2026, June 22-28

The Missoula crew continued getting settled into Montana life. Diamond and Caleb gave us sudden news that sent Hallie flying out to Texas! 

While Mike is up on campus, the girls have gone on some adventures in town and further out. On Monday, they went to Rockin Rudy's, Missoula's "Original Hipster Department Store. They found soem treasures to bring home and even got Mike a couple of treats. 

Eliza has spent time making her bedroom her own, finding her packed boxes and moving things into her new space. 

Mike caught one of the local deer meeting Fergus for the first time. She seemed genuinely curious about what kind of strange creature was sitting on the front porch. Ferg took it in his stride, as is tradition. 

Eliza had a riding lesson on Tuesday. 

On our evening walk with Kai, we caught sight of one of the bucks and a couple of does. They're still getting to know Kai, and he them. 

The Coca Cola Company seems to be recycling the idea of round thermal detonator-themed bottles from Galaxy's Edge into soccer ball-themed ones for the World Cup. We've enjoyed this tournament so far. Lots of exciting action. We're also glad to see the people who visit the US having a fun time.  

Plenty of flowers are in bloom around campus. The catalpas are in bloom. UM Campus is the State of Montana Arboretum, and we have many native species along with those from other areas of the country and the world. 

On Wednesday, the girls went to Helena so Hallie could run an errand and so they could go over to Marysville, a historic "ghost town" that still has people residing there. 

Some lovely poppies in bloom. 

A lovely Hallie looking at lovely poppies. 

We took Kai into the back yard to play and really tuckered both him and Fergus out. 

We wanted to get ahead of the weather, because we were due for rain on the weekend. It started Friday and continued all the way through Sunday. 

Diamond called Hallie to let us know that she and Caleb had been matched with a birth mom named Kayla and that Kayla was going to give birth this coming Monday. Hold the phone! Someone is going on a trip to Waco, Texas, meet her new granddaughter! We're so happy for Diamond and Caleb and grateful to Kayla for entrusting her daughter to their love and care.  

Ferg doesn't seem to care about much other than sleeping. 

This is the local woodpecker pecking at the metal cover on top of this street lamp. It's noisy but not particularly effective. 

This is a sticker from UM's Branch Center. They get belonging right, and it makes us proud to be part of this community that takes belonging seriously and doesn't manipulate the idea for its own ends. 

On Saturday, Hallie needed to get a few things for her trip. Diamond asked her to find some Hello Kitty-themed stuffed animals, and Target delivered.  

Sunday morning dawned rainy and with a bunch of cars rolling down 6th Street East due to the marathon. Fortunately, that didn't stop us from getting Hallie to the airport. As of this writing, she's in Austin and making her way to Waco to meet up with Diamond and Caleb. 

Mike and Eliza and the animals spent a quiet day at home. Eliza slept in before taking Kai out for a walkabout. Fergus mostly slept. Mike tried organizing the boxes of stuff we moved up to Missoula and retrieved from the storage units earlier in the week that are now taking up the basement before watching the Canada-South Africa World Cup game. Go, Canada! 

He has listened to several great audiobooks over the last year and more and particularly these couple of weeks while working, getting things organized, walking, and so on: Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman and A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck, which draws inspiration from the Jorge Luis Borges short story The Library of Babel. Been a thought-provoking couple of weeks. He's grateful for Audible and Libby and how they provide access to such a wealth of creative and meaningful print media set to speech.

2026, June 15-21

The Missoula gang continues to get to know the local attractions. Eliza attended a riding camp. Mike started his summer term classes. Hallie monitored job applications and organizing her sanctuary. We can do hard things. 

There's something about Missoula (and having a dog who needs walking) that gets a body outside. Hallie got some new shoes to help her feet feel more ready for the task. It won't hurt to break them in for her trip to WDW at the end of October.

Fergus decided to join us for a quick walk around the Curry Health Center, which is just across the alley from home. Someone else was out for a walk at the same time and noticed "the family" out for a walk. 

We discovered that the hedge behind our house is comprised of jasmine and Siberian pea shrubs. The jasmine smells sweet, and the peas taste . . . all right. 

