Sunsets and other things

I love the sunsets in MT! So here is a few that I was able to capture with my camera....and a few other things the kids have been doing :)!!!

Posing

Here are a few pictures of the Mason and Heidi and a few of my moms flowers, that my friend Leesha Keener took while she was here in MT with us!  I have more I will post at a later time. 

                             Mason did all of these poses on his own..... :)

Bighorns in Wyoming

Last Tuesday-Thursday, Emma, Madison, and my mom headed to Wyoming to the Bighorn mountains, where she runs 36 or her 55 campgrounds.  On this trip she met with her camp hosts and did a little fence repair, and Emma and Madison road their bikes around the campgrounds and played in the creeks!  The girls had a wonderful time and are ready to do it again.  I sent the camera with Emma and she took all these pictures for me!  (except the one with her and Madison in it :))

The ALCAN day3

So on I drove through Edmonton and about 60 miles before Calgary I again switched with Leesha so I could sleep and Shelisa was feeling a little better and was willing to take care of the kids needs.  The smoke from the BC fires was thick around us and the sun as it was coming up was really red, which you will see in our pictures.  Leesha drove until 30 miles from the border, and I drove us through.  When we got to the border crossing at 3pm....The guy asked me for my paper from Chad stating that he would allow the kids to travel through Canada.  I explained to him that we did not, but we got through the other border crossing because they had talked to Chad personally and he said it was ok.  Then he asked me about food, firearms, etc.  I told him that we had apples, celery, and carrots in our cooler, and that I had frozen meet in the back.  He wanted to know what kind....I have moose, Salmon, and Halibut.  How is the fish packaged....vacuum sealed....does any of the fish still have skin on it....um yes the salmon does.  He told me ok, you will have to pull over to the side so we can check it out.  Ok???  So I pull over and I go in the building with 10 other people in front of me and I wait my turn.  When I get to the front the lady asks me if I have any paperwork documenting that I got this meat from Alaska.....Me: ummm, no.  She says: do you a hunting and fishing license....Me:  Uhh, no....my husband is the one that does all that!  She says:  well you know you need to have documentation so we know you didn't just go and get this meat from somewhere in Canada.  Me:  Well, I am sorry but I didn't know....I didn't even think about it.  She says:  does any of the meat have a name on it stating it is from Alaska.  Me: Yes!!!  Some of the Halibut does from the processing store!  She says: ok lets go look at it.   That piece of halibut saved all our meat from being confiscated!  Thankful for that logo!  All of that only took 30 minutes and then we were off to Great Falls, where we had dinner with my Aunt and Uncle...Shelisa's parents, and then we drove around looking at some gardens and the kids played at a playground before Leesha and the kids and I drove down to Bozeman.  We left at 8:30pm and got to Bozeman by 11:30ish.  We were exhausted but we made it, and I would travel like that again just because the kids did so well with it!

It should have been light and sunny but this is the smoke that made it just like clouds...

30 miles from the border and all the smoke is gone!  look at the endless plains.

Just leaving Great Falls, a beautiful sunset.

This is also just outside Great Falls

this is Mason drinking my newly discover Mocha Coconut Frappuccino from Starbucks....they did not have this in Alaska!!!   Oh it was yummy and Mason did not want to give it back!

The ALCAN day2

So the second day I drove to Laird Hot Springs, and on the way between Watson Lake and there, were a herd of buffalo, and one big horn sheep, and our first time of waiting for construction!  When we got to Laird we got out walked to the hot springs looked around and walked back.  I was not going to take 4 kids in there and then drag them out 30 minutes later screaming at me because they didn't get enough time to swim, and it was raining.  The walk was good for the kids as it was about 1/2 a mile round trip and we were not going to pay $5 per person to get in for such a short time.  I hope to stop there in March on our way home so that we can enjoy it with the kids and stay the night at the lodge or something.  So I drove for a little longer before I had to take a break.  Leesha drove for most of the day so I could sleep and Shelisa took care of the kids needs.  We made it to Fort Nelson by 3:30 and about 4:30 I took over the driving again so Leesha could get some sleep.  We arrived in Fort St. John at 8pm and we stopped and had dinner at the nicest McDonald's I have ever been too.  They had lounge chairs with a fire place to sit by, and the kids play area was a jungle fort theme.  Next time we go through I will be sure to take pictures.  The kids up to this point had been pretty well behaved.  There were occasional outbreaks of screaming by the girls over something silly, and Mason had an hour of screaming because he was ready to get out of the car and eat, but overall they were much better than I had anticipated!  After dinner Leesha and I loaded up on energy drinks and coffee in preparation for the night driving ahead of us.  We left Fort St. John about 9:30pm and I continued driving.  We had been through many places where the road construction had been but they were on the finishing stages of the projects.  The problem with this was that we usually hit these construction areas at night and there was one thing missing....road lines!!! Canadians I guess do not know about the reflective markers that you put down until the road lines are painted on...but ya, black outside due to clouds and smoke, and black on the road don't make for a good combination!  So that was one big obstacle of driving at night, the other was the smoke or rain that was around.  In British Columbia they had over 300 fires going and all that smoke was blowing into Alberta, and it was thick which made it hard to see as well.  With all the energy drinks I had (2 5 hour energy drinks, an amp energy drink, and coffee) I only made it another 3 hours before I had to switch with Leesha.  ( Shelisa was really not feeling well at and so we told her to just sleep so she would feel better....She was such a big help during the day with the kids and I really really appreciated it)  Leesha also had the same drinks as I did so she could be alert and able to drive, and I tried to sleep, tried being the key word!  Even though I could not keep my eyes open to drive I could not turn my head off to sleep, and so it was very unrestful, and not too much of it.  Leesha drove until 4am and was getting sleepy, so I told her to find a place to pull off and we would all just rest for a little while.  We sat there for 5 minutes and just stared at each other before we laughed and decided to keep going, because the energy stuff would just not let us sleep.  I took over, and found out we were still on Alaska time, so it was actually 6am, and we were 60 miles from Edmonton. 

looking out from the boardwalk walking to Laird Hot Springs

Big Horn Sheep

                                              Waiting in line for the road construction

Shelisa is still smiling :)

                              We had to get a picture of the out house because the sign was so cute :)