Back home

We had a good drive back. It rained most of the way but very lightly so it just made for nice views. On the way out of town we stopped at Target, Costco, and the Good Food Store to load up for stuff for the new apartment. Our car was stuffed to the gills. Above is one of Georgie's new hats. That's right one of them -- never take a baby to Missoula.

Diaper store

I forgot to mention in my last post that yesterday we actually went to a real brick-and-mortar diaper store -- Nature Boy. We've bought so many cloth diapers but have always bought them online. It was a real treat. We'd seen most of the things in there already but there were a few things that I'd been wondering about. One of them was the Stacinator wool cover. I've been wanting one of these but it was great to confirm in real life that it was as nice as it looks in the picture. We got purple. We also got a pink Fuzzi Bunz in medium, some wool soap, and some Charlie's soap. From the adjoining toy store, Walking Stick Toys, we got Georgie some wood blocks.

Peek-a-boo

We went over to Dan and Shari's new house today and while they, Stu and Angela, and everybody's kids sat around, Shari taught us something we didn't know about Georgie -- she now gets peek-a-boo.



So we went back to the hotel and tried it ourselves:

It was good to see everybody today. We first met up with Stu and Angela at the farmer's market, then shopped before going over to Dan and Shari's. I've met Dan, Shari, Stu, and Angela several times before and liked them a lot but it's nice to see them again now that we are parents. I respect them in a whole new way.

In Missoula

After a leisurely drive along the Montana Scenic Loop, we made it to Missoula. We first walked along the river some and dipped our feet (and Georgie's) in. There were a lot of people out fly-fishing. Then we went downtown, got some coffee, and found an amazing children's store called Whippersnappers. We went a little overboard, but Nikki finally found a sling she likes (made by a local company called Sprout Pouch) and we found a very nice little hat for Georgie.

We just got back from making a pizza (Bridge Pizza) and beer (from Worden's market) run. Missoula is so wonderful. We are staying just down the river from our honeymoon hotel and we have a riverside balcony. Tomorrow morning we'll meet up with friends and go to the farmer's market. Then we are going to a store that sells cloth diapers, the first time we've shopped for them in person and not on the internet.

In a park in Bonner

Trying to eat the grass

Taking a dip in the Clark Fork

George's new hat. Also visible is Nikki's new sling. She liked it so much that I ended up wearing an empty Beco carrier for about two hours.

From Nikki: We looked at the sling web site, and it turns out I got the model named "The Nicole." They have one man-style one (solid black on one side, solid brown on the other), and it's named "The Aaron." Nice coincidence.

We found a place!

Nikki and I put down a deposit and got keys for an apartment in our Rocky Mountain dream town of Dupuyer. The apartment is two bedrooms, two floors, and in the back of a 100-year old (now closed) general store. The place needs a little work but fits our needs in almost every way.

Here's a picture of the store front:

And here's the apartment part, as seen from the alley in back:

And here's what the landscape looks like just a few miles down the road:

By the way, we are on the road from Dupuyer to Missoula. We are currently having lunch here:

Upcoming travels

We booked two trips this morning. We are going to Missoula for two nights this weekend and Glacier next weekend.

In Missoula, our goals are to find some nice children's stores, go to the farmer's market, and maybe find a brewery tour or at least fill a growler. We are also hoping to see friends. Thanks to a heavily discounted government rate, we'll be staying at the Doubletree right on the river and we'll have a balcony.

Then next weekend we'll be staying at a cabin near Swiftcurrent Motor Inn at Many Glacier. That's where we got married. It will lots of fun to take Georgie there.

Wednesday Adventure

I didn't have a full day at the school today, so Aaron, Georgie, and I went for a drive to Dupuyer, a little town we love on the eastern front of the Rockies. We found a cute little house that we're hoping to rent. More on that if it happens....

Georgie had a better day in the car. It was shorter and I was back there to entertain her


From Dupuyer, we decided to head to Choteau, 33 miles away. Dupuyer and Choteau are both on Highway 89, which runs along the eastern front, my favorite landscape. We didn't want to stop for pictures because of G, but it was so beautiful: golden wheat fields against a backdrop of mountains with clouds hanging right above them but an otherwise blue sky.

We stopped for coffee in Choteau, where I had possibly the best decaf of my life. Then we went across the street to ....


Yep, a grocery store specializing in organic and local food. It had a great selection, everything from hot chocolate to locally raised lamb to baby wipes.

Aaron and Georgie went to a kinda weird museum while I ran to the post office. The museum had quite a mix of exhibits: human skeleton with arrowheads in it, information about hangings, dinosaur bones, reproductions of frontier rooms, other random western-y curios.


Finally:



A little girl (2-3 years old) came up to Georgie and Aaron while they were sitting outside and taking these pictures. The parents didn't talk to Aaron at all. Aaron said he couldn't tell if they were weird weird or Canadian weird.

A rough day

Today was our first full day of me and Georgie hanging out while Nikki was at school. It didn't go as planned. I decided that we would have more fun going and doing something rather than just hanging out around the house. That was my first mistake.

