Gates of the Mountains

We headed to the Gates of the Mountains on Thursday morning.  We arrived just in time for the 10am tour.  The kids were excited to get on the boat.

The cousins came too.

We are ready for our tour...it's a 2 hour tour.  The last time I was here was when I was 9 years old.  Our tour back then stopped at a little picnic area and some kids threw rocks at bee hives and we were all attacked by the bees...something I will never forget!

Nana and Papa were ready too.

Emma took most of the scenery pictures; it helped her not get motion sickness.  Here we are heading towards the gates.

There were lots of bald eagles...they were so pretty.

Twins.

The kids loved the tour.

Emma got a picture of the Native American drawings...so cool.

Here the gates are closed.

The tour guide turned the boat to show us how the gates are opening.

Isn't that cool!  The gates are open!

We were distracted by a young eagle with a fish!

The gates are more open now...so cool.

We also learned about the gulch fire that happened August 5, 1949.  This was one of the first fires where the foreman set a backfire to stop the gulch fire from getting to him.  Unfortunately his crew did not follow him and thought he was crazy starting another fire so many of them died.  It was quite the story.

Here you can see the gulch in the background.  We learned a lot; our guide was an amazing storyteller.  It was so fun. 

On our way out we saw "The Sleeping Giant"...can you see it?  See his nose on the right and his mouth underneath and his chest and belly on the left...this is something I remember from when I was a little girl and we used to go to Helena.  

Mini Golf

Papa treated us to a night of mini golf one evening.  Marcus thought this was pretty cool.

Olivia actually got a hole in one at one of the holes.

Marcus did pretty well.  I can't believe we've never taken these kids mini golfing!

Emma loved every minute.

Cute grandparent/grand kid picture.

I have not done this in a while...I forgot how much fun it is.

I thought this was cute with all the grand kids and Papa looking on and Nana hits her ball.

We had a blast...Papa was the winner of course but it was so much fun!

Relaxing

We spent a few days relaxing while in Great Falls.  Nana and Papa have some great areas to relax...here we are on the front porch.

The kids found some sidewalk chalk...this is Olivia's Welcome sign.

Olivia also drew some emoji's.

Olivia took over the front half of the sidewalk...here are some flowers and a butterfly by her.

Next up...a smiley sun by Emma.

Emma also drew a bunny picture...there were lots of live bunnies at Nana and Papa's house.  They are just wild bunnies running around the neighborhood...crazy!

Olivia was busy...this one is hers as well.

This masterpiece was done by Marcus!

Emma did the squares with the names.

Olivia finished it off with another welcome.

Papa and Marcus played some badminton...looks like fun.

A great night for relaxing!

Giant Springs

We planned to go to a buffalo jump but Nana heard there were lots of rattlesnakes out there so we decided on a visit to Giant Springs instead.  We brought some toys for the kids...badminton!

The girls played on one team.

They played Riley and Aiden...it was a good game.

They all had an amazing time...Marcus kept score.

It was a rough game...so fun!

We went over to the fish hatchery to check out the fish...there were a lot!

The kids found some change by the food machine so they all got some fish food.

The fish were fed well.

Nana with her grand kids (well some of them anyway)

Picture perfect.

What a fun tree!

Me and my babies...

We ended up going on a hike and found some little falls.

Hi kids!

Riley led the way...it was a great hike above the river.

There were no rattlesnake reports around these parts so we felt safe.  What a fun day!