Glacier-Montana-Idaho Haub Family Excursion July 2017

This trip was exhausting, fun, worthwhile, and it'll be quite a few years before I venture all the way to Glacier National Park again. 

We started the trip on the morning of the 4th of July driving straight to visit Sheehan's grandparent's Shanda & Don Furniss in Rexburg, ID (Terri Walker's mom and stepdad). They have a huge, beautiful green yard that is just a dream. The kids loved playing on their property after an hour's drive and they especially loved Grandma Furniss' dog also named Lincoln. We had burgers with them then ventured over to Gaye Bush's house who I believe is my Dad's great cousin (Gaye Bush is Uncle Gayle's daughter who is Grandma Marjorie Haub's brother). 

We all arrived and parked our campers on Gaye's property and were able to visit with her a time before leaving to get our spot settled at the firework viewing area. The crowd was massive getting to the fireworks but we parked strategically and had our map ready for our escape plan. There was NOT enough food for all the people so that was a disappointment and I had to wait in line for 40 minutes for the port-a-potty. Otherwise, the kids had a great time playing and the firework show was most definitely the largest firework show I've ever seen. The Melaleuca Idaho Falls show does claim to be the biggest firework show west of the Mississippi and I think that was accurate. They had the radio synced to it with presidential quotes and highlights from soldiers. I teared up a little. Devin brought his dog Reeford and Ezra held Reeford while he shook so scared during the firework show. It was so sweet. The firework show was very well done. There were over 100,000 people so it was crazy parking and just an astronomical crowd but so worth it. I'd go again in a year or two and it's only a couple hours away. 

Gaye and Her Mother

The next morning we woke up and got on the road to get to Butte, Montana. We kept expecting the weather to get cooler and cooler the farther north we got and that just wasn't the case! I kept reassuring everyone we'd be relieved of this hot July sun once we hit Glacier National Park. It was in the 90's there! I could not believe. We had to cut the trip short from exhaustion dealing with the kids and the heat!

Alyssa, Julianne and I read the book, "Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune" for bookclub. One of the mansions she grew up was in Butte, Montana called "The Copper King Mansion" so it was the perfect stop to catch a break and take the tour. The kids were a little restless throughout the tour but I still enjoyed the stop. We ate some popsicles at a local park before getting back on the road again.

The next stop ended up being our FAVORITE and now we know to just stay at this hidden gem and not bother camping in Glacier. Tamarack Resort at Seeley Lake Montana was amazing! You camp right on the lake. They had full hookups (no hookups or cell service in Glacier). I think they even had wifi. We are most definitely going back. It was beautiful! We spent one night here and there was an earthquake that shook the campers. I wasn't sure if we should be worried like a tree was going to fall on us or something but Dad reminded us all we were safer out in nature than inside a building. We spent longer than we intended at Tamarack Resort because it was just that awesome! Beside the mosquitos, (that were rampant everywhere) in Montana and Glacier it was the best part of the trip. 

We eventually drove in to Glacier National Park and did our first short hike. Unfortunately the stream we were expecting was all dried up and the "lake" was also about gone so it just looked like a mosquito ridden marshy pond. We ended up at Lake McDonald Fall though which was roaring and beautiful. Shortly after the sun started to set, we had to pick up the kids and run back to cars to get away from the swarms of mosquitos. We managed to get into a restaurant last minute to eat some dinner but we were too late for the ice cream. We piled back in our cars and made our way back to our campsites in Apgar Campground. We found the most difficult part about visiting Glacier is their tram system is overcrowded and their parking lots are also full so it's hard to get out to stop and see the sights. We were additionally a little impatient trying to keep the kids entertained while waiting for trams. Yosemite's tram system is far better than Glacier. 

The next day in Glacier we thought we would explore Apgar Village a little but their visitor center was really just a help desk and gift shop. So we got on the tram to head to Logan Pass the midpoint of the park. The views were amazing and fortunately the kids were so wore out they fell asleep (except Lincoln) on the drive up to Logan Pass. In our short time visiting the pass we actually saw quite a bit of wildlife. Ezra decided to throw a tantrum and was so upset he didn't see he was backing up right into a big horned white mountain goat. That was a little scary. Then we saw a crowd gathering and a nice stranger let us look through their binoculars to see a mama grizzly with her baby bear. The visitor center at Logan Pass was again quite small. We didn't trust the kids to be able to scale the snow that was on the mountain trail to a scenic overlook so we skipped that and headed back to get some dinner before going back to the campsite. We ended up at Lake McDonald lodge because we heard of the conspiracy of Hitler living out his years there and that there were swastika's (which there were). The kids enjoyed just throwing rocks into the frigid water on the Lake and the adults enjoyed that we finally had a moment to sit where the kids could just explore and play. Like I said earlier, it was SOOOO unexpectedly HOT and a couple family members were flu-ish so we decided to cut down one day at Glacier and head home early.

We made a pitstop in Missoula, Montana to see the entirely handmade carousel. Again it was so hot, but the kids enjoyed the ride. The men picked up some food at the Notorious P.I.G. restaurant in Missoula which ended up being really, really good! We got on the road again and ended up at the Marriott back in Idaho Falls so we could get real showers and sleep in nice, clean beds before trekking home. We swam in the hotel pool the next morning then headed home.

