Without much ado (my 544th and final blog post)

💗 Dear friends and family near and far,

Without much ado, I think I might be ending my blog. From my first post in 2008 from a Zion National camping trip, my blog has covered in great detail all of my pregnancies, the blissful and the bittersweet, and both of our kids' many milestones. My blog has traveled with us on all trips, be it camping, backpacking or boat, trips to Minnesota, Alabama and everywhere in between, including the beautiful Hawaii!

But alas, my new iPhone has made photo management so cumbersome that it is not worth it to keep struggling. Unless anyone knows more about how to download, choose and sort pics with an iPhone, I think June 2024 will be my last post. I've made 543 posts over 16 years. It's been a wonderful adventure--a labor of love--and I have appreciated each and every comment or reply over the years. 

Sadly, Facebook has become my easy catch-all photo sharing venue. If you aren't on Facebook, but use InstaGram, let me know. I haven't used Insta much for anything other than scenery photos, but might consider expanding to share my Facebook posts to Insta? And I definitely hope to print my blogs to a book one day!! 

Love and light to everyone, have a wonderful fall and stay in touch!

Julie

June outside: cold plunge, Brad fishing pics, beautiful hikes and wonderful sunny baseball!

June was summer! I mean like, warm, sunny, real summer. It was amazing! Baseball and fishing are obvious themes, plus a couple cold plunge "swims" and good times with friends. :) Starting off with a handful of pics that Brad texted me from his "office" the fishing grounds on the Copper River Flats.

Taking Baby Boat ashore for a good long hike during a fishing closure.

Sunny panoramic of Softuk

Doing some onboard net repair!

Little League Opening Day, 163 players on 14 teams with over 50 volunteers! Let's play some baseball!

Noah's awesome team the Wolves!

While June was generally warm and dry, it is still Cordova... I love this scorekeeping sister duo, Jamie and Stacie!

Love these ladies! Celebrating Susie's 40th!

Ann is a cold water pro, swimming in our frigid water year-round! I am not so hearty, but decided to give it a go in the name of health when I heard cold water submersion can help joints achy with arthritis! Fingers crossed!

She swam while I stood in place, but we were in the water about 10 minutes! :)

Visiting dear Ann at Eccles Lagoon with Anna one sunny afternoon where she gifted Ann and me these sweet little Benji bears.

Bundled up, lugging the comfy stadium seat my Mom left here, ready to scorekeep another game! :)

It was a little chilly night game...but at least it wasn't raining. ;)

Noah catching!

Walking Cedar to the harbor breakwater, such pretty wild flowers (and he even looked at the camera!)

Harbor renovation coming along nicely. Love that covered ramp!

This rather impromptu hike-swim ended up being one of my favorite memories of summer! Ann, Susie, Vera and me all met for a quick evening romp in the Reservoir meadows to a little known pond.

The sky was so pretty!

Wildflowers everywhere.

After Ann's and my quick dip, a happy selfie.

Noah struggled a bunch with hitting early this season. But he didn't give up. He asked for pointers, listened to his coaches and practiced a LOT and went from striking out  more than not, to hitting a homerun almost every game (or two!) He got many RBIs and even a grand slam, earning him a Cracker Jack award! So proud of his perseverance!! 

Katyi and Susie, come of my favorite baseball moms after a game. :)

Heh, I told Noah not to throw his mitt again... But credit due for figuring out how to get it back down.

Lemonade stands are Noah's FAVORITE thing to do in the summer, after baseball of course.

Until he's old enough to babysit, it's a pretty fun way to for a kid to make a few bucks. ;)

Such a fun drill, catching WATER BAL:LOONS, ha!

Each catch, they would get farther apart....

So glad Denise Hamberger taught me how to scorekeep six years ago! It has given me a valid way to contribute to our local Little League that I love and I truly enjoy it so much! 

Our leftie at bat.

Watching the gulls fly at the ferry dock awaiting Avery's return from fish camp! 

Noah playing catch while we wait...

There's the boat!!

Reunited!!

Happy Mama!!

One picture from Avery at fish camp with the family's dog in the distance. It was a great experience for her. She may even do it again next summer? ;)

Thanks for reading!

June Inside: end of work and Noah dates!

June was all Noah and me! Avery spend June 1-14 babysitting at a local family's set net site in Prince William Sound, aka Fish Camp, with her best friend, and with Brad fishing, I got a ton of great time with Noah! (Apologies for out of order pictures! Since getting my iPhone 14 in May I'm still having trouble transferring pics to my laptop....one problem is the photos seem to have lost their date stamp...)

Snuggling in our favorite (faux) sheep's skin blanket.

End of year supply inventory! It's tedious, but I love it! :)

Surprised Noah with dinner at Baja Taco!

Noah's always often asking to watch a movie at night, but after his daily allotment of iPad time, I'm trying to unplug (both of us!) so I turned on a crackling fire screen save and we both read on the couch.

I read a little longer than he could.... ;)

One of my favorite summer traditions is Noah sleeping with me when Brad's fishing. :)

Silly faces!

Celebrating my last day of work! Dinner at newly reopened pizzeria under new ownership, yay!

Delish Cesar's salad!

Brick oven pepperoni pizza!

This was my first DAY OFF, June 14, so we had a late breakfast at the Whale's Tale! :)

Frosted blueberry scone for me and a cotton candy frappe for the little guy! 

There's always something fun in the Crow's Nest at the Whale's Tale! Noah loved this grocery store set up!

Friday night pizza (heart-shaped!) and a movie. :)

Last year, my dear friend Vera taught me how to make elderflower cordial in May: the conditions have to be perfect, flowering blossoms on a sunny day. But this year, May wasn't very sunny. So it was in June that I discovered that I have elderflower in my yard! I ran with it....

Poof, I had my own elderflower cordial! I kind of went nuts and made 1L two times, then I made 3L and was running out of recycled bottles to put it in, lol!

In October 2023 I started working out to look better in a bikini in Hawaii! But now, I am working out to age better and stronger. It's hard to find time when I'm working, but weekends are usually an hour in the gym both days. Getting my plank on!

Another highlight of June is Shea and Alex Davis! Born and raised in Cordova, they live in Durango with mom, our dear friend Beth. This year, she surprised us and came up for a weekend so we had the whole crew together!

Shea, almost 19, Alex, almost 17 and Noah hanging out at Brent's. :)

June was lovely, half work, then summer is on!! Missed Avery, but had great times with my guy! :)