Big Sky was Big Fun

After a week in the mountains, it was hard to come back to the midwest. We had such a good time in Montana!! We did so many different things, it's hard to write about all of them in one post.

The travel part was so much easier than our ski trip last year. Our flights were on time, weather was good, the car rental went smoothly and we made it easily from the airport to our condo. The drive from Bozeman to Big Sky is gorgeous. You ride alongside the Gallatin River for much of the trip up the mountain. Apparantly this is one of only a few rivers that flows northward and was the river that was filmed in the movie 'A River Runs through it'.

We made it to our condo and were happy with our accomodations. It's 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, nice open floorplan with the kitchen, dining room and living area all together. We were only 150 yards from the ski lifts and had an awesome view of the ski runs on the mountain.

Clara found a few little spots she she enjoyed sitting. This was one of them - she could sit on the windowsill, eat her snack and look up at the skiiers on the mountain. A few minutes after this picture was taken, Clara was messing around, trying to climb up the windowsill and she fell over. She bit through the skin below her lower lip and had a fat lip the rest of the trip. Tom didn't think it was worth stitching up and Clara wasn't too traumatized by the whole thing. She cried for a couple minutes and then started laughing in my arms. What a trooper!

During our week long stay, Tom skiied 5 days and I skiied 4 days. The terrain was great - plenty of snow, lots of challenging runs, and no lift lines! This was taken on one of the rare, clear days. A lot of the time we skiied, there was snow falling and cloudy skies.

Clara, G-ma, and I went tubing together one evening which was so fun. Once we learned how to slow down, it was a little less scary.

The reason we decided to go to Big Sky was for a Wilderness Medicine conference that Tom wanted to attend. Tom would go for a couple hours early in the morning and then come home and we would ski the rest of the day. Several of his resident friends also went to the conference and it was fun to hang out with them in the evenings and on the mountain.

We took a horse drawn sleigh ride one night out to a little cabin in the woods for dinner. There was no electricity or running water. Only a huge 120 year old wood burning stove and candelight. There were lanterns hung from the ceiling too, maybe gas powered?!? I can't remember. The dinner was so good - we had lentil soup, wheat rolls, prime rib, potatoes, veggies, and cheesecake for dessert. Yummmmmm.

We also tried something new this trip. We took a dog sled ride through the woods and it was probably the highlight of the trip. Tom drove our sled, while Clara and I rode, and 8 Alaskan huskies pulled our sled. Clara fell asleep quickly into the ride which surprised Tom and I both.

Here's Clara and I standing behind the sled.

Here's a view from the sled, while the dog's were pulling.

It was an 8 mile round trip and halfway through we stopped for cookies and hot chocolate and took some pictures. Here's Clara sleeping during the ride.

My Mom came with us to help out and watch Clara while Tom and I skiied during the day. She was a huge help and it was a lot of fun for Clara to hang out with Grandma. They played a lot, walked around the base area, shopped, etc.

Clara played several times on this playground which was mostly covered in snow, but was fun for Clara to crawl through and climb on.



We had a really good time in Big Sky and will make a trip back there, maybe next year. It's a great place to ski - huge mountain and not very crowded. It's also a quick and easy drive from the airport. There isn't as much shopping and businesses in Big Sky, like in Colorado, but that doesn't really matter to Tom and I very much. The skiing was good and that's what was most important.

The trip home was pretty easy and uneventful. Clara was a really good traveler this time. She slept when she should and was happy and content while awake. (This is in stark contrast from our trip out west over the summer...). Now that were home, it's back to normal. Tom is back at work today and Clara and I are trying to get the house back in order.

47 out of 47

Wonder what the title means? You probably would never guess so I'll just tell you. Tom just finished his 47th night of overnight call (over the past three years) and it is his last!! Yea! This means from here on out Tom only (yea, right, 'only'...he is still a resident so is working a lot!) will work his 10 or 12 hour ER shifts, no more of those energy draining, crabby-making, way-too-long-for-Dad-to-be-away-from-his-family 30 hour shifts at the hospital!


I love this picture of Clara with the phones. Right before I took this picture she was walking around the house chattering away with both phones up to her ears! You know how little boys make anything they can find into a gun? Clara makes everything she finds into a phone...like the TI-83 calculator, the remote control, etc. You get the picture.

Here's Clara in her Valentine outfit. I am hoping to get Tom and Clara's picture made together with her wearing this shirt and Tom dressed up nice too. Stay tuned...hopefully you will see it in a couple weeks.
We are getting excited about our upcoming vacation. In a couple days we will be skiing down the slopes in Big Sky, Montana. Clara will be with us too along with my Mom who will lovingly babysit for us while we are out during the day and night! Rest assured there will be a ton of pictures from that coming soon too.

