Wednesday, May 30, 2007

More of the farm

Here are a couple more pictures of Ben and Julie's farm.


The barn.


Watching the cows.


Feeding the horses some treats.


Petting a baby chick.


One more goodbye to the two sweet mares.

The farm

Damian's friends, Ben and Julie, have a beautiful farm not far from Damian's land. They raise their own meat, eggs and have a large garden that feeds their family. They make goat cheese from the milk and do all their farming with their two draft horses! It was very inspiring to see what they have done and to see where they are going.....


Ben and his baby Evelyn show us their goats.


Meeting their beautiful and very sweet horses.

Holding their newest "kid" - only a week old.


Playing with straw.


A great thrill. Ben put Liam into the grain bins so that he could feel the different textures. What fun! Here Liam plays in the corn. The only challenge was keeping the grain IN the can.

Dancing

Liam is such a good dancer! He had a blast - he danced, by himself for about three hours. He only took one break to take off his shirt and shoes. It was hilarious. Unfortunately, it was too dark in their for videos, but here are a couple pictures.


Liam and a friend.


Liam dancing with his snack in hand (bread).


"Now I can really get busy!"


Mutti and Poppi on the dance floor.


Dancing with Ashton.

The wedding and "getting down"

Damian and Darcy's wedding ceremony was beautiful. After the ceremony, we took some family pictures. You can see the Mission Mountains in the background.



The bride and groom


The Mast Clan


Liam and Daddy


Mmmm....bread and olive oil.....


Liam and a little friend "get down" on the dance floor.

The Cousins

It was wonderful spending time with Liam's cousins (Chris and Aislinn's kids) over Memorial Day weekend. They are so sweet and lively and Liam learned a lot by watching and playing. Ashton is such a sweet older sister and was great with Liam, often picking him up or trying to help him when he needed something. Here they are having breakfast at the counter.




Liam and Ashton


Little Finn

Uncle Damian gets married

This past weekend, Gabe, Liam and I traveled to Montana for Uncle Damian's wedding. We had a great time. The Mast clan all stayed together in a house not too far from the wedding sight. It was fun all staying in the same spot and Liam got to play with his cousins, Finn and Ashton. The "rehearsal dinner" was a shrimp boil (Southern Style) on Damian's beautiful land at the base of the Mission Mountains, about 40 miles from Missoula. Here are some pictures from the evening. There were lots of kids, dogs, family and friends and a super bluegrass band to boot!



Diggin' into the shrimp boil.


Coming up over the hill.


Exploring the surroundings.


Dirty and happy at night.

Meg's open house

Two weeks ago, our friends Meg and Tim (little Lily's parents) had an open house so we could celebrate their new digs. The three amigos had a great time, along with their other friends, running around and playing in their backyard. We marveled at the fact that, for the most part, we parents could sit and drink beers and the kids self-entertained.

Of course there had to be some wagon rides.

A wagon-full.

Two little friends - Felix and Liam.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Sweet days at the park

Nearly every morning, after breakfast and after I leave for work, Liam and Daddy head to the park around the corner. Liam gets to run and get his 'jiggles out" before Maite arrives for the morning.


Liam and his truck

Liam running through the dandelions.

On most Mondays, some mama friends of mine and Liam's friends, meet and play at one of our local parks. Madison has a lot of great parks to choose from. Here, Lily and Liam enjoy some time in Ellen's wagon. Liam is trying to figure out how to "buckle up".

Looking around the park. The view from the wagon.

Good friends hanging out on a warm afternoon.

Mother's Day

Sunday, I woke to breakfast and beautiful lilacs on the table. Liam got started on breakfast first, and stayed at the table most of the way through the meal. Gabe is a great cook and breakfasts are his specialty...and parents know the luxury of sleeping in!

The spread.

Liam and Mama.

Kisses for my special day. Yeah!

Warm weather and gardening

Liam's favorite activity is anything OUTSIDE. First thing in the morning, Liam goes to our back door and says, "door, door, door", meaning "please let me outside!". Here are a few pictures from our backyard. Liam loves to garden and especially, to dig.

Transplanting?

Moving dirt around.

Where should I dump it?

Lily, Todd and Felix came over for dinner Saturday night. After dinner, we had dessert in the backyard, while the boys played together. Very sweet.

Sharing the car and playing with Tahoe.

Rainy day outside

These pictures are from a couple weeks ago. But...since it is raining today, I thought they were appropriate to post.

Trumping around in rubber boots.

Truck in the pool.

Let me try and bail out some water.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Warmer weather

Summer seems to come abruptly here...and inconsistently. We had snow mid-April (just for two days) and we also had a couple of days that crept up to 80 degrees. We pulled out our little pool to celebrate and Liam has really enjoyed cooling off these last few days.



Sitting in the pool.


Noni and Grandpa found a cool, old car at a second-hand shop when they were in town. Liam decided to take it for a spin after sitting in his pool one afternoon. We all held our breath, wondering if it felt as uncomfortable as it looked.


Down the driveway, toward our garage.


....And back into the pool to cool off after the ride.


Here is a picture of Noni and Grandpa from their visit last month. We went looking for birds on Cherokee Marsh not far from our house.