Montana Trip

We made it back safely from our trip to Montana. We had a wonderful time visiting with Aaron's family, including his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Most of our trip consisted of waking up early and heading out to Glacier Park, where we went on various small hikes with the kids, viewed many waterfalls, had picnic lunches, threw rocks into lakes, and fed ground squirrels. The Going to the Sun Road finally opened at the end of the week, so we were able to drive up there, see all of the snow still on the mountains, and do a little sledding.

The girls had the opportunity to see many animals that we don't have the chance to see here in Texas, including bighorn sheep, mountain goats, moose, and a black bear.

Aaron, his brother Nathan, and I (accompanied with our bear spray) headed out the middle of the week for a 6 mile hike into bear country for the guys to do some trout fishing. The 2 hour hike in, 5 hours of fishing, and 2 hours hiking out were a little exhausting, but the successful fishing made it worthwhile. Plus, we got to see a mother moose and her twins drinking water out of Cutbank Creek when we first started our hike-pretty amazing! I still can't believe that Aaron and I did that same hike twice, plus another longer hike all in the same week back in '05. It's amazing what a few years will do to your body!

I know Aaron is missing the mountains greatly, but hopefully, we will be able to make another trip with the girls in a few years. Thank you Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Smith for opening your house to all of us and putting up with a little chaos for 8 days. We miss you guys and feel so blessed to have spent time with you!