One...

Evelyn's first birthday...what a lovely year we have had.

Evelyn examines her birthday cupcake. She has no idea what cake is, this is her first experience.

It didn't take long for her to realize that cake is a good thing.

Golden Days Parade

This past Saturday was the Golden Days Parade, that's the largest parade in the state, folks. We always sit in the same spot year after year to watch the same old cars, the fire trucks and the floats roll on by. Our prime location is across the street from St. Matt's, you can see the log church in the photo above. Why sit across from our church? Well for BOOYAH of course. Booyah is the huge pot of stew the men cook all night long. A breakfast of champions.

Waiting for the show to begin.

A parade is not complete without bagpipes.

Sweet Corn and Sweet Baby

Thanks to Margaret and Glenn we feasted on sweet fresh Wisconsin corn. Margaret and Glenn are in Fairbanks visiting their lovely daughter Meg, but lucky for us not only are they generous they have a large suitcase which they apparently stuff with delicious corn and Wisconsin cheese. Evelyn's first experience with 'real corn' (vs that corn stuff they sell at Fred Meyer) was a site to see. She loved it.

Taking the corn cob away from Evelyn resulted in yelling and crying. She was MAD. Look at her! She is a filthy baby.

Blue... blue....blueberries

The middle of July; time to pick blueberries.
Lynne and her boys joined us on the first picking expedition of the season. First stop... somewhere in Goldstream Valley.










Hannah and Caleb are busy picking those berries, or are they eating them?












Is Hannah looking for the largest blueberry? Every year the winner of the largest blueberry competition gets a treat at Hot Licks. Of course, we all go to Hot Licks with the winner and eat ice cream. A win-win situation.










Picnic lunch on Pedro Dome. The blueberries on Pedro Dome were sweeter then those in Goldstream Valley. We picked enough for a nice batch of blueberry muffins. This trip was just the beginning of blueberry picking season.

Farewell to Royalty

For a couple of years in Hannah's bedroom this princess poster has hung in the place of honor over the bed. Occasionally in the past, I have gently tried to recommend a change venue, but Hannah has always refused. Until today that is!!

Goodbye Princesses!!!!

Hello, tigers. Thank goodness we are leaving the princess phase behind.

July 9-13 - Hannah attends Camp Habitat

During the week of July 9-13, Hannah attended "Camp Habitat", an all-day camp associated with Creamer's Field Wildlife Refuge, a large tract of land near Fairbanks used primarily as rest stop for migratory birds. Camp Habitat aims to teach kids early about the environment, animals, and the ecosystem. This photo shows the four wall tents used as a basecamp to do crafts, when the kids (arranged in different age groups) aren't out on a trail or doing something else in the refuge. We came at the end of the last day, Friday, for a 15 minute end-of-camp celebration.

Here's Hannah's group finishing up their animal masks prior to the "closing ceremony"!

Hannah's group sang a couple of songs prior to the big "parade", where all the campers walk in a big circle and sing the "Camp Habitat" song. Let me tell you, the excitement was almost most than a person could bear! [Hannah's counselor was Scott, the young guy in black shirt and green bandana. He was great!].

Evelyn is being introduced to the trail system in the boreal forest behind the Creamer's Dairy. Little does she know, but this is the beginning of a long, long relationship she will have with this place!!

July 4th - Angel Rocks

For the Fourth of July we decided to spend part of the day walking the trail system at Angel Rocks. AR is a state park with an 8 mile trail system, forming a large loop through the boreal forest. All we've ever done is go a few miles up (and up!) the first part of the trail, to some spectacular granite lookout spots, and then turned around and come back to the parking lot. Good enough! It was pretty hot that day. We went over to our friend Meg's house for a barbeque later in the afternoon.

This section of the trail actually had a boardwalk to help with the climb through a boggy part of the boreal forest. Most of the rest of the way was just a footpath through the woods.

We got up to a pretty good vantage point to look around.

I think everybody was a little hot after finally getting to the top!

ALLEGANY!!

For years I have heard the glories of Allegany State Recreation Area from my brothers and their families. I finally got to experience it and those stories can hardly do it justice. We love Allegany. Here is our cabin, Number 7 on Congdon. With electricity, a full size gas stove, four bunks, and showers/bathrooms a short walk down the road this place is sweet.

