To start the day, we all took familiy photos at Lake McDonald for Georgia’s Birthday. It is always her birthday wish, which I think is very sweet.
Then the kids played on the beach while some of the grown-ups swam. Lily particularly loved swimming in Lake McDonald.
In the afternoon, we hiked St. Mary’s falls. I carried a sleeping Clarissa most of the way in. And she led the group most of the way out. As long as she was in front and leading, she was very motivated.
Today, Lily, Swathi, Sruthi and Mani got up early to hike Avalanche Lake. Lily was so taken by the beauty of the scenery that we ended up doing it again later as a family.
Back at home, Clark watched the children while I worked. After Lily and the group got home, she went on a hike with everyone while I worked, and some of the group took the skytram down the mountain.
In the evening, Lily and I took our kids plus Soren to the rodeo. Lily and Mary were particularly disgusted by the cruelty to the animals. I felt a little bad as well, but I also genuinely enjoyed the spectacle. It was incredibly entertaining and the skill of the Cowboys and Cowgirls was incredibly impressive.
Also, earlier today, Lily and I signed all the final paperwork to close on our home. I’m so profoundly grateful to be done with the process, that it sold for so much, and that there was such a good team in place to get it done.
Clark wanted to hike the 14 mile highline loop trail for his birthday and he invited me to go with him. I jumped at the chance. We woke up around 4 or 4:30 (I didn’t fall asleep until after midnight), and headed to Glacier in order to be done by noon and so that our drivers Sruthi and Mani could find parking.
We had so much fun on the trail and he is an incredible hiking buddy. We both moved very fast, jogging at times, and we covered all sorts of topics like health and dieting, how to keep a positive outline, the stages of grief, the media, the scandal at Michigan state, and the state of the world. The views along the way were absolutely stunning. At the top of the glacier overlook, I ate a brunch that I had been looking forward to:
On the trail, we crossed paths with another hiker whose birthday it was, and who was hiking with a happy birthday baloon. We took pictures of course!
While Clark and I were hiking, Lily, Swathi and the kids spent time at Lake McDonald.
Later in the day, we ate dinner and then went fishing at a fishing pond in Columbia Falls and celebrated Clark’s birthday with cake. We didn’t catch anything which was incredibly demoralizing to me. But as always, it was fun to fish and be together.
Today we took an easy morning and got some much needed rest. Here are some cute pictures of Clarissa and Lily in bed together.
Later in the morning, Clarissa played with Meera. Here are some cute videos of them playing together.
In the afternoon, we went to Whitefish Lake. It was so so so fun. We rented Kayaks, and I got to take each of our kids on a nice long kayak ride. I also did some fishing from the Kayak, as did Swathi, but we did not catch anything which was not surprising since we heard that fishing in Whitefish lake was not that good.
Today was our first day in Glacier with Clark and Soren. Swathi, Mani, Sruthi and Meera went to another part of the park that did not require a ticket for the going-to-the-sun road. We’ve been trying for days to get tickets for the going-to-the-sun road. The process is crazy! You have to be online at exactly 8AM and try repeatedly to purchase one of the 365 tickets that’s available. Because so many people are trying to do the same thing at 8 AM, you get error message after error message as you try over and over again to get through. Amazingly, Lily got us a ticket on her very first try. But Clark, Swathi and her family didn’t have the same luck, so only one vehicle was able to go up the sun-road. Fortunately Swathi scored aa ticket the very next day!
The first thing we did was hike a mile up the loop trail and then a mile back. We would have done more the the mosquitos were super intense! All-in-all, I’m proud of the kids for enduring as long as they did. As I sit here on the ride home catching up on blogs, I’m still scratching various mosquito bites that I got in Montano.
After the Loop hike, we continued up the going-to-the-sun road, which is one of the most incredible drives I’ve every been on in my life. It was so so so pretty. We stopped at a nice area for the kids to play in a stream.
We also stopped to check out some snow by the side of the road.
At the top, we scored a parking spot at the visitor’s center at the top, which was not easy, as Glacier was so so so crowded, and parking was a consistent challenge.
The hike at the top (Hidden Lake trail) was absolutely stunning. It was a boardwalk that occasionally went through snow. Mary and Clarissa were in sandals and their feet got very cold so we didn’t make it to the lake overlook, however, the trail, was absolutely gorgeous.
Also, here are some cute baby goats we saw on the ride home:
At the end of the day, we went to a delicious restaurant Clark found. I ate an insanely spicy bowl of Pisole.
On Sunday, we woke up and started driving to Montana. We amazingly arrived in Whitefish around 9:30, just before their firework show was about to start. We parked, walked to the lake and met up with Clark, Swathi and Sruthi, and enjoyed a magnificent firework show. I loved the ambiance, the perfect weather, being outside and with family, being so close to the fireworks, and seeing the lake with a lot of people in kayaks under the fireworks. The whole thing was very magical. It was a perfect introduction to what would be a very magical trip.
This week Lydia and Mary have been in an acting camp co-organized by Eliza Freeman. Today was performance day. The script and costumes were adorable as were the kid actresses and actors, and the entire thing pulled off very well. I was impressed with the craftsmanship that went into it, especially with such young directors, script writer(s) and actors. I think Eliza wrote the script, but I’m not sure if others helped. Lydia was a security guard and Mary was a young girl who awoke to no presents in the White House. Here are some pictures and the full 8 and a half minute video:
After the play, we went to brunch with Georgia. We ate at Magelby’s, and I loved it! I got an omlette and was very happy to finish off other’s french toast. It was great to see Georgia!
Also, here is a cute picture of Basil sleeping in his crate with his front legs straight up and his back legs straight back. Tomorrow we leave him for 8 nights. We’ll miss you Basil!
Today, the kids had ice-skating. Lily told me that Clarissa accidentally triggered the fire alarm, and it was loud and startled her so much she cried and cried. After she calmed down, she skated some more.
Later in the day, Jean helped clean some of Basil’s diarrhea off of the porch and Basil’s pee mat, and to say thank you Lily treated her and the kids to Cold-Stone.
For dinner, Lily, Jean and the girls brought Cafe Rio to Georgia and they all ate outside together. Georgia loved it, and Lily told me it was one of her favorite memories.
Also, here is a cute picture and some cute videos from Clarissa and Ammon playing with magnetiles together.
