THE MINI MEUNIERS: close

Summer is quickly coming to a close here in Montana. Although the temperatures the past few days have still been in the high 80s, the mornings and evenings have a new chilly crispness that can only indicate fall, and, alas, winter will soon be here. Because we haven't done hardly anything outside this summer, we decided to take advantage of the fact Nathan had this last weekend off and headed up to Red Lodge. Our intention was to find a short trail we could take the kids on as well as see what was going on at the Beartooth Nature Center. The nature center is a refuge for animals in the region who, for whatever reason, can't safely return to the wild. Red Lodge is at the base of the Beartooth Mountains, so I thought we'd be able to find a trail fairly easily, but after having lunch and exploring the nature center, we decided to go to the park instead of trying to find a trail. But, I have talked to a few people since then and have some ideas now of where to go for next summer. I am anticipating we will be out "exploring nature" almost every weekend next summer since I hopefully will have much more energy than this last summer.

Isaac slept through the whole exhibit

Admiring the black bear

Big buffalo

The weekend was also busy because I had two baby showers in honor of Mr. Isaac who is now a month old and weighs 13 pounds. The first one was hosted by my colleagues at work and was quite nice. It's always refreshing to see the people you work with in a social situation without the stress of patient care, although conversation always reverts back to that! The other shower was hosted by my extended family here in Billings and was also quite nice. They decided to host it at our house so everyone could see the nursery (I'll post pictures when it's completed - I still have a few pictures and things to hang up) which gave me a good excuse to clean. My grandma Sharon has a tradition of making new members to the family quilts (mine was the first one!) and Isaac now has his! Everyone was very generous and thanks again for everything!