Bozeman Trails

We have a four year old | Tuckerman Park

I can’t believe it came and went. I feel this way every year though and I’m sure this feeling will never go away. My first born turned four on October 2nd and I am in disbelief that it happened. Now that we have little mister Fitz around, I’m reminded of how tiny and all the baby things about Elijah.

Last year I took Elijah on his first official photoshoot for his birthday, two actually. From then on, I decided that I need to do his own shoot every year or as longs as he will let me. This year we were down in Bozeman celebrating Brent’s birthday. I had the morning free, so I took Elijah to my favorite trail at Tuckerman Park just outside of town. It was the perfect morning for a session and I was beyond excited.

Although, it made me want to be shooting a couples photography session right at that moment. I mean, it is my passion. Whenever the light is perfect, it is what I want to be doing. Which you can see here.

However, I moved on because I was celebrating my big little man and this was his moment to shine not mine. Plus, I cherish these pictures of him. I think you’ll see from the pictures that I captured his current personality so well in these unposed candid pictures. He is a little spit fire and grows more and more into that personality with each passing year. He’s loud, full of stories that cause him to never stop talking, more intelligent that I ever thought possible at this age, and a helpful big brother (well, most of the time).

Tuckerman Park

On this particular day, the colors were perfect, but the temperature was a little chilly. We walked about a mile down the trail stopping and exploring wherever we wanted. It brought me back to my running days. I had ran on that trail so much when we lived in Bozeman that I knew every turn.

Our little adventure session took a turn when down the trail we saw black bear in the middle of the trail at Tuckerman Park! I stopped in my tracks and stared at her. I went into slight panic mode as I was alone with my two little men and without bear spray. The moment seemed to last a little while as she stopped stared at me. Then she moved along and behind her came a cub! Elijah was so excited to have seen a bear and told everyone that we saw for the rest of the day.

Well, that sure made for one of the most adventurous sessions I have done to date and it was with my kids!