Road trip so far

We're off Superman style

Uncle Scott & Vito

New baby

A dog his size

Angry mom about to charge

riding an elk cowboy style

cold baby going to the barn to get warmed up.

awesome Wind-Borne blanket

Tyson & Neris

Chloe & Henry are good friends

Henry & Dad walking the docks

Obviously loves his life jacket.....even though it may squish his cheeks a little.

Part one of Team Davidson's road trip across America:

First stop: Bozeman Montana to see Uncle Scott & Vito.

Made it to Bozeman in one day. Henry did really well. We were pleasantly surprised! Came in to Bozeman around 9:00 pm, ate a late dinner & stayed the night at Scott's. Hung out a little in the morning, then on the road again.

Second stop: Buffalo Gap South Dakota to see family.
Arrived at Dad & Karen's house just before dark. Just in time for dinner, then out to the barn to pull a calf. It's calving season on the ranch & there were tons of cows ready to have babies all at the same time.There was one in the barn that needed a little help, so we watched as Jerry & Karen pulled it out. It's an interesting sight if you've never seen it before. They carefully attach a small chain around the hooves, then slowly pull the calf out by it's front legs.

We went out several times during our stay to check on the cows & see which ones had calves, would be expecting within hours, were having trouble, tag the calves ears, etc... It was really a lot of fun. We found a newborn calf that was still wet alone out in the field, then later found it's confused mother trying to steal another cow's baby thinking it was hers. The other cow was not to pleased as you can imagine, but couldn't get rid of her. We brought the confused cow & the abandoned calf back to the barn where they were reunited. We then headed out to the field again, because on the way back into the barn with these two Jerry spotted another lost newborn calf. Turns out it belonged to a cow that was in the barn already...oops..not sure what happened there. Anyway, they were reunited also & all was well. Back out to the field again the next day to tag some ears. You need to run down & capture the newborn calves before they get to old & can outrun you,(about 2 days old) then put ID tags in their ears. The hard part is trying to separate cranky overprotective cows from their babies long enough to do it. I'm not sure if any of you have had a mad cow after you, but I can assure you it's pretty freaky. We brought a pitchfork along to keep mad cows at bay & drove around the field. When we spotted a new one, we would pull up right next to it & someone would jump out & wrangle the calf & someone else would run over & tag & hold the pitchfork in the direction of the mama cow, then back in the truck & off we would go to find the next one. Ben took a few turns wrangling & had quite a run after a particularly fast calf & just as he caught it here came it's big mean mom running & mooing at him. Needless to say, he dropped that calf & ran for the car. Pretty funny actually.

Overall, this was a really fun stop with lots of action. We also got to see Grandma Elaine!! Henry's Great grandma. We were really excited to see her & Henry couldn't keep his eyes off her. The little man stared at her the entire time she was over. It was a great visit, although we wish it could have been longer.

Karen made Henry an awesome quilt with Wind-Borne on it!!! It's awesome & we will post a picture of it.

Third stop: Omaha Nebraska to see Tyson & Neris.

Got in late. stayed up a while & hung out. Poor Neris, we didn't know it at the time, but she had a benefit to attend the next day & needed to work until midnight. Henry could not get enough of her though!! He giggled & laughed so much. She even told him stories in Spanish. Tyson was a hit too & so was Chloe their golden retriever.

We were there the whole next day & went into the city to see Neris for lunch & take a tour of her workplace, which is a beautiful old building in old down town. I wish we had gotten pictures of it, because it was an amazing building. We all went down the huge slide outside her building & then went back to the house for some hang out time. Neris got to come back home for a little while & we had fun just playing with the the little man & watching tv. We went to the farm after that & saw all the cool stuff they have going on & all the animals. They have 5 golden retrievers there (Chloe makes 6) and they are all related. They have the coolest dog pen with like 5 acres to play on & a house that includes a real queen size bed complete with comforter & pillows, two chairs to sit on, and a heater. It's really quite posh for a dog house.

Henry met Tyson's brother Zach at the farm & his little boy who is 16 months old & walking & talking is the same weight as Henry!!!! He's about 22lbs now! Getting quite heavy to carry actually.

Off we went again in the morning destination Oriental.

Oriental at last:

almost 2 days on the road & here we are. We will update you on that in the next blog. Seeing lots of old friends & having a good time working in the boat. I'm sue I Left some stuff out, but I'm a little distracted trying to type one handed while feeding & entertaining Henry.

Will post more soon. Miss you all.