Glacier National Park

Okay, I don't think I've ever done a post this long, but there were so many great pictures, I had to use a lot of them.  Our big trip this summer was up to Glacier National Park up in Montana, close to Canada.   It was a 9-day trip, from July 18-27th.  I spent close to a whole week getting ready to go on the trip and then quite a bit after recovering, too!  But, it was a great experience with a lot of good memories.  

The drive was long- at least 10 hours from our house, so we decided to split it into two days of driving.  The first day, Friday, we ended up not leaving home until about 6 pm so we only drove about 4 hours and it was a pretty late night after stopping to eat, too.  We ended up pulling over around 11 pm off the freeway somewhere near Dillon, MT. 

The next morning, we headed out again and arrived at our campsite around 3 pm.   I posted these pictures in of the kids in the truck on the way there because they were hilarious.  For the last 2 hours or so of our drive, when they were all getting so restless,  I was grateful for the iPad!!  What would we do without modern technology?  They were using the Photo Booth app, where you can take all kinds of pictures and do crazy things with them, such as stretching yourself in different ways or the kaleidoscope example below:

The kids called this one "diaper man".  They got such laughs out of taking crazy pictures of each other!!

Our campsite was a beautiful spot near Lake McDonald in the Fish Creek area.  We could walk to the lake from our site and were able to go on a few bike rides.  The scenery was so beautiful- I loved all the trees!  We had the opportunity of going on several beautiful hikes up there and some of those lakes were just breathtaking!   There were a few places that couldn't be done justice with a camera, comparable to something you would really see in a magazine or hanging on someone's wall.  

 Bowman Lake

On Sunday evening after church, we took a drive up to Bowman lake on the West edge of the park.  It was a dirt road for most of the drive, with huckleberry bushes all along the road.  I had to stop several times and pick them.  They were really good wild!  They have a bunch of shops up in the towns nearby Glacier that sell huckleberry pie and other foods made with them.  That was a lot of fun for me.  We had heard that Bowman lake had pretty good fishing and Aaron was hoping to try it out.  It turned out that on the day he went up with my dad and brother later that week, it was so rainy that they really didn't get much of a chance.  

We stopped at a lookout point on our drive over "Going-to-the-Sun" Road
and saw these mountain goats right off the path.  

On Tuesday, we did the hike to "Many Glacier", which was incredible!!  You have to drive clear to the East side of the park to get there, going over "Going-to-the-Sun" Road, which is simply beautiful. Some of those views were just breathtaking!  

Yee-haw, daddy!  Get movin'!  

 I had a lot of fun watching my boys go!  Whenever we go somewhere as a family, they are usually way ahead of Aaron and I, so it wasn't really a big surprise.  The challenge is mostly keeping them back with us and not running ahead too far.  The other challenge is that we are not all that fast, so staying together on the trail can be difficult!   Kyle went with my dad to scout camp this summer and hiked at least half of a 50-miler (the other half riding a horse), so for him this hike was a breeze.  What I was pretty surprised about, though, was how well Jordan did on the trail!  For only being 2 years old, he kept up pretty well with the rest of them!  On the hike to Many Glacier, he did at least half of it on his own, which was over 4 miles!  He was actually doing really awesome until he realized he could be carried.  After that, it was harder to get him to walk, but he still did over half of each hike, which was amazing!   I was also so impressed with Jared.  He did both hikes right up there with Kyle and I didn't hear him complain once.  What a trooper!

Heidi was such a trooper, too- always with a smile
on her face.  She takes her time to enjoy the view!

On this hike, we were also able to see a bear by the lake.   It was far enough away that we had to use binoculars to get a good enough view of him, but you could still see him up in the trees if you looked closely enough.  This was the highlight for Aaron and Kyle for sure!  I'm so glad we saw him before we left!   The scary thing is that he was right next to the trail we had hiked in on earlier that day.  It made us wonder if he had been pretty close to us at some point.   There was also a lot of other wildlife.  We saw a moose eating right by the trail, too.  

Beautiful Lake Grinell at Many Glacier

After our exhausting day hiking to Many Glacier, we spent one day hanging out at closer to camp.  We had a fun evening down at Lake McDonald playing in the water.   We rented a kayak and everyone got a turn to paddle around.  

There was a junior ranger program at the camp where we were able to go and learn from the rangers. Erika took the initiative to complete the junior ranger booklet and then she was sworn in by a ranger as an official "junior ranger".  That was pretty exciting for her.  She even got to do it on her birthday! 

In case  you can't tell, this is Kyle on the trail,
trying to camouflage himself as the "tree man". 

On Thursday, we celebrated Erika's eleventh birthday.  After a great breakfast, she got to open her presents.  Later that day we also had cake and ice cream.  

That day we also went on our hike to Avalanche lake, which was a shorter, 2 mile each way hike, but more steep up-hill than the Many Glacier.  The lake was so beautiful, but quite cold and windy that day.

