our cars, so for now we can only look at how pretty it is. Wow, what a difference!

Today was a gorgeous fall day, and that meant we simply had to get outside. We loaded up our e-bikes and drove an hour north to Whitefish, where we’d opted to bike around Whitefish Lake. It was pretty chilly at the start– not even fifty degrees– but the sun was out and that always feels better.

Two hours later, much farther around the lake, we’d shed our long sleeves and were basking in the warm day.

We finished our ride and stopped in at a local pizza joint several friends had recommended. We weren’t disappointed. It’s no Rosa’s, but it’s now my second-favorite pizza place in the Valley.

We’re so fortunate to live in this beautiful part of the world, and to have the time to enjoy it.

Last week Zack texted me this picture without any context:

After a bit of back-and-forth, I learned he’d finally realized his dream of owning a motorcycle. It’s a 2011 Yamaha Concours, and has a staggering 1,250cc engine. That’s way more acceleration than a 25-year-old needs, but he insists he’s “being careful”.

Today, Kyra bought some new wheels as well:

This is a 2014 Honda Fit, which is (in her words) kind of a derpy little car, but since most people in New Zealand drive derpy cars anyway, she’ll fit right in.

Obviously they’re both very excited, and I’m excited for them. It’s always fun to have some new wheels.

It’s been about a year since we last visited Missouri, and I’ve been wanting to go for a while. After a bit of discussion about scheduling (it’s hard to line up calendars!), Pepper and I hopped on a flight and headed back to the ol’ homestead.

Kathy and Annette came down from Kirksville, Anakin and July from Chicago, and Kari, DJ, and Theo made the ten-mile trip from St Charles. We had a grand time catching up.

Kari took us on a tour of the farm where she’s been working for a few years, and it was cool to meet her co-workers and learn about all the organic techniques she and the team are practicing there.

All of us took turns riding Mom and Dad’s new e-bikes, and we agreed they’re a lot of fun. It’s always interesting to go around my old subdivision, remembering streets and where friends lived (and forgetting some too), but still feeling comfortable knowing where things are.

The days seemed to whiz past and soon it was time to head home. It feels good to be able to return to my roots, as it were. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to visit my family and trade stories and just enjoy being together as all of us continue on our winding paths.

After spending a long weekend in Nebraska playing board games with the Magnificent Six, it was time for a long weekend with my friends from Longmont. Last year five of them came up to Montana and we had a grand time. A few months after their visit, I found a mysterious black necktie in my closet. It wasn’t one of mine, and after some puzzled thought I texted the group to ask if it belonged to any of them.

As it turned out, it was Jay’s tie– he’d brought it that weekend and misplaced it. Jokingly, he said he’d just have to fly back up to Montana to retrieve it. I responded in the group chat by saying maybe all of them should fly back up. One thing led to another, and within a day everyone had airline tickets for September.

Fast forward to this weekend, when they made the trip. This year it was a five-day affair (why go all the way to Montana just to turn around a couple of days later?) and it was such fun. We played a whole host of games, which happened to be different than the ones I’d played the weekend before.

Mark amazed everyone by being the first person in history to bid two in a hand of Skull King when we only had one card.

Game after game came out, and between all of them we caught up on each others’ lives, enjoyed time outside in the beautiful weather, grilled dinners, ate pizza (twice!), and reflected on how blessed we are to have such a good group of friends.

Although this little gang hasn’t been together forty years like the Magnificent Seven, we’re well over twenty years now. I love these yahoos.

It’s been over a year since the Magnificent Seven (or Six, or Five, depending on who can make it) were together. Last summer we were in Missouri, and this time it was back to Nebraska. As usual, it meant a fabulous four-day weekend with a lot of board games.

Aron’s custom-made gaming table continues to be the only way to play a proper game.

Derek continues to drink Diet Pepsi in staggering quantities, and now has a gallon-sized water bottle that’s very much not for water.

I couldn’t resist a little AI magic with that photo.

Derek is also a fan of immensely complicated games based on history, and despite some protestations from me and Dirk, he pulled out a massive game and spent forty minutes explaining the rules before we took two hours to play three of the nine rounds of the game. Dirk’s expression sums it up pretty well:

We finally abandoned the game, as it was clear it would take the entire day. Sorry, Derek.

Bech and I snuck out to Potbelly for awesome sandwiches while the rest of the gang played pickleball.

As always, it was really great to hang out with my best and oldest friends. I love that we’re still doing this kind of stuff after forty years together.

Long long ago, we found a little race car suitcase at a yard sale and it became Zack’s. He’d take it on all our trips, stuffing it full of clothes and toys (and frequently not enough underwear) and pulling it around on its little wheels.

Now, some twenty-odd years later, I found it in our attic and decided it was probably time to retire it. The plastic handle had long ago broken off, having been replaced with a single piece of red yarn for some reason. Zack had already served a mission (with a different set of luggage) and is living happily in Utah and probably not planning to use it for any upcoming vacations.

I sent Zack and the kids a couple of pictures for old times’ sake…

I took it out to our trash pile. Rest in peace, little suitcase.

But then Alex and Kaitlyn jumped into the conversation and said Ollie would love a little suitcase. Reduce, reuse, recycle, right? So Pepper brought it with her on a trip to Utah this weekend, and lo and behold, the little suitcase lives on with another little boy who loves it…

Around the time our main daughter Kyra left for New Zealand, our second daughter Hannah was joining the Air Force. She’d decided to enlist so she’d have a path to get into college and start a career. Both of them were struggling with knowing what was next in their lives, so they both made some major changes. Spoiler: it’s turned out great for both of them!

After a grueling six weeks of boot camp, Hannah graduated. We couldn’t be there for the ceremony, but she shared a selfie:

Her dad and older brother Rod came down. We haven’t seen Rod in many years, but he’s thriving in the Army and is really proud of his little sister (even though she’s in a different branch of the military).

A few weeks after that, she completed her first set of coursework and was certified on some sort of aircraft (I’m not sure about all the details). She sent a picture to demonstrate what sorts of things she has to understand…

… and one of her with her certificate.

She’s doing great, gaining confidence, and starting on a great adventure. We’re so proud of both our daughters!

I was working today and got a hankering for a pizookie. I’m always surprised at how many people have never heard of a combination pizza and cookie, but basically it involves making a batch of (typically) chocolate-chip cookie dough and then baking it in a cast-iron pan.

The result:

So good. Sadly, even after sharing some of it with Pepper, I couldn’t finish the whole thing– it’s probably the equivalent of about eight normal cookies! Obviously it’s something that’ll require friends to enjoy.

I bagged up three more pizookies so I’m ready for those friends.