Maille and October went to Manhattan to visit her brother Victor and his family. The had some great times with exploring the city, restaurants, bakeries, and just hanging out with Victor, Melanie, and their two girls - Brynn and Madeline.
They day of the flight was the day that Winter Storm Toby was forecast to bring 18" of snow to New York, so they had the added fun of their flight being rerouted to Seattle, where they had a full 24 hours to visit with October's great friend (and Maid of Honor) Tamara. So the disrupted travel worked out beautifully.
The most ridiculously awesome aspect, though, was that Victor pulled some strings (probably all the strings he has out there) and got the girls two tickets to Hamilton on Saturday night. They were in the 4th row, and were then taken for an ~hour long backstage tour with Victor's friend. They met the cast, got loads of autographs, got to mess with props, and we’re generally treated better like super-VIPs. Maille also got to take home some of the prop parchment letters used that night in the play.
Meanwhile, back in Montana... I took the boys for a couple of days to a cabin up in the mountains outside Helena. It's an old Forest Service ranger cabin put in use in the early 1900s. We worked hard to keep the wood stove stoked, at good camp food, played lots of cards, and read out loud from A Wrinkle in Time. It was cold outside and the cabin is less-than-air-tight, so we warmed up at Broadwater Hotsprings for most of a day. Also went in to town for some chocolate malts at The Parrot and spent a bunch of time at Exploration Works.
Leaving Missoula early
Maille, October, and Melanie
Hanging out at Tamara's office at the Gates Foundation in Seattle
Sunny Seattle??
Maille enjoying art and culture.
October at the controls of one of Victor's Broadway lighting gigs
Victor showing Madeline the controls
The show is about to start...
Getting to explore the set after the show
Checking out the costumes used in Hamilton
One of the prop pistols used in the Hamilton-Burr duel
Hamilton's 3-pointer used in the show
Maille and Brynn
Keeping warm in October's letterman jacked from Bates
Maille managed to find a horse to make friends with in Manhattan - a policeman's steed
The boys arriving at the Moose Creek Cabin
Playing Spit - one of MANY hands played
Old storefront just up the road from the cabin
Elias in the hang-gliding simulator at Exploration Works
The verdict on chocolate malts at The Parrot
Enjoying some candies from The Parrot in Last Chance Gulch
Battle of the Brains - Finn and EO using brainwaves to move a ball across a table. The ball didn't move, but I don't think the machine was broken. Ha.
