SUN!!

It's been raining for at least 4 straight days. I've lost count, actually. The sun finally came out today. Emma & I went running along the waterfront path, it was 40 degrees, and I was wearing a long-sleeve shirt and shorts. Granted, my legs were a pretty pink after 30 min but the fresh air felt GREAT. Days like this makes it hard to imagine living anywhere else. No tourists clogging up the path! These pictures don't do the day justice. Earlier in the day, the sunshine made the grass glow gold.

Haircut

I went to Anchorage to run some errands in the Big City last Friday. In addition to errands, I got my hair cut. 4 inches off. And highlights! Now that winter is coming and the day light is disappearing, I wanted to do something to lighten things up a bit. My hair has been so dark since I've moved up here - when I was living in Colorado, I had natural red highlights from the sun. It's just pitch black now. So... I got red + caramel highlights. I have Fall on top of my head! And I got bangs. The trouble with the trendy bangs is that they sit right in the middle of your eyes - not so practical for working in the lab, working out, driving, or seeing in general. They are a great idea until walking out of the salon. Hence the clips. Fun for now - until my hair starts growing out and the maintenance begins...

The Pearce boys come down for a visit

JP, Bennett & Eliot came down for an overnight visit. As usual, the spinning bike and free weights were a big hit. Until fingers got smashed by 12 lb weights. Something new - the fan was fun to play with too! We had a great visit. The boys went to bed early so we got to catch up with JP for an evening.

Happy B-day Patti!

I know your b-day isn't until tomorrow (Sunday 21st).. sending you an early 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!'
Southern Hills Junior high.... 1988??
Summer. Concert at Red Rocks. 1994.

Julie's visit

Jules came down for a visit this weekend! We went for a stroll out to Tonsina so she could get her beach fix in. Unfortunately, our plans were foiled by a black bear. So then we headed back to town for some lunch and then up Mt. Alice. Lucky dogs got two walks today! and lots of dead salmon and some human crap (literally) some jerk left on the trail on Mt. Alice complete with toilet paper. Needless to say, Caz loves Seward. And she had the worst farts the entire evening.
It stopped raining and the sun came out for Julie!
Mr. Black Bear
Tonsina creek
trying to wash Caz off by throwing sticks for in a pond. She rolled in some stinky dead salmon.
that didn't work, so we had to hose her down at the house.
Thanks for driving down Julie! It was great to have you down here.

Congrats Beate!!

Beate defended her Master's thesis today! and she did a great job! she passed, of course. We celebrated with her at Chinook's and then at the Alehouse.
Princess of Poop!!!

Last Canoe of the Year

We went down to the Kenai Refuge and went for one last paddle. We listened to Emma whine all day. The scenery was breathtaking. Emma, "Whine whine whine". Dave, "Emma - quit whining!" (which doesn't work at all). Shiway, "Dave - stop yelling at her, it doesn't work!". Ya, sounds like a really peaceful outting, huh? I don't know WHY we even take her on canoe trips. She hates being in the canoe. And she's not smart enough to run along shore when we drop her off - she ends up swimming after us and wanting to get back in the boat. And then the cycle starts all over again...

oh look! it's a beaver - wait, it's Emma in the food cache!
impressive beaver chew
that's me and my saggy bottom standing on a small beaver damn
Dave taking a rest after portaging the canoe for ~1/2 mile.
Dave and his bounty - 2 spruce chickens.

Happy 20th little sister!!

you're the best little sister Sam & I could have ever asked for!!!

What's happening to us?

10 years ago - even 5 years ago, on a Friday night, I would have not been caught at home at 11pm. I would have been part of the night life somewhere, socializing with friends and letting loose at the end of a work week.

Here I am, still in my running clothes from my outing with the dog this afternoon on a gorgeous day in Seward. I need a shower. We moved appliances around tonight. And that took most of the evening. It's now 11pm and we're trying to figure out how to move our new fridge upstairs, old fridge & chest freezer downstairs without enlisting the help of a small army and breaking our backs in the process. It's now 11:06 pm and Dave has headed down to the garage. Maybe to pack for our weekend canoe trip? I'm obviously procrastinating - ready to throw all my camping gear into a dry sack in the morning. Canoing is great like that.

Now I can't even get myself to step foot in a bar. I prefer quiet nights, cuddle-ling on the couch, reading a good book and spending time with my husband and one-on-one time with friends. It seems that as the years go by, time for leisure gets shorter and shorter. I still like socializing with friends. But now instead of the bar scene, we do dinner parties - girl's nights at a friend's house (which, actually, can get a little rowdy). We're at a place in life where most of our friends have 'settled down', started families and we're at the tail end trying to catch up.

Most days I wish I could make time stand still or at least slow down a bit, and capture each day into forever. Remember when you were in grade school? And it seemed like time moved at a turtle's pace? WHY is that? Is it the lack of responsibilities? or just that innocent time in life when all you cared about was who you were going to play with at recess? and now we have the weight of the world on our shoulders.

I'm at the cusp of turning 33 and I think I'm just having a 1/3 life crisis. No. not a crisis. Because I've had a magical, amazing life thus far. How about just a 0.33 life reflection. Time to go to bed. It's way past my bed time.

The no-moose hunt

We drove up to Fairbanks to visit friends and moose hunt. I drew a permit for an antlerless moose in the Fairbanks area. We only hunted for 3 days and finally saw a cow on the last day but didn't get close enough for a good shot before she boogied off. Bad for us. Good for the moose.

The drive was gorgeous for the most part with some rain.
The leaves were still changing colors.

We stopped at Nancy Lakes to let the dog out for a pee break and stretch our legs.
We transported a wood stove from Anchorage for Mette & Max. It was our 'house-warming' gift for them. It was so fun to actually SEE their new house and walk through it. Can't wait to see the finished product!Mette giving instructions. From behind, you can't even TELL she's pregnant!!
The weather was absolutely gorgeous - it was supposed to rain/snow but the sun was out the entire time we were there. We stopped off at Creamer's field for a short stroll.
Dave and Emma admiring the geese. Mostly Dave admiring them, I guess.
The northern lights were out. I couldn't be bothered to look because I was already cozy and warm in bed. But Dave tried to take some photos from Julie's cabin.The grouse were all over. Here's a spruce chicken that wouldn't get out of the way. It kept flying off and landing right in front of the truck.
Dave harvested his first sharp-tailed grouse! They are gorgeous birds. And tasty, too.
So, no moose but great weather and time spent together. And grouse and LOADS of low bush cranberries. Picking berries is great for my OCD.
Um... what's up with this white stuff ALREADY!?!?Another spruce grouse - they are not so smart. Dave was practically on top of this one when he took the picture. It just kept eating while Dave stood there. It was a stand-off and Dave finally turned around and left.
Patiently waiting for a moose to show up.
These are the largest cranberries we've ever seen.
You know the Athabascan word for unlucky moose hunter? Chris informed me that is 'vegetarian'. Ha ha. We're going to visit the Masons and try again in November.