End of Summer Vacation

The kids and I took a little road trip to Kalispell to visit the Jones family. We visited a few stops along the Montana Dinosaur Trail, traveled Going to the Sun Road and had an amazing time with the Jones family. 

We started our trip Friday afternoon and drove to Choteau. The kids and I stayed at the Stage Stop Inn, a very nice place that I highly recommend if you ever find yourself in need of a hotel in Choteau, MT. Why Choteau you may ask? Well, I have goal to stop at all the places along the Montana Dinosaur Trail and the Old Trail Museum in Choteau and Two Medicine Dinosaur Center in Bynum MT were easy stops on the way to Glacier. 

Sean and Mikayla both enjoyed seeing the exhibits at both places. 

 Snacks and DVD players make for easy travel. 

 The state is very dry and signs of fire were everywhere along our trip. 

 But the back roads of Montana provide beautiful scenery no matter what the weather conditions. 

 We found RAIN! I think it's been 40 straight days since we've seen rain so it was nice to find some along our travels. 

 Egg Mountain. A site of a very important dinosaur discovery. The first site where dinosaur embryos were found. 

After an hour and a half swim in the pool a little T.V. time and snacks were in order. 

 The next day we headed to Old Trail Museum.

 Mikayla was a little afraid of the Maiasaura dinosaur. 

 Sean's favorite dino the Raptor and it's comparison to a goose skeleton. 

 Heading into the bear's den!

Mold of a bear paw and bear traps. Sean knew what they were immediately and I asked him how he knew and he said he saw it on Jack Hanna. Guess TV can be educational. 

This board compared the items of old to what they would look like today. Mikayla lifted this up and said "nooky". She didn't think the old version was as good as the new. 

 The farmer's market happened to be going on so we stopped and got some fresh Flathead cherries for our trip. 

  We left Choteau and headed to Bynum MT and Two Medicine Dinosaur Center. They were undergoing a lot of renovation but they still had some very interesting specimens. The gentleman that was working on the new exhibit was very friendly and explained a lot to us.
This is a Seismosaurus the largest dinosaur. This one was 137 feet long! It was huge and a very interesting site to see. 

 We learned how to tell fossil from rock using our spit and thumb. If it's fossil it sticks to your finger. 

 

They had a very interesting discovery in this piece they were working on, dinosaur skin. 

 Sean said this was fossilized cinnamon roll. Mikayla smelled it to see if that was true. 

From Bynum we headed to Glacier National Park to take the Going to the Sun Road through to Kalispell. The drive was nice until Mikayla got car sick. I guess too many chips, gummie bears and a winding road is not a good combination. 

We finally arrived at the Jones' and enjoyed some time playing outside. Mikayla got over her car sickness fast and rolling down the hill didn't seem to phase her. 

 A little snuggle time before bed and the first attempt and trying to get a picture of all 4 kids looking at the camera. 

 Cleaning car seats is not my favorite thing to do. 

The next day it was cloudy and rainy (yeah for rain!). We decided to head up to Big Mountain and try to do the alpine slide. We first headed up to the top of the mountain on the ski lift and looked around the nature center they had.

 

It was a little chilly at the top. Gorgeous views even through the smoke and clouds. 

On a clear day you would be able to see all the peaks represented in the glass and read which peak and elevation you were looking at. Not on this smokey, cloudy day. Maybe next time. 

 Sean put on a puppet show and enjoyed seeing the animal fir and paw prints. 

 Luckily the weather cooperated when we needed it to and we were able to go for a ride on the slide when we came back down from the top of the mountain. 

Lisa's mom joined us for the day so each of us could take a kid down the slide as they were not quite big enough to go themselves. 

Lisa and Mikayla had no fear and were the fastest. 

 Mike said Sean and I where the slowest, I say we just enjoyed the ride. 

Monday we headed to Glacier Park for a nice picnic and walk at the Trail of the Cedars. As usual I enjoyed nature and looking at all the vegetation, while Lisa mocked me for being such a science geek. The kids did really well and enjoyed time at the river throwing rocks. 

Attempt #2 at getting all kids in a picture and looking at the camera. As you can tell Oscar wasn't even into standing there. 

 Sean was so proud that he was able to walk across the log all by himself. When the other kids wanted to try I had to go with them and I think I was more scared than they were. 

 

 

 Attempt #3 at a group picture. At least we got a good picture of Oscar and Gwen together. 

 The bark on this tree was huge! The science nerd in me was fascinated. 

Attempt #4 so close and probably the best one the entire trip. 

  Picnic by the river. 

A stop at Apgar for some souvenirs and huckleberry ice cream. 

Attempt #5 and #6 they were over pictures at this point. 

After we left the park we headed to the Lake for a little boating and fun. It was a chilly day but the kids still took in some tubing and swimming. 

 The next day we did a little decorating of Lisa and Mike's new house. For some reason she always waits for me to finalize her decorating. I don't mind because I get to do a little bit of my fun passion while on vacation. We then took the kids to Chick-fil-a for lunch. My co-workers have been bugging me about not having eaten at one yet. Kalispell just got the first one in MT this spring so I had to make it a point to stop there. 

After lunch we headed to the lake for another round of fun in the water. 

This time we did a little paddle boarding, and had a fun adventure when we went to take the boat out and do some water skiing. We couldn't get the boat to start! We drifted close to other boats and I ended up having to swim the boat away from shore. We called Lisa's aunt to come and tow us but then her boat wouldn't start! Luckily a neighbor came to our rescue and towed us to the dock again. Sean got in the water and swam back to shore with me and I was very proud of him for facing his fear of the deep lake water. 

I think someone was meant for lake life. 

Sean faced his fear of the deep water again and even tried water skiing! He did such a great job and stayed up the whole time. He had a look of terror on his face and didn't crack even a smile until we were back close to the dock. Lisa was helping Sean get ready. 

And he's off! So proud of him. 

It was time for us to head home. We made a quick stop in Arlee to see the Ewam Garden of 1000 Buddahs. It is a very interesting peice of beauty to see in MT. The garden was beautiful even this late in the year. I wish I know more about Buddhism as I think it would have been good knowledge while walking through. Overall an interesting stop. 

It was a wonderful vacation and I enjoyed spending time with the kids before the hustle and bustle of the school year starts. Thank you Jones and Berkram Family for another wonderful vacation!