Team Watson: Part one

What an amazing time we are having! On Thursday, before we left, we received our updated itinerary right after I finished posting the blog with all of our activities, and wouldn't you know it, it had changed!

Friday started at 5:00 a.m. since we woke up and left by 5:30 to be out of Georgetown by 6:00. Of course, we were all very excited, so it was easy to wake up and get going that early. Everything went smoothly from traffic, to parking, security, plane rides and we even arrived early! We arrived in Bozeman to a surprise welcome by a few of the players from the Montana Bobcats volleyball team welcoming us with home made welcome signs. The team presented Amanda with an autographed volleyball and autographed team poster. It was a sweet welcoming and a great way to start our vacation. After the girls left, the coach stayed and made sure we were able to get our car and loaded without any trouble. From there, we made our way from Bozeman to Big Sky and what a beautiful drive!

Once we made it to Big Sky, we didn't have much time because we were scheduled to go to the Dinner Yurt that evening! It was snowing when we arrived at the hotel, and somehow I ended up on my rear end in a tall snow drift. While it was wonderful comic relief for the kids, it sure was cold!

The hotel we are at has an outdoor heated pool and hot tubs, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity for a quick dip in the pool. It is not everyday that you get to swim in the snow. After that, we had just enough time to make it for our evening reservations to catch a ride on the snow cat. We were all bundled and warm so we could make the ride to the yurt up the mountain ON TOP of the snow cat! It was a magical evening of snow, sledding on a lighted trail (which proved to be adventurous in itself!) and wonderful food and fellowship. We were seated next to a family that used to be missionaries in Peru and I had the opportunity to share our story with them while Tom and the kids went out for some sledding between courses. We had a very encouraging conversation about our faith and I appreciated the Christian encouragement at a most unexpected time! After a delicious meal, fun in the snow and an exciting ride back on top of the snow cat, it was time to call it a day. What an unbelievable and exhausting first day!

We woke up this morning to a beautiful sunny day. After breakfast overlooking the ski lift and slopes, we got ready and headed out for what Amanda has looked forward to the most - riding horses in the snow! It was 25 degrees outside, but once we got on the horses, you forgot about the cold and just soaked up the gorgeous scenery. The hour went by way too fast. Our guide was a comical, older cowboy named Jeff who provided interesting commentary about the area throughout the ride. I think the best part about the day was that out of the 100 horses they had at this outfit, the horse they gave Amanda was a wild Mustang! Of course they had no way of knowing about her involvement with Freedom at ROCK, so that made it fun to share a little of her story with Jeff.

After our ride, it was back to Big Sky for a laid-back evening. The highlight of tonight was that we saw a Ski Patrol Rescue Dog Demonstration before dinner. It is amazing the training and skills the dogs have, along with being downright friendly.

So here we are, wrapping up day two and already we have experienced so many amazing and special moments. We still have four days with many more exciting activities planned. Snow, beautiful weather and Team Watson - it's a beautiful combination!