Sunday with Papa

Georgie and I spent a few hours today running around town. First, we went to JC Penney's to look for one of those swim shirts that has UV protection. They didn't have it. We were also going to look at sheets (we have a gift card for the store) but Georgie was ready to go by then.

Next we went to Whole Foods, where we got ingredients for bison chili, which is quickly becoming our signature family dish.

Then we got back in the car, where I accidentally pinched Georgie's finger in the buckle of her car seat. That brief crying spell then inspired her to take a nap. We drove around for almost an hour but eventually she woke up while I was doing circles in an empty parking lot. We popped into Target looking for the same kind of swim shirt but they only had tiny ones. I would have kept her out longer but we had meat in the car.

We got home and had a little picnic with the neighbors. Then I was going to take my Sunday afternoon nap before work when I found out that everyone but me was going swimming. No way I'm going to let that happen. I traded a lot of sleep for a little bit of swimming but it was well worth it.

Friday

Friday morning Nikki took Georgie to a farther-out play time. Nikki's got the whole daily schedule for these things down, though they are ending for the season soon.

I can't remember if we've really discussed it in these pages before, but Georgie loves to try on our shoes. She insists on it sometimes. Sometimes she can even walk a little ways, but my boots seem to be the toughest challenge for her.

Friday afternoon we all went to Costco together. That's about as big of an event as we are usually able to muster up on Fridays. Today we are going to be a bit more ambitious. I am going to take Georgie around with me this morning while Nikki works on her abstract, then this afternoon we area going to Ant Day at the Smithsonian, co-hosted by our dear friend and neighbor (and ant expert) Rachelle. Should be fun.

One more thing, anytime we say "What's in your mouth?" or even say the word mouth, this is what Georgie does. She also does it to make fun of us when we yawn. Her new thing is making fun of us. If we sneeze or cough or clear our throats, we soon hear a little imitation followed by a big smile.

More swimming

This time we didn't even have to check into a hotel room -- our neighborhood has a pool. We went there this afternoon after a doctor's appointment. The water was really cold for some reason (it's hot and muggy here).

Nikki sent me this video from her phone from this morning. It shows just how quickly Georgie can get around these days.

Back in Arlington

We'll we are getting back into the swing of our regular lives. We had a nice Memorial Day bbq with Rachelle, Lubo, and Milena. Then today, Nikki took Georgie back to a gym playtime. She loved seeing other kids for a change.

Last day in Montana

Here are some pictures from our last day in Montana (Saturday). We found Georgie's old bathtub from the fall and brought it outside for a little kiddie pool. She loved it.

On a Tractor

I got my first tractor lesson today. Dale was digging up a flower bed for Marilyn and I asked if he could show me the ropes. Although I look far from experienced, I managed to drive around a little and move the bucket around without crashing through the dining room. Not bad for my first time.

Georgie also got a tractor lesson today, albeit on a smaller tractor.

Sheep!

Georgie got to see some sheep today. I stopped by the store in Dupuyer today and one of the ladies who knows Georgie offered to let us pop over to her place and see her sheep, chickens, and new bum lambs. First we saw the three sheep including the one above. They were waist high and me and their wool was about six inches deep. They were pretty friendly but a bit skittish. Sheepish you might call it...

Then we went over to the chicken coop and saw the ladies lounging in the sun. All was well until the big rooster came out and protected his harem by letting out a loud cock-a-doodle-doo. Well that put Georgie into tears, which only made the rooster crow again.

All was put right, though, when we went to see the bum lambs. There were five of them and they were very sweet. First we rubbed their noses a little. Then I plucked a few blades of grass and slipped them through the woven wire to feed them. Georgie saw what I did and spent the next 15 minutes pulling blades of grass and bringing them to the lambs. She might have got her fingers nibbled a bit but she loved it.


Note: This is probably the event of our trip that I would most like to have good pictures and video of but Nikki had the camera today. :(

Reading and driving

Georgie likes to read while we drive and sometimes she has a lot to say about her books.

Smokin'

Dale helped me get the smoker set up last night and we set out smoking a brisket we bought in Great Falls.

First, I rubbed the meat with Stubb's beef rub and wrapped it in plastic for a while.

