TravelingMel

Here are a few pictures from the farmers market.

Anders was psyched when he found this shingle. The other little boys coveted it.

Eating dinner, chasing kids, enjoying summer.

Finn enjoys eating and wearing hats.

Loving the band.

The very cute Arianna eating berries.

Deena and Todd and their new twins Conner and Cole.

7.1.09 Afternoon Slack Rodeo. 10,000 spectators flock to Livingston each year to watch cowboys and cowgirls compete for the 10th highest purse in the country over the Independence Day holiday. Like most rodeos, you have to qualify to enter. Since this is a high paying rodeo, not just anyone qualifies. But, a few slots are left open and anyone can enter the Slack Rodeo and try to qualify for one of those spots.

The main reasons we went to the Slack were that it is free and it is in the afternoon. The regular rodeo starts at 8 pm (after the boys go to bed) and costs $13 for general admission.

You can read more about rodeos in this article I wrote for Big Sky Journal.

Slacking off.

More slacking.

I tell myself they are just cuddling.

Cowboys waiting for their turn to rope a steer.

If you want your kid to be in the rodeo, you better pick a rodeo name. Something like Ty Cade or Cody Miller or one of these. I think someone should make a Facebook quiz called "What's your rodeo name?".

Chloe eats cotton candy.

Get along little doggies.

One of the top two cutest rodeo spectators.

The only cowgirl we saw, but we were only there for 1.5 hours of the 5 hour event.

That steer is out of there!

Ben and Chloe provided in-stand entertainment.

Someone sitting in front of us called this the rodeo Zamboni.

Little boy, little horse.

The announcer looks up from his laptop. Is he checking email?

Finn hopes the steer don't get hurt with all that roping and wrestling.

Team roping.

Well, that's what we did from 3:30-4:45 yesterday. Someone take the camera away from me! The next few hours will be thoroughly documented in my next post.

Oh, and there is a great article in High Country News about PBR rodeo. That's "professional bull riding", not "Pabst Blue Ribbon". Read it. If you want.

Have you been asking yourself, "What has the Coble-Harrison clan been up to lately?".

No?

Too bad, here it is.

6.24.09 Farmer's Market. Bigger and better this year with more produce, more vendors, more crazy kids and fish tacos. The 5 and under crowd has been storming the dance floor and getting their groove on while their parents try to keep track of them. The lazier parents (me) sit in the grass with their friends and watch it all unfold (and loosely monitor their babies).

6.25.09 Retirement party for one of my co-workers. Our whole gang headed over the hill to Bozeman to celebrate 30 (ish?) years of service to MSU News Service.

6.26.09 The boys and I went to the poorly-named "Touch A Truck" event in Bozeman. A fire engine, police car, ambulance, school bus, tow truck and a few other vehicles were parked in the Bozeman Swim Center parking lot. A lot of little kids swarmed around and climbed in and on the vehicles.

Anders spent about 45 minutes being scared, so I carried him around (with Finn in the backpack, of course). As we were about to leave he lost all fear and I could hardly get him out of the fire truck. We spent a little time at the new dinosaur park before heading back to Livingston.

That evening H's parents came over for the Art Walk. We ate out and then strolled through downtown.

6.27.09 Baby shower for my friend, Jessica, in the morning. I laughed harder than I have in a long time. It was so much fun. That afternoon we went to a birthday party for 3-year-old Logan at the park. BBQ, bubbles and climbing on tractors. (Don't leave your giant riding lawn mowers out if you don't want my kid to climb on them...)

6.28.09 Chico Hot Springs in the morning and a dog walk up Emigrant Gulch. Then H's parents came over in the afternoon and stayed for fish tacos.

6.29.09 Flagging certification course in the morning. (A ridiculous hoop we have to jump through for our volunteers for the Bozeman Classic. That's the race I organize (60) volunteers and donations for.) Big H and Mogie were gracious enough to sit through the 3 hour training. H and the boys met us in Bozeman and we all went out to lunch.

6.30.09 Just work, phew!

I didn't take any pictures of these fun events, but in my next post I'll fill you in on the last couple days and dazzle you with photos of cowboys roping steer, kids being cute and farmers marketing.

Last weekend I took Anders and Finn camping. Without a second adult. I know, brave of me. Other than a few minor episodes, it went really well.

We drove about 2 hours from Livingston to the Stillwater River in the Beartooths. We were at the base of the Beartooths, but it sounds more hard core if you think we were up in the mountains.

It was so beautiful. This is the second weekend in a row when I thought, "Why haven't I been here before?"

That's the thing about living here--there is always another amazing place to discover. I was struck again by how lucky we are.

I high school I was voted "most likely to be poor, but happy". It's true, look it up in the 1991 NPHS yearbook. That has basically turned out to be true. We live pretty hand-to-mouth, but look where we live.

We stayed at the Woodbine Campground at the end of the road. It's a big campground, but the sites are spread out and we scored a spot along the river.

