Well it was a big day here in Minot.  Beth's last day of her last rotation of medical school.  So tomorrow we hit the road to jettison belongings and have some fun on the way to graduation.  There we look forward to seeing lots of family and then turning the caravan around for the big move back to Spokane.  Andy is walking more and more of the time and thoroughly enjoying every step of it.  Some of the landings are a bit rough though :)  So its good by to our favorite apartment and off into the wild blue yonder.  Someone better warn Max and Roo we are coming for them.  Enjoy the last of the Minot pictures... the Minot zoo opened and Andy really loved the otters, we on the other hand really liked his hair styling in the tube slides.

Well Easter is upon us again and for the second year in a row we met up with the Junkers at a water park.  This time it was in Fargo and with the whole state sinking under flood water this time golf was out of the question.  The swimming was fun for us and the car and the company great.  Of coarse the weather was with us as always and we drove both directions in snow storms and the news reports were full of reports of drivers sliding off icy roads only to be rescued from the flood water later by the local dive team.  Only in ND.  Upon returning to Minot the weather took a turn for the better this last weekend and we decided it was time to shake some of the rust off the mountain bikes.  The weather was great and the views of the still frozen Lake Sakakawea from the Indian Hills trail were amazing, however the ride was short because all the north facing sections of trail were still under drifts of snow and It was a it much to pull the Burley through.  Andy is loving all the trips to the park and is choosing walk more and more.  He now routinely catches his balance, crawls up stairs, and climbs into and on-top of everything.  The fun continues.

Well spring is proving elusive this year if the negative 3 degree morning temperatures or last weeks 10 inch blizzard mean anything.  Beth even got a snow day because all the hospital clinics shut down until travel improved.  We didn't think twice about the need to pack our bikes along on this segment of road living but they may go unused.  However the XC skis that we skeptically decided to pack in have been getting daily use and at this rate with several feet of packed snow on the ground and temperatures well below freezing they will get lots more.  Life in Minot is going well and we have been finding lots of time to play.  In addition to lots of skiing, and some soggy trail running we took advantage of a long weekend and visited Katie and Jon in Minneapolis.  It was a fun weekend that involved a surprise birthday party for Jon and Andy's first trip to the aquarium that he really enjoyed.  In other big news anyone that hasn't already heard Beth matched to her first choice in Spokane, WA for residency so we will soon be heading home.  Enjoy the pictures.

Well we had a great Holloween, although there is always a catch right?  This time it was finding out that one of our gypsy wagons was a month past due, as the nice officer at the air force base politely made us aware before telling us to turn out disorganized hides around.  Probably not the best idea while living on the road?  I guess the layers of mail forwarding finally got us on something that counted.  Regardless Bill and Jennifer drove out to the gate and picked us up, so Andy still made it to the party, and enjoyed his costume.  We even went to the mall afterward but he seemed a bit overwhelmed by all the strange looking strangers.  Recovering in style however, when we got home he decided that we didn't need to spoon feed him anymore.  He could do it himself!  Not sure what rice cereal does to eyes and nasal passages but he didn't seem to mind the mess.  Next week it is back on the road, and we can't wait to get back west.

Well we have been having a great fall here.  Until last weekend when winter hit us with a snowy 65mph blast we havdn't seen a drop of rain and the abnormally high temperatures and continuous sunshine made playing outside easy.  Andy and I have continued to spend two to four hours a day outside walking, running, and watching wildlife around our favorite park.  We have been using Andy's stroller as a grocery getter.  Beth even managed to get a couple good mountain bike rides in with us during her last week of surgery.  However the Saturday before last she dove into following hospitalists on her internal medicine rotation and the biking has been cut short by her long call hours and the snow on the ground.  On the plus side since we live a skyway away from the hospital she has been able to come spend time with us between admits.  Andy  even took a little time out of his busy day to send a little message to one of his great grandfathers who we all hope feels much better soon.  This last weekend we took a little trip south to Bismarck for Beth's ski patrol refresher.  This gave Andy the opportunity to spend his first night in his new tent at the hotel.  It worked very well and I highly recommend them.  Then while Beth was refreshing we summited the snowy "peak" above Huff Hills Ski Area for some nice views.  Andy loves to explore.  It's been a big couple weeks for him.  He seems to have taken being 5% by weight very seriously and suddenly doubled his milk intake the beginning of last week.  In addition he has now mastered front to back rolling, and is getting much more comfortable on his stomach with his head up as well as seems to be slowly warming up to spoon feeding.  He really likes the high chair, that we finally had a chance to pull out of the storage in Bismarck last weekend.  That's a funny story in itself, but by the time we were done we had managed to rescue the snow tires for both cars from the bowels of the pile, change them out in the mud, dug our way into the keys for the fire safe we have been carrying around with no way to open, as well as retrieve ski gear.  So now we have passports (in safe) and equipment for our x-mas ski trip.

Well the last week in Salt Lake was a great one.  Josh continued his habit of shirking work for play allowing us to get in several more biking and climbing sessions.  Even one bike trip with the entire Bozeman crew in attendance.  Thanks John, Rob, and Josh.  We also got Andy a new duck tub that he loves... just like Audrey's and fit in lots more hiking.  We stumbled across a trail marked "Mt Aire" and having left only enough time to reach the saddle below the top got some great sun set pictures before stumbling several miles back down in the dark.  It was so much fun that we tried again a couple days later but failed to get moving early enough again and made it nearly to the top by sunset leaving us an even longer darkened stumble.  Probably not advised by the average parenting handbook, but Andy loved it and we would do it again any day.  If not on purpose  then by accident!  We had a great time and did't want to leave, but Friday the trek back to ND begins.  Thanks to everyone for a wonderful time and see you again in December for interview season.