Metheny Family Roundup: Montana

To celebrate my parent's 40th anniversary, our whole Metheny family gathered for a week-long reunion at High Meadow Mountain Ranch, in Montana!  What a memorable trip it was!

We haven't flown as a family since Eli was just under 2, so the kids were VERY excited to fly on an airplane!  In his attempts to find us the best deal that included no crazy early or late times, David booked our flight to go from Indy to San Diego, then San Diego to Spokane.  NEVER EVER EVER will we want to save money that badly.  San Diego was a nightmare of an airport!  It was jam packed (the way there and the way home).  We were also on Gate A, which for some ridiculous reason meant that we had to exit the terminal and go back through security AGAIN!  ONLY that gate had that rule!  We only had a 40 minute layover in San Diego, and having to go all the way through the airport to exit and to take our HUGE amount of stuff and our kids back through security was such a bear.  There was no time for a bathroom break, and certainly no time to get something to eat.  The other big problem of traveling was Clara's issues with going potty.  She will NOT use restrooms unless they are at home.  It was pretty stressful having this issue on the trip, because even WALKING into a bathroom would cause her to start a panic attack.  She started out being a little more willing to use a bathroom as long as it was a private one-room family bathroom.  But then even that grew fear and anxiety in her (she's terrified of the flushing noise).  When I took her and she wouldn't go in the toilet I convinced her to at least go in the sink (of a private bathroom).  That worked until the automatic water came on, then it was another thing to be scared of.  Embarrassingly enough, sometimes David had her go in the trashcan of a private bathroom.  Yeah, so disgusting.  But what do you do?  Eventually I just put her in a pull-up while traveling.  I didn't do that though until we were beginning to make our landing on a flight and she was completely freaking out because she had to go to the bathroom and she wouldn't (and couldn't, because the seat belt sign was on) use the toilet.  Phew!  Such a crazy start to our trip!

Besides for the potty problems, the kids had fun flying.  Ezra did surprisingly well for only getting in a couple of very short naps.  On the two flights out David sat nearby with the older two and I was fortunate enough to have very nice ladies to sit by (and me be on the aisle).  Ez was able to take little naps falling asleep to me nursing him.  The flight to Spokane had me by two grandmas who just fawned over Ezra.  They both held him and played with him and he loved them right back!  That was so helpful.

(Most of the pictures were taken by David with his film camera, which he worked hard developing, scanning, and editing himself.  I have some mixed in with my basic camera, too.)

They sure loved the moving walkways!

Thought it pretty nice to get snacks and juice on the plane.  :)

Eli drinking through his missing tooth hole.

Read lots and lots of books!  Brought sooo many activities.

 We spent a night in Spokane.  We ate a late dinner (the kids got to bed late every single night of the trip.  And late in the west means WAY late on our Indiana time!  The next day (Monday) Ezra woke up at around 5:00/5:30.  He's not an early waker at home, but of course we were 3 hours difference and he was in a foreign place.  To keep it quiet for the other kids to sleep, I asked David to take him out.  I thought David would just hang around the lobby with him (he left in his pajamas).  But I didn't know that instead he walked quite a ways to go see some Spokane waterfalls and take pictures, ha!  I thought that was so funny he did that with Ezra in pjs and no shoes.   When they got back we enjoyed a yummy hotel breakfast (a must in our requirements).  Later that morning David took Eli and Clara back to those falls while I stayed at the hotel so Ezra could nap.

Afterwards we drove a few hours to Montana.  On our way we stopped at Kootenai Falls Swinging Bridge in Libby, Montana.  This was something David had researched and wanted to see.  It was a pretty good hike and then a bit of an intimidating bridge to walk across!  But we made it!

They were so nervous!  We were VERY high up!

I was foolish and didn't change into my tennis shoes!

We stayed the night in Missoula and Tuesday morning we drove to Glacier National Park.  The area that David had heard that was really beautiful to see was sadly closed off.  We did a LOT of driving, not really knowing where to stop or what to see. We didn't have much time because the reunion had started and everyone was there except us.  (Everyone else did Glacier a few days before the reunion.  Somehow we missed the memo and weren't able to get there sooner.)  Finally after a long time of driving I saw a spot by Lake Mcdonald that we could easily get out to play around.  The kids were SO happy to be out of the car and out in nature!

To add a little fun to the hours of driving in the car I had wrapped several small simple gifts for the kids to open: sticky slap hands, slinkies, windmills, bubbles, candy necklaces, etc. I had thought that we could open one new gift every hour(ish).  HA!  That didn't work out at all as I thought.  Basically as soon as they opened one they were begging for another!  Like they couldn't BEAR the thought of there being presents and not being able to tear into them and have them right then.  So that was a bit frustrating.  But it was still more fun than not having presents at all.  ;)

We rented a minivan for the trip.  That was such a lifesaver!  At home we drive 5-seaters and there is definitely more car-fighting when everyone is squished with no space for themselves.  When we got back home Clara kept asking us, "What happened to our van?"  Haha, I wish we could have kept it!

