Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Montana: Day 6

Just joining us for the Montana recap?  Check out all of the posts here!

Day 6: we were on a boat...again!  A different boat this time, we took a pontoon out for the day! We also still had the jet ski, so the kids took that for a spin with Uncle Ben before we loaded up the boat for the day:


 Quick dancing break while getting ready that morning!


 The original plan was to head to Wild Horse Island; however, the weather had a different idea.  We made it about 20 minutes into the hour and a 1/2 ride by boat over to the island, and had to stop due to the winds/crazy waves.  Honestly, the normally very peaceful lake all of a sudden looked like we were in the middle of the ocean!  Water was sloshing all into the boat and the nose kept dipping up and down dramatically.  Our captain (Ben's dad, Dave) made an executive decision that the safer idea would be to turn around which would put us riding with the waves instead of against them, and head over to Bigfork instead. We knew nothing about this place, but at that point, anything seemed like a better option than what we had been doing!

 
Berkley, the co captain of the boat :)


Amy and Ben were riding the jet ski along side the boat (Amy gets super seasick) and took turns letting the boys on the jet ski.

 
 

We made it to Big Fork (as the waves grew bigger and bigger and the wind kept picking up) and enjoyed a picnic lunch before exploring.  I wish I had taken more pictures of the little town square area itself, because it was very cute and very much "wild west" theme. 

 
 
 
 
They thought this was hysterical!

After walking around a few shops and studios, we decided to take a break and grab some coffee and pastries, and sit outside and enjoy the weather (it was much cooler this day, probably in the upper 60s/lower 70s). The kids found some other kids to run around with, as well as rocks to jump off of, so they were happy to hang out there while the rest of us enjoyed our coffee and snacks.


We headed back to our boat while Dave tried to make an executive decision about how to get home.  The choices were to brave the winds/waves OR send 2 people back on the jet ski to then pick up 2 cars and drive (about 45 minutes) to come pick us all up.

He decided in the end that we could try the boat. It was definitely the better decision as far as being less of a pain that all of the hassle of going to pick up multiple cars while the rest of us waited there, but it ended up being quite the adventure!!  Since the front of the boat had kept dipping under on the way there, he wanted to put the heaviest people (and the kids, for their safety) in the back of the boat.  That left myself, Sally, and Ben's sister, Kelly, in the front of the boat, bracing ourselves against the waves (Ben's mom was also in the back, because she'd been drenched on the way over to Bigfork, being stuck in the front at that time).  Let's just say it was a looooooong ride home that resulted in me being blue in my limbs by the time we were done, and Amy said that the boat was rocking with waves crashing so hard that we looked like we were in an episode of Deadliest Catch.

Forcing some smiles in between waves!

Somehow, in the midst of all the chaos, Liam fell asleep on PopPop :)

 

We finally got to a point where the water was calm enough to let the boys off the boat and into the tube to tow them the rest of the way home

Look at those mountains in the back!

Even though I was freezing, I did take the jet ski out for a spin with Brian when we got back....and after that, it was straight into the shower and cozy WARM clothes for me the rest of the night!!  It was our last night (sniff, sniff) so there was another fire and Kelly's husband decided to introduce the kids to "snipe" hunting.  Not familiar with snipes?  Don't feel bad...most people aren't :)  Turns out, snipes "come out at night" and "live in wood piles" and can "break through paper bags" :)  The kids had a BLAST with him!!

Dave's mom, Sandy, with Jake, Liam and Brian

Snipe hunting time!! 

That was our last full day...I'll do a wrap up post next!

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