I'm Thankful For...

We had Thanksgiving early this year - thinking that Dave would be gone before the actual day. Turns out he's still here, so we had the opportunity to have Thanksgiving twice - yay turkey! I'm sure we'll be having ham or something else for Christmas dinner...

Today, we went around the room asking what people are thankful for - here's a sample: family & friends; everything that life has given me so far; my health; having too much food on the table and not being able to eat it all; to be out of the hospital & mobile, and for all the ladies in my life; for having healthy cats and a job; dessert; zig-zag papers and roll-on deoderant; someone else killed & de-feathered the turkey for me; running water and indoor plumbing; not all pennies are made of copper; that Seward bought Alaska...

It's good to spend time with those we love and take a little time to remember the really important things... Hope yours was as happy as mine. =)

Dave & his ladies

The Group

A Good Day...

Another year has come & gone... overall, it's been a good one. I received lots of well wishes for my birthday - can hardly believe I'm... as old as I am. But I'm looking forward to another good year. I've already decided it's going to be a spectacular one!! =)

The best part of a birthday is getting together with friends & family and talking to people you haven't heard from (and probably should have called long ago) for quite some time. I talked to both my brothers today, received emails from family and friends, and a voicemail message from M (I missed the call while we were at dinner), had lunch & dinner with friends, and generally enjoyed the day. Everyone's birthday should be so nice. Here are some of the great gifts I received in celebration of my birth...

Balloons (Holy Cow!) & my new Gumball Machine =)

New Kitchen Clock

Sunflower Tray & Crockpot Cookbook

New TV - my new Mario Wii game is *great* on this!

I am grateful for all my family & friends whom I love dearly. I don't know why I am blessed to have such awesome people in my life, but I am thankful for every one of them. My their special days be as marvelous as mine was!

On tap for future posts: end of season flowers, mystery quilting, Sara & DannyBoy...

Iko & Danny enjoy checking out the
Gumball Machine box

Light the Night

A couple weeks ago, Greg & I participated in the Light the Night walk (a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) with friends - in celebration of M. Cancer free for over a year now - way to go, M!!! They give balloons to participants that have lights inside, so as the evening progresses they "light the night". Red is in support of someone, White is for someone who's had cancer, and Gold is for those that didn't make it. (My balloon - a RED one - popped when I walked under a pine tree...)

Tasha & I - at the start

A wave of balloony walkers

Tasha, Caleb & I - at the end
with a *BIG* balloon

Camping - King Mountain, the people

I've already got pics for more blogs, so I'd better finish up the camping trip! (Started the post on the 3rd and it's already the 11th - how time flies!) Thanks to PseudoTech for supplying lots of the people pictures. Not sure why, but I didn't get many this go 'round. So we're missing people too: Heather, Ayanna, Jamie & her crew - they came up on Friday and left Saturday. A quick trip, but it was fun!

1st Night

Some folks went hiking on Saturday - to the top of Castle Mountain. They left around 10am and returned to camp around 10pm. A long day - and they were *beat* when they got back - but it was apparently worth it. Of course, it was for a cache - Greg's 500th find. Way to go!

Cachers Return

Malcore

Brian

James

While the cachers were out hiking, the rest of us divvied up. Some went to the fair, and some just stayed at camp relaxing (one of those was ME!).

Fair Folks

Relaxing around the Fire

Todd, Anita, Kelly & I stopped for a cache on the way home - the only one I got all weekend, but it was one more than I had planned on. =) (Greg & Malcore got several caches on the way home - Greg was actually 6-7 hours later getting home than me.)

Looking for the Hide

Success!!

The rest of the pics are just random shots.

King of the Hill

Greg (L) - Anita's Long Legs (R)

Instructions

Strawberries - yummy!!

Camping - King Mountain, the place

I didn't get many pictures of people this trip - so I'll have one entry dedicated to some of the scenery shots I took. Friends have agreed to donate pictures of the people - so at some point, I'll add another entry for the people.

A small group of us left Thursday night - so we could get sites and get things set up before the rest of the group came up on Friday. King Mountain is only about 2 hours from Anchorage, so the drive wasn't too bad. Weather was a bit cloudy and sometimes rainy, but we saw a fantastic rainbow on the way out!!

We arrived after dark and got three of the tents set up. The moon came out from behind the clouds and we got a great night view. What an auspicious way to start the weekend!!

Once again, we were in a lovely area. Lots of scenic eye candy. I noticed that the leaves are starting to turn - just another sad reminder that winter is coming. In noticing the yellow foliage, I saw that there were several trees growing crooked. My speculation is that some event (like a heavy snow) years ago caused several of the trees to bow, and in subsequent years they straightened in their new path. Who knows why - but the effect is pretty cool!

Changing Colors

Crooked Tree

In addition to the foliage directly surrounding our area, we just needed to focus a bit further out to see more spectacular imagery. Some of our group went hiking on Saturday to Castle Mountain - to find a cache, of course, and enjoy more great scenery - and others went to the state fair in Palmer. I opted to stay at camp and relax - which was just what I needed.

