A Blast from the Past, and Some Good News

I guess once you can string togther two- and three-word phrases like, "Daddy toot," or "Mama's boobs", or "me poop" and "Da-da, run, now", you are no longer considered a viable candidate for speech therapy. That's the good news we got from Colter's speech therapist, Nicole today. Nicole helping us to be able to help him and being in daycare has brought out all the words that were stuck inside his 'lil head. Of course, the bad news is I elected to share with you some of his lil' phrases.

Here's pic of the tiny man trying to devour Carter, his blue bear.

There you go!

"I think you finally have the hang of it," Colter told me and let me put the last few stakes in all by myself. 

Did you check the joints here, Daddy?

I think you need to work on this a little, Daddy. Try it again... 

Are you sure that's right, Daddy?

Colter makes sure I'm lining everything up correctly. A natural supervisor. 

Here, Dad, let me show you...

Colter shows me how to put up our tent at Snowbank Campground in Paradise Valley (about 20 miles south of Livingston). 

May I have the origin of the word please?

We've had a vocal explosion in the last week. Here's a sampling...

bear
heart
rock-a-bye
sit
walk
rock
water
bubble gum
knee
hand
hair
arm
one
two
cup
puff
eating ("mama eating")
me
work
peep
hot
warm
apple
worm
comb
poop
dump

Happy Father's Day to my Dad

Happy Father's Day, Dad. We love you very much...Jay & Colter. 

This Is How We Spend Our Nights

Nearly every night, as long as it's not raining, this is where you'll find us, outside on the lawn. Note the Gallatin range in the distance. We'd better find a house that has the views this place does! 

Happy Father's Day...to me!

Beautiful weekend for Father's Day in the Gallatin Valley. Warm temps, sunny skies, light breeze and remote broadcasts at Greater Yellowstone Flyfishers earning me $150. After my 9am-noon remote today, I headed down the road to Big Sky Premium Meats and told Sayem ("Sam" the wife of the owner Doug, I did a remote for them a month or so a go during the grand opening) that I wanted something special for ME for ME to grill on MY day. This is what Sayem suggested: two ribeyes. But not just any ol' ribeye. BISON RIBEYE.

OH
MY
GOD

These were some of the best steaks we have ever had...ever ever ever.

I sprinkled them liberally with Canadian Steak seasoning, grilled them slow, served them up with a beautiful Zinfandel (don't know if you can read the label, but it's called "Sin Zin"). They were sooooo tender, so soft. We love bison, we've had bison burger (cheaper and leaner than ground beef-- for just about everything one would use hamburger for), bison sausage, jerky and sticks, but never steak. The only downside? It'll have to be a once-in-a-very-great-while treat at $14.99 a pound. *yeek* 

My View

As my head lays on my pillow, this is what I see out the window. The only bad thing is that the sun comes up right between that house and the "M"...around 5:30am these days. 

Cutie Patootie, Pt. 3

 

Cutie Patootie, Pt. 2

 

I'll Tell You This Right Now...

At his age, he already knows more than I do about cars. 

Palisade Falls' Feet

Or, at the foot of Pallisade Falls. 

Colter's First Big Hike

Palisade Falls, a 1.2 mile round trip walk. It seems to fall forward out of the sky when you get up close, which I will. 

Look What We Found...

It's a gnome! Can we keep him, Mommy?!! 

Sink Drinkin'

Figured it out all on his own with a little help from his stepladder. 

Wildlife Count for May 13 Yellwostone Trip Pt. 2

The first pic in this last group is of a young bighorn just down the road from Tower Falls. There were three of them that came down the cliff scaring the hell out of us because of the sing that said "Danger - falling rock" and the cloud of dust and rock they rained down on the road.

The next two pics have black bears you can actually see! The first was right along side the road in the Lamarr Valley. The second one was in the river off the highway. Had to use the digital zoom to get him into frame.

The next pic is a bald eagle. He followed the road for quite a ways, but the first chance I finally got to pull over and stick the camera out the window, he was pretty far away. If you click on the picture, you can still make out the white head.

The last picture is of one of the last animals we saw when we left the Park through Gardiner. When we came in, there were perhaps a dozen or more elk in the Mammoth Springs campground having breakfast along with more than a few bison chowing in between tents.

Major animal count for the day:
1 Grizz
3 Black Bears (1 w/cub)
2 Mountain Goats
1 Bald Eagle
3 Bighorns (with little horns)
1 Peregrine Falcon in nest w/4 eggs (in Yellowstone Canyon north of Tower Falls)

Wildlife Count for May 13 Yellwostone Trip Pt. 1

Ok, some of these you need to just trust me on. We had a great day in Yellowstone as far as spotting wildlife. About the only thing we didn't see were any wolf. We were in the Lamarr Valley near Soda Butte where a gaggle of people were pulled over and we asked if they had spotted any wolves and this pri---, I mean JERK of a guy looks at Jenn and sniffs, "Yes, wolves," and turns his back on us. We didn't want to stop and peep through his spotting scope.

The very top one of the Lamarr River has a grizzly on the other side of the river. we watched him through our binoculars for about 20 minutes or so until he waddled up into the trees and we lost track of him.

The second one with two white dots in the middle of the picture is two mountain goats. I pulled the car over to take some pictures of the waterfalls that were coming down the canyon walls. When I got back to the car, there were a few people looking into spotting scopes. I asked if they were watching the falls and the snowslides we kept hearing and they said no, it was a couple of mountain goats they had their eyes on. The picture you see was taken just like that. I was playing with the digital zoom and took their picture without even knowing it. We watched them awhile throught the binocs, too.

The third picture is one of three or four trumpeter swans we saw.

The fourth pic has a mama bear and a baby bear. Jenn got out and watched them for quite awhile while I hovered over our sleeping beauty in the back seat. By the time I went to look, I was watching only the mama, the cub was hidden behind a tree. They're both there in the middle of the triple-clump of trees.

The last pic of of some pronghorn and bison grazing and sunning.

"How Good I Slept"

6:46 am? I let you guys sleep in! lets get to the Park! Damn, this bag is warm! How'd you guys do? 

Snug and Warm

This is how he slept...hat on like Mom and Dad and face buried inside the sleeping bag. 

Colter's First Night in a Tent

At least since he was three months old, that is. We stayed at the KOA in Paradise Valley, so we'd be only about 45 miles from Yellowstone. Colter stayed up til after 10:00 but went to sleep right in between Jenn and I and slept through the night in the warmest sleeping bag in our tent. Jenn and I weren't completely prepared for the cold, but he was bundled just right. 

This Is Why We Moved

Okay, granted, this was taken back at the beginning of May, so that makes me a little late on posting some new pics. But I'm gonna go nuts with posting to catch up. And yes, I am damn near bald now. I told Jenn in the beginning of May to take the last clip off of the trimmer when she did my hair. She's now cutting it Marine style...right to the scalp. I've gotten to the point where if I have about half an inch growth I feel like a hippie! Not gonna happen in the winter, though...I may just grow it long enough to see if I can see curls again.

PS - taken at the Spanish Peaks trailhead where we saw the wolves.

Are You Happy You Moved?