punky brewster
tennis dress
blueberries
in bloomThat pretty much sums up the end of July---just your typical summer goodness!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
welcome, bergen
Congratulations to Melissa & Ted, who (FINALLY!) welcomed Bergen Theodore into the world at 2:09 this morning---eight days overdue! I guess I'm not surprised...another laid-back Leo like my sister.
The stats: 21" long, 7 lbs 15 oz, and lots of brown hair. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share soon. In the meantime, stay tuned to Altimus Jones' blog for more details.
Sadie can't wait to meet her new cuz, and me my new nephew!
The stats: 21" long, 7 lbs 15 oz, and lots of brown hair. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share soon. In the meantime, stay tuned to Altimus Jones' blog for more details.
Sadie can't wait to meet her new cuz, and me my new nephew!
Monday, July 21, 2008
road trip, part 2
On day three of our journey we arrived at the base of Lolo Pass, home to the wide and swift-moving Lochsa River and official gateway to Montana. Here we discovered the Lochsa Lodge, a huge log structure surrounded by guest cabins, which sits high atop the river gorge. It was an idyllic setting, perfect for a wedding or family reunion, or even just a beer and game of horseshoes.
Later that afternoon we pulled into Missoula. Cellphones dead, and having forgotten to mapquest our friend Kevin's address, we decided to drive around the city and attempt to locate his house based only on a street name and a Google maps satellite image we once saw. Hey, why not? It's vacation! Despite the fact that we often felt "we were getting CLOSE!" we failed to find it. Eventually we gave in to our thirst, found a nice-looking bar & grill instead, plugged in our phones, and called Kevin. Turns out we were less than a mile away.
Fast-forward ahead to day four, when we set out for Glacier National Park, this time with Kevin in tow. Our plan: to rendezvous with Ken & Shawn at a cabin on the outskirts of Glacier for a full-fledged P-town reunion. The drive (no less gorgeous than the first three days) took us past Flathead Lake, the largest freshwater lake east of the Mississippi. Amazing! And lucky for us, our Montana tour guide knew all the best places to stop...
The Raven: a little bit of Caribbean in the far north
Cheers!
After the requisite stop for all things huckleberry---pie, ice cream, beer, etc---we arrived at the "cabin" (which was bordering on luxury accommodations), where Ken & Shawn were freshly showered and waiting to tell us the tales of their three-day backcountry camping experience. How did it feel to get everyone together in such a beautiful setting? In a word:
Stay tuned for our adventures in Glacier National Park!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
road trip '08
It's been a long time since we returned from Montana, but only now are the memories settling in and the pictures downloaded. I feel it was an epic journey of sorts, marked by many new experiences---Sadie's first extended camping foray; Butterball's maiden voyage, and our initiation as bus co-pilots; our first time not only in Glacier, but seeing a Grizzly, a black bear, and a wolf; and mostly, our first indelible memory of taking a road trip as a family. I was acutely aware of this as we went and tried to document it appropriately, imagining Sadie looking at the pictures 20 years from now and thinking how quaint it was that we drove a Volkswagen bus and made grilled cheese sandwiches on the side of the road.
So with no further ado, the tale of our travels...
On a scorching hot Saturday at the end of June, we loaded Butterball to the gills and pointed her east out of Bend. The temps were pushing 100 as we pushed 60 through the open desert. Our goal for the night: to make McCall, Idaho before sundown. We stopped frequently for snacks and diaper changes, and reminded ourselves that it was not about getting from point A to point B, but about everything in between.
Never before have highway rest areas been such a lifesaver.
It became clear as the sun dipped lower into the sky that our plan of making McCall was a bit too ambitious. We wove up the snaky Idaho/Oregon border at dusk, luckily entering national forest and the campgrounds that come with it. The first available area found us parked along the river with the whole place practically to ourselves. Although it was a bit too paved for our liking, the facilities were brand spanking new, and it was an easy place to pop the top for the night.
The next morning, we prepared our first meal in Butterball's kitchen: scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and coffee.
