Tuesday, March 18, 2008

In case you're wondering, small boats can do back flips.



I can't help but laugh every time I see this picture, though at the time it wasn't all that funny. The boy sitting next to Avery is her cute little cousin Kesler, who by they way, at the tender age of four is already a fishing and wildlife genius. No really, he could perfectly imitate the sound an elk makes before he was saying "mama" or "dada." He's already given me my own private fishing lesson, and he can hike as well as any adult, but for those of you who know his mom and dad, this really isn't surprising.
Okay, back to the story of how paddle boats can do back flips. We decided to take Avery fishing in the pond behind Austin and Amy's new house. It was such a beautiful morning, as most summer mornings in Montana are; serene, calm, free from people, pollution, stress...
After we took this picture, we thought it would be a good idea to pile on three more people; Shane, Grandma Hughes and Me; our first mistake. We started paddling to the center of the pond when slowly the horizon in front of us started rising as we started sinking.....backwards. Before we knew it, the boat had flipped and we were all swimming. Luckily the children were wearing life jackets, but none of us were...and there's our second mistake. The water was way beyond touching but the three of us managed to save ourselves and the children by swimming to shore and losing the fishing poles.
The fun thing about Montana is something unexpected always happens. You never know when you'll run into a bear, find a secret huckleberry patch to pick, or end up swimming when you thought you'd be fishing.
We've invited all our friends and family to join us in Montana. Some have taken us up on it...Joe and Emily, Thad, and Brem. My family will hopefully be joining us this summer, but everyone is welcome to take a vacation with us to good old Montana.
By they way, Shane did find his fishing pole the next summer.

4 comments:

Jaclyn B. said...

A few random comments:

What are you doing blogging at 6:40am?!

That story's a keeper- I hope you've archived it.

Love the new look!

We're planning on visiting you in Montana this summer, if newborns are allowed!

Natalie said...

I want to be invited. Mark and I have been thinking hard of a spot that would be fun to visit--that isn't too far away. Let us know when :)

Chandi said...

What a fabulous memory!!!

I want to come to Montana. One of my favorite travel memories and most beautiful spots I've seen were in Montana. I loved it!!!

Jade said...

Hey your blog looks so good! Where did you get your paper? Ok are you kidding me about you seriously coming to visit? OH my gosh I have the goose bumps! Oh that would be so AWESOME!!!! And no you could totally stay in our apartment it is pretty big and we would make it work with no problems. We could do a trip to Kirtland or somewhere? There is a place in Michigan called Holland that has a huge Tulip festival... that would be fun. Also we hear the Lakes here are like the beaches in Cali (in the summer/fall of course). OH and guess what? We are going to Montana for sure this summer! We have already bought our plane ticket. Wanna meet us there? We are going the week of Aug 17th-ish. I'll have to check for sure on the dates.