Greetings from Big Sky Country

As most of you know, we recently made our journey West to our new home state of Montana. The 24-hour (driving) trip took 3 days and was basically uneventful. The girls handled the time in the van very well and the cats didn't whine too much, either. Amazingly enough, Ben and I didn't even argue ONCE that I can recall. We both knew how stressful the trip would be if we didn't get ourselves into the right mindset.

That being said, I rather enjoyed the drive. I found Wisconsin to be especially beautiful with its rolling hills and gorgeous green fields. I have never seen so many cows in all my life! On the morning of day three we had a wonderful visitor during one of our pit stops. A real BISON!! I know that many people assume that they are called buffalo, but they are truly bison.

We stopped at an area called "Painted Canyon" just before leaving North Dakota and heading into Montana. I laughed a little at the sign near the entrance showing a picture of a bison and stating "CAUTION...Do Not Approach Wildlife." We spent a little time at the overlook and then Riley asked about something in the grass...bison droppings! After a potty break, we all headed back to the vehicles. On our way, we spotted a very LARGE male bison heading in our direction. He was just taking his sweet time grazing along the way. Samantha and Riley were both a little scared, even though he was a good bazillion yards away (you can tell I'm good at judging distances, right?). I couldn't resist driving the van around to get a closer look at this magnificent animal. He was enormous and seemed so gentle. I'm sure if someone made this 2,000-lb animal angry, he wouldn't seem so gentle.

The rest of that day was pretty tame...Riley spotted a herd of bison next to the highway about 25 miles outside of Great Falls. She was very proud of herself. And speaking of being PROUD... Riley's potty training (or lack of training) has been a great source of worry for me, especially. As several of our family members know, Riley finally decided to start wearing big girl panties just one week before we departed Indiana. I think we owe a lot of thanks to her babysitter, Stephanie, who really got her going on a regular basis. Well, Riley made it all the way from Indiana to Montana with no accidents!! Hooray, we are diaper/pull-up free!! (other than at night, of course)

For right now, I am off to take the girls to the hotel pool. I will continue this adventure later with more details of our new home.

Love to all!!