I'm so sad that it's August already! The summer seemed to fly by. July was such a fun month, with pictures to prove it...
For the 4th of July, the family all got together for swimming and eating and even some sparklers.
The boys have been super into "Ninja Warrior" stuff. There is a cool place not too far from us with an obstacle course for kids, so Kelly and I took the boys there one day. They had a blast!
Eli went "glow in the dark mini-golfing" with CJ and Cooper one afternoon. This is a terrible picture, but they had fun! :)
Kelly and Heather and I took all the kids to Burger's Lake. It was so fun to watch them swim and play and exhaust themselves all day. :) This old-fashioned "swimming hole" has been around for ages- we grew up going there in the summer as kids, and not much has changed.
The boys built a "clubhouse" of sorts behind my dad's shed in the back yard. They keep a tank back there with turtles that they find. It's super cute.
As part of the "Ninja Warrior" obsession, Eli has been climbing everything in sight!
The big hi-light of this month was our family vacation to Glacier National park in Montana! We could not have asked for a better week- it was just perfect!
We stayed in a little town called Whitefish. It was picturesque- lots of great shops and restaurants and walking trails all over. On our first day, we walked down to Whitefish Lake. It was FREEZING! :)
Eli and I braved it for about 10 minutes and then couldn't stand the cold any longer! :)
Nothing says "vacation" like an ice cream cone!
On the walk back to our condo, Eric and Eli got into the river (also freezing!) and swam the rest of the way back!
Dinner our first night in Whitefish at a cute little burger place...
We drove into Glacier National Park the next day and were absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the views!
We did LOTS of hiking (almost 40 miles total during our trip!), and every single hike was breathtakingly beautiful.
We saw so many cool animals! Longhorn sheep, mountain goats, marmots, and even a moose! We wanted to see a bear (from a distance!), but there were none to be found.
More hiking...
This is Two Medicine Lake. Eric and Eli spent an afternoon fishing here while I hiked around the lake.
We rode horses one morning!
Fishing and hiking at Lake McDonald...
Swimming in the river near our condo... Eli also caught a 3-pound rainbow trout right off the dock here! Sadly, though, we have no picture to prove it! :(
This is one of the most "famous" hikes at Glacier- an 11.8-mile trail UP the mountain to a pack-in chalet at the very top. A good portion of the hike is along a super steep ridge where you need to hold onto a rope to stay on the side- we were a little nervous! But we were SO glad we did this hike- it was unforgettable!!
See the hand rope? The cliff drops straight off right there! Eek! :)
We were rewarded at the top with an INSANE view of the mountains and valley below.
We spent our last day at Lake McDonald again. We rented a boat and Eric and Eli fished all morning while I read my book- pretty perfect for all of us! :)
And we finished the day with paddle-boarding! Eli and I paddled WAY out into the cold, deep lake, and we even jumped off our boards and swam for a little bit. It was one of my favorite experiences of the trip, for sure.
Sorry for so many pictures! :) I couldn't decide between all of them! Thanks for reading/looking... LOVE to you!!
