We came home from the beach on a Saturday and left Thursday for Seth's race at Limerock (CT). I put the kids in a camp that week so that they would have fun and mama could get a few things done in between trips. Adelyn did an art camp and James did a Little Explorers Camp at Sawnee Mountain. They loved it!
We were in CT for just 2 nights. Seth and Dan finished 22nd in the race. This hasn't been the greatest season. :( After a LONG day (Saturday), we arrived in MT late that evening.
The highlight of the race? Adelyn losing her 9th tooth. We had teased her that after the race we were going to tie her tooth to Seth's race car and pull it. Miraculously, she lost it while watching the race.
Ah! We are in MT! The kids love to explore around the house, so that's just what we did on Sunday. I packed the kids ENOs and it was so easy to set them up.
We hiked down the river and built a bridge of rocks.
Grandma with Adelyn and James
The 4 of us
Adelyn wanted her ENO at the river. She sat in it for about 4 seconds and was ready to go play in the river again. We set it up later that afternoon while James napped and she read her book in the shade.
You can't see it, but you had to cross part of the river to get to the "island".
Not pictured: kids getting undressed and seeing how far they could go in the freezing cold water. Adelyn earned herself $5 for going in up to her shoulders :)
On Monday, we went into Kalispell to run errands and eat at Norm's News, our favorite restaurant! While waiting, we looked at cowboy boots and antiques. Adelyn made a new friend.
After enjoying our bison burgers, we moved on to huckleberry milkshakes. Yum, yum.
This probably marks one of my top 5 things we've done in all of our years visiting Glacier National Park. We rented a paddle board and a canoe on Lake McDonald. It was $35 for both to enjoy for 2 hours. The scenery was just amazing and this precious time with my family was priceless.
James was not a huge fan of the paddle board, as it "didn't have any sides" so he mainly chilled in the canoe.
I am getting a paddle board yesterday. Can't wait to try it on Lake Lanier!
Adelyn was a little pro!
Daddy's girl
Let me just say that I got in that COLD water first (on purpose. Go, me! I didn't fall off the board!). Seth and Adelyn pushed each other in and had a blast! That girl climbed INTO the canoe.....that's impressive!
James would only get in once we were back to the beach. Can't really blame him; the water was SO cold!
On Tuesday, we drove to the East side of Glacier National Park. We made a stop at The Continental Divide.
And of course, had to stop at the Glacier Park Lodge.
Their flowers are always so pretty!
The kids checked out the teepees
There was a big fire late last summer. It was interesting to see the aftermath. Our plan was to hike Victoria Falls, but the combination of the fire closing the nearby parking lot AND the amount of people in the park did not allow us to. There was literally no where to park.
Instead, we enjoyed some pretty views and made a plan B.
Seth and his mom
I mentioned in an earlier post how Adelyn can NOT stop doing gymnastics. She's at it again!
Our alternate plan was to hike as much of Grinnel Glacier as we could. We were going to take the boat and avoid hiking around Swiftcurrent Lake, but we ended up only hiking around the lake. The weather started looking like storms and we didn't want to get caught. It was still very pretty!
And we did get rained on!
When we were leaving Many Glacier Lodge, we saw a crowd of people with cameras and binoculaurs looking down into the river. That can only mean one thing....
Grizzly Bear!!!!!!!!!!! We were in the PERFECT spot to safely see this big guy! We stayed for a long time watching him. It was SO cool!
Then we found giant dandelions!
Make a wish, sweet girl!
That night, we grabbed a family picture at the house before heading out to dinner at The Belton Chalet. It was an amazing meal!
After eating breakfast at Glacier Haven on Wednesday morning (across the street from the house), we took the kids on a hike to Stanton Lake. It's not too far from the house.
They just love to throw rocks! The air was still and there were so many bugs.
Family selfie!
We spent the rest of the day packing and cleaning in order to fly home on Thursday. It was a shorter than normal trip to MT, but it was packed with great memories!