On our morning walks down to Starbucks, we have encountered deer a couple of times. Between the deer and the squirrels, Kai has tons of distractions to keep him entertained. He would love for us to let him off the leash. Mike has really walked a lot in the months before we joined him. Hallie sometimes struggles to keep up, but soon enough she will do it.

We had a couple of windy days early in the week, so Mike took advantage to fly his kite. On the second day, a guy came racing across the Oval making a beeline for him. Turns out he was an international graduate student from Pakistan who really appreciated the chance to take Mike's kite for a flight. Mike learned a few techniques in the process. 

Landon (or Grandpa M.?) decided he needed a haircut while having dinner with Jocie at Gma and Gpa M's. 

He says he likes having a more streamlined look. 

Hallie likes seeing the cultivated wildflowers on our walks, especially when they sprout up in an alley.

Eliza went to a riding camp at Drue's barn from Monday to Thursday. Hallie got the chance to see her on a couple of mornings. Eliza is a girl in her element when she's on horseback.

After Eliza's last day of camp on Thursday, the girls went to a consignment shop to look at riding gear. Eliza found a pair of riding breeches.

Mike had not been feeling a strong pull to watch the World Cup this year, but we saw that FOX had the first USA game and Telemundo had all the games, so Hallie prevailed upon him to watch, and now we've been watching as many of the first-round games as our schedules permit.

 

Every so often Mike will find a painted rock on campus. Today he picked one up and moved it to another hidden place. If you're on campus sometime soon, maybe you'll find it!  

Kai enjoys walking with us for Hallie's Starbucks runs. Here he is on Friday patiently waiting with Mike as Hallie places her order. Whenever she or Mike separate on their walks, Kai gets anxious for them to get back together. He can't split himself in two. The folks working at the Starbucks on campus have definitely help Hallie feel welcome. It is hard when you're social and know no one, and Hallie is social. When we come in they wave hi and even remember things that they have talked about the day before. These little things are important in this adjustment.

Hallie heard noise and saw construction equipment outside our front door. Turns out that the city planted more than a dozen trees on the empty street-side spaces in front of several homes, including ours. Here's to more shade (in future years)! We got a birch and a maple.  

Later, as Mike went out to rejigger the wire deer-proofing barrier surrounding one of the trees, he noticed a doe munching on the neighbor's lawn. 

Hallie caught a shot of Mike passing quietly by. 

Over the weekend, Missoula played host to a few events. We had a Pride parade on Saturday morning, the Zootown Festival on Friday and Saturday, and the Missoula Summer MADE Fair on Sunday morning. 

We got some treats from Bernice's Bakery and a flag to take on the road. 

Fergus has been feeling a bit under the weather for a few days. Here he is on a quiet Sunday morning after a night out. Apparently there may be foxes in the neighborhood. Pray he and they don't meet. 

On our way to the MADE Fair, we stopped by the Missoula Paddleheads Post Store, home of the local minor league baseball team's official gear and lots of other Montana-themed goods. The Paddleheads used to be the Ospreys, a point of contention among some in these parts. Hallie and Eliza found a lot of things to look at. Hallie found out the MADE Fair will be hosted several more times this year in different parts of the state. Hallie has her heart set on going to the one in Polson when Mike and Eliza will be in California.

On the way down to Caras Park, Hallie caught a pic of some window art. 

After going to the fair, we watched Toy Story 5 at the mall and went down to the storage units (we've slowly but surely been moving things throughout the week) before watching some more soccer. The weather has generally been quite lovely, which we appreciate. It was a nice way to spend Father's Day. Hallie spent the late afternoon looking up doctors so she could start making appointments for things she has put off until she and Eliza got here. Finding your new normal is tough and can be tedious. For as social as Hallie is, making these phone calls fills her with anxiety. 

In the evening (can't really say early evening as it was pushing past 9:00 (Happy Summer Solstice!), we spent some time in the backyard with the pets. Kai did not seem to tire out of playing fetch, and Eliza and Fergus and climbing seemed to be the order of their day. 

We got a view of the sunset between the trees. Lacking a nearby field, we don't get the quick walk out to a panoramic view like we used to. Mike could have run up to campus and seen it from his fifth-floor perch, but this works too.