picnic over missoula

After Kathy took this photo of Astrid and me, she excitedly proclaimed, "You will pay me for this photo, it's so good." and after seeing it I believe her.

My friend Kathy called me yesterday morning with the best kind of idea.  She was hoping Astrid and Skagit and I would like to have a dinner-picnic on top of Sentinel with her.  We jumped at the invite.

The hike was treasured for a lot of reasons.  We haven't hiked with "Auntie" Kathy for quite a long time... unless we happened to see her on Sentinel going the opposite direction... We used to hike with her all the time.  When I was pregnant with Astrid we'd trudge up to the top together many mornings a week.  When Astrid was 10 days old we started in again (this time carrying her)...but, somewhere along the line it was just easier not to call and make a plan.  It was easier to go on our own.  First, it was because it took a bit longer to get a baby to the trailhead and wrangled into the backpack...  But then I didn't call because I felt I was moving too slow with Astrid's ever increasing weight.  I think around the 25 pound mark is when I noticed I was hiking markedly slower than any non-child-carrying friend!  I felt guilty ruining someone else's workout when I was sweating just barely leaving the parking lot! 

Now that Astrid is 32 pounds, and Kathy is nursing an injury we just might be the perfect combination!



We didn't make it to the very top due to the light fading so fast!  We picked a relatively level spot for our picnic.

Checking out the moon over Astrid's shoulder.

Astrid and "Auntie" Kathy watching the light show.

We didn't get back to the trailhead until nearly nine o'clock.  There could be no better reason to be late for a bedtime!  I was so impressed that Kathy carried Astrid the whole way down in her arms.