It's (more or less) official!

We're going to Montana! Nikki, Georgie, and I will be spending the fall months (late August-early December) in Heart Butte, Montana on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

Nikki will be doing her fieldwork for her dissertation. I will be watching Georgie and working 20 hours a week. Actually the work part for me is what's still up in the air a little. I've talked to my boos about it and he's really supportive of the whole thing. We just have to work out the administrative details.

We'll be in the town of Heart Butte, which is about 25 miles southwest of the reservation's main town of Browning. It's little more than a school, a post office, and some housing.

We're hoping to live in the town in some teacher housing that Nikki was told might be available. If not we'll either rent a house somewhere close or stay with her parents near Valier.

Nikki will be at the school all day and Georgie and I will just hang out. We'll probably meet up with Grandma fairly often on her days off for hikes and sightseeing and otherwise just get to know the locals. I'll most likely be working for 4 hours in the evenings.

In October the kids have a few extra days off school and Nikki and I are planning to use that as an opportunity to take a few days and go to Portland.

We are also going on a (Hobbins) family cruise in November -- 7 days in the western Caribbean.

So it's going to be a real fall adventure. I think it will be a great time for Georgie to get exposed to all of those things. And I'll have a really nice time to bond with her.

And did I mention that Flathead Lake Brewing Co. will be only 135 miles away?