Another Autumn has zipped by. It is nearly Christmas! Snow is a little slow in coming to Alaska. Perhaps it is all being dumped in the Lower 48 instead. We still have frozen green grass on our lawn, albeit there are snow machines sitting on the green grass! Just waiting. I'll post a some Swanson Autumn photos for you to catch a glimpse of the Swanson family activities.
September
Kirsten headed back to San Diego for her sophomore year of college at Point Loma Nazarene University.
Pete and Lenore sneaked off to the Swanson Lakes for the day to paddle around some of our favorite lakes and portages. Paddling in fall brought us delightful colors and views as well as solitude.
A water portage between two lakes. Beautiful foliage around the lakes. The berries were ready for harvest, so an extra few hours provided the needed berries for making triple berry jam.
The garden produced so many carrots we pickled some, and canned some for later.
We were blessed to have Ashley and Cymber drive down from Valdez to Homer to spend a weekend with us. We took a quite pregnant Cymber out mudding and 4-wheeling.
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| Meanwhile, Karl was out finishing up fishing before heading back UAF in Fairbanks. |
October
Pete was invited to go to a secret spot with the Lyon boys to hunt. The door of opportunity opened perfectly. He had to fly to Anchorage, fly to Kodiak, take a small bush plane to another town, catch a ride or hike to the end of the island and hopefully, meet up with the skiff to bring him back to the Julia Breeze! The weather broke for one day, just enough time to get him to the boat. The four animals was his portion of the hunt. Freezer is full!
This was Pete's first mountain goat.
Meanwhile, Lenore and Kirsten traveled to San Diego to celebrate Claire's 16th birthday. We stayed part of the time with the cousins, Karen and Deb, and part of the time at the Alumni House on PLNU campus.
We got to attend several of Kirsten's choir rehearsals. Kirsten is the singer in the Jazz band and we joined her for the rhythm section/vocal rehearsal. Matt Giles was awesome on the piano.
Kirsten took us to some of her favorite places.
One evening we were able to go to the Balboa Theatre and watch an amazing concert by Audra McDonald.
We began the birthday celebration at Karen and Deb's with birthday brunch. What a fun day celebrating Claire's 16th birthday.
Even Scooter got in on the celebration.
Claire and Lenore stayed at the Alumni House. We had another set of parents one night, but mostly we had the house to ourselves. What a beautiful place to stay.
Claire chose Thai food for her birthday dinner. The girls enjoyed their Thai Tea.
Later that night, we went to a dessert bar to celebrate with Kirsten's friends. We were so blessed that Kirsten's friends treated us like family. We certainly enjoyed hanging out with all of them.
Sunday after church at OB1 we sent to an OB antique shop and posed for photos.
We spent Sunday afternoon at Seaport Village enjoying lavender tea and lavender cupcakes.
Finally, we had to say goodbye to Kirsten and PLNU. We stayed upstairs in at the top of the steps of the Bresee Alumni House.
Lenore couldn't resist the opportunity to play this amazing piano!
November
Highlights included Lenore's birthday party celebrations and thanksgiving with over 20 people. Karl brought home Doug and Michelle again this year, as well as one of his UAF neighbors, Jenni (pronounced Yenni) who is an exchange student from Finland. We had a great time learning about Finnish traditions, and enjoying visiting, game playing and just being together.
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| View from the top floor |
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| View from the deck |
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| Lenore preparing yams for Thanksgiving day |
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| Karl (Viking Thor) before the transformation |
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| Pete making pecan pie (otherwise as Corn syrup pie by our Finnish guest) |
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| Snow and Frost on the Pushki |
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| Looking up our driveway in the afternoon light |
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| Setting tables for Thanksgiving Dinner |
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| Karl and Claire enjoying some sibling time |
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| Lenore's birthday celebration at McNeil |
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| Krista made me a real piano cake |
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| Pete, Doug and Karl showing off their new guns |
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| Checking out Karl's new AR and scope |
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| Michelle helped me make these beautiful place cards |
  new Ruger 9 mm for my birthday |
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| Cleaned up after 6 months of growing |
Kirsten had the honor of being picked up by her cousin Robert Miller in his Bonanza from San Diego and flown to Flagstaff to celebrate with Millers and Reeves (L.A. cousins). On the way back she flew the plane half of the way. She might have a new career goal.
Jenni helped prepare the King Crab for our feast.
We had a great time with our guests sightseeing and trying to stay warm in wind chills below -20 degrees.
Beautiful view from the Spit of Kachemak Bay.
Ocean views from the Spit.
We tried out our new guns. We spent the coldest day so far of the year shooting outdoors. It was well below zero, in the shade with significant wind!
This is my favorite picture of Karl before the big shave and clip. Looking like an Alaskan Viking.
Mom decided to try out the AR .223
first shots with the new handgun.
And finally, we send the college students back to Fairbanks and prepare for the final push of the semester.
new Ruger 9 mm for my birthday
