big sky country

On a bit of a whim, we flew to Montana to see our good friend Nikko, his parents and new baby sister, Keira. Above, Levi gets his wings as a lap baby in Micah's seat. Butte, MT was our base and we packed in a lot for four adults and four kids--two of whom were under 3 months old. All in all it was a great way to say farewell to summer. Of course it doesn't feel like summer is over. Micah's school does not start up until next Wednesday and upon returning to hot, dry California, flying over the Station fire at night, we have landed in consecutive days of 90 degree weather. This is not Fall--though I understand Montana may be experiencing their first frosts in a few weeks.

So the Montana highlights (not including those I got in my hair at a spa/salon in Bozeman on our last day of the trip):

Hiking! Just outside Butte there was a great trail, Beaver Pond, that connected to the Continental Divide Trail--not that we went that far. Considering we hit the trail at the crack of 5 pm--we had to turn around to get home for dinner.
Then there was the 3 mile roundtrip hike up to Lake Agnes, including a 1,000 foot elevation gain that both Nikko and Micah rocked. The lake was glorious (Jen & Nick's camera store the footage) and perfect for a crisp dip for the California-ites. Nikko was wiped by the end,
but Micah had run down the hill with enough energy left for a game of Pooh Sticks over the creek (I hope the conjures a fond childhood literary reference and not something in preparation for a colonoscopy).

Hiking also involved digging for crystals on another day in the Pioneer Range:


Rock Climbing! Here we are rocking "the queen":
The boys were good sports and were effectively out among the rocks for the better part of a day.

While the babies held down base camp:
On our last days we headed to Bozeman and caught up with Nikki at Hyalite Creek Falls:


For all the Montana pics visit Flickr.

Then of course there was plenty of good food (and lots of wine for the mommas) in the evenings, amid the chaos of putting four wee ones down for the night, usually waaaaay past their bedtimes. All in all, a fantabulous week! Thanks Jen & Nick!