Realizations

I have recently come across some realizations concerning Clara. She is now 19 months old, talkative, needy one moment and Miss Independent the next. She is doing great when I leave her in the church nursery and at the gym daycare - no tears, just a hug and she's off playing.

Clara is a great eater and sleeper. This isn't something I take for granted. I thank God every morning when I wake up and realize Clara has slept through the night again and that I feel rested and coherant after a good night's sleep myself. For some reason I haven't kicked the coffee habit, even though Clara has dropped the night wakings. I probably need to work on that.

I realized I have an obsession with the little girl clothes at Gymboree and their coordinating shoes and hair bows...and tights. I have way more fun dressing Clara up than she does wearing the clothes.

I realized I can put Clara's hair in pig tails and that the top knot is no longer the only style her thin, wispy hair can support.

And today, I realized my baby is not such a baby anymore. She seemed more mature today, bigger physically and older emotionally. Her little face and body is losing the baby look and taking on the shape of a little girl. I am having a lot of fun with Clara at this age, but I already miss the baby in her.

Thoughtful Hubby, Blue Eyes, Church Dress

This is kind of a random post, but here goes!

Even though we have been married more than six years, my thoughtful hubby hasn't forgotten the sweet, romantic things that we women still appreciate. After a long day at work, he brought home flowers for me. Can you tell where Clara gets her baby blues from?

For the OK Grands - Clara looked really cute at church today in her pink dress. Thanks again!

Lately

We have had a good week and are trying to stay busy here. Today went by really fast which is good because it's one of those long shifts for Tom where he works 30 hours straight. We all love those...not! Here's a recap of what we have been up to...

Clara and I spent the morning at my Mom's group at church, came home and took a long nap, ate lunch, and then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at a friends house. Clara had a lot of fun playing with Carter and all his toys. He is 5 months younger than Clara but they are pretty much the same size. Here's a cute picture of them playing in the kitchen cabinets at Carter's house.

Driving home after a long day of playtime :)

Clara and Chelsea have been very chummy lately.

Clara has also been helping me with the vacuuming.

Colder still...-16 degrees this morning

Today it was -16 degrees when I went to take Clara to music class. We were both seeing our breath in the car as we drove downtown listening to the Music Together cd and talking about playing instruments and going to class. Clara really loves the class - she is excited, smiling and clapping when she wakes up Thursday mornings and I tell her it's music day.

So imagine Clara's disappointment and mine, when we trudge up the stairs to the studio (after paying to park and freezing our behind's off during the walk to the class) and find out class has been cancelled! Clara's in tears and I'm pretty frustrated because the rule for cancelling is if the public schools are in session, than class is on. The rules do not always apply I guess. Big time bummer.

So I decide to go to the Riverplex for the Totally Tots program which is a kid's gym/play time. We drive the short distance and then park, get out, freeze ourselves silly etc....only to find out Totally Tots was cancelled too!! Tears again from Clara, disappointment from me.

We drive home. Better luck next week!

Yesterday, we got stir crazy enough to go outside and play in the snow. Clara had a really good time even though she fell face first into the snow a couple times. Seriously, the girl is small in stature, but not in perseverance. She walked down the street with Chelsea, playing in the snow and enjoying the outdoors.

After coming inside she decided to eat the snow off her gloves...yummy!

One word Clara has been using a lot lately is 'See, See'. She wants us to pick her up and look out the window at whatever. She also knows that after you take a picture, she can see it on the digital camera. So yesterday I wanted to get some pictures of her playing. I could not get her to sit still and take the picture before she ran over to 'See, see!!'. Here's her mid-run back to me to see the picture I took.

The Low temperature is -11 Degrees today!

Is that any way to live life?? Did you see the negative sign next to the 11?!? It's hard enough when the temperature is in the single digits or teens, but when the temp is in the negatives you really cannot do much but try to keep the house as warm as possible. Last night we got about 6 inches of soft, dry snow. It looks so pretty, everything pure white and peaceful. However, for a stir crazy toddler and mom, it's not exactly a welcome event.

We did leave the house this morning. Gosh darnit...we weren't going to miss a workout even if there was some snow on the ground :) Clara likes the child care at the Y and the class I have on Wednesday mornings is well worth the extra bundling up and careful driving it takes to get out in this weather.

There has been a drought in my blogging...I lost the gizmo that uploads the pictures, our internet connection was down for a week, and really folks, there isn't much to blog about because we don't do much more than run the usual errands, workout, go to church, and play inside.

Clara is her usual fun, happy self. She is enjoying the tea set our good friends got her. She loves to wrestly and rough house with Tom. She is sleeping like a little angel!! She loves to go through my scrapbook stuff, much to my chagrin. We love her so much!