The drive was SO beautiful!  So lush and green.  I snapped a quick picture while we were driving.

Video of the lake--

Our always-social Eli naturally made friends while at Lake McDonald.  There was another family who had a girl, Hannah, who was his age.  He played with her out in the water and they worked very hard digging together in the sand and rocks.  David wasn't with us much at the lake because he wanted to go around Glacier a little more to take pictures.  Sadly he was stuck in the car much more than photographing.  I was at the lake with the kids on my own for hours, not knowing when he'd be back, and without any food/drink!  Anyway, he finally came back to us and then it was on to the reunion!

We somehow ended up going a different/wrong way to the ranch the family was at.  We ended up driving on the "9 Mile Road" for 19 miles.  This was a rocky, narrow, one-way road up a mountain that we had to drive snail-pace on.  It.Was.A.Nightmare.  It was getting late, and it felt treacherous to be on that drive, like at any time our car could plummet down a ravine.  We sad lots of prayers, especially when we got a bit stuck once!  So thankful we made it out of there!

The location of the ranch we stayed out was absolutely beautiful.  There was no cell service or tv, so it was really awesome to have a whole week of NO ELECTRONICS!  I don't think anyone missed it one bit, we were having too much fun!  There was plenty of space for everyone.  My parents, Becky, and her friend Dave stayed at the main house (it had three bedrooms).  The main house also had the large kitchen where everyone gathered for meals, though we'd break up the gang with some eating inside at the table and some outside at the picnic table.  The large barn which was a few minutes walk from the house was where all of the big kids slept (in a room with tons of bunk beds), and also Beth/Adam, Emily/Pooch/, and David/Laura (in our own rooms).  Our room had a big enough closet to put Ezra in a pack 'n play.  Clara slept on our floor.  Eli started the week sleeping in the bunk room, but that backfired when he had a huge meltdown from lack of sleep, so then he also moved to our floor.  Ryan and Jeri stayed in their own small cottage.  The barn had a small kitchen we a little, and a large gathering space (that had a pool table, ping-pong table, air hockey, etc.) we played games in at night after the kids went to bed.  It also housed a raquetball court and a hot tub, and no shortage of bathrooms.  Some other things on the property were a pond/canoe, chickens (David found Clara one day playing in the chicken coop, with poop all over her feet, ha!), a trampoline, a simple playset, volleyball net, etc.  There was so much land around us.  The kids would all just take off and play.  It was so good for everyone!

Since Adam and Beth were able to drive from Seattle, they brought a ton of stuff with them--stuff to play ball/catch, stuff for playing at the creek, stuff for shooting off bottle rockets, toys and books for the little kids to enjoy while at the house, play-doh, dress-up clothes, etc.  And Becky's friend Dave brought his two four-wheelers with them, too, which were a big hit to ride on.

Eli riding with Aunt Becky and cousin Holly.

Late in the week David and I managed to escape for a quick ride on our own.  Fun to do that together.

This picture makes it look like I was driving!  Ha!  No, never drove myself, just hung on for dear life!

On Wednesday (our family's first full day at the ranch), most everyone except the young kids (had to be at least 5 to go) and I went on a raft float trip down the river.  (I didn't think Ezra would do well with strangers in a new place with me gone for six hours.)  Emily and Pooch were not on the trip because Pooch was terribly sick and she had to take him to the ER (thankfully he would be okay, but unfortunately spent most of the reunion sick in bed).  Beth had found a couple of babysitters to help out at the ranch for a couple of days.  The group had a great time on their rafting outing!  Eli jumped into the water and was so cold he got right back into the raft!

Thursday's big event was horseback riding!  A woman (VERY gruff one) brought some horses to the ranch that we took turns going out on rides on.  She led a group at a time on different paths up and around the mountain and trees.  I had really hoped that David, Eli, Clara, and I could ride at the same time, but by the time I got over there David and Eli had already taken their ride and Eli didn't want to go again.  I was so bummed about that!  Clara was very very nervous and worried about riding.  She did not want to go!  I was pretty sure she would love it once we got going.  We got her on a horse with me (our group was us, Dave on a horse, Becky on a horse, and our trail guide.)  We went on a pretty long ride, around 30-40 minutes.  It was really fun!  At times our horse would start to pick up speed into a gallop and I'd say, "Woah, woah!"  and then just start laughing as it finally slowed back down to a trot.  Clara would laugh, too, and say "Bump bump bump!"  It was gorgeous scenery and a really fun ride.  The whole time I wished David and Eli were with us, but it was still a great experience.

