Easy Like Sunday Morning

H and J left this morning at about 6. The rest of us got up at about 7:15. After a little breakfast, we drove up to Dry Lake for a hike in the Buffalo Pass area. Beautifully sunny day. We brought Kodi and Sadie and all of us were enjoying the walk in and out of aspen and evergreen groves. Open spaces with lots of sarvis berry bushes that were ripe. In and out of the warm sun on a cool September fall morning.


Family portrait. Notice the berry juice on E's face. She was a fool for them 2 days in a row.



After hiking for about 20 minutes, both dogs took off into the woods down the trail from us. I heard some crashing and what sounded like trees being knocked over. I didn't want to say anything, but thought that maybe the dogs had seen a moose, elk, or bear. I looked up and saw a bear cub up in an aspen tree a few yards off of the trail. We called the dogs back (don't think Sadie even knew why Kodi had charged or ever saw the bear up above), K, who had E on her back, turned the way we came and grabbed Sadie. I tried to get a photo, but, due to some confusion ended up only getting a tiny piece of poor video. The cub started down the tree and Kodi went back for seconds. I wasn't sure where momma was, but yelled for Kodi to get away before that cub got to the ground. I turned and left too because it seemed weird that the cub was coming down while Kodi was still there. Eventually, he ran back to me and we all headed back to the car- E popping sarvis berries along the way.

While E was eating her dinner and I was making ours tonight, I turned on the tv. There was a special on Discovery about the sinking of the Essex whale ship, but what caught my attention and E's was that it just looked like a nature program with sea turtles. E couldn't wait to get out of her high chair to get closer to the television. So, I brought her lazy boy over and hooked her up with some milk. Best part about it, K's response- "Great, my worst nightmare. You and E hanging out together watching nature shows." I can't wait!

She's Lucky It's Not Closer to Christmas!

So, I heard K cackling and howling upstairs while she was putting E to bed tonight. After a while, silence, and then she came out of E's room with a big grin on her face and laughter right behind.

Turns out, while reading Oh, the Places You'll Go!, E turned the page back several times to shout "Dada, Dada" and point to one character on a page filled with characters. This is the page she was turning to in order to call out my name and point to me.


And this is the character that she thought was a drawing of me...

No, not the handsome passenger on the bus with a mustache, the dopey Bald guy sitting next to his dopey dog. So, I immediately ran up to her room, woke her up, and washed her mouth out with soap. Tomorrow, bed without supper!

Here's a fairly recent one of her when she wasn't feeling well right before her first molar began to show up. I can't look at it without smiling. So cute, so miserable. E has a definite look of not feeling well.


Every morning, when we get downstairs, one of the first things she does is slap her head and say helmet. Her way of saying that she wants to go for a bike ride. Pretty darn cool that she enjoys being on the bike with the wind in her face. A little scary when she grabs hold of the handlebars and tries to shimmy them back and forth. But the occasional instance where she has the dexterity to ring the bell, makes up for the sheer terror of an occasional sudden jerk of the wheel. On every ride I am sure to mention that "biking is just like skiing, but on a bike". I really hope that she enjoys this year on the slopes even more than last year.



One more to help me get back into the swing of things. So content, so sure.


Ted, if you haven't given up on me yet, I plan to make more regular updates.