Catching up on Summer 2011: Montana (part 2)

You can't be outside the whole time while you're on vacation...so Annie spent some of her inside time coloring one of her favorite things...butterflies. These butterflies were the genius idea of her cousin Samantha...they will factor in to a later post when the kids used Grandma Seifert's handmade butterfly nets to capture some of these paper bugs...fun times! Here Annie is very focused on coloring. Not always a lefty but she seems to like coloring with both hands.



I love this photo of Darla and Joseph...two of my beauties!



And that photo shoot was so exhausting that Joseph needed to do one of his favorite pastimes.



SPARKLERS! What would the 4th be without them.




BUBBLES...summer just wouldn't be the same without some bubbles (see that's what you were missing this past summer and didn't even realize it...fall is also a great season for bubbles...its not too late!)



Cousin Mai helped Annie get the hang of it!



Reading is always a treat when you got such a cute audience. Joseph had voted for some Shakespeare, so in protest he decided to take a nap (again!). Annie and Georgie were good troopers and indulged Dad as he read nursery rhymes for the 100th time.



Not sure the name of this bright beauty but it is just one of the MANY amazing wildflowers dotting the landscape of Northern MT in July.



I know the name of this bright beauty and she is radiant!



Lewis and Clark went by this portion of the Seifert's land, long before it was own by the family. We had the best tour guide as Darla's mom showed us the lay of the land! (for the record Darla is scratching her cheek, not holding her nose!)



More Montana adventure to come!

Getting Caught up on Summer 2011: Montana (part 1)

We spent a week right around the fourth of July in Montana with Darla's parents and siblings. Wonderful time together. If you've never been to BIG SKY country, you are missing a whole lot of nothing... miles and miles of beautiful fields, roads that go on forever and hardly a house per mile...amazing nothingness. Neither of our kids had been to the farm before so it was a great chance to explore of Annie and Joseph did what he did anywhere at one month old...well you'll see.



Annie was almost two on this trip so we figured that she could take to the wide open fields and test her hand at driving. The fashion shades were a must!



It was a bumpy ride but we all made it in one piece. She got out of the truck to head to the fields and inspect how the wheat was growing. In the background of this photo you can see a white set of building...that is where Darla's parents live.



Annie thought the wheat was growing pretty well. But she was getting a headache from dad taking all these photos.



We took a short walk down to some of the lower lands on the farm and saw this beautiful little meandering stream and a field bird on a red fence gate.





Joseph did A LOT of this...which when you're one month old is pretty cute.



Annie encountered her first 900 lb hay bale and she loved it!




Swimming is a MUST when it is 95 and you're two. She spent a lot of time imitating a fish and splashing her parents and cousins.



These roads are like nothing else in MT...we drove down plenty of them and more stories to tell...stay tuned.

Joseph's first month pictures (yup LATE!)

We are aware that we're WAY behind in the old world of blogging...we've got great reasons but we know you don't care...you just want pictures of the kids...so here's a start. We were in MT for Joseph's first month b-day (July 3rd) and we are going to continue the theme of the number of months matching the number of items in the photo. We neglected to take the letter blocks with us on the plane...if you've ever traveled with two children under two, you understand.

Darla's parent live on a working farm, where barley and wheat are grown, so we figured that Joseph needed to have a stalk of wheat in his photo (i may have picked a stalk of Barley, so any experts should grant me grace!) The little cowboy hat...well how could I help myself. At the very end is Annie getting into the action!

More park time and saying good-bye to Grandma and Pop Pop Baliko

As you can tell we are getting caught up on June events and will very soon be posting images from our recent trip to Montana to see Darla's folks...but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Grandma and Pop Pop Baliko enjoyed a great weekend over Father's day (which was the Strawberry picking adventure) and summer solstice.

With all those great strawberries Grandma and Annie made a cake for all of us...looks like they had too much fun.






Of course we had not explored all the local parks so on a warm summer day we went to Woodstock Park:






Annie was in for a surprise on this slide...she went so fast that she launched off the end and plopped down on the ground...and with out missing a beat she popped up and said, "again?".






I had asked Annie to wave at the camera...and boy howdy did she wave!



Darla got this sweet shot of Annie...everybody, all together...ahhhwwwwhhhh.



Annie wanted me to flip the swing over the top bar of the swing set, but I told her that she needed to save something for her teenage years. Grandma got great air when she jumped off her swing!



This onesie says, "That's it I'm going to Grandma's house." I'm not sure who put this on him the day before the grandparents were scheduled to leave but I have my suspicions.



Summer solstice sunset from our drive way!



Annie with her hair all wrapped up after a bath...she frequently wants to hang out with daddy right after getting a a bath...I love these sweet little moments.



Some of the final sunbeams were catching our red maple "on fire," this picture doesn't do the glory justice...WOW!



My mom reportedly had no idea where Annie could have possibly gotten her curly hair...but after mom had her morning shower...we had some idea of where those curls came from.



And the good bye before heading to the airport. Mom and Dad, we loved having you out here to see the new house and the kids. Thanks for taking the time to being such an important part of our lives. Can't wait to see you again soon!

Strawberry Picking with Grandma and Pop Pop

Back out to Columbia Farms on Sauvie Island for berry pickin'. We love this farm and the seasonal fruit that they have from June through October. June is STRAWBERRIES. So with a two week old and an almost two year old we all set out for a little picking adventure.



Annie was "helping" dad pick berries and I thought they were ending up in the pail, but as this photo evidence indicates...she ate her weight in berries. About halfway through our time out in the fields she proudly showed me her bucket which had NOTHING but stems in it.





Never put a berry hound in the cart with all your berries, you will rue the day



Grandma and Annie enjoying a quick moment together before we loaded up our 20+ pounds of berries.



We recently purchased a chest freezer for just such items as summer strawberries. I think the woman who runs 101 Cookbooks needs to hire me as her food photographer.



I'd like to title this final one..."Morning mist over the Ruby Hills."