Paige turns 10 July 2014

   

Paige is double digits.  Watch out here she comes.  For her treat she wanted strawberry short cake and ice-cream.

Daddy gave her flowers for her birthday.  Isn't that a cute picture.

Grandma arrived to surprise her on her birthday.  She had no idea she was coming it was fun.  Grandma also came to help us out while Bri and I were at girls camp.  Thanks Grandma!

                                                 Opening presents is always fun.

Continuation of Last day of Glacier National Park

Here is the continuation of our last day at Glacier.  I would go back any time.  It was amazing!!  The views are unlike any I have seen before.  If you haven't gone yet I would recommend it.  Here are a few more pictures of our trip but believe me it is just a few.

The water was nice and cool which felt good on this hot day of hiking.

The kids enjoying the view before we went on our hike.  On this hike we saw three waterfalls and all of them were breath taking.  I will remember this hike for a long time because we followed a grizzly bear.  It was very large.  We would have turned around but we were with a large group and we were all making a lot of noise so the bear just kept going until it finally went down into the river.  It was a neat experience.  We also saw two deer on the way back up to the car.

Look at how cute these kids are holding hands.  The kids held hands a lot more then normal on this trip.

The cool breeze felt good from this waterfall.  The water had a blue tint that just made it even more amazing.

After seeing the three waterfalls we continued on the Road to the Sun.  We pulled off to get a picture of the Glacier.  This is the closest one we had seen thus far.

Brianna enjoying the view.

Here we are at Logan Pass.  Yes you are seeing correctly.  That is snow in July.  At the lodge there wasn't any snow.  The farther we climbed up the more snow there was.  It was a board walk but it wasn't all uncovered as you can see.  If you remember from the past post Ryker and I only had our flip flops to hike in because of a little stream.  Some of the other kids had put their flip flops on after our last hike.  We didn't expect to be able to hike in a glacier.  It was amazing but very cold.  When was the last time you hiked in shorts and flip flops and did it in the snow.  Neat experience!!!

This rock gave some of us a foot warming station.  Which was much needed.  It was very slick especially coming down.  Shane had to bring some of them down because they kept falling.

The last stop was unlike any other.  It had a large lodge and at one part it had this little door.  Bri decided that it was the Harry Potter door.

There were lots of these cute ground squirrels.  The kids thought it was fun to chase them back into the ground.

Another amazing sight was this large lake.  The water was not to cold and the kids could have stayed there all day.  Next time we will start there so the kids can have more time.  Unfortunately, Shane had to work the next day and we had a long drive home so we couldn't stay for more then an hour of so.  

This waterfall was one of many along the road side.  We even went under a few on the road.

At the Lodge they had a pay phone.  The kids haven't ever seen one before so we had a little talk about what it was and that it cost money to make a call.  It's funny that something like this was exciting to them.

Another little furry friend.

Here is the lodge that I was talking about.

All of us got into playing in the water.  Except Shane just wanted to stand on the rock and not get wet.

Bri throwing a stick.  The boat in the background was one you could go on a tour.  It would have been fun but with the lack of time and the cost we didn't do it.  Maybe next time.

This flag was at Logan Pass.  It just was beautiful.   I am so grateful to live in this wonderful country!

Here is the sign we saw as we left the park.  Beside it was this fire hydrant I liked how they dressed it up.  What do you think??

Glacier National Park Day three

As we started out our last day we  had a lot to see.  Each full day we were there we probably hiked 7-10 miles.  Thankfully it was made of of several hikes broken up so we had some time to rest between spots.  We made sure we had sunblock and bug spray on.  Most of the places we went didn't have bugs but it is better to be prepared then itchy.

One of the many breath taking views on the drive to the sun.

The water always had this blue tint.  They said it was from the glaciers braking down the rocks and the minerals made the water look blue.  I wish all  water looked like that.  Some of the lakes around here could use a make over.  Hee hee.

On this hike we went on the parking lot was up above and then we hiked down to see a waterfall and then you can decide on continuing on with the hike to see two other waterfalls or going back.  We were so amazed by the first one we took a vote and everyone wanted to continue.   If you ask any of our kids about this trip they will tell you about the grizzly bear.  Yep, a GRIZZLY BEAR!  It was big and on the path ahead of us.  Luckily we were with a large group of people.  Lots of noise was made

and the bear kept its distance.  The kids loved seeing the bear so closely.  After we saw two of the waterfalls we started hiking up to the third one and Lauren got a bloody nose.  With no tissues with us we had to resort to finding a big fuzzy leaf.  She wasn't to happy about that but it did the trick. The way back up to the car was a long journey with some hand pulling we made it and were so glad to see the car.

We were lucky to have some people take some pictures of our family.  The breeze from the waterfall felt so good.  It was really hot this day.

We had so much fun on our trip.  I will post the last of day three later.  I need to take care of the kids.

Glacier National Park Day Two

Day two started out with great anticipation.  We ate breakfast, packed a lunch and headed out.  We were amazed all day at the beauty we saw.  I can't tell you how many lakes we saw but there were many.   The kids did really good for three days we were there.

At Many Glacier we walked all around the lake.  It lake was super clear.  

After Hiking all morning we stopped and had lunch.  The kids enjoyed getting food and running around on flat ground.  Kids climbed trees and spun in circles.  There were times of getting rather warm and then were able to cool off by the water fall.  It was fabulous. 

There was this one trail that we decided on that looked easy for the kids.  It was to walk from an old rangers station around a lake.  Well it started out with weeds as tall as us.  We didn't know quite what we had gotten into.  Just a little into the hike we ran into a couple that had decided to turn around.  They asked us if we had bear spray we said "no."  They gave us some. Just in case we ran into a bear.  That made us think are we doing the right thing?  The trail wasn't well marked and it was a true adventure.  Once we got out of the tall weeds we came to a meadow that was blooming with flowers, the trail seemed to fade in and out along the trail.  At one point we thought are we even on a path?

WE  WERE SO GLAD TO SEE THIS SIGN!

The sign told us what way back to the parking lot.  The path from here on was well marked.  We did have a little accident crossing a stream.  Shane was ahead with some of the kids and I was with Ryker.  He had gotten really tired and needed help standing on the little stones crossing the stream.  Well lets just say it ended up like this below.  We were lucky to end up with our shoes on.  The mud almost kept them.  Some other people were not as lucky as us.  There were shoes left behind from other hikers.  To keep Ryker and Lauren hiking we had to make up a story about our muddy shoes.   I don't remember what it was about but it worked and we were all so glad to get to the car.  After this day Ryker and I wore our flip flops for the last day of hiking. Which ended up being ok.  I'm sure our shoes would have made things easier but I didn't want to put my foot back into that.

This waterfall was on a rocky ledge which the kids had a hard time getting to.  Brianna and Shane were the only ones to hike down to where they could touch the water.

It seemed like if we were in the car for more then a half an hour we would find them like this.

We saw this license plate in one of the parking lots.  I bet you haven't seen one like this.  It was real!  After this day was over we went back to the cabin and ate dinner.  The kids watched a movie and then we went to bed.  One more day of our wonderful trip.

Glacier National Park July 2014

The first day of Glacier was a long day.  It took most of the day to travel and unload into our cabin.  The cabin was on the North East side of the park.  It had a small area for fridge and microwave.  A tiny table, a love sofa and a queen bed.  The kids all slept on the floor and couch.  We were all grateful for the bathroom to shower and get cleaned up. Everyone slept great because we were so tired from our adventures.  It was a little chilly the first night out.  After we unpacked we decided to go see a little bit of the park.  We were amazed by the beauty and it made us excited do more hiking in the morning.