Meow!!.. Halloween 2009

First, a disclaimer: My good camera has been shipped to some location in this country, and is hopefully being fixed sooner than later. In the meantime, I’m using my old trusty Kodak, which apparently is no longer as trusty. So I’ve been quite frustrated. However, Halloween was still fun with a toddler, who loves saying “Meow”.

On Friday, we went down to State Street, which had a kids’ trick-or-treating in and out of stores. It was quite nice. Yesterday we went to the mall, which also had trick-or-treating. Fun, but crazy and over-crowded, and a bit scary for Kajsa, but mostly fun.

Kajsa loves the cat costume. She wore it around the house this afternoon and evening as well. It was an easy costume–she had the pants, I bought the shirt, and bought the ears and tail. Easy, fun, successful Halloween.

Daily fun

A few more fun pictures… I love this face. I love it when Kajsa lets me put her hair in a headband (I’m trying to grow her hair out), because I think it looks fantastic. And Kajsa loves the color orange, which is fun.

Kajsa also loves Gaiden’s crate. Gaiden is Jen’s puppy (almost a year old), and we were watching him last weekend. Kajsa spent a lot of time in his crate–of her own doing, let me add! we did NOT put her in there… She put herself in there.. she loved it. She methodically dragged toys, books, etc. into the crate, then would sit in there for a while, then took them back out… she loved it. It was pretty funny.

Kajsa is her daddy’s little girl in many ways, but one of them is that she loves to check the mail, and Jim frequently lets her keep a piece of “junk mail”… she takes her mail seriously, as you can see. The other day she was sitting in her chair, “reading” it… talking to herself, while her eyes ran up and down the page of this junk mail.

And the box… Once Gaiden had returned home, and the crate was gone, I got a box from the gargage, which Kajsa then spent a lot of time hanging out in as well.

Another quick story: the other day I had Sesame Street on for Kajsa. I realized, after a bit, that Kajsa had left the room, and I was still watching Sesame Street. I won’t say I was engrossed, but I was enjoying it. So I went to find Kajsa, and asked her, “Kajsa, are you watching Sesame Street–or not?” She immediately responded: “Not!”.

Visiting with family

Last weekend, Kajsa and I drove to Elgin, stayed at new friends’ home, with Annie, Jeff, Jordan, and Kristina.. (Beaner.. MY Bean!) Great time. Too short. Wish we saw all our families more often. Sigh. The third picture is Kajsa’s funny pout face she suddenly made, out of the blue… then, of course, because we all laughed, she kept it up.

Bag Lady, Part 2

or… “Contents of a Toddler’s Backpack”. I’ve posted this photo on my other blog...(the one I started to post my Photo Challenge pictures I’m attempting to take each day. or most days.)

This is not a fake photo. This is real, folks. This is what I dumped out of Kajsa’s backpack today. Hmmmmm… Shes’ a riot.

In other photos… last week Jim found an old harmonica that he let Kajsa play with. Today when we saw “Zee”, the owl on “Noggin”, (a preschool TV cable channel) playing the harmonica, she wanted to find her harmonica. We couldn’t locate it, but Jim had another one… and let her play with that. She loved playing it at the same time as Zee, and kept playing it from time to time throughout the evening.

our little pilot

Today we had an incredible experience! We went for an airplane ride–in a private airplane. A 2-seater… so Jim went up first, then I went up. And in between, Kajsa tried on the headphones and sat in the passenger seat… looking very cool, of course. Hopefully I’ll post more photos later this week, but suffice it to say, for now, that this was incredible. Fun. Beautiful. Gorgeous. I could have stayed up there for a loooong time. At least I think I could have. Thanks, Nancy and Steve!

Finally, another post.

There are two reasons to suspect the end of the world is near: First, I’m finally posting again, after a long break. And second, I made a cake from scratch this summer. But in case neither of these leads to the world’s end, I’ll continue. And since so much has gone on in the past two months, I’ll resort to summarizing.

Travels:

Iron River, MI (Covenant Point Bible Camp, speakers.);

Milwaukee, WI  (Miller Park, for the annual District Clergy Brewer’s game);

W. Townshend, VT (my home, and Grandma and Grandpa Stanley); and while in Vermont: Weston, Londonderry, S.Londonderry, Townshend, Brattleboro, Pike’s Falls, Newfane…

W. Orange, NJ (to visit the Lehrer’s, friends we met in China.. and one of Kajsa’s “Ling Sisters”);

New Hope, PA (with the Lehrer’s, to meet up with the Robinsons.. another Ling Sister);

S. Plainfield, NJ, to be with friends from Pilgrim Covenant Church;

back to VT;

Madison, CT (to see my sister Susie & family);

Back to Madison, WI.