Views from Camp

This campout was very relaxing for me. We were in a gorgeous area, and the weather was very kind. It was pleasant and warm most of the trip - cloudy, but only drizzly on one day and just for a bit. It was nice that it was cloudy at night, so my nose didn't freeze and I slept better. It was also nice to come home and shower, but I don't know that I'm ready to go back to work yet... I guess I had too a bit too much relaxing while I was gone. =)

The Ride Home

Friendly Visit

We got a call this afternoon from Patti - she's in town, would we like to meet for dinner? Sounds great! Turns out, they're on their way back home after spending time in California & Vegas. Sounds like they had a *marvelous* trip - and the extra warm climate was tempered by the pools everywhere. Lots of sun - and everyone was extra brown! It's always nice to visit, even though the time is short... So glad we opted to come home from camping on Sunday, so we had the chance to visit with friends on Monday. =)

Bethany & Greg

Momma & Kenneth

The Gang

Clean Again

This is Before & After... and actually, I had already done some cleaning before I got home to the shower, so the Before picture is not from the dirtiest moment. =)

Went camping this weekend - it was great to get away from everything for a few days. Will post more, but just wanted to put up a few shots tonight. I had a good, relaxing time - and greatly enjoyed the shower to wash off all the dirt!!

Leaves are already changing

View from the campground

View from just outside the campground

View from the car on the journey home

O, Happy Day!

My brother called yesterday - said he'd be in town tonight (he's a long-haul trucker), would we like to get together for dinner? Of course!! So we picked him up, went to a nice Italian joint here in town, had a nice visit, and headed back to his truck. Almost to the point of dropping him off, he says "Well, this was a nice birthday."

And I felt *terrible*!!! I totally spaced that today was his birthday. So we brought him home to have some chocolate mousse (sans crust) and visit some more. I'm a bad sister. But I'm glad I got to share some of his birthday - even if he had to remind me. Thanks for coming, Dave - and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Birthday in the Cool Fair Hat! =)

Seascape Cache

This morning, we took Yvonne (Jeannea's co-worker from Dillingham) to the Tooth for a good meal, took her to the airport, then did a little caching. Here's another place in my own back yard that I'd never been, and the only reason I did end up here is to find a cache. Even though I'm not into the sport nearly as much as Greg & his buddies, one of the bonuses is that you find things like this.

Seascape View

This particular cache is relatively simple. On the backside of a neighborhood is a little path down a hill to a marshy area. At the base of the hill is a little path bordering some woods and the marsh. Follow the path a bit (sandals are *not* recommended, although you can accomplish the task in them...) and you find the hide.

On the Way

From the Find

Now Jeannea, Greg, & Brian are out finding more hides... One of these days I'll have to start logging my finds - I'm fairly certain I have more than a dozen, but won't know the exact count until I log them. Happy Hunting!! =)

Cachers - Brian, Jeannea, & Greg

Fair Time

The end of August brings the Alaska State Fair. It's always fun to go see the *huge* vegetables and wander around eating... cotton candy, kettle corn, grilled corn-on-the-cob, ice cream, funnel cakes, meat-on-a-stick... It's *grand*!! (And I was glad Jeannea brought tummy medicine - someone should always be prepared!!)

Fair Flowers

Greg headed out to the fair at 9am yesterday with friends. A bunch of geocachers were getting together to "cache the fair" - apparently lots of fun... Jeannea and her friend Yvonne flew in from Dillingham in afternoon, so I met them at the airport, we dumped the bags at the house then headed out to the fair. Spent a lot of time sitting in traffic (waiting to park). The car behind us alternately revved its engine and played bass so loud our whole car was vibrating. But we finally made it in - and didn't do anyone any bodily harm... =)

Hooked up with Greg & Brian and started to wander. First stop was Fair Food - cotton candy, fried pickle chips (very tasty!), fried zucchini, elephant ears, funnel cakes, and ice cream. Not everyone had everything (or we shared one order among many) and the first round took probably an hour or more as we wandered between shops and food stops. Then everyone split up - agreeing to meet again at 10pm.

Cotton Candy Caper

Cornucopia Ice Cream Dream

Greg & I found the Rodeo Fish and I convinced him to ride. He might consider a career change? Nah... but it was fun for both of us!

Ridin' the Rodeo Fish

From there, we wandered some more. Sometimes I forget to take in the beauty that surrounds me - but I took notice last night and have some pix to share. These were taken at approximately 9:30pm, as we were wandering towards the meeting place.

Fair View #1

Fair View #2

Fair View #3

A stop to get some grilled corn-on-the-cob, deep fried cheese curds, meat-on-a-stick, and then we hooked up with the rest of the gang. Jeannea picked up some fresh-popped kettle corn for the road - yummy!! Brian & Heather headed out around 10 - we finished the eating, visited for a bit, and headed out to the car just before closing (around 11pm). Of course then we had to wait through the exiting traffic, but we made it home shortly after midnight. All in all, a great trip. The weather was fantastic, and we won't eat like that again... until next year!

Meat on a Stick

Fair Lights

Fair's End