Our Summer Vacation to Montana - Day 5


Day 5
Kalispell and Bigfork, MT
Today we had a slow start as we were awaken with a sick child at 3am, who did not quite make it to the bathroom.  It took us a while to clean up the mess and then to get back to sleep.  Dave had planned to hike Mt. Aeneas with Michael and Josh at 9am, but discovered that boots and ice picks were still required for the trip.  Unfortunately the unusually large snow back, coupled with late snow had caused the trail to still be covered with snow in many places.  Having not brought our winter snow gear, the trek up the mountain was cancelled. 
After our restful morning we headed out to Kalispell to go to Wal-Mart and have lunch.  We enjoyed lunch at Hu Hot and discover that we have now eaten at Hu Hot in three states.  Since we were in Kalispell we decided to show the boys were Grandma Rosi had lived before she moved out of state.  We then went to the cemetery so that Rosi could see the headstone where Dave’s dad is buried, as it had arrived after her departure from the state.  
Next it was time to head to Bigfork.  As you may remember from earlier in our trip, this is the town that Dave spent most of his childhood in.  We went to Wayfarers State Park.  This is the state park just on the other side of the hill that Dave played on growing-up.   We met Michael and RJ at the park and found a perfect location right by the water.
The boys played in the water. 

Within minutes one of the floatation devices had a hole.  Three boys and one inner tube did not work well.  Dave suggested playing with a log and trying to float on it.  This ended up with one of the boys having a bloody nose.   Dave really wanted to take Josh to the rocks to do rock jumping.  Rosi looked at me and said “you’re not going to let him do that are you?”  I explained that Dave was one of the most cautious people I know, when it comes to his children.  If he felt that he would be safe then I was good with it.  With that we left Rosi sitting by the beach and headed to the rocky area. 
Josh wanted Dave to Jump first.  So Dave made the first jump. 

Then Josh followed after him.  Dave was waiting below to make sure he surfaced. 



Ryan and RJ thought that they wanted to jump.  They both started several times to jump and then planted their feet at the end of the rock and refused to go. 

Ryan finally agreed to go holding on to Dave’s hand.  A father’s hand makes the scary times feel safe and helps you to accomplish the impossible feeling tasks.  At bedtime we discussed with the boys that God is like Daddy was with Ryan.  God holds our hands through the scary times and He will never ask us to do something that He is not right there with us for!


RJ decided that he wanted to go.  Josh agreed to hold his hand.  In hindsight it probably would have been better to have Great-Uncle Dave hold his hand.  At the very end RJ went to stop, however, Josh had committed to the jump and in default so did RJ.  RJ was fine and made it just far enough out.  However, he was not eager to jump again.  He did state that it was fun to jump.
We ended out day shopping in Big Fork and having dinner at Dairy Queen.  Dave and I enjoyed huckleberry blizzards!  Then it was home and into bed by 10pm which was early for us.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Little Robin

Image
Working from home has brought me the opportunity to increase my appreciation of my home and nature around. Every year a pair of robins tries to build a nest above my front door. Normally we keep cleaning it off and work hard to keep that nest from forming above the door, but this year I decided to let them construct their nursery. Everyone was excited when four little blue eggs were added to the nest and we all watched eagerly, waiting daily for the eggs to hatch. Then one day, we saw one of the robins bending down and sure enough, four little birds were in the nest. They were so small that their beaks did not even reach the top of the nest when they opened their mouth for their parents to feed them. Day by day they grew until we looked yesterday, and it almost looked like four grown robins in the nest. They started bantering for spots and occasionally moved (or were pushed) out on to the window ledge. It seemed like overnight the birds had grown from helpless to ready to leave.
Read more

The New Puppy

Image
Hi, my name is Jean Luc.   13 years ago I was adopted into the Nolan family and became Laura and Dave’s first child.   Life was great for the first 3 years.   Then one day they brought home a baby.   I punished my mom for 6 months and would not sit with her.   Unfortunately, it did not work and the baby stayed, so I gave up and went back to sitting on my mom’s shoulder.    So we all settled into life. Three years later they showed up with another baby.   By this time I had learned how to ignore these little people and it really did not bother me.   They did their thing and I did my thing.   Turns out that only worked so well.   I guess boys want dogs and my being cranky was not working for them. Ryan kept begging for a dog.   My parents almost gave in last fall, but when they took me to meet the dog at the humane society, I acted scared and my mommy felt bad for me.   But then this weekend happened.   Nana and Papa took mommy and the boys to a pet expo, next thing I know is
Read more
Image
Good Bye By Bandit Since Jean Luc was the one who introduced me to this blog, mom decided that I should be the one to write the goodbye to my brother.  I joined the family 3 years ago and during that time we became good buddies.  At first, I do not think that Jean Luc was very fond of me, but in the end, we could often be found sleeping side by side.  I would also run and wake him up if he did not wake up when the family came home, so that he would not miss out on our family time.   Jean Luc's was much older than me, in fact, he would have been 17 years old on July 7th. My mom and dad joked that he was their first child, at least that is what it felt like when they first brought him home and he woke them up at night.  When you look back on it the fact that Jean Luc and Dave and Laura found each other is a miracle from God in the first place.   It was Labor Day 1999, and Dave and Laura decided to use the long weekend to visit Dave's mom, Rosi.  Since it was a 1
Read more