Happy Solstice! Happy Father's Day!

Ahhh, darkness is coming soon. In the meantime, the sun continues to share its glory. We are celebrating the summer solstice by heading south, way south, to where they just celebrated winter solstice. The best part about it is the temperature is about the same, so we can just pack what we've been wearing lately. (They wear Carharts down under, right? Fashion, my middle name.)

To all the dad's out there, Happy Father's Day! Especially to Grampa Bill and Gramps D! And Boppa, of course. We celebrated with grits and eggs and lots of sugar bombs in donut and pie form.

Here's what we've been up to the last few days.

Hanging out with dear friends from Bethel, enjoying the lilly pads in bloom and the dull roar of float plane engines 50 feet away.

A little bit of fun out at Boose and Meghan's house-sitting location. It's pretty much a wonderland for 2 year olds and up. Trampoline. Buoy swings. Bio-diesel brewing. Etc. (That's just the tip of the iceberg, really.)

I love the static effect on the Boodah's hair.

Here's Boose going for it again. The water was a bit rougher this day.

Lots of bison on the move, including babies.

We don't know the story on this last one. It may have attempted to surf when it was a little too big out.

And a glorious in town hike for a father's day mission. Nothing like hiking through a special warfare training venue! Fortunately, we managed to avoid any stray fire from Navy Seals to enjoy this lovely view.

Here's looking back towards Mill Bay Beach.

Buddies at the beach.

Pax Rev, doing some beach bouldering for health and fitness. With a backdrop like that, he should start a tv fitness program or something.

Here's Stokes, getting into his near crawl form. Boodah spent a lot of time in the commando mode before moving on to walking. Stokes is quite different. He loves to pop up on his hands and knees, and sometimes his hands and toes, and then launch into a steamroller. He can cover quite a bit of ground this way. I think we watched Strange Brew while he was gestating and he picked up the move. Hopefully he can survive this stage without any major head injuries. (Fortunately, we are helmet owners just in case.)

The Longest Blog Entry Ever

Not that we're complaining, but part of our blog slacker-ness can be attributed to our computer being located in our one dedicated sleeping room. When a buddy is down, internetting puts us in a dangerous wake up zone. So we tend not to take the gamble.

We have lots to catch up on. It's been so warm here that swimming in the ocean has been an option on several occasions. Boodah and Boppa joined the throngs at Mill Bay Beach and went for it. Mostly Boppa. Boodah wasn't interested in going in past his toes.

Of course, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to enjoy the fine Mill Bay Beach teeter-totter.

Technically, it was once a picnic table.

So, here's our soon to be home sweet home. Our "Taos", in Boodahese. (We're renting it. It's not for sale, unfortunately.) It's still under construction, but we are slated to move in on August 1. It has radiant floor heating, an exciting option. Warm winter-time toes will be nice! It's a 2 BR with great decks and awesome views. Here it is on a pooky day. (Boodah-ese for spooky.) There are a few pooky days around these parts.

And here it is on a glorious day, as seen from Near Island.

You can get a sense of our neighborhood. We're right above the Fuller Boatworks, where they fix lots of boats. It's nice. It feels like Alaska.

(We love our current place, but as it is on the one commercial strip street in town, with Rotten-Ronnies on one end and Wal-mart on the other, it feels a lot like a strip mall venue. From our new place, we'll be within walking distance of most things we do and enjoy. And staring out the window will be fun.)

While at Near Island, Pax-Rev was making lots of calls on his rock cell phone.

Stokolocovaca has been super into food lately. Serious mutiny if he is not involved in the eating process. Particularly if we are eating a meat product like steak. When steak is around, baby food will not placate him. NNNGGGNGNNNEEENNNGGG! We've been calling him little Jake Neal. I'm not sure how many other six month old are like this. Pax Rev was definitely not. Stokes is totally mellow, unless he sees us trying to eat food. Then he wants in on it. Sometimes, we just give in.

Is this what the experts recommend?

Here's Boodah and his beloved new 'cooter. How he loves to ride the 'cooter! Fortunately, he's also into wearing his helmet and other protective gear. Safety first! Unfortunately, he also likes to wear his helmet on all other occasions. This isn't usually a problem, except at nap time.

(Who me? Shop at Walmart?)

Speaking of non-motorized transport, the bike chariot is in full effect.

Even thought it's an hour to the surfing beach, that hasn't stopped us from heading down there after work for missions. Daylight certainly isn't a problem, so when it's glorious, we've been going for it. Particularly since we never know when the glory will cease. The drive is spectacular in and of itself. And the comfort level of the drive will only increase when we get our new 4X4 monster van here! (It seats 15, so come visit and bring a friend. We'll take you to the beach.)

Out of the way, cows.

Okay, we admit the above pictures aren't taken from Pasagshak. But they are en-route. An not all on the same day. Okay, Pasagshak...

The crowds were unbearable. But other than that, it was pretty awesome. After Pasagshak, we wandered to Chiniak, another awesome spot. Boodah's in his jammies because it is 10:30 PM. Obviously.

The last picture is from the old military ruins. The structure is exactly like the one on Ballyhoo in Unalaska, albeit with slightly more fun graffiti.

Our newly engaged friend Boose (Boodahese for Bruce) joined us on our last mission, which was the most spectacular yet. Perfect offshore winds and a nice swell, plus blue sky, breaching whales, and seals, sea-lions, and/or mermen made for a particularly memorable adventure. All on a Monday night after dinner!

Whale spout.

Boose almost about to catch another wave.

Go, Boose, Go!

Again, jammies, 10:30 PM.

Slight technical difficulties dismounting from the new wetsuit, but nothing a little teamwork couldn't solve. (This was a lot funnier in real life. I guess you had to be there.)