Yellowstone

We left Helena last Saturday at 6 am, dogless, but excited for the weekend ahead. Francesca had no idea of what was to come.  We headed down to West Yellowstone, ahead of schedule, and visited the Bear and Wolf Center hoping to see some animals. Frannie didnt get to see the bears up close, but we hit the feeding time for the wolves. It was a nice transition into the park.


Baby wolf  happy at the wolf viewing center





Alpha male showing dominance over alpha female at carcass

 
  We found our ride into the park,a 1978 Bombardier, and sqeezed aboard ear plugs in place. They didnt have toddler sized ear plugs and it made for a challenging trip. We did see animals along the way and had a great trip in.

 

Our ride in






Elk




Yellowstone traffic jam



 We stayed in the Old Faithful area and rented a little cottage for the weekend. We didnt do much, but explored what we could and rested. It was a great weekend and we are hoping to do it again very soon. The park in winter was quiet, free of crowds, and should be enjoyed by all. It was a very special weekend.


Ground transportation at the Snow Lodge




Taking a break in front of Old Faithful until it went off




Our ride out




Happy at the Fountain Geyser- it only goes off every 8 hrs and we caught it!!




Blue Star Spring

 What's Happening with Baby? Week 15
Your baby is now beginning to grow his very first hairs. Around this time the baby's eyes close and won't open again until the 7th month. Nail beds are beginning to become visible at the ends of the baby's fingers. The baby's arms are now long enough that she can grasp one hand in the other.



Mastering 2011

For many people, the new year is about resolutions-resolution to change something they did or didn’t do in the past year.  For us, the past year was just about right for a change.  We didn’t do too much, didn’t do anything we didn’t want to do, and we didn’t do too little.  We spent time taking in the seasons slowly and learning to share our lives with a two year old.

01/01/2011

In 2011, we made the choice to bring more into our lives by having a baby this July.  We will be able to prepare for this baby and enjoy life at the pace which suites us much better.  With Francesca, we had so many other pots in the fire that life seemed to keep us spinning.  For example: I don’t have a second job working until the wee hours of the morning, we aren’t remodeling a newly acquired house, we don’t have a wedding planned and we don’t have anything big coming our way besides the new big change-baby #2.  I constantly compare this pregnancy to the last and forget how different our lives were then.  Being settled and having some major life events out of the way will be a relief.  I’ll be making cookies.

Todays cookie:  Moosewood Restaurants Big Chocolate chip cookies

Last year, with all my free moments, I began wondering what it would be like to understand cooking.  To be able to make my family meals that made me say, “yum”.  With my Aunt Simones visit from France in the summer, I took the opportunity to learn more about French cooking.  Basically, yes I started the Julia and Lindsay (Julia and Julia) project.  I didn’t have direction, didn’t have a goal besides cooking when I could and whatever I liked (yes, I’ll be passing on the aspics).  This year I hope to continue the practice and tackle the deboned and stuffed duck recipe.  I have the duck in my possession, just need the mastering the art of French cooking books.  Right now I am typing as I am making cookies but would really love to be cooking that duck.  Sometime soon; I’ll keep you posted.

End of 2010

Christmas was peaceful this year.  We left out cookies for Santa and apples and carrots for Rudolph.  It was fun for us b/c Francesca knew who the major players were.  We went to church on Christmas Eve with her friend Freya and family and spent Christmas day with just us and the moment.  Frannie had to be woken up and convinced it was Christmas and not farmer’s market day (both fall on a Saturday this year).  We spent a long morning going over gifts and enjoying the white splendor outside.  New years was not eventful besides all the coughing and chilling temperatures.  We enjoyed some crab and fireworks from down the street.  We are all looking forward to 2011.

Beginning of 2011

We will be spending next weekend in Yellowstone as a substitute Christmas vacation and hopefully the weather isn’t as bad as it is forecasted to be.  Lou and I have wanted to go to the Park in the wintertime since we moved to Montana and decided this might be the best time to go, since the next two years probably won’t work.  For the first 90 or so days of the new year, I’ll be tied up in Legislative work and wont have too many spare moments for making cookies or enjoying quiet time like I did over Christmas break.  Francesca will be turning three this March and she is already looking forward to her party.  She has a great group of friends to share it with and is excited about the singing.  We moved her up to the big sister room upstairs (to be shared with the new baby) and made her old room the play room/guest room.  She is have so much fun with all of her things that previously resided in the closet and having a new room.

New room in progress

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Besides visiting family for the birth of the baby, all I have hopefully planned will be the visit of Seattle over Labor day.  I am not sure what type of leave I will have, but that is usually a good time for us to visit (except for fire season or hunting season conflicts).  We’ll see how things work out once #2 arrives and what life will be like.  I think it will be great.

Blogging has gotten off to a slow crawl this year but I hope to keep you all informed as much as possible.  Pictures will come and go and I hope to show you what 2011 is like for us. 

Happy New Year and best of everything to you in 2011. 

Updates

-          Next weeks posting: Yellowstone

-          Baby Update:  14 weeks on tuesday-mostly craving apples and savory/salty things.

-          Today’s (Sunday)weather out on our porch 5˚F