Missoula or Bust

We just returned from a weekend in Missoula, MT, celebrating the wedding of our friends Jake and Nina. First time traveling with an infant... but it turned out alright. Olaf slept the 6 hours there and 6 hours back, with a few stops in between for feeding (both us and him) and diaper changes.

Mel, with Ben and Olaf, at Matt's house

We stayed with our friend Matt in one of his spare rooms. Seeing as how we forgot to bring something for Olaf to sleep on(in), he was kind enough to give us a chair/futon mattress to lay next to our air bed for Oly, since he does not yet know how to roll anywhere. I think he actually slept better on that than he ever has at home. Could be the exhaustion of meeting a ton of new people and going lots of places... This kid sure is a trooper - he has slept in numerous random places already - futons in Missoula, swings, bouncy chairs, strollers, his crib, his cradle, the couch, a rubbermaid on the coffee table, the closet of the 5th wheel, grandma Helseth's bed, laying on Josie (Jake and Nina's dog) in the grass, in a baby carrier at 7000 ft on top of snowbowl ski area... the list goes on. He does seem to sleep alot, as I have discovered when reviewing all the pictures we have of him - he seems to be asleep 85% of the time!

Olaf is asleep in his carseat, under the trees, by the river

Jenn and Steve at the river

We managed to also forget our Moby wrap baby carrier... which was a bummer because we didn't want to haul Oly around in a carseat all weekend. So we ended up going to one of those earth-mother type baby stores and picking up a new carrier - the "Ergo". (As seen in the photo below) Jenny and Haakon gave it rave reviews, and Steve really liked wearing it, so it is definitely a keeper. I still feel like it's a little bulky on my body, but that may be because I love my Moby wrap. We also have a Snuggly and a Baby Bjorn at home... too many carriers? Maybe.

Steve, up at the wedding site, with Olaf, in our new "Ergo" baby carrier

Jake was one of Steve's old roomates from the Ballard house (Casa de Agua), and also our roommate this last winter. So the wedding was a fun time to see a bunch of the guys from the house together again and hang out with Jake and Nina's other family and friends. Nina's family is Swedish, and they got a kick out of the fact that we named our son Olaf, which is a "very Swedish" name. He got spoken to in Swedish quite often. Who knows, maybe he'll pick up a few words here and there. We also enjoyed the delicious Big Sky Brewery beer, which I have not tasted in a LONG time due to being pregnant. It was wonderful!

Jake and Nina, with Jeff officiating

Our family of 3 up at the top!

We had a chance on Saturday to watch a bunch of people try to ride the standing wave on the Clark Fork river in downtown Missoula. There were a lot of kayakers, one surfer, and a guy with a boogie board. Nick decided that the surfer and the boogie boarder were imbeciles, and thought he would be able to do better. The videos below show that, well, it takes more skill than it looks like it should! We laughed pretty hard.

Nick, attempt #1 at "catching the wave"


Nick, attempt #2

Now we are home again and trying to keep the house looking clean so that hopefully it will sell. Anyone interested? Do you have any friends that are interested? Spread the word! We are trying to sell it For Sale By Owner... will see how it goes. But we have to sell it before the bank will give us a construction loan for the Plain property... so we are praying for a quick sale!

FOR SALE - PLEASE BUY ME...