Dinner guests

I guess I'm not doing so well keeping this updated. The excitements in my life have slowed down a little because work has picked up.

However, summer certainly is in full swing! Its been HOT here. Granted "hot" is certainly a relative term, but it is sunny and humid. Butter is melting. Gardens are drying up and there have been a couple forest fires up the penninsula, making the Bay very hazy. I am kind of impressed at how I've acclimated to Alaska, and my old boss joked with me the other day how now that my internal thermometer has been reset, I'll have to live here forever :) I keep telling myself to stop whining about the heat because I'd still much rather take this weather over the cold, wet weather we had last summer.

Take the 4th of July. I was so mad at Alaska last July. I was kind of homesick and to me, the 4th has always been defined by such swealteringly hot weather that I'd only emerge from our air-conditioned house to have a water balloon fight with the other kids in the neighborhood. I think I'd die if Alaska got as hot as Virginia does in the summer, but at least this 4th felt a lot more holiday-ish than last year did. I rode this cute little cruiser bike in the town parade - my friend is raffling it off to raise money for the hockey rink. I think I'm going to be in a lot of home videos.

Tonight, Kyra and I made this awesome dinner for Neil for his birthday. I have to say I'm quite pleased with myself, because (sans recipe) made this friggin DELICIOUS spinach lasagna (I think the key was that the spinach was picked fresh from their garden). Kyra made an awesome carrot cake. We totally obliterated it.

That was the before picture.

Then we had some visitors. Which are more of an "oh." these days than an "oh!" because this family has been frequenting our land since the babies were born. But I'm not jaded yet. I still like at-home wildlife watching.