Auntie Alli

 For the next ten days or so, I get to take care of my unbelievably adorable niece and nephew. Lulu is four, and delights in everything pink and princessy. She is surprisingly obedient, and the perfect little companion. Baby Jimbo is about 15 months, and is basically every parent's dream. He only fusses when he's hungry or tired, and delights in life's little pleasures-waving goodbye, smiling, crawling, and little plastic balls. I feel pretty lucky to be an aunt that gets to giggle with these little squirrels.

 Lulu sprinkling some cupcakes.

 We made these cupcakes for the eventual "tea party in the park." These also come in handy when urging Lu to eat all her dinner. "If you don't eat your grapes, you can't have a cupcake." 

Works like a charm.

Grandpa James and Baby James. 

Two boys with extremely similar dispositions. 

Patient.

Happy.

Loving.

xo

Alli

PS-Last night I finally got to see my best friend in the universe, Meredith. We've been friends since forever (like, high school), and  I'm still flying high from laughing so hard. I get to see her again tonight, and I can't freaking wait.

The Backyard

Oh, how I have missed the desert. I am home in Utah for the next ten days, and I got to soak up the sun in my parents' backyard. 

I sat in the hot sun for hours, and finished reading Second Kiss, by Natalie Palmer. Natalie and I went to middle school and high school together. We suffered through zits, boys, and drama. Second Kiss is a novel about a teenage girl who is finishing up middle school, and touches on some tender growing pains that many kids go through (we certainly went through them.) It was so much fun to read a book about middle school, by one of my very own middle school bffs. I loved every word of the book, and I highly recommend it. It is meant for teenage girls, but so are Mary Kate and Ashley movies. I love those movies, but I love Second Kiss more.  

I kept picturing the halls of our middle school, and her awesome house, and even my backyard.

 As I finished the book, I became nostalgic and took a few moments to look around my parents backyard. My folks' house is not the house I grew up in. I grew up in the house just next door (you can see the roof in the above picture). The plot of land that their current house is on, was my childhood backyard. We even had a little tennis court for a while on that spot, and all the neighborhood kids would regularly gather to play on it. 

We also had a perfect little tree house that was built by one of the older neighbor boys. It was so awesome! It was two floors, with two separate ladders, a porch, and a roof (all made out of beautiful/hideous particle board ;) ). I could play in the trees and in that tree house for hours. It was constantly a mess back there, but we never had to clean it. That is, until Mom and Dad decided to build their new home back there. 

By the time my parents built their new house, I was well past the age to play in the tree house. I was 18, and didn't mind too much seeing the old thing torn down. 

Today, however, I wish I could see it one more time.

There are still a few tiny reminders of the old tree house.

 Like this little bit of wood, still nailed firmly to the tree trunk. I think this held part of the "first floor."

A rotting 2x4.

The cement blocks or "the porch."

And, of course, the trees that held our tree house. 

If I stared really hard, I could almost see it.

Almost smell it.

Almost get a horrible splinter from that horrible rough particle board.

PLUS! It's my awesome little brother's 27th birthday today! Wo. We used to play for hours in that gosh darn treehouse.

Happy Birthday, Gravy!

xo

Alli

Fishing and Orcas

Wednesday was overcast and cold. But we are still in Go the Heck Outside-mode. Jeff made plans to go fishing on our friend, John's boat. Lucky for me, I got to tag along.

I had never been trolling for salmon, but it seems a pretty relaxed activity. We basically just attached four rods to the back of the boat, and then we chatted inside while John used a remote to slowly maneuver the boat.

We caught a flounder!

John we pretty stoked, because he could use it for bait in his crab pots.

This was the only fish we caught all morning. John decided to stop fishing, because we discovered that the fish were scared away by....

...the freaking ORCAS!

After hours of just floating along waiting for salmon, we were sucked into whale watching. We rode up next to some whale watching tours and stared at orcas for a while.

I must admit, I liked whale watching better than fishing.

We didn't just see orcas. We saw some humpbacks, too. John and Jeff were unconcerned with the humpbacks.  John even said "Eh, I've seen plenty of those!"

These pictures are not good, but every time I saw those dorsal fins and white spots-I gasped.

How was I so lucky to see these incredible creatures?

People from down south ask me all the time why I live here...

This is why I live here.

xo

Alli

Boy Scout Beach

With the sun beckoning us outside, Jeff, Oscar, and I decided to pretend like we lived in the tropics.

Last Sunday, we took ventured out to "Boy Scout Beach."

We took off our shoes, and rubbed our feet in the sand. We let ourselves get sunburned.

We walked for what seemed like miles along the shoreline.

Even Oscar was happily exhausted from the hot and sunny Sunday.

xo

Alli

Hike up Mt. Roberts

 There is nothing like Juneau in May. Everyday is beautiful, and even if there is the occasional rain, it  doesn't stick around. The sun is bright and shiny at 5am. Sometimes I get  little stressed, knowing that we only have a short time to embrace all this beauty, I am sure tospend as much time outside as I can.

Last Friday, Jeff and I hiked up Mt. Roberts, and then took the tram down.

We were able to hit the trail right after work, and had no problem getting enough sunshine. The sun doesn't set until about 10:30pm.

This hike is a lot like my favorite Skagway hike to Lower Lake. There were lots of switch backs with huge trees and awesome views of the town.

Juneau is different than Skagway, because it gets about ten times as much rain. It is endlessly green and lush. The air is thick with nutrients. I had asthma growing up in Utah, but I've never had asthma in Alaska.

We hiked the secluded trail for about an hour, and we rounded the bend to the top of the tram. There was a restaurant, gift shop, and overlook that was swarming with sweet little tourists from the cruise ships.

I could see our condo from the the overlook. Trust me, it's there.

Jeff, playing tourist.

Evidence of a Native dwelling-or fake tourist photo op. Definitely the latter.

I was pretty excited to not have to hike back down. We got to ride the luxurious tram back to civilization.

(Jeff was whistling, and staring at odd tourists' hats)

There is nothing like playing tourist in your hometown.

xo

Alli

Kitty Eating Oscar's Food

Emile would never venture into Oscar's kennel, except to chow down on some fresh dog food.

xo

Alli