Camera pictures from Alaska

I'm trying to write as many posts as I did in 2018 and I only have a few more days to hit my goal. I was looking through some of the posts that I started to write this year and never finished and discovered all of these Alaska pictures. I'd made a photo book for the Pauley grandparents to thank them for the trip and I guess I never got around to blogging about it.  So here are some of the highlights for blog posterity.

We left Seattle on a Sunday afternoon and cruised all day Monday.  The weather was usually in the low 60's or upper 50's and it felt great to us after a hot July in Cheyenne. While on the ship we spent a lot of time watching for whales and we got to see so many!  It was really cool.  

Glenn whale watching and Reina modeling.

It wasn't quite 60 degrees the morning that Will and I sat on the deck and read books and watched for whales.  Glad we had our cold weather gear! 

I took many photos with my Canon but these are the phone camera versions.  Our first stop was in Juneau where we had most of the day to explore Alaska's capitol.  We found a small city museum that had a little area for kids to explore and they loved it, even the tween.

Will pretending to process fish - he even put on the apron.  Well, he was using the fish as a weapon to cut other fish but he was having fun.  

Sun setting as we left Juneau

It looks like these are all of the camera pics that I saved.  We also visited Ketchikan, Sitka, Victoria BC and I feel like there's someplace else that I'm forgetting.  It was a terrific opportunity to see such a beautiful part of our planet and spend lots of quality time with family. 

While just about everybody else on the ship was viewing the Hubbard Glacier, these two monsters were swimming.  Yes the pool was heated but the air was not warm.  They didn't care.  

First Day of School

Reina's first day of Fifth Grade and Will's first day of Seventh Grade 

The big day finally arrived. Summer 2019 is officially finished and the monsters are back at school.  I've thought about this day since the last day of school and I admit that I've dreaded it a little bit.  It's hard to believe that our little Bronco Baby is headed off to Junior High and Reina is a fifth grader!  I think I say this on the first day of school every year but I have to repeat it again.  The days are long but the years are fast.

We all woke up early this morning and since I had taken the day off of work (so I could cry at home and not at my desk), I made pancakes and bacon.  Will and Glenn left early because school starts at 7:30 a.m.  Yikes!  Reina and I hung out for a while and perfected her hairstyle (the picture above is pre-hairdo) before I dropped her off.  After I left Reina's school, I golfed with my parents for a few hours and then came home to a quiet house and did a bunch of random chores before picking up R.  I admit to thinking about them both as the day wore on and hoping that everyone was having a good day. 

Reina was super enthusiastic about Fifth Grade and while we were still in the car on the way home, announced that she couldn't wait to go back. She likes both teachers, she has a lot of friends in her class, she likes the book they are already reading, her lunch was yummy, etc. etc. etc.

Will had football practice after school so he came home tired and hungry.  Once he had a plate of spaghetti in his gullet, we heard a few details about his day.  He likes his teachers, lunch was way better than elementary school, he didn't bother with locker, etc. etc. etc.

So on to the second day of school tomorrow.  I think this is going to be a great school year for both of the Bronco Babies.

What happened to April?

One little blog post in April?  Lucy, what is your problem?  Well, in my defense it's been a hectic but fun month.  We've had lots of weekend activities and practices at night.  Aunt Vicky has been pushing through her last month of chemo and needed some extra help with the little cousins now and then.  Glenn's been super busy at work and I've had a few out of town trips to add to the fun. We packed a lot into April and I'll do my best to adequately recap it. 

The weekend before his actual birthday, we celebrated Glenn's 50th with a party.  It was a fun chance to bring friends together, celebrate the greatest guy I know and have a lot of fun.  We kept the menu simple and invited a lot of people.  We had kids of all ages and friends from all corners of our lives and it was a really special evening.  Glenn was touched by all of the attention and I think it was a great way to kick off his next decade. 

Little cousins super interested in the birthday pie... more on this to come.  

Singing happy birthday.  As part of the decorations - well really the only decorations, I hung up pictures of Glenn from his teens, twenties and thirties.  Many of our friends have only known him in the last decade so it was fun to see college aged Glenn ... he was into body-building.  Hubba hubba.

The whole family getting ready to sing and a photobomb from a cutie.  

