The boys are here, and life is good! We are busy with outings and play and just hanging out. I’ll share photos when I can.
My pig collection, probably only about a quarter or less of what I had when I was teaching, has been supplemented with Bun Bun, Ottsie, and Fro Fruie. I’ll be so sad when the boys are too old for stuffed animals!
We have just returned from a weeklong trip to Alaska, where we had a wonderful visit with my daughter’s family in their beautiful new home. Alaska is everything we heard it was and more- majestic peaks, glacial waterways, wildlife, and an abundance of wildflowers. We can’t wait to go back!
Of course the reason for our visit was these guys! They are settling into their new life and were eager to tell us about the otters and other animals they had just seen, as well as the wild berries and mushrooms growing in their yard. They will be starting school in a couple weeks, so their lives will quickly become very busy.
The photos below are from a walk we took at the Eagle River Nature Center, just a few miles from their house.
Next week, I will share some of the photos I took of our short trip to the Kenai Peninsula and our all day boat trip to the Kenai Fjords.
These are just a few of the many expressions that drifted across Henry’s face as he played a game of Mancala (thank you, Debbie!). No one could ever accuse him of being self-conscious!
We are having a major heatwave, so our two days at the Grand Canyon were punctuated by frequent stops to refill water bottles and stand in the shade. The highlight of the trip was the boys being sworn in as Junior Rangers by a close family friend of theirs, who is indeed a big important ranger at the Grand Canyon. The boys completed all the required pages (at different skill levels) of their official Junior Ranger books and then were sworn in front of a small crowd of curious tourists. They already have badges from Yellowstone, but this particular badge was significant because of the friend that did the ceremony for them. A sweet moment! Unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo of them wearing the badges. . .
And here is a shot of the canyon (I’m amazed it’s as sharp as it is, since it was too hot to carry a tripod and the railings were too hot to lean on to steady the camera!):
We just returned from the Grand Canyon and had the joyful experience of watching the boys have their first look at one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Here’s Henry taking it all in:
When your family lives in three different states, it’s a rare day when you can all be together. Caitlin and the boys have been here a week, and Matt drove in on Thursday- what a joy it’s been to have both kids and grandkids with us. We are missing Justin, Caity’s husband, because he used the week to drive (pulling a trailer) from their previous home in Yellowstone to the new one in Anchorage, accompanied by his brother, Kris and the family dog, Penny.
Happy Father’s Day to the proud Papa in this photo, to the absent daddy in Alaska, and to all the wonderful dads out there!
Henry and Miles were both entranced by The Magician, the photo I took of our friend Dale a few weeks ago. I asked them who they thought was in the photo, and Henry tentatively asked, “Santa?”. When I told them that it was someone they knew, they both realized it was Dale. They were curious about how the magic got into the photo, so this morning we re-created the photo with Henry as the magician. I think he enjoyed being dressed up and posing more than seeing how the magic got into the photo.
After viewing the print, he said there was one thing he didn’t like about the photo- his FACE. Caitlin says he doesn’t like mad or sad faces in books. He certainly enjoyed making all sorts of faces for the camera!
We ordered some new lego sets for the boys before their arrival, including a huge ship for Miles. He completed it with no help within hours- he’s pretty amazing!
Life is busy and fun right now, because our daughter and sweet grand-boys are here! They are moving from Yellowstone to Anchorage, Alaska, and are visiting with us for two weeks while they are in between houses. They arrived Friday evening, and we spent most of Saturday at the new Legoland Discovery Center and Aquarium in Phoenix- a fun way to begin our visit together. We will be busy keeping them entertained over the next two weeks, so my blog posts will be intermittent.
There were LOTS of Legos to play with.
Miles LOVED building structures and testing them out on the earthquake table.
Assembling Lego cars and sending them down a ramp was a lot of fun.
Yup- life is good!
For the last month, three photos of mine have been hanging at ‘Tis, a downtown gallery right on the square. I must admit I have visited them there more than once.
Below, you can see my husband, the art critic, analyzing Dandelion Dreams.
And here are Moonburn and Daydreaming (I think I overuse the word dream in my photo titles. . .):
This whole gallery experience has felt like I’m playing at being an artist, and I’ve enjoyed every minute. I still have one photo on display in another gallery at Prescott Center for the Arts, and I was awarded an honorable mention for that one (I didn’t even realize there were awards). The planets must have aligned just right!
Yesterday, the last day of the show at ‘Tis, I went to pick up my photos. The curator said I could only pick up one, and when I asked why only one, she replied “Because the other two are SOLD!” You could have knocked me over with a feather! I’m pretty stoked!
So Dandelion Dreams and Moonburn didn’t come home- and that’s more than okay with me!
Christmas 2015 is already a part of the past, but, as we head toward 2016, I am hesitant to let go of the spirit (and decorations!) of Christmas. I suspect our tree will stay up until New Year’s. We had a wonderful, though quiet, Christmas with our son, Matt. Lots of food and movie-watching!
The moon photo was taken Christmas Eve through our front window. Although I saw the historic full moon on Christmas, it was already high in the sky- and I didn’t attempt another photograph. Anyway, I was distracted by a fabulous Christmas gift I received from my husband- the Lensbaby Velvet 56 lens(!) and by some fun and very useful photography accessories from my kids (mini reflectors and a plant clamp for flower photography- and a thermarest seat for sitting down on hikes to take said photos!). The snowflake ornament photo at the top of the collage above was taken with the new lens, which does great macro as well as portrait photography.
Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season!
We had a delightful time with our two little guys on Thanksgiving! Miles read to us about the first Thanksgiving, and Henry entertained us just by being Henry. The food was fabulous- turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, zucchini, peas, green salad, cranberry sauce, rolls, and, of course, pumpkin pie! My daughter and husband certainly have developed into excellent cooks! A new family tradition was started by Caitlin making the leftovers into a shepherd’s pie the next day. Yum!
Here is Henry showing how he made the handprint turkey which tops the pumpkin pie.
And here is Miles whipping the cream.
We miss our Yellowstone family!
Greetings from Yellowstone! We are having such a great visit with our little Yellowstone family!
The photo above (taken with my iPhone) is of the historic Roosevelt Arch in Gardiner, Montana at the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Miles’s school is nearby, and I snapped this photo after we met him for lunch. I have issues uploading photos from my 64GB card to the iPad, so you’ll have to wait til next week for more Images of Yellowstone and the boys.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I’m slowly making progress with my project of digitally restoring old family photos. I love these old photos of my grandmother sitting in the chair and my great-aunt Margaret (at age 8) all dressed up in her fancy outfit. Both photos would have been taken in the 1890’s in the Chicago area.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
melinda anderson photography 