492.4

and then we arrived in Sheridan, WYOMING.

Road Kill Count:

Unidentifibale mass - 3
Deer - 2
Large bird - 1
Racoon - 2
Skunk - 2

Energy drinks consumed - 4 by Eric and 3 coffees by me

Crossed mountain pass #3 - Pipestone Pass in Butte, Montana.

We loved Bozeman, Montana and maybe put it on the list of potential places to "settle". Drove through Hardin, Montana border town to "Crow Country"

Heading out right now...more details to come.

The Journey of a Million Miles

begins with 467. That is how many miles we drove today. We left Auburn with tears in our eyes, heavy hearts and many deep sighs. The first miles were slow and sad and then things began to look up. The weather has been beautiful today - blue skies and above 70 the whole way. We had lunch in Ritzville, WA (ever heard of it? me neither!) and crossed over the panhandle of Idaho (aka The Gem State) to arrive in Missoula in The Treasure State. Tomorrow our plan is to make it to a state who's nickname is The Equality State. What's your guess...

Roadkill seen today - 2 deer and 1 porcupine

Coffees consumed today - only 2 can you believe it?

Strangest thing seen today - one really old Chevy truck on fire on the side of the road

Can't download pictures in this hotel's computer...but here's a good one anyways.

First Chopping!

I Heart Stay at Home Moms (and Dads)

It's true. After working full time for most of my teen and adult life, I have been a SAHM for the past six weeks. What a wild and woolly ride this has been - it is so much more and so much more intense then I ever would have guessed. In our transition from the rez to Auburn to who knows where, the tall one started back with his massage gig and I became the SAHM. When I worked full time outside the house my day was so regimented and segmented. It has been a wonderful change to just flow through the day. Next up...O's first hair cut.

P.S.

First 1/2
Originally uploaded by stacyanderic

Did I ever tell you that I finished a half marathon. I trained with O on my back or in the stroller with two friends from Fort and about 20 other people in a program offered from our hospital's wellness center. It is called the "Get Fit Challenge". It was great fun to train with such an inspiring group of folks - of all ages! In October of 2009 I completed the Duke City Half Marathon. Yeah! I am the one with the pink coat over my bum.

I Know, I Know

I honestly can't believe that it has been almost 2 months since I have posted - that must mean there is nothing new going on...hah! Not in my little corner of the world. Tonight finds me at my MB's house, listening to the frogs croak away and finishing up an icy cold G&T. YUM!

The past 2 months have been a complete and utter whirlwind of activity. We started off the month of March by deciding that our time in Fort Defiance was done and it was time to move on. We started to pack up the house and we officially hit the road on April 2nd. We meandered our way up to the Pacific Northwest in 5 days and about 1700 miles. We stopped at any hotspring we could find along the way and I spent my birthday in a "hotpot" in the middle of Utah. It was fantastic. Staying at MB's has been restful and seeing the interactions between O and the family just melts my heart.

O "helping" us pack

Just Call Me Rocky

This afternoon found Eric and O walking around outside waiting for me to come home for lunch. Watching them on my bike from down the block I yelled out a big "hello!" O looked up and was walking with his push walker so fast that he couldn't catch himself. The walker hit a rock and O "endo'ed" over the handlebar. My ohh my...I shudder to think what other injuries he has in store for me.

Kale Chips

I know it sounds crazy but they are soooo good. I found the recipe here and tried it last night. They were fantastic. Cruncy and salty (maybe a little bit too salty...is that possible?) but heck you only use olive oil and some type of vinegar. The recipe calls for apple cider but I bet they would be great with basalmic or even red wine. You could also use sesame oil...YUM. All the possibilities made me put kale on the shopping list.

Home-made Goodness

I love homemade things. They don’t have to be fancy or complicated or take a lot of skill to do. I just like things that people have taken the time to make. What got me to thinking about this was making the bed last weekend. I like to have a nicely made bed and Eric had taken our quilts to the Laundromat to use the industrial size washer and dryer – he had put the mattress pad back on but the bed needed to be made. I started putting the sheets on (flannel cause it’s so damn cold here) and then pulled on the quilts. One quilt was made by my mom – it’s got a plain ivory background and a star like pattern on it. I can’t remember why we got it from her – a Christmas gift maybe? And my mom doesn’t quilt a ton so I always think it’s great that we have something from her that she doesn’t “do” a lot of. I don’t recognize any of the fabrics in the quilt – though I am sure she made it with scraps. The second quilt is a crazy looking quilt that my grandma made. It is made of all flannel material cut in a various shapes and sizes and I am pretty sure it’s really called a crazy quilt. This quilt has a solid red and white striped backing and I think I got it when I was about 15 and loved the color red. It is heavy and warm. I recognize many of the fabrics in the quilt – a nightgown here and an Easter bunny there. My cousins each have a similar quilt and they call theirs a “gully gully”. For the past month or two I have been working on 2 projects; one a growth chart for O made out of wood and the other a play kitchen for him that I found on this great website called http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ you should really check it out. I finally finished the growth chart and am pretty happy with how it turned out – though I used an old can of clear coat and it turned the white paint a kind of aged yellow looking. It doesn’t look bad just not as good as it did before the clear coat. The kitchen is still a work in progress…

To Cut or Not to Cut?

We have been discussing cutting O's hair for the past month. I like it longer so does Eric. Who knows...how does one decide to cut their child's hair?