Taking a Walk

Last weekend was spent up in the Flathead valley with Erik's folks. We sort of got out of the smoke that had plagued the Missoula valley for weeks and enjoyed a beautiful weekend with family. We decided on Saturday to drive up to Lake Mary Ronan and take a walk/hike around the lake. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for a walk.

We all went, even Cody, of course. 

Lake Mary Ronan is smaller than Flathead, but it definitely has it's own beauty. We walked through an area with lots of cattails which had some cool fall colors going on.

It never ceases to amaze me how diverse and beautiful the landscape around Montana is. There's lakes, mountains, cattails, bushes, trees and so much more.

I'm truly grateful to live in such a beautiful area, and that we can drive just a few hours from our house to find such treasures.

Our dry summer was pretty obvious in the siltyness of the road at one point and the bushes and trees which were already turning so many fall colors. 

It didn't deter us in our walk however. 

Of course we had to stop a few times. Once to cross a ditch in which we found HUGE crawfish and once or twice to pet the pup. 

We finally got to the actual lake and spent some time chilling out there. Cody waded out in the water just enough to get his feet wet, but not too far.

While we skipped rocks and explored.

And, of course, just chilled out.

Once Cody was done in the water he came over to where Erik and I were perched on a rock and tried to crawl up into my lap. I didn't want a wet dog sitting on me, so I didn't let him.

So then he went over to Erik. Which is funny because he usually chooses me over Erik for some reason, probably because I'm the one home with him most days. Would Erik let the wet puppy, who was kinda cold and wet, sit in his lap?

Well, because under that hard exterior shell, Erik is actually quite the softy so yes, he let the cold, wet puppy cuddle with him until we left.

Seriously, though, how could you say "no" to that cute face?

We enjoyed this view of Lake Mary Ronan.

Papa and Grandma enjoyed hanging out with the kiddos.

Kiddos enjoyed playing with the puppy.

And puppy probably enjoyed the whole thing, but especially being able to cuddle with "Daddy".

And a good time was had by all. :)

My excuse

School had started and I was getting into a routine. I finally had some uninterrupted time during the day to do various things like clean, cook, workout and even blog. I was starting to get some ideas for cool things to write about. And then something happened.

One beautiful Sunday afternoon Erik came home with this soft and cuddly Golden Retriever puppy.

Whom we named Cody,

and have welcomed arms wide open wide into our home and family.

I've been a little busy being a puppy Mom and haven't been able to blog. But I promise that when we finally settle down into a routine and I have some time I'll tell you the story about how Cody came to us. For now just look at how cute he is!

30. Do an overnight pack trip as a family.

 After Erik and I had such a great time backpacking, we wanted to have the kids at least try it this summer. So we spent a couple weeks amassing the supplies to get a family of four into the back country. We bought the girls nice new kid-sized packs. We found another two-person tent online. Erik found himself a new warmer sleeping bag. I invested in dehydrated eggs, peppers and onions. We got the girls some camp utensils and some inexpensive sporty (wicking) clothes.

 

Then we made a big ol' mess in the living room as we figured out where to stow everything. The name of the game was lightweight and as minimal as possible. We filled the girls' bags with their sleeping bags, thermarests and clothes, including their life jackets for swimming in the lake. Erik and I carried everything else. Tents, food, fishing poles, etc.

We got up early and drove down the Bitterroot to Bakers Lake, near Trappers Peak. We'd done the hike on a Saturday the week before to scope out the location. The trail was only a little over a mile, but was mostly uphill. We figured we'd take lots of breaks and take it slow and easy for the girls' sake. Almost immediately Lindsay was complaining about the hike. Kera was pretty miserable too, but she hardly made a peep. We stopped so many times to rest. At first I was patient with Lindsay, encouraging her that she could do it, etc. But about halfway there when she kept saying "I can't do it" I got fed up with being gentle on her and told her to "Buck up" or "Put your big girl panties on and stop whining". I wasn't mean, just firm. I knew she could do it and all her talk about not being able to do it wasn't helping her.

Well, it took us a good two hours, but we finally made it to the lake. Once there we hiked an additional little ways around the lake to the other side where we'd scoped out the best camp sites.

Erik and I set up the tents and stuff while the girls chilled out on these big rocks. Lindsay was reading. (Yes, we packed minimally but books are a necessity in this family!)

It was a beautiful day and the lake is just gorgeous.

We spent the rest of that day chilling out. We swam a little, which was great, and ate our snacky lunch and cooked our camp dinner (tuna and mashed potatoes, surprisingly tasty!).

A couple of friends came up with their dogs that night, which was cool. The girls loved playing with the dogs. They had to leave the next day for work, but we decided to hike up to the other two lakes higher up from Bakers.

The beginning of the hike goes through a really moosey creek area.

The hike to Middle Lake wasn't too tough and the lake was beautiful. The girls definitely did better hiking without their packs, although we still had to have a couple "talks" about how there shouldn't be any whining.

Middle Lake

Once we got to Middle Lake, we decided to tackle the crest up to Gem Lake.

Scenery on the way

Gem Lake really does look like a jewel. My camera did not do it justice whatsoever. We sat on the grass and ate our lunch with this incredible view.

Then Erik did some fishing.

The water was so clear.

The wind came up and we got chilly, so out came the sweatshirts. I think Lindsay's hat and gloves are leftover from the night before. We hiked back down to Middle Lake,

and Erik tried his hand at some more fishing.

While the girls and I snacked and sang songs together. We played "Bad Singer Idol" and tried to compete to see whose singing was the worst. I totally won.;)

That night some other friends of ours came up, this time another family of four. The girls had fun playing with the boys, who are pretty near their ages. 

We hiked up to the other lakes again this day. I tried to take a nap at Middle Lake because I was seriously exhausted. The night before the temps up there dipped down below freezing and both Lindsay and I didn't sleep good. Our bags were not warm enough and we hadn't brought enough clothes. I wanted to cry in the middle of the night and really wanted to go home. But, I decided to push through and enjoy the day with our friends. I did learn from that, though. You can never pack too minimalistic to not include long underwear and/or some wool vests or coats and there's nothing like a good sleeping bag.

We came home and ordered me a warm NorthFace bag so I never have that problem again! There's nothing as miserable as not being able to sleep because you're cold. 

The hike off the hill was pretty easy. We had less stuff since we'd eaten for 3 days, so I took a majority of the girls' extra stuff, leaving them with just their sleeping bags and mats. Then, we were going almost all downhill, so the actual hiking was much easier. Lindsay hiked up ahead with the boys and talked the entire time, not whining once. Kera stayed with me near the rear and only complained of her legs being "trembly" at the end, which mine were too (that darn downhill). 

All in all, it was a fun and good trip. It's definitely not the girls' favorite form of camping, but there were parts they really liked and so I think we'll probably do it with them again. I'm very grateful to be able to mark this one off my goal list! :)