 It was a great trip and we saw a lot in the amount of time we had. The kids were so happy and loved being with their cousins and Poppy and Gigi. It makes me tired just looking back at the pictures but they are good memories. 

4th of July at Grandma Bev's

 We love going to Grandma Bev's house for 4th of July. Her view of Utah Valley is unparalleled. We don't usually do fireworks in front of her house as it is only legal to do very small fireworks. We mostly sit out on her balcony and watch the entire valley light up. I just love this picture of Grandma Bev holding Lincoln on her lap. He loves his Grandma Bev.

Dinosaur Monument Vernal, Utah with the Haubits

Devin and I decided to take a trip to Dinosaur Monument in Vernal Utah. A little over 3 hours from our house. The kids are still so little it makes traveling really exhausting but we insist on trying to get out the house and do fun things. My parents have been storing their RV from my childhood on the side of our house and in exchange we have free use of it. The only problem is that every time we take it out something breaks. On this trip we got to our KOA campground and hooked up the water. Sheehan worked on setting the water up as I set up the chairs outside. Suddenly I was getting shot by a stream of water starting at the hole in the kitchen faucet neck which shot through the side door and straight at me. I started screaming and Sheehan yelled, "what is going on?!" from the opposite side where the water hose hooks up. He came running around to see the water shooting from inside the motorhome to outside. Without running water inside the motorhome we ended up cutting our trip down to an overnighter instead of two nights. The kids always felt like it was such a treat to sleep in the motorhome though. 

The dinosaur monument visitor center and museum was impressive. We carpooled in Devin's suburban to the visitor center. We watched a film and our kids so were rowdy the people around us were visibly annoyed. We all did our best to enjoy the sites with 6 kids under 5 years old but ultimately we were so, so tired from our little, little kids and headed home. 

 

 

 

Lincoln turns 5!

Lincoln has grown so much this past year. I'm loving 5 year old Lincoln.
Lincoln loves the color blue. He has a blue beanie boo ty kitty that is his favorite security doll. Every week at show and tell (he calls it "special show and tell") he bring kitty. It has huge eyes so my Mom calls it Ugly Kitty which Lincoln objects to it being ugly but he does giggle every time Gigi calls it Ugly Kitty. He calls the stuffed cat, Mittens.
Lincoln is a great big brother. He loves his baby sister Rae. He'll pick her up, put her on the couch, sit next to her (usually touching heads together) and occasionally kiss her on the cheek. It is so, so sweet.
Lincoln has finally decided he wants to apply himself to learn to read. His preschool teacher and I are thrilled! He came back to school from Christmas vacay and sat down and wrote his name out like it was no big thing. Prior to that he wouldn't even try and would just whine that he didn't know how to do it while dramatically letting the pencil fall out of his hand. If he doesn't want to do something, he doesn't.
Lincoln hates soccer. Absolutely hates it. He thought everything was fine and dandy at soccer practice then we started the official games. He freaked out almost immediately and didn't like that there was only one ball. At the most recent game we had him try to be goalie. I had to pick him up and carrying him onto the field and place him in front of the goal and he tried to run off so I told him I'd stand behind the goal near him. Meanwhile Vance and LaRae were constantly running onto the field. I couldn't keep the right kid on the field and the wrong 2 off the field. He was kinda ok with the goalie job until the kid swarm came toward him, the ball entered the net, he barely missed blocking it with his foot, and again immediately broke down in tears because "he can't do it" he said. He broke his arm just before the spring half of the season started so we had an excuse to miss half the games. We won't be doing anymore team sports until he can ask me to do them. He's going to try out karate and swim lessons this summer. That'll be the extent of our organized sporting this year.
Lincoln stays in his bed most nights. He went through a short, but terrifying for him, phase where he was terrified of mosquitos. I pulled up a couple videos on Youtube showing him what they were and that he likely wouldn't even notice if a mosquito bit him. He calmed down a little about it all and stopped having nightmares.
Lincoln only likes certain foods. Corn dogs, chicken nuggets, cereal (life, froot loops, cinnamon toast crunch, cap'n crunch), mandarin oranges, watermelon, peaches, pears, and mashed potatoes. We have him try new food and he vurps (vomit+burps) in his mouth just about every time. He has also come up with a ranking system and will give the new food a thumbs up, middle shaking thumb for so-so, and a thumbs down. 90% of the time it's a thumbs down.
Lincoln is borderline obsessed with Minecraft. He will play on the tablet ALL Day LONG playing Minecraft or watching minecraft youtube videos especially this annoying guy called Stampy Cat. Obsessed. This worked out for us when he broke his arm and we needed to keep him sitting still for a couple weeks to not bump the set arm bones.
Lincoln loves to play xbox with Sheehan. They play lego batman together. I play Sonic racing game with him. He's pretty good at the video games especially for being barely 5.
Lincoln loves to play with all of his cousins. He also really likes one boy in our ward/neighborhood named Brock.
Lincoln's favorite family vacation is to Las Vegas (He calls it Las Begas). He loves playing with his cousins. All of his favorite people on one hotel floor and swimming in the hot tub all in one trip makes it the best trip ever for Lincoln.
We love our big Lincoln boy. He just gets better and better!
This adorable pic is from picture day at school so technically not his birthday but he is 5 and it's the cutest school pictures I've ever seen.