Juneau update

4 weeks to go...

and i am so ready. Bear saw a non-pregnant picture of me the other day and did not recognize me. I've been prego or recovering from prego for about 27 months now. Its been a long time since Bear has seen me in my normal state.

He said the girl in the picture couldn't be me...she was too skinny.

Mmm, hmm... he's still in time out.

Brewery Kickoff

Well, instead of just thinking about it and talking about it, I finally just went ahead and did it. I have begun my first batch of homemade beer.

The long, lame path...

• Dan and Jill Shaver got me the equipment for my birthday. Carol sent me a microbrewery magazine. That was in February.
• I went to visit Carol and Dan in OR, where they had a crapload of local microbreweries. That was in March.
• I purchased the ingredients at the Red Salamander, in nearby Grand Ledge, MI. That was in April.
• Carol and Dan get inspired, plan, and make their first batch all in one go. That was in July.
• I finally cooked up my batch and put it in the fermentor. It's August.
• My hope is that the beer is ready by the time Juneau is... in September.

I put in a ton of hops, which make the beer bitter but kind of smell like pine or citrus. Then I added stuff from our garden. There is some cilantro in there, and some coriander... and some ginger. And some spearmint. Oh and a jalapeno pepper.

The Mill

Bear and Walker on top of the lookout at the Saw Mill state park. It was very cool.

Moments before Kevin's sunglasses were snapped to pieces.

There was a huge climbing wall that Walker, Bear, and Taylor dominated.

They had a 300 ft. zip line that the kids did. What a cool park.

Looks like trouble.

Here's our tourguide for the historic lumbermill. He loves brownies. He was having trouble talking and keeping his eyes open at the same time -so he didn't. At one point he asked for a volounteer to help with some sawing and Bear shot his hand up. I pushed it down, picturing the headline, "Local Boy Loses Arm in Drug Adled Historic Demonstration."

Kevin, Willow, Danielle, Mom, and Dad, from way above.

Somewhere...

There was a massive double rainbow at our last softball game of the season the other day.

Here I am checking it out, rather than focusing on the game. Actually, when I was in the outfield, I was taking a picture of it with my phone and I heard a hit and looked up and everyone was looking at me. Then I looked up and saw the ball and ran like crazy to catch it, scrambling to put on my glove. I did not catch it.

Here is Bear supporting the team in his new Clone Trooper helmet he got for his birthday. Sometimes out in the field I would look into the stands and see him sitting patiently, watching the game, hands in his lap, wearing this helmet. And it made me laugh.

It was his birthday. He said that "it would be a miracle if we won. A birthday miracle." We lost.

We're All Stars Now, In the Boat Show

On Saturday we went to the antique wooden boat show, in Hessel, near St. Ignace. There were tons of boats there. The towns in the U.P. were different then I expected/remembered. Hessel kind of reminded me of Menemsha.

That boat is made out of wood. And so were the rest.

Then we had a nice lunch.

There is a boat building college nearby. Apparently it is the real deal, accredited and all. It opened in 2006. They had their workshops open and we walked around. Here is Willow peering through a porthole -or some equally nautical sounding term.Willow and Grampa Burt.

And crossing the bridge on the way back to the Nelson abode (which is about five miles on your two o'clock as the crow flies).