Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Giving thanks with family

The leaves have fallen and the weather has finally turned cold.  We have enjoyed brisk weekends hiking through the woods, chasing deer, and taking in the last bit of warmth before winter comes.  Auntie Em and Uncle Jimmy came to visit for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Charlie fell instantly in love with her Auntie and Uncle.  We all went on an adventure up to Glacier National Park where we had one of the most spectacular days ever.  Beautiful blue skies and snow capped mountains made our hikes phenomenal.  When we returned to Missoula, Auntie Em and Uncle Jimmy helped us prepare for Junior's arrival.  The visit was perfect and we cant wait to see them tie the knot in the June.  Here are a few pictures from the past month.

Hiking with Dad

Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge fun

Too cute for words

Snuggles with Uncle "Wimmy"

No trail needed for this outdoors girl

Sisters 

Check out the beautiful views!

Hikes with Uncle Jimmy

Charlie making a run for it

Classic GNP sign picture

Charlie!

We reached our destination on our hike!

Auntie Em and Charlie playing with new legos
 

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Transitioning into fall

August and September have been filled with more adventures.  We have had family visit, camped more, and have enjoyed getting back into the semester.  Charlie has grown over the past few months and now can talk!  Some of her favorite words are shoes, water, more, potty, TT, moo and of course Daddy and Mommy.  She has been going on many adventures to library sing along, kindermusic, and to parks with her bestie Sunny and NaNa (Natalie our amazing nanny).  We are looking forward to the holiday season where we will welcome junior to our world. Here are some of our favorite pictures:

Ice cream love

Shopping with NaNa

Pretty bows

Bestie adventure

Morning oatmeal

Her new favorite toy from Grandpa

Hanging out in Glacier with Dad

Long hike up to Avalanche Lake

Swinging with her favorite... Grandpa!
 

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Best Summer Ever!

We have been off our blog for the past few months because we have been on adventures.  We have packed, pushed, and carried Charlie all over Montana and beyond.  Our summer kicked off with a trip to Monterey, CA.  We rented a house and hung out on the CA coast for 5 days.  We spent time at the aquarium, hiking in Big Sur, and explored all the foodie hotspots of Pacific Grove and San Francisco.  Charlie had fun watching fishes swim and seals play in the water.  The trip provided the much needed respite given our very busy and hectic spring semester.   We have also taken Charlie on several camping trips.  We went to Holland Lake, MT and Glacier National Park.  I am constantly amazed by how resilient she is.  She goes wit the flow and nothing phases her.

We have been exposing Charlie to the all the crazy, awesome, experiences life has to offer.  We want her to grow up thinking travel is normal and that meeting new people and seeing new places is just what life is all about.  She loves interacting with people and other kids and usually ends a new interaction by blowing kisses goodbye. She is an explorer and loves to touch and see things for herself. This usually means that we are chasing her all over, but we don't mind.

This summer was also marked by anticipating the arrival of our new baby boy in December.  We have spent much of the summer dreaming about what it will be like with 2 kids. As we prepare for our new arrival we have had much time to reflect on the past few months.  We have both said repeatedly how incredible this summer has been.  We have had relaxing weeks that have been sprinkled with visits from friends and family on the weekends.  We have felt so loved by all of our visitors. We cant imagine a better summer, however, we know there are more to come.  We are so in love with where we live, all of our friends and family, and of course, completely in love with our perfect little family.

Here are a few pictures of Charlie from our adventures:

Muir Woods... check off another NPS site

Family selfie

Those are tall trees!

Too much fun

Natural Bridge


Loving the kelp forest

Dad loves the aquarium as much as Choo

Family selfie

Penguin egg

Sweetest girl in the world

Choo does not like the hot sand

Yard fun

Camping with her bestie Sunny

Camp bath

Hike to the falls

Loves her bike trailer

GNP

Summer smiles

Friday, May 6, 2016

Our other life

When we're not spending time with Choochalooch, we Drs. Metcalf get to do some really cool work with communities and other scientists to understand how people interact with the environment, and hopefully how to improve those interactions. This week we received a grant to continue some of that work and the local news thought it worthy of a spot. Pretty cool!!

http://www.kpax.com/story/31909146/grant-fueling-wildfire-research-at-um


Saturday, March 26, 2016

1 year, 1 post

Here she is, from the beginning. Never knew so much fit between 0 and 1!