 So we all sang happy birthday, Glenn blushed, leaned down to blow out the candles on his blueberry birthday pie and saw that somebody blonde and little had beaten him to it.  Toddler Cousin politely waited until "Happy Birthday" was finished and blew out the candles for Uncle Glenn.  I giggled for the rest of the weekend thinking about it. 

The little helper and big sister.  

 The next weekend was Easter and the weather mostly cooperated.  We got up early to help with the breakfast at church and came home for an Easter Egg hunt after lunch. 

Glenn barking egg hunt orders or something like that.  

Reina being engulfed by a pine tree.  

The kid who at first said he didn't need an egg hunt this year and then luckily changed his mind.  Tweens, am I right? 

Just casually eating candy, looking for eggs, looking cool.  

Someone in the family still takes her egg hunting very seriously.  

She didn't get to participate in the hunt but she was a very interested observer.  We've had crazy weather - 70 one day and 7 inches of snow the next.  Coco likes her time in the cat tent.  

Summer is right around the corner.

Spring Break shenanigans

Last week was our Spring Break.  It was a nice break and the weather was even spring-like at times.  Glenn and Will took a few days to go turkey hunting in Kansas for Will's first official hunt but Glenn will write about that on the next blog post. Reina and I stayed here and I worked for a few days while she helped her grandparents with the little cousins.  On Wednesday, the little cousins came over to our house for the day.  I realized that while a lot of my friends were posting pictures of beaches and sunshine and exotic vacations, I was getting to watch Toddler Cousin eat soup and I think I might have had the better end of that deal. 

Who wouldn't want to watch this kiddo feed himself soup?!

While the guys were gone, Reina and I had some fun girl time.  We watched more chic flicks, ate meals that weren't cooked in our home and took the dogs on some walks/bike rides.  It was a fun to hang out with my favorite 10-yr old.  

Sled dogs and a bike riding maniac in front. 

 When Will and Glenn got back, the kids and I packed up for a few days in Denver.  I heard about the City Pass from one of my co-workers and it was such a great deal.  For a big discount, the kids and I had access to the zoo, aquarium, children's museum and the natural history museum and we managed to squeeze in all of those places and shopping and eating into 2 1/2 days.  It was one of those little trips where everyone was in a mostly good mood, the kids got along and we didn't have any hiccups.  It was a really nice way to kick off the last part of the school year.

Reina at the aquarium

Reina sipping on a fancy shark drink at the aquarium restaurant.  

While at the aquarium, we got drenched by some hungry sting-rays.  It might've been the highlight of the week for Reina because I was soaked and ended up with a mouthful of sting-ray infused salt water. 

After the aquarium, we checked out the Children's Museum.  Most of it was designed for kiddos younger than my two but they still had a lot of fun.  Will got bucked off the little kid zipline which was entertaining for the rest of us. 

Look!  They do like each other although that could also be a chokehold. 

My big kid. 

I took 0 pictures at the zoo, probably because I like to look at the animals almost as much/more than the kiddos. We walked all over, saw most of the babies which is always a highlight and had some ice cream.  That night, with the help of the hotel staff and some strangers, we figured out how to take the light rail into downtown Denver so that we could eat dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, which was one of Will's requests for the weekend.  He particularly likes their club sandwiches, who knew?  

Will and a lot of food. 

One of Reina's requests was to see the big blue bear outside of the Convention Center. 

Two kids and a big blue bear bottom 

Another shot of the big kid

On the last morning, we got moving pretty early and made it to the Natural History Museum for a few hours before meeting Pop-Pop and Grandma H for lunch.  The kids spotted a virtual reality space exhibit and insisted on getting in line for that right away.  I was going to opt out but I saw how much fun the people in front of us in line had so I decided to give it a try.  Turns out, I accidentally got on a roller coaster.  We wore virtual reality goggles and then the seats move up and down so that you feel like you are (in our case) in a submarine in a prehistoric ocean.  About 30 seconds into the ride, I felt Reina's little hand snake over and grab mine and I was just as happy to hold her's.  The ride was only 5 minutes long but I'm not sure my stomach has stopped feeling squeamish.  

R & W on the side closest to us.  They opted to stay and try the outer space experience while I sat that one out.  

So it was a nice Spring Break.  We get back into the swing of things tomorrow with a busy week of schoolwork, volleyball, confirmation and Glenn's birthday party.  Whoooo!

