Chase is TWO!

What?! Chase is two! Time flies when your having fun. So we had some friends over to help us celebrate Chase's birthday. It was fun and Chase loved all of his gifts!

MMMM, cake!!

Here he is opening his "Bat-mobile".

Big Boy Bed

I have been working on Chase's walls for quite some time now and the task is completed (unless we have another boy, then I have to add to it). Then, we finally got him his own mattress and he has been sleeping downstairs for about a month now. However, I have just gotten around to taking pictures of the everything.

Kailey's First Day of School

Kailey's first day of school was August 24th! We can not believe it, she is getting so big. She is doing great and loves every day of it.

On our way home

We headed out of Glacier National Park on Friday and headed to a big water park in Columbia falls. It was so very nice there as well as appropriate for all aged kids. (Thanks Nathan!)

Kailey went on all of the slides all by herself. Tana would go on a few but when it came to the bigger ones, she wanted mommy or daddy to go with her. Even Chase went down slides (with mommy or daddy, of course!).

Mommy and Chase taking a break from the water.

Family picture right before we head out.

After our fun in the park, we headed to Danette's house. She is a very close friend of ours who lives in Lakeside (very close to Flathead Lake). It was so nice to see her, it has been to long. After she showed us around her beautiful home, fed us, and then we hit the sack!

The girls thought it was so cool to play in a tree house in Danette's back yard.

(Tana was just fine, she just "shook it off")

The next morning Danette took us to see a boat show down by the lake and then it was not long after that that we were back on the road heading home. Thanks Danette for all of your hospitality! Actually we were going to Seeley Lake for the night.

We lucked out because it looked like we got the last spot open in the campground. Whew! Anyways, once we were set up, we went swimming for a little while and then had a campfire.

We got up early the next morning (Sunday) to actually go home. There was a long drive ahead of us and we got all the way to Bozeman, MT, and then (we now know) we blew a head gasket in the truck. We pulled over and it was not long that a nice police officer helped us out. He called a tow truck and got us on our way. We took the truck and camping trailer to the dealership and then rented a car to get home. Why? Cause Kailey's first day of school was the next day!! Thank God, we all made it home in one piece that night!!

Vacation in Glacier National Park - Apgar

So come Thursday morning we got up and moved our camper from St. Mary's to Apgar, which is on then other side of the park. We were lucky and got a very nice spot to set up our camper, which was just walking distance to Lake McDonald.

Once we got all set up we headed down to the lake. It was so very beautiful with the such clear water. We decided to rent a boat for an hour and go out on the lake just for fun. It took a little while for the girls to get used to the boat, but Chase had no problem!!

Helping Daddy drive.

After our boat ride, we took a LONG drive through the Login pass. It was so long because of the road construction that was going on. It was a nice drive and gave the kids a chance for a nap before our next stop.

We got to a little walk to an overlook of a mountain and we found a mountain goat just tucked in the side of the mountain behind us. It is amazing how those animals are able to climb the way they do.

Here is the overlook.

Another picture spot.

Vacation in Glacier National Park - St. Mary

So we got up early Wednesday morning and started on our drive to St. Mary's Campground. It was a short drive and what beautiful scenes! Words escape me of how to describe such a beautiful area.

We parked our camping trailer and then we were on our way toward Logan's Pass Visitor's Center, we drove right by St. Mary's Lake. We had to stop and just marvel at how clear the water was.

Once we got to the visitor's center, we took another mile and a half (3 miles round trip)hike toward Hidden Lake. They had built a "Board Walk" for all of the visitors to walk on in order to preserve the rest of the area. We climbed so many stairs on the "Board Walk" till we got to Hidden Lake Overlook. This hike is well known for seeing mountain goats and big horned sheep. We saw both, but was only able to photograph the mountain goats. In fact, the mountain goats were right on the path we were. There was even a momma and her baby. She finally moved just enough for me to snap a picture.

This guy was just chillin under a pine tree.

Here it is, we finally made it to the overlook of Hidden Lake. What a gorgeous site. We stopped for some snacks and drinks. I think the kids had more fun with feeding the little chipmunks than taking in the scenery.

This is the peak of one of the mountains overlooking Hidden Lake.

As we make our way back, one more snap of the scenery.

As we were making our drive back to our campsite. We made several stops; here is one of the 26 remaining glaciers that still exist today called Jackson Glacier.

Then we made another stop for quick hike to St. Mary's Falls. Only 1.6 miles round trip. This one did not seem nearly as long, even Chase wanted to walk a little. We arrived only to see a few young people jumping in the water off of the bridge over the falls. The water was really cold I do not see how they did it. However, the water was so blue.

After that we drove just a little down the road to see Sunrift Gorge. It was so cool to see.

We were just taking in the scenery and the beautiful water.

Here is Tana playing in the water

The water from the Sunrift Gorge follows all the way down to this which is part of the Baring Falls.

After all that, we were all bushed and made our way back to our camping trailer for dinner, then bedtime.

Vacation in Glacier National Park - Many Glacier

It has been a very long time since we took a family vacation and so we decided (a very last minute decision) to go to Glacier National Park.

After a friend's suggestion (Thanks Danette), the first day we decided to camp at Many Glacier. We arrived there on a very late Monday night.

Then Tuesday morning we got up and started out on a one and a half mile hike to Red Rock Falls. It was beautiful weather, not to hot and not to cold.

Taking in the view of the lake that Red Rock Falls travels into.

Shortly on our hike back to our campsite, there were a few gentleman with spotting scopes set up and they were looking across the valley at the other mountain. So we stopped and discovered they were watching a hand full of grizzly bears (in different areas). They were kind enough to let us look through their scopes. Unfortunately we were unable to take any pictures cause of the distance. However, I would rather see a grizzly from that distance! LOL! It looked like there was a momma and her two cubs, but the cubs weren't little anymore. Then we saw a few more scattered in different places.

Further on our journey back from Red Rock Falls, other on-coming hikers were telling us that there was a family of moose down at the Fishtail Lake. Just a little walk off of the trail from Red Rock Falls, not far from our campsite. It was really cool to see all of them. It seemed like he was showing off for all of the visitors.

This picture isn't the best, but there is a elk right in the middle. We thought it might be a bear, but after looking closer at the picture closer on the computer, we discovered that it was an elk.

So after lunch and just some down time we went to explore the Many Glacier Lodging. There is a lake for all to view from the lodge. It was very interesting to walk around and see the many pictures of the history in just this area.

Chase sitting down and puckering up his lips for a kiss. How big he looks in this chair.

As you drive up to the Many Glacier Lodge you cross a bridge and this is the view as you cross, on one side.

And this is the falls from the picture above. I love seeing God creation.

Right after taking the picture above we drove just a few seconds down the street and spotted a black bear. I tried zooming in as much as I could and this is the best that I could do.

What a beautiful camping area and definitely going to be a family favorite for a long while.