Whitefish Lake - Memorial Day Camping Trip

Hey y'all - 

I waited so long to make Memorial Day plans that by the time I got my act together and decided that we should put together a camping trip with our friends, the only campground in all of Montana that still had three spots available was almost three hours north on the outskirts of Glacier National Park. At the time I booked the campsites, the Weather Channel (or "That Evil Cabal Of Misinformation," as I now refer to them) was predicting clear skies, highs around 77 with overnight lows in the 40s. They were zero for three, because it rained every day and was crazy cold and we basically spent a long weekend in a mud pit. But boy was it fun!

Here are the pictures I put on Instagram from the weekend, which give a pretty good glimpse of the fun had by all:

Bigfork, MT

Awesome girl. having an awesome time.

"OK, you can hug me. But I do NOT want any kisses."

Rained all night. They didn't notice. 

A Hebrew National religious experience. 

Camping is so much fun, it can blow a 6 yr old's MIND. 

"Well, *I* think we should go get ice cream. What do YOU think?"

This one I captioned: "Note to self: If you don't want to wake up in a muddy, 30-degree tent in the middle of the woods, maybe don't marry a furry mountain dude named Thor." That one got a "like" from the Montana Parks Service, so I suspect someone there has also been in this situation. 

Soooo much mud. 

Canadian Geese

"MOM! We need to go cheetah speed!" I am too old for cheetah speed.

When you travel with preschool teachers (or gorillas) everyone gets checked for ticks and lice.

This one maybe had the most fun of all. 

Miss Katie is practicing the fine art of piddleboarding (not a typo)

This one I captioned, "Y'all, I can't imagine packing all this crap up tomorrow. I think we live here now. Y'all come visit."

On day 3, I was so tired of having wet feet that I asked your dad to drive me to the dollar store in a nearby town so I could by the only shoes and socks they had in stock. 

Correy, taking in the lake. 

I asked your dad to see if he could dry my shoes off by the fire. He accidentally toasted them. We didn't notice 'til we saw they were smoking. 

We went for a great hike on the Whitefish Trail:

There was a fun Kids vs. Grown-Ups baseball game. The kids named their team the Saber Tooth Rattlers...or maybe it was the Titanoboas...something scary like that. Basically, the kids are better at marketing.

We set up a hammock at our campsite, which was a big hit. Let's face it: we brought one of everything. You dad said when we pulled out of our driveway that we looked like we were on our way to invade Canada. 

The biggest hoot was when I pulled out a bag from the dollar store and revealed that I'd bought glow-in-the-dark ears for each kid. I told y'all they were cheetah ears, and you could all become a roving pack of cheetahs. Hagen's big on cheetahs lately, and Finley's brain is packed with cheetah facts.  

We lost Hagen for a second, but quickly found him chatting up some teenage girls.

This is maybe my favorite photo from the trip:

...because it sums up exactly how I felt most of the trip. But I'm so glad we pushed through, and held on in the rain and the cold. Because we drove away with nothing but great, muddy memories. 

Right, Ella?

Love,

Mom