We left at about 7:30 and dropped Nikki off at school. Then Georgie and I left for East Glacier, one of the gateway towns to the park. There is a dirt road cut-across from where Nikki is but it was raining and I thought it might be muddy so I took the longer but paved way. Georgie doesn't like riding alone in the backseat. We ended up pulling over four times on this initial leg. Mostly I think Georgie was just lonely although like all kids she's not crazy about her car seat.

Once we got to East Glacier all was well, except it was raining and 40 degrees out. I went into the first souvenir shop on the strip and bought Georgie a pair of socks to help her keep warm. Outside I was struggling to put them on and the proprietor of the neighboring cafe came out to help me. I decided to then eat breakfast in her cafe. Georgie sat next to me in a high-chair, her new favorite thing. I talked to the owner a bit and she held Georgie. She recommended I take her to the nearby lodge. It was raining so I decided to take the car. In the two minutes it took to get over there Georgie fell asleep.

Not wanting to waste a nap opportunity I kept driving. I passed Two Medicine and got to Kiowa. This is where I got myself into trouble. At US-89 I could go right for Browning or left for St. Mary. I thought it was too early to go back to the rez so I turned left. What I had forgotten is that the road from here to St. Mary is long, hilly, windy, and today wet. Not that the road conditions were the problems; rather it was the inconsolable baby behind me. We ended up stopping quite often. I tried taking her out a bit to enjoy the scenery but the strong wind seemed to scare her. We finally made it to St. Mary and spent a long time shopping in the gift shops. Georgie earned herself a stuffed goat.

She fell asleep as I was pulling out of St. Mary. Rather than go back the tortuous way I came, I headed north 8 miles to Babb to cut across on the Duck Lake road. How disheartening it was to get out there and see the GPS read that I had 80 miles to go. Georgie slept all the way to Browning, where I stopped to get gas. The last 35 miles or so were the worst. The kid had clearly had enough of my solo driving. In all the poor girl drove 235 miles today. I was worried that she would hate me for a few days but everything seemed restored when we got to Nikki and she had a perfectly pleasant evening.

This rainbow was not a portent.

Georgie loves high-chairs.

Two Medicine

Cold and rainy

Happy = Not in car seat

My attempt at taking a picture of G. and I with the timer

Near St. Mary

Chief Mountain visible in the center

More combine pictures

My mother-in-law took some great pictures of the combine operating. I'm actually in the cab for most of these. They are here.

My combine ride

Nikki's uncle Gene was harvesting winter wheat this afternoon and was nice enough to take me out with him. We went out in this combine:



Here's what it looks like when the combine is cutting the wheat:




Here the separated grain is being transferred to the truck:



And here the truck is off-loading to an auger which is hopping the grain into the bin:



And here's what the wheat looks like:


What a fun experience! It's nice to gain a real appreciation for where your food comes from and how hard the people who grow it work.

First Morning Away

Today was my first day of research. I decided to take it easy because I wanted to ease in to being away from Georgie. I was gone for about 4.5 hours, but 2 of them were spent on the commute. Sure hope we can get housing closer, if not right there.

The hardest part was not knowing how she'd do with the bottle. She's been in tears because of it before, so it was awful to imagine her like that all morning. But I checked my messages about once an hour, and Aaron said she was doing great. I still missed her, but knowing she wasn't crying or having a hard time made everything ok. Hard, still, but ok. I knew Aaron would be great with her, as always, and she's attached to him, so no worries about that. Just mostly worried about the feedings and about missing her.

But things went great with the feedings! She took more than she ever has before while I've been gone -- over 3 ounces -- and even fell asleep while Aaron had her outside in the carrier. Aaron and my mom even took her to Shelby, and that went well too. Aaron said my mom was a huge help, and that he even got to shower and eat. Thanks, Mom! And thanks, Aaron, for being such a great papa to our baby and partner to me.

So I'm home now, and Aaron's getting his first ride on a combine (with my uncle). More blogging to follow!

Captain Georgie and the SS Duckie

I woke up from a nap, walked into the living room, and this is what I saw.

Later, we put Georgie in a high chair to play. She loved it.

A Sunday farm tour

Second trip to Great Falls

Funny faces in the car seat

Georgie's new discovery of the day: Aquariums.

Ok, so it's our first week of country living and we've already been back to the city for shopping twice. Kind of pathetic. But we needed to stock up on things like pet food and Nikki needed a new breastpump. We'll try and make it at least 3 days before we go back again. It's hard not to visit when you see guys like this:

That's right -- a custom license plate that says GETONIT and a custom decal that says MILF Hunter.

Georgie loves flowers

Farewell small Fuzzi Bunz!

Our little girl has gotten so big that we've finally had to face the fact that her small Fuzzi Bunz no longer fit. It's a sad day. We're formally retiring these five.

Dusk on the farm

Nikki said the sunsets get better than this but I'm impressed enough already

Trip to the Reservation

We went to the reservation today.

Life is good on Blue Heron Lane.

The Seifert Farm