Gettin' Ready For The Big Trip!

In just a few days we embark on our big trip. The whole summer has been leading towards this one: our 3rd trip to Chicago this summer for the big wedding between Debbie and Aaron! Colleen has been busy all summer with this; co-ordinating the bridal shower, supporting Debbie on the phone with all her misadventures concerning the planning of, getting her dress fitted 'cause she is the Maiden of Honor!!! We are excited! We are going to stop in and spend a night with Jan and Bill Scahill in New York, visit Patti and Dad in Toledo and arrive in Chicago in the late Thursday night. We have a full schedule in Chicago. We are going to visit the Clancy's! (yeah!!!) on Friday night. Saturday at 8am is the wedding rehersal then in the afternoon the wedding rehersal dinner and picnic in a park. We are going to stay with Colleen's mom on Saturday night before the wedding. She is going to watch Ambiana for us Sunday night at our hotel so mommy and daddy can party down (yeah right) at the kid-free reception (don't ask, we've accepted it though we strongly disagree with the concept).

On Monday we are going to a party for Colleen at Aunt Karen and Uncle Steve's house and Tuesday Colleen's mom is having a dinner for us at her house. We will spend Tuesday night there as well and she will be taking us to the airport on Wednesday when we fly back to ALASKA!!!!. Where you might be wondering is Colleen's dad in all this? We are asking the same thing. He will be in Galena with his girlfriend and hopefully will come to Colleen's party at Karen's house. Colleen's 30th birthday is Friday Sept 8th. We will be in AK then at a ContraDance in Anchorage.


Join us for Ambiana Time!


We went hiking beneath the Holyoke Range on Saturday and made friends with this frog.


Ambiana tried out her new backpack and loved it for the first 2 hours then she got cranky and fell asleep.


Colleen's garden is going off, check out these peppers! Unfortunately we are going to be gone for most of the harvest time :( We are hoping some of the tomatoes and peppers and eggplant and watermelon hopefully will be waiting for us when we get back or that our neighbor Donna will take advantage of them.

Gaelen spent Sunday with us. It poured rain all day so we stayed indoors and wrestled, had pancakes for lunch, and spent naptime in the truck blasting off to the moon. The truck blew a brakeline and is out of commission. I hope to fix it this fall when we get back but we proably will be selling it when we move. I am so sad. I love that truck, it was my home when I met Colleen and Gaelen loves it. Maybe gas will go back down to $.50/gallon and we can keep it but with the current state of the world in chaos because of our addiction to cheap fuel and our aggressive & violent means of securing such supply we can't in good conscious keep 2 cars...maybe we can convert it to BioDiesel! Gaelen also put on a puppet show for us, we played dodgeball with all of Ambiana's soft blocks and balls, we enjoyed homemade ice-cream we made when he was here 3 weeks ago and listened to the beginning of the Red Sox game on the Red Sox Porch. Gaelen is on his way to Ohio today to visit Grandma b4 he starts school in 2 weeks. We aren't going to see him for a month :( He wants a Red Sox cap and a Polar Bear from AK!


Join us for Gaelen Fun!

Canoe Update

The canoe is now in the garage where I can work without fear of waking Ambiana or encurring the wrath of her mommy about supposedly toxic effects of the work. I spent last week fairing up the interior of the hull and on Saturday I fiberglassed the inside. It was much tougher than the outside as gravity pulled the cloth down and I had to deal with lots of air pockets and bubbles. She only needed 2 coats though and I got most of the bubbles out and the few that remain I can easily deal with by sanding and resealing. There is not much I can do until we get back and then I will add the gunwales, the decks and the thwart as well as the seats. Then I have to find some paddles and we'll be ready to take her out! I can almost guarantee that I will be finished with the canoe before Colleen finishes her quilt!