Dark and Stormy Night

Halloween. Gale force winds and driving sleet really cut down on the kids' desire to pursue free candy. They just don't love candy like they used to, I suppose.

We had about 6 trick or treaters, and the kiddos went to about 4 houses, so it balanced out. The kiddos might not have been pumped about wearing a rain suit under the costume. But they were pumped to get back home and trick or treat at our own house. Much warmer. "Treening," Stokes calls it.


Iron Man. Dinosaur Guy. Wolverine.

August Adventures

Grammycita and Gramps D came up in August. We enjoyed all the standard activities with them, too. Gramps D was all worn out from his hard working summer at Uncle Regan's chicken farm. Unfortunately, it was a long, cold, wet summer in Alaska, which was a big change from triple digit Boise for Gramps D. Here are a few highlights from the visit.

Thanks for visiting Grammycita and Gramps D! Can't wait to see you again!

Don't be fooled, the eyes are closed! (Maybe we should've snuck some Rock Star into Gramps D's water!)

I miss those glorious manes already! Who cares if everybody thought we had two daughters.

It's August, so that means it was finally warm enough to wear the hoodies that Justin and Elle made for the kiddos. Thanks! They are awesome, adorned with authentic North Shore quotes. "Scrub it, kook!" "Here on the North Shore, we treat friends more better."

Taking advantage of a lovely blue sky day for a walk to Near Island Park.

It's no double rainbow, but it's pretty exciting. A rainbow fragment.

Couldn't resist taking a few more Gramps D action shots!

In all fairness, he did wake up frequently.

Gramps D was here for his birthday, so we helped him celebrate by making what quite possibly was the least delicious birthday cake of all time. Nothing says tasty like stevia cake! (Gramps D is not eating sugar. Sugar is usually a key ingredient in making cake tasty. Some would say it's indispensable. We can now safely affirm that it is indispensable.)

Nevertheless, Gramps D actually liked the cake! He has been avoiding sugar so long that the stevia cake seemed tasty to him. Thank goodness. It was in the unpalatable category for us sugar fiends. Happy Belated Birthday, Gramps D!

Thanks again for visiting, and we look forward to seeing you soon!

And here are a few random August shots of the buddies.

The hazard of getting kids new superhero undies is that they don't want to cover them up with clothes. It's hard to explain to a 3 year old that the word "under" is in underwear for a reason.

Yes. He is doing what you think. ("No. I want to do it outside style.")

All Riled Up

I can't figure out why the kids are always so riled up after Boppa watches them. They are perfectly mellow when I leave for pregnant lady yoga night. They are perfectly mellow when I go to the Goddess Party. Then when I see them again, it is pure chaos!

Anyway, here's a cute picture Boppa took while he was watching the kids.


Our little rock stars!

Before anyone has heart failure or calls OCS, that's sugar free Rock Star. You didn't think we'd give our kids sugary soda, did you? Especially when it's corn syrup based.

Just joking, there's nothing but water in that can. But don't tell Stoko.

Nana and Grampy Bill

Nana and Grampy Bill came to visit in July as well. We did not take many pictures. But here are a couple:

Thanks for visiting! And thanks for babysitting so we could enjoy a five year anniversary dessert date! Yep, it's been five years of honeymoon in Alaska since that special Lapacaca day! Given our tardy blogging, technically, it's been more like five and a half years. Anyway, we're coming up on the date that we really measure the start of our togetherness by... the Cat Griz game in November. (A dozen of those!)

Back to Nana and Grampy Bill's visit. We took a few photos with our cell phone. (We're still working on figuring out how to get them off of our cell phone so we can post them.) But we enjoyed all the standard activities... walks on the beach, walks in the woods, goddess gathering/dude party, eating dinner in the sunshine, etc. Thanks for visiting! Can't wait to see you again soon!

July Weddingnumerodos

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Sally and Glenn!

This was the first inaugural eco-challenge wedding. We traversed bogs, beaches, slippery earth, and streams to make it to the wedding site on Narrow Cape. We McGuyvered the cap off the sparkling cider so the kids could celebrate. And we provided (inadvertently) the thrill of an Easter-Egg-like-hunt for the wedding rings. Here's the setting.



We knew it was a good omen to head over to Narrow Cape when we saw this family of foxes.

It was a lovely wedding, with a few splashes of blue sky. We hiked over to Narrow Cape, after discovering that Pasagshak was fogged in. Somebody, and I'm not naming any names, was given the wedding rings to hold before we started off. And somebody, and again I'm not naming any names, lost those wedding rings just prior to and/or during the treacherous river crossing en-route.

Needless to say, one of the people there, who also happened to be officiating the ceremony, felt an Alaska size sinking in his stomach when he reached into his pocket to present the rings. They were not there. Talk about taking the fun out of a Lapacaca!

Fortunately, the joke was on the officiant, because the rings fell out of his pocket in a clearly visible shallow portion of the raging river. The groom happened to look down as he was crossing. He noticed two shiny metallic items. He investigated further, and was able to reproduce the rings at the appropriate time during the ceremony. Fortunately, this happened before any excessive grovelling, heart failure, or soiling of the pants by the officiant.

Tension breaker! Here are the rings, safe and sound:




Some initial celebrating.

After the official vows were made, we eco-challenged back over to Pasagshak and celebrated by eating cake and surfing.

In case you were wondering, yes, that groom on the cake is a green iron man.

Mmmm... the leaning tower of glazed creampuffs! (Thanks, Amanda!)

My sincere apologies go out to the best man regarding the near death experience. I hope you will give surfing one more chance!

Hooray to Sally and Glenn! Happy Ouzinkie adventuring! (And please consider moving to Chiniak in a few years so we can send our kids to school there and get them more exposure to Sally's amazing positive attitude!)