What’s happened, besides our travels, or as part of our travels:

We realized, on our trip out East, that Kajsa gets carsick. Not fun.

I watched more “Blue’s Clue’s” episodes than I care to remember, on that same trip.

Before Kajsa’s birthday, I made (not from scratch) a cake and decorated it like Blue.

Kajsa turned 2 on July 25^th.

On her birthday, I made a cake from scratch.

Many friends and family visited. (Hopefully I’ll post pictures someday.)

I had a hysterectomy on July 27th, to remove fibroids and stuff. (I’m still recovering, doing well, though more-than-ready to be back at “full strength”–someday!)

I went back on Facebook. Sort of. I’m back, but not consistent.

I learned how to knit. Or re-learned, since I had once-upon-a-time knit in junior high… I’m loving it.

Oh, and somewhere in there, Brett Favre changed his mind a few times about retirement. And finally signed with the Minnesota Vikings.

more cruise pictures

spray from a whale spout

the waves on the bottom: from the boat; the spray/waves on the top: a dall porpoise!

a sailboat, that made us think of Phil Keillor...

a sea otter. Our ship captain slowed the boat down, turned around, drove around the sea otter, who basically ignored us, except to glance at the tourists with cameras...

Camp pies and a rummage sale…

I’ve heard about the camp pies. Sandie has bragged about the camp pies. They sounded like they might be good, but honestly, it’s one of those things that you have to experience, I think.

a pie iron in the fire

So don’t worry, friends of mine who live close by… I will buy one of these cast iron pie irons, and make these for you at some point. (Except I won’t try the spam and velveeta camp pie that some brave souls ate yesterday, here in the Lawrence back yard.)

On Thursday evening, Sandie made camp pies for us.

"oozie goodness"

Cheap bread, buttered on the outside of each slice, and cherry pie filling in the middle, squashed into a pie iron, cooked over a campfire. On Friday, Sandie experimented with cheddar cheese to make grilled cheese sandwiches. Also fantastic. In fact, Sandie’s term for these is now “oozie goodness”. For those of you who don’t like the sound of cherry pie filling, insert any filling you want. Camp pies simply rock.

One of the great things about camping is fun people you meet. We had some fun neighbors: the 2 Danes and San Francisco friend; and the couple from Montana…. one of the not-so-great-things about camping is your proximity to loud people you meet. I’m all for having fun while camping, but honestly people…  GO TO BED! or at least be quieter for those of us who are already struggling to sleep because it’s freezing… Needless to say, Thursday night was a rough night of sporadic sleep.

Friday morning’s breakfast was instant oatmeal, bacon, and camp coffee.

the tent Jim, Kajsa, and I slept in

Yum. Camping with the Lawrences is fun, because they have fun camp gear. It’s also fun, because the Lawrences are fun. But that goes without saying. The camp gear part is wild. It’s not like they have a mini-REI in their house full of camp gear, but I’ve honestly never been camping with such cool gear.

a little wildlife exiting the tent

And Dave says this is nothing, compared to friends of his. I love it. I should also mention that I have not been camping a ton.. some, but not a ton.

After breakfast, we were all pretty excited to walk up to the Methodist church in Seward, and go to the rummage sale.

the rummage sale gang

The campground bathroom house had a flyer on the wall, advertising the sale. Since most of us froze Thursday night as well as stayed awake thanks to loud neighbors, we decided to rummage for more clothing and blankets. Fun. Who’d of thunk… we go to Alaksa, and to a great rummage sale. Loads of fun. The photo I’m trying to insert in this paragraph should show the funny photo of the gang, loaded up with rummage gear. Jim found a mattress pad, a foam pad (both for putting under our sleeping bags), and a sheet, I think. Sandie got more blankets, I got some awesome pants that are warmer than anything else I have here. Etc.

