The end of our long vacation through the east coast and the mountain west was upon us before we knew it. We woke on Friday morning, like we had many others and ate a nice breakfast looking out at the mountain morning. But the morning quickly became a work day as we packed up three weeks worth of family gear and got the car packed. The Toonces looked worriedly through the screen porch doors as more and more familiar things disappeared around her.

After a nice lunch on the porch we posed for some family pictures. Little did we know that a bat had decided to be part of the family and was hanging right over our heads. He had taken refuge behind the barn door, and suddenly found him self out in the open when Chipp opened the door to use as a background to our portrait. We closed the door and left him in peace. A sad goodbye followed, and then we were on the road. A month of paternity leave, acting together both as a nuclear family, but also as a larger family has with my family on the East coast and Nina's on the West, is something we will miss greatly in the coming months. But it is also a period that will not fade from memory easily, and on which I will linger when in need of something cheerful. The lesson I think is that these times are worth the considerable effort it takes to make them happen, and that is worth remembering when it all seems hard.

Cooper went for his second hike to Passage falls deep in the Mill Creek valley. It was about 2 miles through a recently burned area. The falls themselves were very beautiful tucked in at the base of a high mountain meadow. It is no coincidence we are doing lots of waterfall hikes, they tend to be lower and shorter, within or on the edge of a 5 month old's good period between naps. The complete album is here.

I ventured back into Yellowstone on Monday to see if I could spot any more wild life. The family trip was great, but with the boy stuck in his car seat searching for wildlife was pretty impractical. I took off at 4:30 a.m. and was in the Lamar Valley for sunrise. It paid off with some Wolf sightings. As you can see below they were pretty far off, but it was still very cool. One of the guys that tracks wolves for the park was out with his tracking equipment and spotting scopes. I got to look through the scope and it really brought the scene's close. Full album here.

Here a some scenes from the last few weeks in Montana, find them all here.

The deer like Chipp's grass	Lichen in Pine Creek
Nina and Cooper at Pine Creek	Sitting in the Bumbo: "reading"
Another Sunset	Hmm...Chili powder looks interesting...
At the Livingston Farmer's Market	Toonces likes any vacation with a bed

We packed up yesterday and headed out for a family outing to Yellowstone. It was not something we were sure would fly with the boy. And the results were desidedly mixed. We had some good times hanging out at the Lake Lodge on Yellowstone lake and walking around Mammoth Hot Springs, and some not so good times with some general a.m. crankiness at being in the car too long and a final thermonuclear meltdown due to sun in the eyes, being hungry and sick of the car seat. I'm not sure Nina agrees but I really enjoyed it anyway. It was good to get out and see somethings and be active as a family. The complete album is here.

Things are starting to take shape back home, and we are getting our first glimpse of what it might look like. A full 18 pics are available thanks to our contractor.