Lots of fossils in Allegany. Hannah found shells and 'worms' of animals that lived at the bottom of an ancient lake.

Searching for more fossils

Fishing is the primary activity. Uncle Tom and Colleen joined us at Allegany. Hannah was Colleen's shadow.

Checking out Thunder Rocks...

More fishing. Tom, Colleen and Hannah fished every morning while Evelyn took her morning nap. Under the guidance of Uncle Tom, Hannah caught several bluegills and one very nice bass.

Exploring the woods. Hannah learned about poison ivy and fireflies. She saw deer, raccoons, geese and chipmunks. We looked for snakes but never saw one.

We also swam quite a bit. Hannah learned to ride a two-wheel bike(NO TRAINING WHEELS!)

Hannah loved the idea of the top bunk, but soon decided that she'd rather sleep on the bottom bunk.

Niagara

Of course we visited Niagara Falls, a twenty minute drive from my parents' house. When Hannah was three she used to refer to Niagara as the 'big fountain'. Water pours 202,000 cu ft/sec (5720 m3/s) making Niagara the most powerful falls in North America. The Falls formed at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation while the glaciers receded and the Great Lakes formed. The Niagara River drains four of the great lakes as it flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. Along the way the Niagara River passes over the Niagara Escarpment creating the Falls.






Hannah examines the Niagara Gorge and view of Canada. I try to imagine what it was like to view Niagara prior to 1700. No development, no tourists just the roar of the water. I asked Hannah to imagine what it was like for the Iroquois so long ago. She just ignored me...








We decide to head down into the Cave of the Winds. I wondered how Evelyn would react to it all but sometimes you just have to be brave. Here we are with our tourist raincoats on, ready to head into the elevator to descend 18 stories to the viewing platform close to the base of the American Falls.







Hannah plays in the tunnel as we wait our turn.













Finally, we are out near the Bridal and American Falls. We know we are going to get wet. Hannah is full of excitement. I wonder how far up Hannah is willing to go.... Will Evelyn cry?















Hannah urges me up the deck, into the spray.
Evelyn is mesmerized and smiling. We get soaked.

Next time, Hannah wants to go on the Maid of the Mist.

Visiting Family in the Queen City

From June 11 through June 22 the girls and I traveled east to visit family in Buffalo. We managed to survive the flight to Buffalo, no thanks to Evelyn who did her bit of crying on the way to Minneapolis. Luckily that is all in the past. We stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Williamsville.

Here are the girls snuggling with grandma. Grandma and Grandpa were thrilled to meet Evelyn.




Grandpa gets some one on one time with Evelyn. Evelyn was easy going with meeting the Sweeney clan. Grandpa was ever so patient with Hannah and all of her questions. "What is your favorite color? Favorite breakfast? Favorite movie? Favorite rock?" etc.... That's how Hannah finds out about people.

Aunt Dee playing games with Evelyn. Is she wondering how long until she becomes a grandmother? Her son, Joe has been married for three years now...... Joe are you reading this? I am officially passing on the baby-torch to you. Good luck. I highly recommend planning a twelve hour plane ride for an 11 month baby; a great way to strengthen the parent-child bond.







Nana and Granddad drove all the way from Albany to visit us in Buffalo. Good times in the yard, coloring rocks, playing soccer and celebrating Nana's birthday with a great big chocolate cake.

Happy retirement to Granddad as he works his last few days...


Next blog: Exciting trip highlights including the zoo, Niagara Falls and Alleghany!

Back Log!

Wow! It's been a long time since we have updated the blog. Lots of activities keeping us busy including the Tour de Cure way back in June. Hannah was number 58. We started out at Pikes Landing and headed up the bike path over the Chena River on to Geist Road heading east.








Sorry about the sideways photo. But here she is ready to start the ride.













We made it as far as Alaska Roasting Coffee House where Hannah needed to take a bathroom break. While we were there she needed a snack and some milk. Alaska roasting was a turning point, and we headed home after our break. Hannah biked about 4 miles total. That is her longest bike ride so far.

Thanks to everyone who sponsored us, we raised over $170 dollars to help in diabetes research.