Eee i eee i oh!

There's a little park near our house; it's full of big trees and beautiful flowers, and it has plenty of grass for running and playing. It also has, and this is my very favorite part, a little barnyard full of wonderful barnyard animals. I spent some time there this afternoon, talking with a sweet calf and some wooly sheep and three sleepy goats, and admiring the patience of a mama pig with her very hungry piggies. I could spend hours in a springtime barn, just like Fern from Charlotte's Web. It makes me happy :)

The Missouri is calling...

and we are answering, yes sir. The four of us are planning in earnest now for what we affectionately call 'Montana 2010: Living the Dream', and I'm so excited I can hardly sit still. We're going to skip Glacier National this time, and spend some extra days on the river itself, lolling about in our canoes and prowling around our campsites. What's so neat is that we have our memories from last year pulling us back to the Upper Missouri, but the anticipation of unknown adventure and fun waiting in the distance, too. Get ready, Montana, we're coming for you!

Good morning, for sure

Oh, Ohio!

If there's a better way to celebrate our birthdays than this, I'd like to know it:






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Spring fling

We went for a hike today, Jan Michael, Eric, Tessa, Eliana and I. It's possible, Jan Michael and I supposed to ourselves, that we might see a trace or two of snow. It would be a good idea, we said to each other, to wear jeans and fleeces just in case it's chilly...

Well. Jan Michael and I seem to have some kind of common sense malfunction when planning for the likelihood of freezing temperatures and towering drifts of snow in crazy places like... the mountains, for crying out loud. (Remember that time in Glacier National, Derek and Sara?) The next time we suggest something like this to Eric and Tessa, I'm sure they'll arrive with snow suits and cross country skiis....and probably extras for the two of us since we're too dumb to pack them for ourselves :)

But really, it was such a fun adventure. We love this little waterfall hike, and in the snow, it's breathtaking. Besides, so often it's the unplanned-for things that make a day memorable. If the trail would have been clear and dry, would we have needed the 4-wheel drive in Eric and Tessa's car to get the to the trail in the first place? Would Tessa have been caught in an sudden, engulfing curtain of falling snow while standing underneath a tree, minding her own business? Would I have slipped and fallen on my behind twice, with a foot of powder to break my landing? Would Jan Michael have had a bracing, snowy jog from the car back to the waterfall when, at the end of the hike, we discovered we'd left our backpack behind?

Here's to experiencing the happy unexpected with dear friends...and a pair of dry socks to change into when you get home :)








Some of us were more impressed by the scenery than others :)