Mindless Meanderings of Schroedawg

It never fails, but when I drive back to Wyoming or Colorado, I am flooded with an overwhelming amount of intense memories from a childhood that seems, now, ions ago. Childhood memories of hiking and backpacking in various parts of The Wind River Mountain Range, to the time driving through Yellowstone in 1988, when one of the worst forest fires to ever hit the park, destroyed a good chunk of its prestine beauty. However, no matter how much has changed over the course of 30 years time, one thing remains the same: Wyomign will always be HOME. My cousin decided this year that it was time to get us all BACK HOME for, hopefully, either a bi-annual or annual, family reunion. Brad and I decided that we most definitely needed to get that direction so relatives could meet Miss Madelynne, and to spend time with my Grandma. We decided to drive the long, 17 hour trek to the little town of Meeteetsee, as well as stop along the way to visit Yellowstone, Star Valley, and friends in Jackson and

Madelynne is officially 10 months old today. A year ago I was waiting impatiently for her arrival, with a plethora of first-time mom questions and nerves, fears, and anxieties and now, we’re almost to her first birthday and I can honestly say how much I love being a mom. I sometimes look at her, completely exhausted, and wonder why I waited as long as I did to have her. BUT, on that note, I would not have it any other way. Since I skipped month 8 and 9, she has sure grown into quite the little lady with such a flamboyant personality. She is very, very happy and is now at the point of mimicking us. She is really interested in watching others and basically copying what they do, even if it is a little delayed. For instance, when we get to the part of “shout hooray” in the If You're Happy and You Know It song, she shouts hooray about ten seconds after the other kids have done it. They all look at her, too, like she is an instant replay on a DVR, but she will soon “catch up”.

Out and About There are many things I truly do love about the Pacific Northwest and our little corner of Washington. The weather is mild and finally, starting to dry out and warm up. Everyone reminds me the best months are August and September, as claimed to be the “dry months”, but there is never a limit of outdoor activities on the Peninsula, and with the temps ranging from mid 50's to the mid 60's right now, we really cannot complain. One of my goals this past year was to make the effort to get outside more. Brad and I have also been looking up trails we can take, that are an easy day trip for the weekends he is off, in which he ended up buying several trail books for the Peninsula. This even prompted me to start a group, called M.O.H.A.W.K.S. (Moms On Hikes, All ages, With KidS), which had the first official outing yesterday.  Discovery Trail-Morris Creek Shimmering trees-Madelynne loves to watch these! What is noticeab