Woodbine campsite. Yes, I set this giant tent up alone, in the rain, with a baby crying and a 2-year-old "helping".

Finn plays with the barralitos in the tent. I bought them in Argentina last year and they have become one of the most popular toys we own.

Anders playing with a shoelace. I like to spoil the boys with high-end toys. It's just what I do. (We could have brought the train table. It wouldn't fit in the car, but it would fit in the tent--with room for us to sleep.)

We played in the tent a little until the rain stopped, then got out and played in the dirt. Anders "made" a campfire and Finn chewed on pine cones. I made dinner. We tried to go to bed, but that wasn't really working.

Me: Anders we have to be quiet so Finn can fall asleep, then you and I will read books.

Anders: Mommy, we have to be quiet. No talking. Be quiet. Mommy, no talking. Mommy, I am not talking. I am being quiet. Finn is not tired.

Me: sshhhh

Anders: I am sitting on Finn. He is crying. He wants his mommy.

So, plan B. Put them in the car and take a little drive. I swore I'd never drive the kids to sleep. it is a total waste of energy. Desperate times.

After 10 minutes or so they were both asleep and I enjoyed the view from the steep dirt road.

Looking back down the valley from whence we came.

Looking up the valley toward where we camped.

The campground is just past the Stillwater Mine. (The only US producers of palladium and platinum.) Fortunately, the campground is upstream from the mine. I really don't know anything about it except that it is in a beautiful area and men, wearing hard hats, drive golf carts around.

Stillwater Mine

After they fell asleep I carried them into the tent and slipped them into sleeping bags.

The next morning we went for a hike up to Woodbine Falls. It was just .75 miles. Easy. Anders walked about the first .5 mile, then refused to walk anymore. I considered giving up my agenda of getting to the falls, but we all know that wasn't going to happen.

So I carried Anders the last .25 mile up (and all the way down) and Finn rode in the back pack. It was worth it.

(There are a lot of flower shots in here. If they bore you, do like Henry and scroll right past them.)

Trailhead to the falls. Only .75 miles.

Anders hiking.

Watching Woodbine Creek.

Do you wish you were here? You should.

Finn in the backpack, as usual.

Ponderosa pine

View from the trail.

Taking a rest stop.

Wild onion.

Larkspur--one of my top two favorite flowers.

Anders makes a rock hat. He wanted Finn to wear it, but I thought that might not be a good idea.

Anders keeps talking about the "river fall" we saw.

I know there is a hair from the photographer in the shot, but it is the only one of all three of us. Ignore it, if you can.

I have been enamored with the little maples this year.

Here is the waterfall from the road leading to the campground.

More pictures...I take a lot of pictures and if I don't post them here, they get lost in my computer.

The (not so aptly named) Stillwater River.

Anders makes a campfire. This consists of stirring around the ashes, getting covered in black soot and then rubbing his hands on my pants.

Yeah! The mini-beach by our campsite.

Part of the Stillwater. We got to listen to this whenever we were in our site. Lovely. I wish I could sleep by rushing water all the time.

Finn transitions from eating pine cones to eating sand. Keeps his gullet clean.

Who knows what this fungi(?) growing on the maple is? I see it all the time.

Anders splish-splashed in the river despite its frigid temperature.

Lichen. or is this a bryophyte?

Tree lichen.

Cute foal we saw on the way home.

I took the scenic route home and was happy to see the road got much better at this point.

We went camping last weekend. We took lots of photos. We always take a lot of photos, but we went overboard (even for us). Photos take a long time to resize, adjust and upload. No time for words. Check out Henry's blog for description.

I will say this, there were A LOT of mosquitoes, but we had a great time anyway.

The Big Tent. Look at 100lb Rigby for scale

Playing in The Big Tent

Throwing rocks in the lake.

phlox

change of focus

strawberry

rainy day

Cute dog on a hillside

clematis

meadow rue

paintbrush

Wade Lake. Seriously beautiful.

Finn chomps a pine cone (Doug-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii) in the backpack.

Hanging out around the campfire.

Daddy and little boy.

Sunday morning stroll in the woods.

Wade Lake from above.

Silky phaecelia

One of my favorites: Calypso orchid

One of my favorites: Rigby dog

Pausing briefly and being totally devoured by mosquitoes.

Cliff Lake

Rocky outcrop above Cliff Lake

Rigby on lock-down after crunching on the bones of something at an uninhabited campsite. Please keep your campsites clean, you never know when a sweet, but carcass-driven dog will arrive, followed by his poor best friend who has to walk all the way over there with a baby on her back and then crawl up a steep bank to get back to the road.

Cliff Lake

After our morning hike we jumped in the truck as quickly as possible to escape the swarms and headed to West Yellowstone. We visited the Grizzly Discovery Center and discovered a zoo...of people.

Bear watching

"What the heck is going on here?"

Sleepy wolf.

Our new couch. We had to rearrange some furniture to fit it in, but it is worth it.

41 photos. I think you get the picture of how our weekend went.