We are finally home from our epic journey! We left June 7 to drive (that’s right, drive…yes,
I believe we are crazy) to Montana to
teach a 3 week field course, then up to Canada to visit family before driving
home again. O camped for the first time in
his life for our first 3 nights on the road – it took about 3 hours for him to
settle in the tent the first night, but once he did he managed to sleep soundly
through a raging thunderstorm…only to awaken in the following quiet (about 3am)
screaming…waking up the campground, and setting the coyotes howling…which was
kind of funny for us, but maybe not so much for the other campers.
We made our way through Yellowstone on to our field camp
area outside of Dillon, MT. O and I
joined the group in the field about ¾ of
the time – he quite enjoyed being toted around in the backpack!
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| minor trepidation for the first ride |
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| afternoon siesta |
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| watch out for cactus! |
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| we'll make a geologist out of you yet! |
O also learned to walk while we were out
there! Perhaps it had something to do
with the 30+ students all giving him huge rounds of applause anytime he took
some steps! He still prefers to drop
down to crawl when he really wants to get somewhere quickly, but he is fully
capable of making his way across the room on 2 legs now!
He also cut 2 molars just before we left, a third while out
there, and is working on a fourth…I hope it comes in soon…somebody is not the best molar teether.
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| "yes, this will do nicely" |
O and I took a day trip to Bannack State Park one day - it's the first town in Montana, established during the goldrush - it's an old mining town, and is now a ghost town, but the buildings have been preserved, and some even restored, and turned into a state park.
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| panning for gold/playing in the water |
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| old courthouse/hotel - not at the same time mind you |
We left the students to drive back with the TAs and made our
way north, stopping for a night in Whitefish, MT, then up to the cabin to visit
with Aunt, Uncle, cousins and grandparents.
O quite enjoyed having some kids a bit more his size (as opposed to 20
years old) around to play with! Plus it’s
always fun to have grandparents around to dote on him!
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| strolling with Dad |
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| get this kid some pants! |
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| learning about his heritage |
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| this is what happens if you skate with your head down |
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| can't quite reach the pedals, but insisted Grandpa push him around the yard anyway |
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| wanted to walk on the garden edge like his big cousin Will |
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| roped Grandma into helping once Mom got tired! |
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| chicken fight! |
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| and down - welcome to the endless loop |
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| up... |
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| cousin Anna, showing him how it's done! |
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| headed for the playground with Auntie Beth |
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| lunchtime!! |