Happy New Year!

 I didn't make my goal of blogging more in 2018 so I'm starting off the New Year with a new goal and a shiny post about our kitchen project.  But first, a little bit about our New Year's Eve.  We stayed home this year.  The wind chill brought the temperature down to negative numbers (I think -20 was the official low?) so we cranked up the woodstove and watched Office reruns as a family.  I made french dip sandwiches and we topped the meal off with an ice cream sundae bar.  I'd been promising Reina for about 6 months that she could do my makeup so I let her go for it.  No pictures will be posted here for several reasons (one being that Glenn said it looked like I was transitioning...) but we had a lot of fun with it.  It was a nice way to ring out one year and welcome a new one.

The other big project of the holiday break is our kitchen remodel.  We are getting ready for new flooring and countertops so we decided to paint everything before the big work begins.  Nothing like a four-day weekend for a painting project. 

Glenn painting over the infamous vine in our kitchen.  It's been on the wall since we moved in ten, 10! years ago and I've been meaning to paint over them since day 1.  Finally!  

Bye big blue wall! 

A view of the before floor and countertops.

No child labor laws here!  

While we worked on the kitchen, Will finished up a school project on ancient Rome.  He even talked his sister into helping him draw a Roman shield.  Siblings helping each other?  Holiday miracle!  

The warm gray walls.  Can't wait for the rest of the transformation! 

Happy New Year! 

Reina's writing assignment

I'm so far behind on my blogging goals.  September is flying by and our free time is crammed full of football and dance and piano and more football to watch and a garden to harvest and man do I need live-in help, but until I can catch up, here's a brief glimpse in to the mind of a third grader.

Reina has a journal at school that she writes in every day.  She brought it home so we could talk about her writing goals (she has writing goals!) and I got to peek at some of her assignments.  On the first page, she wrote about her dad.

My dad.  
*loves to hunt
*loves me and my brother
*is really funny
*loves meat
*loves veggies
*wants to eat healthy
*loves running

My dad is really good at shooting a bow.  He was shooting his bow he shot it so well it broke.  And he kept breaking the bows.  So let me tell you my dad is a really good shooter.

My mom.
*loves running
*loves cats
*loves all of my family
*good at cooking
*loves sports
*is really sweet/funny

My brother (spelled bother...)
*strong
*cool
*loves sports
*good at sports
*loves to play games
*loves phone/DS/Kindle
*In 4th grade

*****
I think she described us pretty well, except for Will's grade.  And she thinks I'm a good cook!!

First day of school 2017

Remember when it was easy to snap a few pictures on the first day of school where everyone smiled and looked halfway happy to be there?  Yah, me neither.  Last Tuesday morning, I hustled everybody out there door a few minutes early to get pictures of a FIFTH grader and a THIRD grader.  How did that happen?  And who are these big kids standing on my front porch?  

I said "smile" and got 1 1/2 smiles and the chin model thing.  

Can you tell from this picture who was excited about the first day of school and who was lukewarm?  

And.... picture taking time comes to an end.  I have a strict no-wrestling-on-the-lawn-the-first-morning-of-school rule.  I'm such a party pooper.  

So we survived the first week of school.  Both kids like their teachers. Reina has the same teacher from second grade (we think she is great!) and Will's teacher seems really nice, despite being a Patriots fan.  Will told me that he'll miss studying Wyoming history like he did in fourth grade so we talked about all of the interesting US history he'll learn in 5th grade.  The fifth graders used to do a Revolutionary War reenactment but we're not sure if he'll get to do it this year (budget cuts.)  While Will was describing the battle reenactments, he made a machine gun noise.  Yep, there's still a lot to learn about US history buddy.

Bring on the school year!

Summertime

The kiddos had enrolled in a bunch of different camps this summer.  While the parents are missing the ease of one drop-off and pick-up every day, the kids are having fun trying new things and hanging out with grandparents when camp isn't in session.

The first week of summer, Will did a three-day football camp and Reina had a three-day basketball camp.  Will's camp was from 8-11 and Reina's was 9-12 which made for some complicated shuttling but thanks to Pop-Pop, it was a little easier than I thought it would be.  The next week, both were at a program called SEEK at our community college.  Will's had a Fantastic Beasts class in the morning and Star Wars in the afternoon.  Reina was in a different age group but she had Star Wars in the morning and made hats in the afternoon.  Our sideboard is currently covered in everything from a chef's hat to a top hat, a fleece winter hat and a kicky beret and more!  Those camps were a big success.

