SURPRISE!!!

I bet Mom is really glad she left on Tuesday! Zoey is bouncing off the walls, looking forward to ski season. Vivi is following her lead. They are singing and doing more snow dances on the couch. This snow thing has even eclipsed Zoey's salmon dissection adventure scheduled for the afternoon. Her goal is to get the swim bladder our without puncturing it.

Fresh Squeezed

Pepere grows these delicious little apples. We had lots of them, so Tom and the girls turned them into juice. Everyone enjoyed the process, but some more than others.

Mother Mary's Birthday

My mom is in town. She came up for Vivi's birthday and we got to celebrate hers as well. My sister, Jane, and our great friend, Melissa, joined us. Mom wanted to go to the Bear Tooth. YUM!!! Great food and the best beer in Anchorage.


We even got Turtle Pie for as a birthday cake. That turtle pie did not stand a chance against Zoey and Vivi.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANCY! It was also Nancy's birthday last week.

The evening

We were all so spontaneous this evening! We drove down to Girdwood for an early supper. The fall colors were lovely, my mom got to see two Dahl sheep near the highway on our way there. We had a lovely meal, good beer, yummy Chair 5 food. Afterwards, we stopped at the new playground in Girdwood for about forty minutes for the girls to get their wiggles out. Right on our way out of Girdwood Tom spotted the first beluga whale. We pulled into a turn out and stood by Turnagain Arm for an hour watching, occasionally having one surface so close we could hear it breathe. It was magic. We were so spontaneous I didn't have my camera. Sigh....

Turn, turn, turn

I made my own yarn this weekend, with a little help from my friends. They were very encouraging, knowledgable, helpful, and also FUN. I didn't start from the shear-the-sheep angle, but I did start with a drop spindle. I would have started with my own wheel. My mother gave me hers. My dad had bought it for her as a birthday gift. She never took to it. Well, either from lack of exercise or whether it came defective I will never know. But, that wheel has serious problems. It needs an exorcism or to be burned at the stake. There is a magic spinning wheel man who can allegedly work miracles. I am going to take it to him first, then Father Michael.



The spinning retreat was held at Meirer Lake Retreat Center. It was nice to be there for a non-Episcopal event. I wasn't on a schedule, I didn't have kids with me. It was a treat. I went with me friends, Stephanie and Diane. This is Stephanie. They are some seriously talented women.


I also met some other women who were very fun and gracious in sharing their expertise. Thanks everyone for a lovely time.

More precious than rubies

On August 6th Les and Judy celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Tom and I celebrated our 12th. Well, summer in Alaska is very hectic and that date sailed past all of us. Judy still wanted to celebrate. So, last week she had our family over to her house for dinner. It was a lovely occasion with a gorgeous table and incredible food. THANK YOU, JUDY AND LES! You are great neighbors, we are lucky to have you in our lives. Judy also made the party a silly dress occasion, as you may be able to tell from some of the photos.

CATS continues

The girls are still loving CATS. The face paint from the b-day party has added more variety to the tableaux. Zoey's painting skills are getting better. She is perfecting her cats faces. My mom is up from Ohio and even she is getting her face painted.

Pink Lynx

We had a big kids birthday party at the zoo today. It was a blast, but I am now exhausted. My cool friend, Stephanie gave Vivi some face paints. Those were brought out right away for all the kids to get something painted on their faces.


Vivi took it one step beyond. She took control of those face paints and made herself the Pink Lynx. I hope she always has that imagination.


Now i's time for a glass of wine on the side deck in the late summer sun. Look, the alpine tundra is already changing colors.

The Mythological Horse, Asparagus

For Vivi's family birthday celebration she got to run a 2k Tuesday Night Race. We had a blast and she took off like a rocket. She is a competitor. Zoey did great, too. She finished 5th in the Munchkin Girl division. Vivi finished 88th. She says she won. In my book she did, because she was so motivated. Look out cross country world, here comes Vivi.



When we were done with the race we came home and let Vivi open her gifts from the family. She got a wonderful Barbie from Zoey named Princess Genevieve. PERFECT! She also got little fairy Kelly on her winged horse, Asparagus. At least that is what Vivi calls her.

Viva la Vivi

You were worth every injection and doctor's appointment. Happy Birthday, Miracle Girl!

Fishing Fever

The girls have developed fishing fever. We went to Little Campbell Lake at Kincaid after the range opening and plunked lines in the water for about an hour. The little trout were just swarming around the dock. The bigger ones you could see jumping out farther. Vivi's old Mickey Mouse rod finally broke, so she got a brand new one. It's Barbie. Guess who picked that out?



On Monday we went out to Eagle River and picked up Pepere. We headed out to Mirror Lake. Vivi got to use her Barbie rod for the first time. She has a forceful cast. When she gets it down, that baby will fly. Right now it is just fun to watch.

Zoey had her first negative fishing experience, but her ear is now pierced. I bet she won't be fishing without a hat from now on.

And our part-time dog, Cojo, got to go to Mirror Lake with us. She was a HAPPY DOG!

Range Opening

The range master opened the biathalon range on Sunday. Zoey is really getting her act together. Her body position and breathing are coming along nicely. It took some time to zero in the rifle, but I think that will get easier with more experience. She was getting four out of five targets. Go Zoey!!!


It was a warm, lovely day to stand around and watch a bunch of kids shoot. Vivi even tolerated it well.