August in Montana: Lelu, Jake & TT

August 2021

The day after we were evacuated, Lelu, Jake, Tt and Finn were leaving to come up for the whole month of August. I called around and was able to get a hotel room in Polson so they left to drive up. B and I woke up in the parking lot to find most people had left to go back to their homes. We went and got some food and then drove back to the house. While we were there, I guess they sent out a mandatory evacuation notice again but we hadn’t heard about it. Apparently, the neighbors did, except many of the neighbors on the lake (who are church members) chose not to evacuate including our neighbor Suzi. So we chose to stay and figured if the fire flew across the bay – we could always escape in our boat. I’m not sure if that was the smartest attitude or choice but it felt the best to us. When the kids arrived, the fire department was blocking access to Finley Point and so the boys went in to talk to the fire marshall. They told them we were out there at our house and needed help, so they had a fire fighter follow them out to our house. B walked out using his crutches – so their story was totally plausible…. The guy was super chill and just said it was our choice but he needed to get our next of kin to notify if we didn’t make it out alive. Geeezzz what a way to put it. So I gave them Aub and Master D’s names and we stuck it out for the next few days. We didn’t end up needing the hotel room after all.

The smoke completely sucked but it was just as smoky and disgusting in Utah so it wasn’t like we had anywhere to escape the air quality. The whole month was awesome despite the smoke. We had no more scares with fire, thank heavens! Lelu, Finn and I walked everyday around Finley Point. Most mornings and evenings we took the boat out. We made dinner together every night, played games, watched movies and enjoyed everything the lake had to offer. The boys went fishing. Lelu’s friends came for her birthday and they went and hiked in Glacier. B and I picked them up and scared the crap out of me driving up the “Going to the Sun Road”. Everyday, Finn would run down the dock and leap into the lake to retrieve the balls we threw. Of course, he was wearing his life jacket! Or I think he would have kept doing it until he was so tired he’d have to be saved. He’s an awesome Lake Dog.

We finally got our furniture for the tv viewing loft. I absolutely love it!