Couldn't Take the Heat

We've just returned from a family vacation down and up the west coast. Will post some pictures later, but thought I would make a quick update. California was HOT! However it was a nice change from the coolness of Juneau. Visited the Hubbard side of my family (my mom's side), and boy were there a lot of people. The occasion was my great grandma's 95th birthday. It was the second time I visited her, the last time I was a wee thing and don't remember a bit of it, but this time I will take with me many memories. What a great lady my great granny is. She's got a lot of spunk and just loves everyone. Tim and I had a great time getting to know more of my family. It was neat for me to get a better picture of who I am as a person based on where my mom came from.

After several scorching days in Porterville, CA we headed north to Portland, OR. Relieved to be in a cooler climate, but still warmer than Juneau, we enjoyed a few days exploring the city and surrounding country and visiting with Tim's Grandma Walter, his mom's mom, and his aunt and uncle Long (his mom's sister and his dad's cousin who are indeed married). We had a lovely time, for the most part. We mostly just went with the flow and that was nice.

Lastly we made our way to Seattle. Drove up with Hannah's Grandparents Sunday morning, visited with Tim's Grandma Long that afternoon, ate dinner and checked into a Travelodge not too far from the airport. I wouldn't recommend the Travelodge, btw. Monday morning we visited with our friend Brian while he gave us a quick tour of Seattle. Did a little bit of shopping at Pike's Market as well. After lunch we got to the airport and made our way home.

All in all it was a good trip and we're glad we did it, but we are very thankful to be home. How did Hannah do with all the traveling? Remarkably well, she's a real trooper. Good thing she likes people. Also, she really liked all the french fries.

A Brighter, Larger Room

In my last post I said I would show pictures of the newly remodeled kitchen. Please forgive the clutter. We are currently in the process of putting everything away and getting ready for a trip. If you look behind my wacky french inpersonating husband you will see the old cabinets and the dishwasher behind his legs. Makes for a dark kitchen, especially in the winter.

In the following picture one may notice the lack of upper cabinets. These were replace with shelve, and the soffet that held them up was removed. This makes for a much more open and brighter space. The dishwasher was also moved and can be seen in the lower right hand corner. This spot makes more sense to me. Now someone can cook and load the dishwasher simultaneously. (Please forgive the poor quality photos, it's cloudy outside)



We also got a new stove and a micro-hood to go with it. It is very nice to have the microwave not take up counter space, but perform a valuable function. Also, it totally kicks toosh in the heating and cooking department. Case in point, it has settings for both melting and softening butter, a baker's dream. Above the microwave is a handy place for my cookbooks. Then there's the new stove, it has a window, which I desired greatly, and works very nicely. It really doesn't look like the same kitchen.

To finish, Hannah wants to let you all see that she has serious faces too. Oh yeah, I should probably add that not only is Hannah crawling quite well, but she discovered how to pull herself up to standing as well.

Actually, she has a cold and isn't on top of her game.

Summer's here and yes I'm still alive...

Wow, it's been like 6 months since my last post. I could say that I've been really busy taking care of my daughter and home and just haven't had time, but that isn't entirely true. I do have a few minutes every day to sit and write something, but alas I have been preoccupied doing other things. Like knitting a sweater for my husband.

Cobblestone sweater from Interweave Knits Fall 2007. Knit with Cascade Ecological Wool in a gray color on size 8 needles. It turned out a little big, but better too big than too little. Hubby likes it and will wear it a lot this winter. This was probably what I spent the majority of my free time during naps while Hubby was at work. Didn't quite have it done for his birthday, but did get it finished shortly after.
I also knit myself a pair of wristwarmers out of Noro Cash Iroha. Love them and will wear them lots in the fall and spring.

Other than knitting I have been watching Hannah grow, start eating solids, roll over and now she is just about crawling.

We recently returned from a trip to Cordova to visit Grandparents and extended family on my side. She was much loved and adored and they would have loved to keep her there, but she did return home to her Daddy with me. We arrived home to a very messy and dysfunctional home due to a kitchen remodel that was started and mostly completed while we were away. It's mostly finished now, just a few details left. Luckily it's done enough that I'm able to put kitchen stuff back where it goes. More to come on the kitchen soon.
Time to go see what Hannah is getting into.