It’s a while since we have been on our own as a family, and it actually feels kinda nice for this just to be about ‘us’. We didn’t really do anything major. Riding bikes and going to the evening ranger presentations, and general play filling our time. Oh, and eating. Always eating.
We wandered down to Lake MacDonald. No togs. We weren’t necessarily planning to swim. But with this guy in the mix, water always = swimming!And everyone else follows suit.Even me, trying to be brave with the cold water.I was clearly taking too long, and the kids decided it was time!Down I go. They thought it was the funniest thing, and probably, really, the only way I was going in!And then there was the stick whittling. They spent hours. I love that these kids are so pleased with the simple pleasures in life 🙂
Monthly Archives: August 2015
After a couple of nights at Talley Lake, we moved onto Glacier National Park. And were socked in by smoke. It ‘felt’ strange. The light was very orange, so it gave it an eerie feel, and there was no visibility. We were surrounded by stunning mountains (or so the glossy mags showed!) but we could see none of them. We were orange people, that looked like we had totally overdone it on the fake tan!!
So these little orange people of ours, jumped right on board when the park ranger told them about the Jnr ranger program. They got the booklets, and I have to admit, that I did an internal eye-ball roll. We had done the program when me and the kids went with my Mum and Dad to Yellowstone a couple of years ago, and though it is a really great program, it felt like hard work for ME then, and I wasn’t real keen for a repeat of that.
But they were 100% self motivated…..
They even took the booklets down to the creek so they could work on them around their exploring!They got the work done at lightning speed, and so needed to go take the oath and get their badges to make it all ‘official’This is serious business! Repeat after me!Check. Done that 🙂
The light with all the smoke is crazy cool. So orange, and it’s leaving me a bit stumped with what I’m supposed to be setting my in-camera white balance. Everyone’s skin looks orange too!!
From Koocanusa, we headed down into Montana, and to Talley Lake. I was inspired to check it out by careful studying of a map, and then looking on-line. Much of my inspiration comes originally from a map. A real paper map. Yep, I’m old school that way.
We wondered out loud as we drove in, what we would do if the forest fires came our way. It was SO smokey already. We felt like we drove a long way into the bush. The visibility was poor, and you could smell smoke in the air. Though there were some local fires in Montana, most of it was from way over in Washington State, where some big fires were burning out of control.
Not to be detered though, we found a spot in the campground, got set up, and headed down to the lake.
Hey big bro, let me hug you!!Right away, we felt like we were in the States. American’s are not Canadian’s!! These yanks are a different breed for sure, and the camp hosts were redneck Montan-in’s to the bone! We are only like an hour from the border, yet they hardly knew where Canada was. Their awesome drawl is just the icing on the cake.
We were biking down the road (above) to another part of the campground that was a couple of km’s away from where we were staying, and the hosts came along on their side-by-side. They thought we were crazy for biking, and thought I was mental for having Chelise in the backpack on my back. So funny!! We had a good chuckle when they drove away, especially because they couldn’t understand me in the slightest with my accent.
Neika hinted at going for a late evening swim, and I totally encouraged her because the light was so pretty for photography 🙂
A bit of a thunderstorm rumbled around, and the tiniest bit of rain, and somehow, amazingly, it totally cleared the smoke, and we woke up to the most amazing weather. It was the perfect temperature. I’d say about 25 degrees at a guess, and so sunny and gorgeous. We had a bit of bike maintenance (and dental work) to do, and we just really enjoyed taking it easy for the morning.
I enjoyed playing with my camera and the harsh/hard light.
After some lazing in the sun (we hardly ever do that!) we went for a bike ride to find the cliffs that our friendly camp hosts had told us about. Never been there themselves of course!! The smoke had started to come back again, but it was just a gorgeous spot and the kids really loved jumping.
And then some gorgeous evening light, and some cute kids to finish a really lovely day 🙂
Excuse my randomness…..we are now in Glacier National Park, a remarkably beautiful part of the world, and the picture I choose for today is of, um, peanuts! And kids. There is method in my madness though. There is so much smoke again that we can’t see the scenery. We know there is mountains there somewhere.
We had the teensy-ist bit of rain last night, but it was enough to clear the smoke for most of today. Such a stunner! We found some cliffs to jump off.
After spending a couple of days camping in our trailer at our friends ‘spot’ at Koocanusa, we are heading down to the U.S. It is smokey. Insanely smokey. We arrived at a lake, our camping spot in Montana, with the thick smell of smoke in the air from the forest fires. And while we were parking up, Neika and Chelise had so much fun playing together. What pure joy, and such a pleasure to watch.
I consider relationships with family & friends the sweetest thing in life. It is such a blessing to love and be loved. Yesterday we came and joined some awesome friends at ‘the lake’. They have 6 kids so life is fun for them too! Our kids just love their kids and their parent’s are pretty rad too, so it’s just all-round wonderful to hang out with them.
They had 3 hammocks set up, kinda criss crossing each other, and it was a favourite place to hang out!
So cliche I know…..but how is it her 2nd birthday today?!
Somehow, my baby girl got to be two today. I feel like it marks the moving on from baby to a much more grown-up stage in our family life. It’s bitter sweet.
My favourite way to celebrate birthdays is with our favourite family friends. We were joining our friends to camp at Lake Koocanusa anyway, so we turned it into a party.This little lady is named after the Chehalis River, with the connotation and meaning of spirited, energetic and sparkling. She certainly lives up to her name. She knows her mind and she speaks and acts it. Her common words are no, why and go (said with her pointed finger indicating which way). She loves to play favourites, and though she switches loyalties frequently, she loves and laughs with all her heart, with whoever is the person of the moment. She loves snuggles, trying to keep up with her big siblings and going for bike rides. She is very expressive – I love her facial expressions. She has a soft spot for babies and loves to be a little mama bear to them.
Oh Chelise-y girl we love you so 🙂 Happy Birthday!