summer vacation in montana

We just returned from a long vacation visiting family in Montana. Our first stop was in Bozeman where we visited the Cotterells... Alden's Aunt Tanya, Uncle James, and Cousins Emma and Lydia. We all piled into a minivan and drove down to Yellowstone Park to take in a few sights. Even though there were fewer animals in view than a typical day, we were still able to see quite a few elk and buffalo. And what would a trip to Yellowstone be without seeing Old Faithful—Emma was convinced that an animal must have fallen into the gyser and it's butt was sticking up out of the ground (there are two rocks near the gyeser's source that are very round and close together).

The next stop was Fort Benton to visit Grandma and Grandpa. It didn't take Alden long to start exploring. He was facinated by the apple tree, all of Grandma's flowers, and by Grandpa's wheelchair.

Unfortunately, our trip was ended on a bit of a sad note... Alden broke his little leg! He had been practicing going up and down a small set of stairs and had gotten pretty good at it. He consistently used the hand-rail, and was feeling pretty confident. He was on the very bottom stair when he let go of the rail to pull a recently-picked flower out of his pocket. When he took another step his foot slipped off the step and all of his weight jammed down on his leg. It didn't seem like it should have been enough force to cause any serious injury, but we knew something had to be wrong when, after a good crying spell, he tried to walk. He took to little steps and we noticed he was limping, then he just stood there and screamed.

We took him to the local doctor's office where they x-rayed his leg. Wow! Trying to get a scared 16-month-old to hold still for an x-ray is a challenge. The doctors put a temporary splint on him until we could get home to have his regular pediatrician look at it. It turns out that both lower bones in his leg have minor fractures. Alden now has a cast from mid-thigh down to his toes. He'll have to keep it on for four weeks, which seems like forever. Thankfully, he's adjusting well. He's figured out how to crawl and drag the broken leg behind him, and the doctor assures us that he'll probably try walking with the cast in the next few weeks. We'll keep everyone posted on his recovery. In the meantime, we hope you'll take a minute to view a few video clips of our trip.