Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Pelican

Last Tuesday we went to Pelican with Geoffrey, Dana, and Eli. I had told Dana that we'd go, and then I found out that it was a 16-hour day trip. Let me tell you, I was dreading going because I figured that Marie wouldn't handle it well. She was absolutely fine the whole time. And it was so pretty. We had good company too! I got a little carried away with the pictures on this one - I just couldn't get it down to 4 or 5 pictures!

Not sure what they're fishing for.


Ha ha!!! I caught all the Wyatt's trying to get a tan on their legs!


This is the town of Pelican, Alaska - population 163. I think it is mainly a fishing town, but I'm not so sure. The ferry goes to Pelican from Juneau once every 2 weeks during the summertime.


I'd hate to climb the steps up to this outhouse if I had to go real bad!


Cute kids! Are they locals?


Us in front of the Pelican City Hall.


This is the ferry we took - the Le Conte.


This is a not yet ripe salmonberry.


Okay . . . all vessels form a straight line.


Liked the boats against the background here.


A look into someone's window.


Looking down river from a bridge.


Bicycle parking.


99 bottles of pop on the wall, 99 bottles of pop . . .


Another view of Pelican.


Dana and I should be in the story of Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.


I spotted little baby curls!


Eli loves it when his daddy reads to him!


Such a little girl in a great big world.


Less than an hour before we got back to Juneau, we saw a group of about 8 whales bubble feeding. Unfortunately, we didn't get very good pictures of them. But it was spectacular! We did enjoy seeing a nice sunset right after that, though.

So Far this Month . . .

This month, like last, is very busy. Next week Bill and I leave for Cambodia while Marie will be staying with her Aunt Tammie. My mom worries that I won't be able to be away from Marie that long, but I know she will be very well taken care of. And I know that her Aunt Tammie and Uncle Pete will spoil her silly!
Here is what we've been up to so far this month.


I tried a new recipe for spaghetti sauce, and boy did Marie love it! This was actually her first time eating spaghetti.


Marie helped her Dad put up a new mailbox for some neighbors. The extra flag that came in the box made a good toy for the rest of the afternoon.


I'm not sure if Marie has a little cold or if she's getting ready to cut another tooth, but she has a little congestion.


Marie's new favorite thing to do is stand up and watch Baby Einstein. That way she is entertained, and she is strengthening her leg muscles.



While Bill and Geoffrey were on the Chilkoot Trail, Dana and I had a lot of fun. We watched girly movies, cooked for each other, did a little gardening (thanks Dana!), and moved some furniture around. Well, the whole moving furniture thing was at my house. After getting a bedspread to match some window shades, I had been wanting to move our bedroom from the room on the right to the room on the left (see above picture). My hesitation was the shower in the master bathroom. We have never been able to keep the door from leaking water around it. Dana, being the smart one, suggested that I just take the door off. And then the fun began! The next day Dana and I began transforming those rooms. We did hit one little snag, though. We had so much trouble with that big brown couch! It was stuck for about half an hour, not to mention the abuse it put on the wall. After Dana took the decorative wooden feet off, we had no trouble getting it unstuck. Now getting the shower door off (which was the inspiration for this whole move) was a little harder than I thought. Late on Wednesday night after Marie was already asleep, I began working on the shower door. I get to the last screw and the screw head is completely broken off! After about 2 hours of using the pliers, praying, checking for tips online, praying, almost breaking down and crying, praying, and finally a lot of wiggling, I did end up getting that stinking shower door off! It was a lot of work, but I'm pleased with how our new master suite looks now.


Here is Bill and Geoffrey after hiking the Chilkoot Trail. A little sore and a little sunburned, but it was a great experience for them both. To see pictures of that, go to wyattjourney.com and look at all the pictures posted so far this month.


Right after Bill returned from the Chilkoot Trail, we enjoyed a 4th of July picnic with our Church family.


We enjoyed babysitting Carly and Isaac one night last week. We had yummy spaghetti, then watered the plants outside, and finally enjoyed some Baby Einstein.


Yesterday, Marie's good friend Eli turned 1 year old. We enjoyed a yummy BBQ birthday party.

June

This is Marie after playing in her 'yes' cabinet. This cabinet is a lifesaver when I'm working in the kitchen and cannot play with Marie.


Marie has discovered the piano and that she can play songs. It is one of her new favorite non-battery operated sound toys.


Here is Bill in the front yard just before he left for the Chilkoot Trail. Pretty handsome, huh?


Marie kept track of her daddy when he was on the trail using Geoffrey's spot.


We've had a good beginning to the summer.

Visiting with Mom

I'll spare you the details of how we got from Georgia to Tennessee, but I will tell you that I will never ride on a passenger bus ever again! With that said and out of the way . . .


Once we got to Mom's, Marie took to Mom's cat Sweetie right away. Booboo was too scared of unpredictable Marie. But Marie and Sweetie became good friends.


Marie got to meet her Grandpa Perry and Grandma Teresa one morning. They treated us to breakfast at Cracker Barrel (yum yum!). In fact, we hadn't seen them since our wedding. But we think of them as family.


Mom always does such a good job of feeding us while we're home. It's a good thing that Marie is past the baby food stage because she got to enjoy some of MeeMaw's good cooking!


We enjoyed visiting with Amy too. Amy has been dying to meet Marie since before she was born. I was glad that Marie was pretty much through her fussy part of the trip and was able to play with her Aunt Amy.


Marie loved meeting her Aunt Ruth and Uncle Dike. This is beside some of their flowers on the deck. She helped Aunt Ruth cook banana pudding. She showed everyone her little Christian light. She met a cousin and got to play with a very energetic dog. Marie is going to miss the VBS here in Juneau, but she did like going to VBS at McEwen and having her Aunt Ruth as a teacher.


While there were several 'glitches' in our trip, we still had a really good time. But we sure were glad to come home!

Helen, Georgia

This is the first of several 'catch-up' blogs. After we spent time with Bill's family, our little family took a few days to ourselves in the little town of Helen, Georgia.

I think this is Marie's favorite souvenir of the trip. We actually found a shop with TONS of UGA stuff in it. Although our pocketbook and suitcase prevented us from getting more stuff, we were quite pleased to bring back the UGA stuff that we did.


The flowers were in bloom and Marie was fascinated with them.


One afternoon we took a hike to Anna Ruby Falls. We were told it was more of a walk, but I assure you it was a hike! It was pretty to finally get to see the falls at the end of it though.


Helen, Georgia is a little tourist town. And it's pretty in a unique way. There are the soft Appalachian mountains in the background of this German-looking village. It was easy to get lost in the atmosphere of it all.


The last night there, Bill took us on a horse and carriage ride around the town. From the looks of it, I think Marie liked it.