After that, Will participated in an outdoor camp and Reina was at a sports camp all week.  At Reina's camp, she got to try a variety of events including tennis, volleyball, fitness, softball, equestrian and rodeo.  Yep, rodeo!  She loved learning about how to take care of a horse (her's was a pretty bay named Cespa).  They got to brush the horse, clean her feet, look at her teeth and they even painted the horses one day.  I'm not sure how much the horses enjoyed that activity.  When I picked Reina up the first afternoon, she proudly told me that her teacher in the rodeo class told her she was a natural...at bull riding.

The next week, Will was at the same sports camp that Reina had been in but he participated in basketball, soccer, baseball, swimming, rock climbing and fitness.  He had a few friends in his class and liked that.  His favorite activity was lunch in the cafeteria - all you can eat pizza, sandwiches and ice cream cones.  What's not to love about that?  While Will was at sports camp, Reina had mornings at baking camp and afternoons with me or the grandparents.  She learned how to bake new items every day and brought the samples home.  The second day, she had made banana bread and was very proud of it.  She insisted that we save it for breakfast the next morning which we did.  I woke up and went jogging.  When I came back, I asked her if we could slice the bread which I did, into enough pieces for everyone.  I took a slice, Will grabbed one, I told Reina to come get hers and then I hopped into the shower.  When I came downstairs a few minutes later, all of the bread was gone.  I asked the kiddos if they'd eaten all of it and before my sentence was completely out, Reina started hollering.  It turns out that Will enjoyed the first slice so much, he went ahead and finished off the mini-loaf before Reina came upstairs.  His only defense was, "Reina, that was really delicious."  A compliment from the brother slightly soothed her indignation but the cupcakes she brought home later that day were watched like a hawk.

After baking camp, Reina started in Youth Summer Stock, a three-week drama camp which culminates next weekend in a grand production of Lion King Jr.  She is loving it.  Love, love, loving it.  She's playing a lioness, a wildebeest and the mouse that Scar chases in the opening scene.  She sings in almost every song and dances and I can't wait to see it! If anyone is interested in knowing any of the songs, just call me.  They are all floating around my brain right now.

Will had a few days off and then another week of the Seek classes.  This time around, he learned about electricity in one session and another version of Star Wars in the afternoon.  He also had a few one-day baseball camps to work on his skills.  While Reina finishes drama camp, he has football camp right around the corner and then holy cow, it'll almost be August.

Glenn and I are working, watching lots of 10-yr old baseball games (more on that next time), fishing (Glenn), gardening, jogging and trying to squeeze as much as we can out of these nice warm days. Summer can slow down anytime now.

UW Spring Game

Last weekend, Will's Saturday soccer game was canceled because the field had too much snow on it but by mid-day, the sun was shining and the temperatures were warming up so we headed over to Laramie for the UW Football Spring Game.  For once, the weather was possibly nicer in Laramie and we had a terrific time.  We hadn't been to the Spring Game before so we weren't sure what to expect.  We arrived a little early and Reina spied the pony mascot - Cowboy Joe.  

Pony and handlers obliged us with a picture.  Future Cowboy Joe handler right there?  

Once inside the stadium, we snagged some seats on the 50-yd line and watched the offense and defense battle it out.  It was fun to watch the action that close up, even though it wasn't a real game situation. It was a defensive battle and the final score was 3-0 but we had fun watching the action.  

Dangit, I can't figure out how to rotate this picture.  Rotate your head instead?  

The highlight of the afternoon was that after the game, the fans were invited on to the field to get autographs and take pictures with the players.  I can't imagine this happens at some of the bigger schools but what a thrill for my football fan...okay and for me and Glenn, too.  Even Reina seemed to enjoy it.  

The kiddos and the UW quarterback Josh Allen.  He's the rumored first round draft pick for the NFL next year.  True story!  

Reina and the back-up quarterback.  

Will and some defensive players.  

We spent a little while getting autographs - Will was even giving some gloves by #58.  He was pretty excited about that. The autographs and the gloves are currently being framed at a craft shop to be added to Will's sports' shrine.

