August 20, 2011

Being here...

No words
just a glimpse
a brief window
into this moment
in this life

August 14, 2011

Russian River 2011: The rest

I am SO behind in posting all major stuff that we've done this summer since the Russian trip!  There's one more post from the last day of this trip coming-a GREAT hike that we went on with friends that was out of this world, another short weekend trip to the Russian a couple weeks later, our dipnetting trip, New Jersey trip...and various other sundry things.  All in good time.
Here are some photos of the many flowers and ferns that carpet the banks of the river as well as the other stuff we did:






SO handsome!  As long as he's on the other side!
In the RV heading home

We were sad to find that our fairy house that we built and had survived 3 years was gone.  It looked as if they had expanded that campsite, whacking down the brush where the house had been.  But I'm pretty sure those fairies knew what was coming and magically relocated to a more safe and secret spot!  ;)  So Willa and I built another one at this years site! 
"Frodo" riding a dragon!
The reward after our long hike along the river.  Beautiful falls!


<3!!!

Living Strong: Pierced probosci!

Well, living strong, we definitely came out of our comfort zones last night.....Dylan and I got our noses pierced!

It's something we'd talked  about doing together for over a year.  (I've wanted to pierce my nose for 20+ years)  I spent some time googling all things nose piercing...checking out YouTube vids, the good and bad, to familiarize myself with the whole thing.  Last weekend, after a bike ride in Anchorage, the girls and I stopped by a bodypiercing place to ask questions, make sure they where reputable, and to just alleviate some fear by getting to know the place.  Since this weekend Miles and Willa are on a Daddy/daughter camping trip at Skilak Lake, Dylan and I figured it would be a good time for a Mommy/Daughter nose piercing!  So we took the plunge last night and headed down to Body Piercing Unlimited.  Our piercer, Charlie was a nice guy-thorough but good to talk to.  Mommy went first....the worst part?  The week of ANTICIPATION leading up to the piercing!!!!    The actual act was quite quick and I would not describe it as pain at all.  A few seconds of a little pinch, just a bit uncomfortable, and then it's done.  No problemo.  It was pretty funny though, he put a metal tube in my nose for the needle to go into-as opposed to his finger or my septum, etc.-got the needle positioned, told me to take a deep breath and on the exhale, BOOP, needle goes through.  Then he turned away for something and here I am thinking it was done!  WOW, thinks I.  THAT was SO fast!  I turn to Dylan to show off my nose, eyebrows raised questioningly-looks good?!?!  Dylan's giving me this WEIRD look and I think, uh oh, does it look stupid or something?  I turn my head the opposite way to look in the mirror there and I have this big long needle sticking into the top of my nose and hanging out the bottom!  YIKES!  Charlie had only turned to get my stud ready to put in!  Eh...ya had to be there, it was comical.  I'm such a dork!  The big bummer was that they wouldn't allow us to video or take pictures.  :(  But.... I am so happy with my little nose diamond!
Dylan was next.  I held her hand and she was done. She picked a pretty light blue stone and she looks ADORABLE!  So grown up.  I'm glad we did this together!  There's no one else I would  rather have had there doing this with me.  She is such a fun and delightful kid!

August 8, 2011

Jack's ALIVE!!!!

  BEST game to play around the campfire or fire pit!!!!!!

Here's how it goes:  Burn the end of a long stick in the fire until you have a small glowing ember on the tip. Pass the stick around from person to person. Each person blows on the ember-if the ember is still lit, the person blowing says,"Jack's alive!" before passing it to the next person. NO LYING!!!! If a person receives the stick and the ember suddenly goes out or they blow it out, they get to have their face drawn on by another player with the soot from the stick! Beards, mustaches, lamb chops, the more ridiculous, the more fun! 

*TEST TO MAKE SURE TIP OF STICK IS NOT TOO HOT!!!*

Here's the Jack's Alive pic's from Dylan's Birthday party!










August 7, 2011

Dylan's Sweet Sixteen!

Our little girlie turned 16 in July!  That morning we drove in to the DMV so she could take her road test and get her driver's license.  After an initial setback:  they wouldn't let her finish the test once it was discovered that my emergency break didn't work-WHO KNEW?!?-luckily another woman offered to let Dylan use her car.  We sat on standby for 2 hours.  Poor kid SO wanted to get that license on her birthday!  We watched kid after kid come in from their tests in tears-the Anchorage testers are known for being VERY tough!  She did great, though!  Came back all smiles!

So afterward I dropped her off at Mile's office and while she worked for him, me, Willa, and a couple of Dylan's friends got to work at home setting a surprise party.   For a couple weeks prior, Dylan had been trying to put together some sort of birthday dinner with her friends, but knowing we were planing to surprise her, they all , except for one, "declined"-had to work, were going to be out of town, etc.   Dylan was pretty bummed, but resigned herself to hanging out with her one friend.  She was totally surprised when we all jumped out of hiding spots and yelled when she walked through the door!  It was a great party-great kids-laughing and tomfoolery.  We set up the fire pit outside and had a great game of Jack's ALIVE-that will be another post, though.   BEST campfire game!

And I am totally grateful to have such an open, accepting, and wonderful kid who never does the whole "banish the 'grownups' from my sight" shit.   

 I don't EVEN want to go into how quickly these years are passing...

Setting up

Beautiful girl
One of those tear jerker cards from a friend

Fun with balloons



Request granted!  Tostadas....





Calmly and happily making do-it-yourself cupcakes


And then cupcake fights ensued.  Well....You only turn 16 once and cupcakes can be cleaned from carpet and linoleum, right?