On the Road Again...

Claire and I are hitting the road and deserting my patient husband once again. We leave tonight for Washington where we will spend time with my parents and siblings. Nate will actually drive out to join us this weekend and then spend the next week there. (We decided a 12 hour drive with an infant might be better to do just one way.) The hot, smoky summer we've had here makes us eager for the cool (and even RAINY) Washington summer weather. With the help of Grandma and Grandpa we should even be able to get away for a bike ride or hike just the two of us! !

Trip to the Chicago Area

Travels to the Chicago Area

I just returned from a week-long visit to the Chicago area with Claire. We first visited my sister Christina and her family in Crown Point, Indiana. Claire met her cousins Jordan, Alyssa, and Jessica. Alyssa and Jessica loved entertaining Claire and helping me pick out her outfits, change diapers, give baths, etc. Claire seemed to enjoy watching their antics, and we had several good day trips all together. I was also able to visit briefly with a good friend, Jessica Groen, from college who is expecting a baby in September. (This is the year of babies for my college group.)

On Saturday I met up with Dan and Elisabeth Cooper and their new baby Simon to head to the Chicago area. It was wonderful to have a longer visit with them and see their new home in Geneva as well as share in the new fun of parenthood together. I also got to spend time with Sara Leys, another Calvin friend. (Elisabeth, Sara, and I roomed together our sophomore year in the dorms.) Sara had her second son, Cameron, three weeks after Claire, so we were busy with four kids between us! We graduated from Calvin ten years ago (YIKES!), and we have maintained our friendships through first jobs, graduate school, marriage, and now kids. I loved having a long visit with them and sharing part of this new stage of our lives together. Leaving caused me to get all teary eyed because I really do miss those girlies!!

Claire was a great little traveller. Thankfully I was NOT one of the people on the plane with a screaming baby that everyone either feels sorry for or is annoyed by. She slept well in different beds and handled a varying schedule well...She made her mom so proud!

More of Claire and Julia...LIVE!

Here is a little video of the cousins interacting. This one is specially for Nema!

Claire meets Cousin Julia and Tia Sarah

Nate's sister Sarah and her daughter Julia (who is only 5 months older than Claire) arrived from New York Friday for a weekend visit. We have enjoyed seeing the two cousins together and doing lots of talking about babies. It's a hot weekend here, so we haven't been able to do much outside. We did take a scenic walk around Three Forks and window shopped in Bozeman yesterday. Sarah and Julia leave tomorrow morning, and, once again, we're conscious of the distance and time between visits with family whom we'd love to see more. Claire also would have loved to meet her Uncle Bruce and cousins Sammy and Will, so we'll look forward to the next visit when she'll get to meet everyone!

A Little "Live Claire"

I'm trying something new. I discovered yesterday that our digital camera can take little mini-movies. We'll see how they work on the blog. We tried to get Claire to really smile in this one, but she wasn't entirely cooperative. Those of you with dial-up might not be able to view it well.

Not too much is exciting around here these days, unless you count painting our bathroom "celery" last weekend. We are, however, enjoying daily life as Claire's parents. I am surprised at how into being a mom I am, having never considered myself a baby person or even very maternal for that matter. (I always handed babies back to their mothers at the first signs of spit up, crying, or filling a diaper, and when students start crying in my classroom I generally send them to the bathroom to "get themselves together" rather than offering a hug or some other "motherly" action.) However, I now find that I can spend hours watching Claire and talking to her, and I am incredibly amazed and amused at her increasing development. The other day I woke Nate up from a nap so he could see her trying to get her fist into her mouth. (It looked like she was licking an imaginary ice cream cone.) I don't mind the diapers or the spit up or the crying or the early mornings (well mostly). She seems to me (not having another child to compare her to) extremely good natured and great fun to be around. She's more aware of her world every day which makes me all the more eager and excited to share it with her.

First Camping Trip

We decided to be brave and take our 2 1/2 month old camping Tuesday night. We headed down to the Big Hole River Valley about 2 hours from our house where our friends from Idaho are camped for this week. Although we vowed to keep it "simple," the Subaru was packed to the gills with tent, cooler, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, cook stove, chairs, fishing gear, bassinet, bouncy seat, diaper bag, and enough clothes for Claire to last a week. In the early afternoon we headed down so we'd have enough time for dinner and for Nate to hit the evening hatch on the Big Hole. Claire took it all in like a champ; she hung out in her bouncy seat or my arms most of the time and slept part of the night in her bassinet and part of the early morning with me in my sleeping bag. (I have to admit we weren't totally hard core as our friends had a trailer we retreated to when the bugs got bad at night.) Nate caught some trout that evening, and after having breakfast with Whitney and Doug's family we headed up river where Nate had another couple hours of good fishing on the river. Of course, after getting home, I was exhausted, and we decided for right now while we are tent camping, one night at a time is good enough!

Is that a trout??

While Nate's dad has been visiting, we've tried some different activities to avoid the ever-increasing masses that are invading the rivers and trails around Bozeman this time of year. We spent one day in Helena, visiting the state capitol building and historical museum; Nate and his dad also spent a few days fishing for carp on the Missouri River just up the road from our house. Some of you may not know this, but around here trout is king and every other kind of fish is scorned by the serious fly fisherman. Never being ones to follow the crowd, Nate and Charles decided to fly fish for carp. (One of the comments they got at the fly shop when they went to get flies was, "They won't be making A River Runs Through It about that any time soon.") Nonetheless, they landed some big fish both days, and didn't have to weave their way through any crowds along the banks! We had a great visit with "Grandpa Charlie" who is heading back home this morning.

Visit from Whitney and Zoey

Our friends Whitney, Doug, and Zoey are spending two weeks in the area doing some camping and fishing, so they came over Saturday and Sunday for some visits while they were camped just down the road. (I taught with Whitney at the College of Southern Idaho for a year, and we managed to get in a lot of hiking, biking, and skiing together between grading papers.) Zoey is about a year older than Claire, so it was fun to get a glimpse of what we'll be in for next summer around this time. In the picture, Zoey's giving Claire a kiss--her version involves a nice wide open mouth on the head!