We are in the midst of football, baseball, softball and track season.  But it is time for football yet?

Spring Break 2017

More than a week ago, the kids and I arrived back in town from our Spring Break trip. This year, Glenn stayed home to work and watch dogs, cat and chicken girls, and the kids and I headed southwest for a visit to Arizona with my parents.  It already feels like the trip was a month ago but I'll try to capture as many memories as I can.  

We left on a Saturday and Grandma H drove with us while Pop-Pop battled a bad cold and stayed back in Cheyenne for an extra day.  We had new movies on the Kindles, a book on tape, the last Harry Potter book for Will and more pop songs than either Grandma or I wanted to listen to.  The kids are pretty good travelers and we made it all of the way to Gallup, NM for the night.  The next morning, we headed into Arizona.  Our first stop was the Painted Desert.  It was a bit of a last minute decision but I'm so glad we drove through it.  

Future senior picture?  Will at our first stop at the Painted Desert.  Well, our first stop after the gift shop.  

Reina, a cupcake and the Painted Desert.  

Happy to be on vacation!  

This was one of my favorite stops. The rock was filled with pictographs and my favorite was the bird and frog that you can see there.  

A pueblo foundation in the Painted Desert.  Reina really liked all of the 'old stuff' and maybe we have a future archaeologist on our hands.  

I think this was called Newspaper Rock?  It was filled with pictographs. The scale is hard to determine here but the boulder was gigantic. I used my zoom lens but it was filled with drawings.  

Petrified wood!  

Reina and a giant piece of petrified wood.  

A cool petrified stump.

After the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest, we drove for a few more miles and stopped at Walnut Creek (Canyon?) Cliff Dwellings.  After a slightly steep hike, we were able to walk through actual cliff houses from somewhere around 1300-1400. This stop made a big impression on kiddos and adults alike.  The kids were impressed at how old everything was and I couldn't stop thinking about teaching a toddler to walk on a cliffside.  Eek!

After our many side excursions, we rolled into Phoenix on Sunday evening.  We stayed at a fun resort that night and kids spent time in the pool on Monday.  Later that day, we traveled across town to our hotel in Scottsdale and Grandma and Pop-pop's condo across the park.

On Tuesday, we headed to Salt River Fields to watch spring training and the Rockies!  We sat in the grassy area overlooking the outfield and it was a gorgeous day for baseball.  Will even got an autograph from Rockies outfielder, Carlos Gonzales.

The view from our seats, with the zoom lens.  

Will and Dinger and Reina!  

Will (second from left) hoping for a toss from the outfield.  

On Wednesday, we visited the Museum of Music in Phoenix.  Will was nonplussed by some of the exhibits but he really enjoyed the room where you could try out a bunch of instruments.  Reina could've spent all day at the museum.

Will probably needed these Elvis glasses, right? 

We didn't leave the gift shop of the museum empty-handed.  Reina had her eye on a $56 ukulele but I said it was too expensive so when I noticed a $10 harmonica, I said "how about this?"  Her eyes lit up and that's how I ended up with an 8 yr-old, a harmonica and a 14-hour drive home.  

After the Museum of Music, we spent a few hours at Top Golf and the most important thing to remember from that excursion is that I WON.

On Thursday, the kids had time for one more swim, we gave Pop-pop and Grandma lots of hugs and then we pointed the car north and started home.  We stopped at Homolovi State Park in Arizona and saw more pueblo sites.

Obviously, you can't take any artifacts out of the park and there are pottery shards everywhere.  Someone has placed different pieces on rocks and it's a very cool way to see all of the different types.  

It was a little windy up at the top.  

More shards and a turquoise bead.  

The weather in Cheyenne was supposed to turn to snow on Friday so the kids and I kept a steady pace home.  We made it to Santa Fe on Thursday night and had one last night in a hotel.  Friday morning, we grabbed a donut and I drove them around the old plaza in Santa Fe - one of my favorite spots in the West.  Then we headed north.  The kids did a terrific job.  We didn't have any snow until we crossed the state line into Wyoming.  Will thanked me for the trip and told me that he'd never forget it.  Not a bad sentiment to hear on the last day of a long car trip.  Glenn and the dogs and the cat were happy to see us and I was delighted to have a few extra days to get cleaned up before it was time to head back to work and school.  We can't wait for our next adventure!