Then I put half of the brisket on each shelf and I alternated them halfway through. It only took maybe 4 hours for the meat to get to temperature. I also made some cole slaw and some borracho beans. That should give the Seiferts a taste of Texas.

Note to Dale: We're just waiting for you to hurry home and have some. Well, we've all tried some so I guess technically were not waiting.

Two Medicine

Georgie and I went to Glacier today. We had intended to only go as far as East Glacier and have lunch there. But when we got that far Georgie was asleep so we kept going. All the park roads were open and clear but none of the offices or shops were open yet for the season. No matter, we had plenty of fun learning to throw pebbles in the water.

As you can see, there's still quite a bit of snow pack in places.

Georgie's new shirt

Back from Bozeman

We started our day here - at Murdoch's, a great farm store chain where not so long ago we bought a goat block. We went today because Georgie needed cowboy boots. We got some in a size 6 so look for those in the fall.

Then we went back to the food co-op to get a few more things and so Georgie could find some flowers that matched her dress.

On the way back we stopped at Tower Rock State Park, which is the point where Lewis & Clark left the plains for the mountains. Here's a look at the panorama. This is about 180 degrees around.

At the park, Georgie had to try out sitting on all of the different rocks.

Nikki and I both decided that this was a milkweed pod. We may be wrong.

Here's Georgie playing peek-a-boo above and below a picnic table.

We had a pretty nice drive home. We took our time with it and stopped for a few long breaks. In Great Falls, we stopped and bought a little more White Park beef. This was our only full weekend in Montana and I think we are both wishing we had a little more time. Tomorrow we are all going up to school and then I am not sure what I am going to do with Georgie, either go to East Glacier or stick around the school area.

Bozeman

Well we had an itinerary today that you won't find in most guidebooks. It started with somewhere I've been wanting to go for awhile: The Wheat Montana factory outlet. A few years ago, the Central Market in Austin started offering a machine from them that milled your flour for you while you waited, sort of like a coffee grinder. I always thought this was neat and even used it a few times. Then, when driving once from Missoula to Glacier, I saw a Wheat Montana restaurant in Polson. I thought that was pretty cool too. Finally, last fall we ate a whole lot of delicious Wheat Montana bread and buns. All in all, it's become my second favorite flour company after Pioneer. So it was quite an occasion to be able to stop and buy some fresh baked goods and some souvenirs from them. We got two very large and very delicious berry and cream cheese cinnamon rolls and some outstanding coffee. I also got a t-shirt, two coffee mugs, and a 5-pound bag of unmilled Bronze Chief red wheat berries. I'm not sure which of those things is more unnecessary.

So already a pretty full day and we haven't even gotten to Bozeman yet.


The drive from Helena was about 90 miles and really lovely. We hit a little traffic on the highway from Helena to Townsend but once we got to I-90 everything was clear.

We came into Bozeman from the far east side of Main St. and worked our way west. We stopped in to a few nice shops. At a shoe store, we found these Keen sandals for Georgie on clearance. We're starting to think Georgie is shoe crazy, because she's been playing with them and admiring them all day.

Next we took naps at our hotel and then made our way to the Children's Museum of Bozeman. This turned out to be a mistake. We went in and the door was unlocked but none of the lights were on. We looked all over and couldn't find anyone resembling a staff member. The only other people there were another confused parent and child. We waited a few minutes and decided to pick up a few groceries and head for a park. We asked around and were directed to Cooper Park. What a blast we were actually pretty happy that the children's museum was a bust because the weather was perfect and the park was really nice. We had a little picnic where we discovered that Georgie likes both sheep and goat's milk cheeses and then we ran around and played with a soccer ball.

Georgie finally found some crackers her size.

Which she shared with Mommy.

After the park, we stopped here to pick up a growler. Their website indicated that they had some Flathead Lake Brewing Co. beer but they were out. We ended up getting their house ESB, which I really like and Nikki thinks is too roasty.

Then we stopped at an extraordinarily nice grocery store - the Community Food Co-Op. We got a lot of nice dinner items for the three of us to split, like curried tempeh and sesame kale salad.

Georgie got a nectarine, I think her first, and loved it.

Then we stopped at a big box store that shall go unnamed and bought bathing suits. We took them back to our hotel and had a wonderful time swimming. I think we were even both sort of fighting over who got to hold Georgie in the water because it was so fun. Neither of us wanted to give her up.