Before we took our ride we watched my Dad try to mount a horse.  As he was doing so the horse began moving away and my Dad fell off!  Thankfully he caught himself so he wasn't hurt too bad.  His whole pant leg was covered in manure, though.  The kids were hilariously concerned about Grandpa having poop on his pants.  He was pretty sore after that, and the trail guide woman handled the whole thing pretty poorly, but he still managed to try again with the horse later that day and take a ride with my mom.

Adam and Ben

David showing Ezzie the horses.

Clara got to help brush the horse.

David was happy when he could steal a kid away for a little while to take some photos.  :)

That evening we had our family pictures taken.  It was a humorous experience, as the photographer wanted us doing some cheesy poses that weren't really in our comfort zone (mostly with me and my parents and siblings).  But he did a beautiful job and we're happy with how they turned out.

David snapped a photo of me and the kids while we were walking to get pictures taken.  :)  The boys looked so cute, I wish I hadn't blinked!  

Laura, Emily, Rebecca, Dad, Mom, Beth, Ryan

(David's photo)

The photographer wanted David to hold me piggyback.  This is a pose we have never done, and getting there was quite humorous.  

Friday morning we played a whole-family whiffle ball game!

Later that afternoon we went to creek-stomp.  The water was FREEZING!  It was really hard to get used to it.  Ezra was back at the barn napping (there were people who periodically checked in on him).  Eli really loved playing at the creek.  He and some of his cousins were hard at work being little beavers and building a dam.  Noah was so much fun as he REALLY loved the water!  He just soaked himself into that freezing cold water with the biggest smile on his face.  Such a sweet kid.

Since Noah wanted to go swimming around the whole creek and Emily and Pooch weren't able to accompany him, Ryan was kind enough to take him around.  Noah's enthusiasm for playing in the freezing cold creek was contagious, and definitely made me enjoy being there more.  :)

One afternoon Adam brought back a haul from a sapphire mountain.  The kids had to carefully pan

a batch at a time and then slowly dig through it to discover the miniscule sapphires.  Some of the kids (Eli being one of them) were REALLY into this activity and took their mining job very seriously!

There was also some fun had with water balloons!

Eli kept trying to soak Grammie, so Grammie had to make an effort to get him back!

On our last night we had a Family Talent Show!  Emily and Pooch's family performed an impressive Haka.  So cool!  Beth and Adam's clan acted out a cute "Pop-see-ko." Eli and David performed their "Human Fidget."  Jeri, Zach, and Annie sang a song of the 50 states.

My parents and Holly started the program by performing "One Bottle of Pop/Fish and Chips 'n Vinegar"

Pooch also sang a song with some of the kids from the movie Moana.

I somehow failed at getting more pictures of their Human Fidget.  It is pretty awesome!

David also took some beautiful pictures of Ezra on our last evening.

My fave Ezra picture!

Some more random pics from the week--

We kept a stack of books laid out.  The kids would randomly sit down to read a book or more.  Was glad to have thought to brought them!  Can't go a week without books!

David borrowed Adam's mountain bike to go on a ride.

Some buffalo on the premises.

Eli and cousin Tori are best buddies!  They were always playing together and often impossible to find when needed!

Ezra really did well on the trip.  He and his baby cousin friend Rosie LOVED walking around the huge glass-door fridge in the large kitchen.  I can't believe we didn't get a picture of them together!  They both also loved taking the onions and avocadoes from their holder on the kitchen floor and carry them around.  Rosie and Zach both had birthdays over that week that we celebrated.

And even with everything else we did, my mom still made time to hold a Grammie's Tea Party for all the little kids.  They sure love them!

Sassy Kate with all those curls!  It was so fun to get to know the kids better.

Shooting off bottle rockets!

All wrapped up in the hammock!

On our last night we shared a surprise with my parents--a slideshow with pictures and their favorite tunes showcasing their 40 years of marriage.  Ryan and Jeri were the main ones who put that together, and it was really fun to watch as a family.

On the drive back to Spokane several of us stopped to eat and shop at St. Regis.  They even had a small aquarium.  This picture is so funny.  They went through a hole where the aquarium surrounded them.  Gotta love Clara's car-hair!  :)

I am so grateful for my parents.  They have set a wonderful example of a strong marriage--working together as a team, supporting and lifting one another, loving their family unconditionally, serving others, and devotedly following the Lord and doing His work.  How blessed we kids and grandkids are!  Thankful they could make this outstanding reunion possible.

The kids STILL ask us on a regular basis, "When are we going back to Montana?"  :)  

Montana will always hold a special place in our hearts.