A little piece of heaven

I have a place where when I walk in the door and the familiar smell brings back years of happy childhood memories. It's a place that I feel is integral to who I am and who my family is. It could be because out of all the Christmases that I remember, there was only one that didn't take place at this house until I got married. It is where the majority of my memories with my cousins take place.

My grandpa's home.

What a wonderful place to go and visit.

I love the seclusion. I love the wood throughout the house. I love the smell of the garage to this day. Most of all, I love the sense of family, my family, that house evokes.

I am sure my nostalgia for this house runs high because as time continues its assault on my grandpa, the years (or months) that he has to be in this house are few.

We took Carolyn and Blake out for a visit today. They hid behind me as we entered, timidly explored their new surroundings, and soon ran pell-mell around the fire pit like crazy hooligans.
Watching them play and jump and chase each other reminded me of twenty-some odd years ago when I chased my siblings--except the hearth around the fireplace is much more toddler proof than it was in my days.

I want this house. I want to own it, to feel that more generations of children will gather around the wood stove while a grandpa plays Santa on Christmas Eve. I'm not the only one that feels this way. Other siblings and cousins have wistfully spoken of being in this house.

It's not practical. It's location is awful if you have a husband like I do who works in business centers. The upkeep on the house is out of my reach. But, emotionally, it's ideal. It's wonderful.

I cherish every moment I get to spend inside and am very grateful that today my children were able to have some of their own moments in this house.

Tea for two

Carolyn started to go crazy not having any children to interact with while we've been on vacation. I have a dear friend I hadn't seen in eight years who had some room in her schedule for visitors. Luckily, this dear friend has a little girl just the same age as Carolyn. They became fast friends and played so nicely that we stayed for six hours. The highlight was a tea party. Carolyn has always had to pretend when she plays tea party so she was thrilled to have graham crackers and something to drink out of her cup.

Sunday afternoon fun

We have spider boy and spider girl in this family now. They like to crawl across the ceiling.

Friday's Adventures

Friday, we took a trip down Turnagain Arm and went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. It's essentially a big game reserve for rehabilitation of animals.

These are petrified trees from the 1964 earthquake. The ground dropped and the salt water that came in infiltrated the root systems of the trees preserving them.



Blake thinks this is his new "cat cat." We didn't let him give him any loves like he wanted though.



This is a glimpse of their future.




Blake attempted to steer Carolyn into the grass numerous times.


After we saw all the big animals we could handle, we drove to Girdwood and rode the tram to the top of Mount Alyeska. I was super disappointed with all my photos because the visibility wasn't good. All the picture taken of the glaciers and the inlet are grainy.


But Carolyn and Blake got to play on some snow in July.


Wayne is banned from any future family outings after trying to throw Blake off the mountain.


In the background you can see one of the surrounding glaciers.


This is Blake's preferred method of travel.


Look how clear the foreground is in the picture and how awful the background is! So sad. I needed sun and clarity to take beautiful pictures to convince my husband that Alaska is the place he wants to spend all his summer days. I don't think these are going to cut it.

Bridal Shower

We threw this lovely lady a bridal shower with all of her Alaska friends. This briefly included Carolyn until she had to leave for bed time.


We had a rice krispie bar buffet. Mmmm good.
We had cocoa peanut butter, regular, cinnamon, and peanut butter-honey-and vanilla. That last one was supposed to be just peanut butter, but the husband making them got creative in the kitchen. He must have known what he was doing because they were the first ones gone.

It was wonderful to spend time with all these people who were important in Angelina's life as she grew up. Best wishes to the lucky bride and I am sure I'll post some pictures from her wedding in a few weeks.