Only a small sample of the scalping
Sunday, August 28, 2011
The incident- before and after the cut
Only a small sample of the scalping
Liam things
As usual, the ninjas bombarding the dinosaur 
Plane Liam assembled at Home Depot
The R2D2 TP roll
My (Dani's) birthday present, a chore chart. If I was really good and got all my stickers I earned a soda, courtesy of Liam.
A day around town
Downtown
Liam roped me into getting him a light saber from the Smithsonain Air and Space museum. Each time he got his picture taken he would say "Star Wars!!" and smile. 
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Summer 2011 Part 2
Here's a brief recap of some of the main events of the past month:
-Grandma Marilyn passed away after a brief but stoic battle with aggressive cancer. The whole family was able to be there when she passed, as well as for the funeral. It's been a hard time but we're grateful for a wonderful family and also to be able to have such a great lady steering her family. The funeral was beautiful, with a huge turnout. All the Grandkids sang, and Dani played a very moving piece on special request from Grandma on her violin. Grandma also requested that the whole family go to a famous local steakhouse (this is in Fairbanks, AK) called the Turtle Club and we all feasted on prime rib and told stories about her and had a good time. At our table, we laughed until we cried at Nin and Jared's antics. Grandma would have been loving it. While we were in Fairbanks we also got to spend a lot of time with the Duvals, who let us crash their house and were awesome.
- Dani's Crow Creek Marathon!! This is 27-miles up and over the Chugach Range through barely visible trails, over snow fields, through glacial runoff rivers, through dense black bear range, no support stations, carry your own gear, 3,500 ft vertical gain in the first 3.5 miles, only-the-best can qualify, hardcore madness. Most people hike the trail spending one or two nights on it, and Dani and I have hiked it at a very quick pace and it took us all of a long Alaskan summer day. She finished in 5:11!!!! And I think she could have done it twice.
-Dipnetting on the Kenai River. There were record breaking numbers of fish this year (250,000 passed the counting station in one day earlier in the week, which broke a record at least 100 years old). We hauled in about 200 in one tide. Even Liam netted one while on Papa Richard's shoulders!
-While in AK, our good friends Benjamin and Emily Forsyth visited us. Benjamin and I backpacked in Denali for a night (clear view of the mountain to boot), we ate at some great places, they came dipnetting, and we did some additional hikes. We've got plans for another reunion tour in a few years.
- Assorted hikes/trail runs with Jake, Jed, and Melissa (and others I'm sure I'm forgetting).
-Caribou hunt with the bro-in-laws and company. We drove all the way to Prudhoe Bay (on the Arctic Ocean). Not many caribou around, but it was an awesome trip. Finding a wild musk ox herd helped make up for no caribou.
-Back in DC, we got stuck in a mini-monsoon while at a Jazz Night downtown. It was soaking wet and a blast. Liam made do with a shirt for an umbrella and Elsie was happy to be along for the ride as we splashed through shin-deep puddles that appeared out of nowhere.
-Dani's 28th Birthday! I had to be out of town for a week long conference in Texas, but she was treated well by Liam who until late at night insisted "don't stop celebrating!!" and also by some good friends. Dani's the most gorgeous, vibrant, enchanting 28 year old I know.
We'll try and get details of some of those things later, but there's an overview. Also, more pictures and video will follow, but both of our cameras are on their last leg and it's taking a little coaxing....
-Grandma Marilyn passed away after a brief but stoic battle with aggressive cancer. The whole family was able to be there when she passed, as well as for the funeral. It's been a hard time but we're grateful for a wonderful family and also to be able to have such a great lady steering her family. The funeral was beautiful, with a huge turnout. All the Grandkids sang, and Dani played a very moving piece on special request from Grandma on her violin. Grandma also requested that the whole family go to a famous local steakhouse (this is in Fairbanks, AK) called the Turtle Club and we all feasted on prime rib and told stories about her and had a good time. At our table, we laughed until we cried at Nin and Jared's antics. Grandma would have been loving it. While we were in Fairbanks we also got to spend a lot of time with the Duvals, who let us crash their house and were awesome.
- Dani's Crow Creek Marathon!! This is 27-miles up and over the Chugach Range through barely visible trails, over snow fields, through glacial runoff rivers, through dense black bear range, no support stations, carry your own gear, 3,500 ft vertical gain in the first 3.5 miles, only-the-best can qualify, hardcore madness. Most people hike the trail spending one or two nights on it, and Dani and I have hiked it at a very quick pace and it took us all of a long Alaskan summer day. She finished in 5:11!!!! And I think she could have done it twice.
-Dipnetting on the Kenai River. There were record breaking numbers of fish this year (250,000 passed the counting station in one day earlier in the week, which broke a record at least 100 years old). We hauled in about 200 in one tide. Even Liam netted one while on Papa Richard's shoulders!
-While in AK, our good friends Benjamin and Emily Forsyth visited us. Benjamin and I backpacked in Denali for a night (clear view of the mountain to boot), we ate at some great places, they came dipnetting, and we did some additional hikes. We've got plans for another reunion tour in a few years.
- Assorted hikes/trail runs with Jake, Jed, and Melissa (and others I'm sure I'm forgetting).
-Caribou hunt with the bro-in-laws and company. We drove all the way to Prudhoe Bay (on the Arctic Ocean). Not many caribou around, but it was an awesome trip. Finding a wild musk ox herd helped make up for no caribou.
-Back in DC, we got stuck in a mini-monsoon while at a Jazz Night downtown. It was soaking wet and a blast. Liam made do with a shirt for an umbrella and Elsie was happy to be along for the ride as we splashed through shin-deep puddles that appeared out of nowhere.
-Dani's 28th Birthday! I had to be out of town for a week long conference in Texas, but she was treated well by Liam who until late at night insisted "don't stop celebrating!!" and also by some good friends. Dani's the most gorgeous, vibrant, enchanting 28 year old I know.
We'll try and get details of some of those things later, but there's an overview. Also, more pictures and video will follow, but both of our cameras are on their last leg and it's taking a little coaxing....
Recent Quotations
Liam quotes:
(In his talk on Sunday) The Holy Ghost helps me know when I watch Star Wars if it's a good Jedi or a bad Jedi.
"Mom can I have ice cream? Please, you're pretty. As pretty as one of the Mermaids on the old Peter Pan, but not the very prettiest one. Oh, and not as pretty as Ariel. [Pause] So, can I have one?"
[after purchasing two little Ninja figurines from the gumball machine at the grocery store] "Mom, I want to get another Ninja. Then these two can be pals, and they'll fight the other guy who will be their enemy, and they'll make fun of him and say "Hey, FartCake!" Can we go get another one?" That request was denied (as was the prior one), accompanied by a brief instructional period...
(In his talk on Sunday) The Holy Ghost helps me know when I watch Star Wars if it's a good Jedi or a bad Jedi.
"Mom can I have ice cream? Please, you're pretty. As pretty as one of the Mermaids on the old Peter Pan, but not the very prettiest one. Oh, and not as pretty as Ariel. [Pause] So, can I have one?"
[after purchasing two little Ninja figurines from the gumball machine at the grocery store] "Mom, I want to get another Ninja. Then these two can be pals, and they'll fight the other guy who will be their enemy, and they'll make fun of him and say "Hey, FartCake!" Can we go get another one?" That request was denied (as was the prior one), accompanied by a brief instructional period...
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