So with no further ado, the tale of our travels...
On a scorching hot Saturday at the end of June, we loaded Butterball to the gills and pointed her east out of Bend. The temps were pushing 100 as we pushed 60 through the open desert. Our goal for the night: to make McCall, Idaho before sundown. We stopped frequently for snacks and diaper changes, and reminded ourselves that it was not about getting from point A to point B, but about everything in between.
Never before have highway rest areas been such a lifesaver.It became clear as the sun dipped lower into the sky that our plan of making McCall was a bit too ambitious. We wove up the snaky Idaho/Oregon border at dusk, luckily entering national forest and the campgrounds that come with it. The first available area found us parked along the river with the whole place practically to ourselves. Although it was a bit too paved for our liking, the facilities were brand spanking new, and it was an easy place to pop the top for the night.
The next morning, we prepared our first meal in Butterball's kitchen: scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and coffee. By day two, we had really kicked into vacation mode and felt ourselves becoming one with the Butterball pace-of-life. We stopped at scenic overlooks, roadside stands, and local BBQ joints, pretty much doing what we pleased when we pleased, and resigned ourselves to the fact that we would not be making Missoula on any sort of schedule. To beat the heat, we even spent a few hours in McCall swimming and making sandcastles at Payette Lake.
It felt significant rolling into McCall in my Volkswagen bus, my thoughts always on my friend Scott (who lived in Boise but loved McCall, and drove a bus himself). Call it timing or call it fate, it was June 29th, just a few days after the accident that took his life ten years ago. I was glad to be somewhere that I could feel the connection to him, and hoped he could somehow feel it too.
The rest of the day was a gorgeous, lazy meander northward along the Salmon and Clearwater rivers. Once again, we overstayed our time on the road, finding a serendipitous campsite when we needed it most. This time, it was darker, and Sadie was more tired and hungry, so we vowed not to cut it so close the rest of the trip.
Sleepy babies rarely like their pictures taken, no matter how scenic it is
Coming up next: Day Three, Lolo Pass and Missoula...
It felt significant rolling into McCall in my Volkswagen bus, my thoughts always on my friend Scott (who lived in Boise but loved McCall, and drove a bus himself). Call it timing or call it fate, it was June 29th, just a few days after the accident that took his life ten years ago. I was glad to be somewhere that I could feel the connection to him, and hoped he could somehow feel it too.The rest of the day was a gorgeous, lazy meander northward along the Salmon and Clearwater rivers. Once again, we overstayed our time on the road, finding a serendipitous campsite when we needed it most. This time, it was darker, and Sadie was more tired and hungry, so we vowed not to cut it so close the rest of the trip.
Sleepy babies rarely like their pictures taken, no matter how scenic it isMonday, July 07, 2008
tragedy strikes
I'd like to tell you all about what a wonderful time we had in Montana (which we did), but instead I came home to find out that THIS had happened to my sister and brother-in-law's house:
Everyone is fine, thankfully. Ted and his parents were in the room when it happened and his mom was a bit injured and shaken up, but otherwise okay. (Melissa was in the bathroom at the rear of the house at the time.) What you can't tell from the picture is that the roof caved in, and they have to move out until it can be rebuilt, which will likely be several months. Not ideal when you are 9.5 months pregnant, the baby's room is finished, and all of the wonderful gifts people have given you to make life easier are now trapped inside a demolition zone. I feel so, so badly for them that it just breaks my heart. Please send positive thoughts their way.
Everyone is fine, thankfully. Ted and his parents were in the room when it happened and his mom was a bit injured and shaken up, but otherwise okay. (Melissa was in the bathroom at the rear of the house at the time.) What you can't tell from the picture is that the roof caved in, and they have to move out until it can be rebuilt, which will likely be several months. Not ideal when you are 9.5 months pregnant, the baby's room is finished, and all of the wonderful gifts people have given you to make life easier are now trapped inside a demolition zone. I feel so, so badly for them that it just breaks my heart. Please send positive thoughts their way.
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