Family and Friends

We saw a continuing-to-expect Ashley and Kevin last night. Her due date has passed (yesterday), but the doctor appears to be unconcerned. My understanding is that all of those predictions are kind of conditional anyway.

Today is a catch-up and consolidation day in advance of the holiday. We will also be taking Diego for a whitewater paddling trip to West Virginia in about a week. I have not done this in years and it should be fun. It will be a long car ride kind of weekend, for certain. I will advise all to bring their appropriate time wasting devices on this trip.

The sun is shining, and it should be a good day for biking and gardening. It is always a good day to pet a puppy dog, as my constant companion is currently reminding me. I must attend to that now...

A Slow Summer (for blogging)...

Much happening, but not a lot of reporting in this space. Mostly because it is summer stuff and not terribly dramatic. The real drama happened in the past couple of weeks, and things have been pretty quiet since then. Mostly summer stuff.

I survived the estrogen onslaught of the all-girl (mostly) birthday party/sleepover in Grand Rapids. We took the kids to the childrens' museum, which has all kinds of stuff to keep kids busy for an indefinite span of time. We also made time to take the girls swimming and keep them generally busy, which always makes for sound sleepers at the end of the day.

Poolside entertainment has also taken place at our friend Ann's house, on a couple of occasions. I am chipping away at the homework assignments for my summer course. I have finished making submissions for the AKT2 program and am awaiting notification of the date for my exit interview. It is gratifying to feel this close to having finished the program.

The weather has been beautiful, except when it has been rainy and cold. I find that I don't mind the contrast nearly as much as I might have in the past. On the nice days, we seem to find our way onto the bikes or the walking paths. On the rainy days, we get wet.

This week probably represents a breath of quiet before things get busy over the 4th of July holiday and afterwards. We still have people to see and things to get done. It will be time to sit down and plan the rest of the vacation in the next day or so, and, of course, we will have to start planning for our return to the north. I am quietly excited, but that can wait a little while yet...

Summer Continues...

We have been on the run. Mostly to Traverse City, for family and friends to gather and celebrate. There was a briefly frightening brush that my grandson had with viral meningitis, but he was here Sunday for Father's Day, looking as if nothing had happened just a few days previously. In the meantime, his sisters met the daughters of my wife's cousin, when we took the little girls to the park and away from the hospital emergency room for a few hours. Friendships have been kindled, and now there shall be a sleepover on Wednesday night in Grand Rapids. At least five girls, moms, and cousins. And me. I will surely be outnumbered.

We went riding out in Leenanau county while visiting friends in Traverse City, and had some laughs pedaling up and down the hills there. At least we had some gasps of laughter after panting up them. It was good to see old friends again.

My poor little puppy dog got tangled up with one of the others and ended up with stitches for his troubles. He should be out of the Elizabethan collar by Friday. He is doing well otherwise, which would not necessarily have been my prediction on the way to the veterinarian's office with him in my lap.

There have been some scrapes, and falls, and scares, but it has all worked out. The summer continues, with more adventures to come...

Improving...

That was the weather picture today, although it was windy. We got in the second bike ride in two days, and I am pretty happy with the new equipment. My new bike has a different set up from the old one, although the frame is the same. I also got a new pair of bike shoes that are stiffer and more efficient. Nice going, even in a stiff breeze up a hill. I think that this will be fun this summer. I hope to be done with bike adventures for a while. No more accidents, no more robberies. That is it.

This week is going to busy up toward the end, with a night spent in Traverse City and biking with friends on Friday and not one, but two parties to attend on Saturday. Just the same, it feels a lot more leisurely than it did at this point last summer. This is really nice...

The First Week Nears Completion...

It is a lazy Saturday, which is nice in light of what proved to be a hectic week. We need to get some ambition to unload the totes, the last of which arrived in the mail yesterday. All else is well. My puppy got into a little tussle with another dog, and ended up with some stitches for his trouble, but he is fine, thanks to the wonderful care of Dr. Deb Brinkman, who got him back into shape in no time. He is happily convalescing on the bed as this is written, snoring as loudly as only the Boo can.

My new bike is ready for operation, and that will happen as soon as I get off my lazy butt and finish a couple of chores. We plan to explore the newly paved White Pine Trail, which runs out of Cadillac to the south. The weekend is planned as a hang around town special, and there is likely plenty to do here to keep us busy.

Enough stalling, it is time to get on with the day!

The Senior Trip, cont'd...

The rest of our trip was not necessarily as flashy as the Kenai trip. On Tuesday, we introduced the kids to the Alaska Native Heritage Center and the Anchorage Museum. Wednesday included a water park and bowling (which included much hilarity at our pathetic attempts at the sport). On Thursday, we managed to get everyone organized and into an airplane back to Bethel. Within half an hour of our landing, the kids had gone their respective ways and I realized that I was now finally officially on summer vacation. All that I needed to do was to kill a few hours in Bethel before my return flight to Anchorage, which I did with the help of Mr. Eric Jung and the good folks at Dimitri's, and the big screen TV at the airport that was televising the basketball game. By 9:45 that evening, I was back in Anchorage, and keeping company with my delightful bride.

The rest of the week was spent briefly exploring Eklutna Lake and parts of the Mat-Su valley. We got out on the red-eye Saturday night, and by Sunday evening, we were sitting on the deck at one of our local restaurants in Cadillac, sharing a reunion with friends and family. We will be focusing on unfinished business this week, such as getting bikes road-ready, getting dogs haircuts, and sleeping in when we can. We continue to talk about the prospects for next year's school sessions, but for right now we are taking a breather and enjoying sunsets before midnight and warm weather. It is nice to spend some time in our house, and we are thinking about some home projects that we may tackle while we are here as well. We got to see more family today, and will be taking a slow day tomorrow to finish a few more jobs around here.

The summer promises to be busy and fun. I think that we are already enjoying it...