I felt like I was walking through a movie scene from "First Knight" or
even "Lord of the Rings" in this forest.  It seemed almost medieval.  

Standing next to a giant uprooted tree! 

Oh yeah, I'm cool!  (Saggy diaper and all)

Big brother to the rescue at the end of the hike.

Erika with her usual beautiful smile and love for the outdoors

Overall, it was a wonderful experience and I am grateful for the opportunity to spend the time exploring a new place with my family and also the Michel family, too!

Jared and Heidi by Lake McDonald 

Camping in Mantua

With such a busy summer, we managed to take our trailer out on ONE camping trip just a couple weeks before school would start.  Where did the summer go??

The kids showing off the "fort" they made in the trees.

  It it always a fun adventure for us to explore a new place.  I like to travel.  I was blessed with a wonderful childhood and the opportunity to travel to many places with my family.  I have fond memories of road trips across the country both ways, and lots of camping.   I look forward to many vacations with my own family- road trips and also a lot of camping!
      And, I guess now that we are "trailer people" and own a camping trailer, we probably will never go back to tent camping if we don't have to.  I have to admit, it really is nicer!  And, I guess some would call it "not TRUE camping" in a trailer, but, hey-  it's still out of your element with 5 kids.  So, anything that will make it a little easier for me and more comfortable, I'M IN!   The only disadvantage to going with a trailer is that depending on the size of your trailer there are some sites you can't fit into.  But, you still get to pack up everyone and go somewhere new together, make new memories and get out into nature.

So, August 14th we decided to try a new campground and went to a place in Mantua.   (Strangely enough, it is pronounced "Mannoway", and I don't know why...)  Mantua is just up the canyon from Brigham City, so it is actually pretty close to home.  We headed up on a Wednesday so there weren't many people there that first night and we got to pick a nice spot.  One fun thing about the campground is the little stream running through, in-between the campsites.  We picked a spot by the stream and the kids had a great time exploring it.   The kids also like to make "forts" in the trees where they each have their own pretend "bedroom" and they can do this for hours!  

Jared helping hold the frog that Kyle caught.  We took 
him home and he put him in an aquarium in his room.  

I had a hard time keeping this kiddo out of the water.
He just loves it!

About 5 min. from the campground is the reservoir in Mantua.  I'm pretty sure it is man-made and there aren't a lot of beaches.  The one spot we found was pretty barren with coarse sand, but it was still fun.  The kids swam in the lake and we had a picnic lunch there.  Then, they relaxed in the sun for a little while.  

We brought our bikes camping and had a lot of fun riding them around.   I pulled the two little ones in the bike trailer around the loop over and over.  We got Heidi a tricycle for her birthday in hopes that it would be easier for her to learn the pedals.  One of my happiest moments of the trip was watching her finally figure out how to pedal a bike!!  We have been trying and trying all summer to help her learn.  Aaron even put a bike in the garage up on planks so she could just practice moving the pedals around.  For some reason it just wasn't making sense for her.  She has struggled her whole life with coordination and motor skills so it wasn't a surprise this would be a challenge.  So, for us this was a very exciting milestone!!  Once she figured it out, she LOVED it and wanted to ride and ride.  One fun thing was that the loop by our trailer kind of sloped down so she would ride the tricycle down and then I would hook her on to the back of my bike at the bottom and "pull" her up the uphill side.  

I know there is not much to see in this picture, but that is ME back there.  Aaron had challenged me to swim to that buoy and I DID IT!!  Amazing what you'll do for a swedish fish, huh?  (It felt like it was in the middle of the lake but I know it wasn't)  I was pretty proud of myself.  It was harder than it looks because there was some pretty creepy seaweed all over that really grossed me out so I basically just got to the buoy and then swam back as quick as I could!  

 

Camping in Logan canyon

We found a really cool tree on our hike in Logan canyon

The weekend of June 23-25th, we took a little camping trip up Logan canyon with just our little family.  It was our first trip for the summer and we were all filled with a sense of adventure.  We decided to make it fairly simple, "easy camping" is what we call it.

Erika and Heidi chillin' at camp

We stayed in the Left Fork campground in the canyon which is only a few miles out of town.  It has a small stream near the camp, small enough for the kids to have fun in but not very swift.  The second day we drove into the city and went to Toy Story 3, which was great.  (I have to admit that I cried at the end of the movie and I was looking around to make sure no one was watching.  It was very sentimental.)

Erika and Kyle being silly in the "fort" they made

The baby did pretty well on the trip.  He slept right by me in the tent trailer.  The most challenging one this time was actually Heidi, who tends to run off.   We actually had to put her on a "leash" for a little while when we were setting up camp so she wouldn't run away.  We went on a little hike up on the mountain off the road between Logan and Bear Lake and that was fun.  Overall, it was a success.

Me and baby Jared enjoying the campfire

Kyle playing with his animals