Where skies are always blue...

Since I'm pretty sure my family are the only people who understood what this post title was referencing, this is a post about my trip to Montana with Kate. If I could sum it up in one word, I'd say "decompressing." I love my home. Stress recedes just to imagine warm nights on the hammock, every star visible, the lake shimmering in the moonlight, frogs croaking, and no other people within eye or ear-shot. That sort of living is healthy and I miss it. Our visit filled a void and I feel rejuvenated.

Saw lots of "deeries."

Even saw a buffalo. Kate asked if we could kiss it, I'm not sure that's a desire anyone in all of history has had.

Went on walks with grandma. They talked all about the people who lived in the houses below, the tractors doing the work, the horses in the fields, the dogs in the yards, the grass growing so tall, the mailman delivering the mail, the best kind of stuff to talk about in the world if you're little.

I wish I had more pictures of the swimming. Kate had the time of her life and nearly learned to swim on her own in the pool of my youth at my parents condo on Flathead Lake.

When I watched Kate, I reminisced my trips to the condo as a little girl. The 25 min drive included Audrey and I doing our best to fill every bit of silence by belting the words to Whitney Houstons singles tape playing in the minivan while my dad drove. We also swam to exhaustion. But we almost always got to stop by the little grocery store and enjoy fudgesicles for the drive home. You cannot know, until you are a parent, what sort of commitment and work those things require. Thanks dad for spending the 3 hours periodically to take the little girls of the family for these outings, they are some of my favorite times.

Thanks mom and dad for choosing to raise me in the most beautiful and simple place on earth and thanks for letting me return.