By the time we returned to the campground, Jim and I had to get ready for our 5-hour “cruise” to see wildlife out on the sea. So we packed up our backpack, bundled up in our rummage-sale gear, Dave packed us a lunch (because we’re too cheap to pay for the salmon/prime rib buffet on the boat), and we all took the long walk along the sidewalk down to the small boat harbor. Entropy was the center of attention, of course… loads of tourists taking loads of photos of him. He tolerated it.

Camping in Seward

on Thursday afternoon, we loaded up two carloads of camping gear, kids, Little E., and adults, some snacks, etc. and drove to Seward, down south. I will admit to some apprehension about camping. It had been ages, since I’d camped. But I’m all for adventure, and thougth this might be fun. As it turns out, it was. Not only fun, but beautiful!! We drove to Seward, along a coastal highway for a bit, then on a highway surrounded by snow-capped mountain peaks. Really, it’s gorgeous. It helps, of course, that we saw another moose and 5 bald eagles on the way to Seward. But the photos of the distant moose and distant bald eagles are hardly worth posting. Still, we saw them.

What did not help the trip much was the camera lens catastrophe. Kajsa was on my shoulders, and I was about to hand off my camera to get her down, when she fell. Fortunately I held onto her leg, and she slid most of the way down my back, fell a short distance, then after crying a bit, did her normal routine of blaming whatever “made” her fall, or what “broke” her fall.. in this case, the ground. Pointing to it, crying, shaking her head and her finger at the ground. Unfortunately, in the process of Kajsa slipping down my back, and my fear of her falling harder, I dropped the camera. With the zoom lens on it. The zoom still works–but only at that outermost zoom length. Which is good, I guess. If you’re going to break your zoom lens, I suppose it’s best that it breaks at the greatest length possible. The bad part is, it’s stuck there.. and can’t move. So, it involves a lot of switching of lenses, when I’m wanting to capture a distant shot, then a closer shot.. oh well. As I have said numerous times, “I dropped my daughter, and I dropped my camera. I saved my daughter, not the camera.”

Here are some pictures…

dead trees, dead since the 1964 earthquake.. the trees are dead because the ground sank and saltwater entered these parts.

somebody Hooligan fishing in 20 Mile River, on the way to Seward

a stone's throw (a good throw) from our tents... in Seward, on Resurrection Bay

Kjell, Sunny and Broder, in Seward

the campsite, enjoying the campfire

2 Seagulls and a Sea Otter. The otter hung out in the water by our campsite for ages, it seemed.

i saw a MOOSE!!!!!!

two, actually! a mother and her calf. Sooooo cute. not such great pictures. but still, we saw two moose!!!!

First of all, Jim, Kajsa and I are in Alaska! Anchorage, to be exact, visiting the Lawrence’s. Second, I’ve been on this “moose hunt” for several years. It’s become a family joke, that Cathy is constantly on the lookout for moose. And, just to be clear, my definition of “moose-hunt” involves driving around rural areas (someone else usually driving), camera in hand, windows down, shoes on–usually… ready to jump out of the car and photograph. the moose.

moose poop

the elusive moose that seems to know when I’m in town, and hides.

So I told Sandie L., that if I did not see a moose here in Alaska, I would be bummed. Really bummed. Especially considering that they seem to have moose wandering all over the area.

after mama moose noticed me

And I figured the moose would hide, once they knew I was here. Last night, Sandie was a good friend, and drove us around, for a moose hunt. I said I was giving up on the moose. 24 hours in Alaska, and no moose-sighting yet. Sandie even called some friends in various areas of Anchorage, to put the alert out. Moose-sightings? call Sandie, so her crazy visitors can go see it….

so this morning,

the moose walking away... check out the cute calf

Sandie heard about a moose and her calf bedded in someone’s backyard. Sandie made the call. We received the call. We got in the car (Jim, Cathy, Sunny and Kajsa), drove up to the moose-sighting home… but missed her by a few minutes. We hung out, walked back into the woods a bit.. but no luck. Nice people, and I’m grateful they allowed these strangers to wander their backyard. But no luck. Lots of moose poop. As pictured. So we got back in the car, and drove around a bit more… and then, we saw them! the moose and her calf…

so cute!

I put my zoom lens on the camera, jumped out of the car–barefoot–quietly snuck down someone’s driveway, and took some photos. I was so incredibly happy. Elated. Thrilled. Ecstatic. I can’t believe we finally saw a moose. I have heard that in real life, the are actually ugly. I disagree. I think they are beautfiul.