Montana, Part 1: Flathead Lake and Kalispell

We are off to our "summer vacation" week!  Mountains and lakes being my happy place, we decided to again take advantage of Iver's Fourth Grade National Parks Pass (which expires at the end of this summer) and travel to Montana, mainly to see Glacier National Park, one of my favorites (I last visited some time in the nineties with my parents/grandparents, probably over thirty years ago).

We drove from home to Santa Rosa to fly directly the next morning on Avelo to Kalispell, MT (about 2 hours).

 

Santa Rosa hotel snuggle

When we headed from the airport to the town of Whitefish, we felt right at home (Eureka is a town close to the Canada border in NW Montana)!

    

We were surprised by a flash rainstorm at Whitefish Lake, but there were kids in swimsuits at the "beach"! 

After a major downpour, we took the kids to the Amazing Fun Center outside of Coram, which boasts the first human-size, two-level labyrinth (built in 1987). It took us about 50 minutes to complete (getting "stamps" at each of four towers), nowhere near the record time to finish! 

The kids also enjoyed shooting (and attempting to dunk) at "Bank Shot."

Amusing Montana bathroom signs!

We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Kalispell, which had a fun hotel pool for the kids...

... and a large stuffed bear.

On Sunday, we headed about 45 minutes south to Flathead Lake, the largest body of freshwater (by surface area) in the western US. 

We rode a shuttle boat for about 20 minutes to Wild Horse Island, which boasts wildlife including five wild horses (legend has it that Native Americans hid them there in time of war, or they walked over when the lake was frozen), along with a large herd (flock?) of bighorn sheep and many deer. 

We wandered for several miles on the island from Seeko Bay (some on marked trails and others not), searching for wildlife (for fun but also for our "points" game).

Deer (5 pts!).

Right at the end of our hiking, where we lunched and before we were picked up, we saw a large number (60-70 or so) of the sheep and lambs (they look like deer as their horns aren't very developed) down near the lakeside at Seeko Bay. 

We drove around the lake and ended with a short afternoon hike on the NW corner near Bigfork at Wayfarers State Park.

Another deer! 

We had a wonderful ramen meal in Kalispell...

... followed by some classic Montana ice cream at rated Sweet Peaks (I tried the flavor Huckleberry, a native berry, and it was delicious!). The temp was in the 80s during the day but cooled down quickly, hence me in the layers.

Next up: East Glacier!

Humboldt Flag Football Kickoff

Iver is very athletic and into most sports (including, most recently, basketball), but football has become his "true love," after watching a lot with Kelvin last season. He has his own ball, and receiving gloves, and plays a lot at school with his buddies.

He (and then Niall, too) wanted to sign up for summer Flag Football in its second season. I was not very supportive, given the odd practice times (4:30 on Wednesdays for both boys!) as well as the fear of injury, but the kids have been so excited (I delegated 100% of the ride and scheduling/coordinating to Kelvin). Their first games were this Saturday at Hiller Parkb (at the same time, actually!).  The official rules of Flag can be found here.

Iver's team, including a few of his rising fifth grade buddies from school, is pretty stacked, with very athletic Max (who played QB), Xander (a fast runner) and Joah and heavily outscored the opposing team 57-0. Iver had some great sideline runs for scores as well as at least one receiving TD from Max, although the video is not uploading well here.  I watched the first half, and then K and I switched.

Niall played with the littler kids and was nervous to compete, but ended up scoring all of his team's four touchdowns on running plays and stopping the other team's runner at the 1-yard line several times on defense! I was so proud of the littlest guy for carrying his team, working hard on both sides and trying this new sport (although with his 1% physique, I don't think football is really his sport. There's no kicking involved in Flag!).

We'll be spending many a summer Saturday (thankfully the games are only an hour each, although not always at the same times) at Hiller, hoping for nice sportsmanship and few injuries! 

TWO-TH and aging up!

Niall (finally!) lost is first lower tooth about a month ago, at almost seven and a half!

Tooth #2 (TWO-TH) came out this past week after more intentional wiggling, and his "shark teeth" behind them are very apparent (and growing). He feels all grown up!  

We're not the kind of parents that prepare for/ take a lot of "milestone school" photos. I had to leave early on Wednesday for a first thing c-section and Kelvin made these with help of Kat and a photo editing program!

Onwards!

Redding 2025: Wet (, Hot) & Wild

We have been making an ~annual trip to Redding to visit the Water Works water park for the past few summers.  This weekend, a "Moms' trip [with Dads brave enough to join]" was organized by Shannon. 

There were many one-way traffic stops due to roadwork along the 299, but we got to Redding around 5 p.m. on Friday to check in and enjoy the Red Lion hotel pool, which is apparently (per Shannon) the best in Redding (we've also previously stayed at AirBnB rentals or the Home2Suites).

We spent the whole Saturday at Water Works, albeit without many photos, enjoying the water slides and pools on a ~105-degree day.  Niall, who we'd thought would have a ton more fun this year as he recently became a confident swimmer, was kind of grumpy and spent a lot of time in the cabana, but Iver had a blast running around with his friends, and we enjoyed the refreshing water, too  (Hudson was the only one brave enough to ride the "Avalanche," a U-shaped slide with a steep drop, with me).

My friend Alyssa and her husband Rob/daughter Alina also joined us from Chico (about an hour south of Redding), which was lovely! For the past few years, I've been doing an evening virtual Bible study with Alyssa and a few friends so I *feel* like we connect a lot, but seeing her and catching up in person was a treat! 

Upon exiting the park, we swung by Burger King for some (not overpriced) soft serve!

In the evening, we went to the Botanical Gardens near Redding's famous Sundial Bridge to visit "Glowing Wild," a lantern exhibit, on its last open day. We tried to wait until close to sunset so the glow effect would be better, but our kids generally go to bed so early (8-ish), we didn't want to push it too late.

The crew on Sundial bridge

Lots of informative plaques about the animals and plants featured accompanied the beautiful glowing lantern art.

This Morning Glory blew smoke rings

Spider!

Whack-a-mole Crab

Gen-X parents will recognize this toy!

The effect was definitely better when we departed, ~9:30 p.m.! 

Until next year, Redding!