Buffalo. Burgers. Boats.

Up next ... was the big trip to Flathead Lake.  On the way, was the National Bison Range.  Our directions ... just turn left at the light suspended by a single wire.  Yet another thing I loved about Montana!!  The need to go share a little wildlife knowledge with our children was HUGE because on the previous day, our dear (and what I thought to be excessively bright) oldest child saw herd of cows and said, "Look, Mom.  Elephants!"  

Eli was not intimidated by the large stuffed bison.  In fact, he tried to make serious friends with the taxiderm-ied  dude ... the concept of "stuffed" was completely lost on the little guy.  

And when we told him we would go see "real" buffalo ... he stuffed his hands in his pockets and slowly strolled out the door.  

Unfortunately, the trip to see the REAL buffalo would have taken over an hour ... so I settled for pictures in front of antelope antlers.  Why there are antelope antlers at the National Bison Range is still confusing to me ... but 

The city boys didn't seem to mind!  And really, our trip to the bison capital of the world worked out great because we were all starving ...

And lucky for us ... a joint right across the street was serving up fresh BURGERS!

Joshua found this fierce watchdog while we were waiting for our food ... 

After chowing down on some excellent grub ... including the tastiest deep fried tater tots one has ever consumed ... it was back on the road ... 

Where we spotted a private herd of buffalo.  And yes ... I completely skipped over telling our children that we just ate one of those. 

Up next ... 

We all piled into Grandpa Matt's boat for a little fishing/swimming excursion ... Matthew was kind enough to leave the bag of squirmy worm bait right next to me.  Very thoughtful!  All four kiddos caught a fish ... 

Eli, in all seriousness, walked over to Grandpa Matt and asked to catch a whale.  You should have seen the look of disappointment when Matt said he could only catch fish.  

How and Eli got turns driving the boat ... 

And this brave one decided to jump in the FRIGID waters ... 

But this brave one ... he didn't require any thinking.  Andrew just belly flopped right into the H2O!  I'm not sure what was more impressive ... his flop or Ben's camera skills!

On the way home, Eli decided life on land was more his thing and declared he was "all done boat" ... and we trekked back to the house for dinner.

I think we could all get used to that view!

The city duo checking out their spider find ... 

And yet another attempt to get a picture of the four of us.  Hmm ... we're getting better.  I have 3 more months of trying before attempting the perfect Christmas card picture.  Or better yet ... I might just compile a collage of the 29 attempts we made throughout the year!