Fall 2013

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.

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.

View from the top floor

View from the deck

Lenore preparing yams for Thanksgiving day

Karl (Viking Thor) before the transformation

Pete making pecan pie (otherwise as Corn syrup pie by our Finnish guest)

Snow and Frost on the Pushki

Looking up our driveway in the afternoon light

Setting tables for Thanksgiving Dinner

Karl and Claire enjoying some sibling time

Lenore's birthday celebration at McNeil

Krista made me a real piano cake

Pete, Doug and Karl showing off their new guns

Checking out Karl's new AR and scope

Michelle helped me make these beautiful place cards

new Ruger 9 mm for my birthday

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.

August 2013

August seems to have flown by.  We were so happy to have both our college students home for part of August.  We got Kirsten for 4 months and Karl for a couple of weeks.  We had wonderful adventures and feel blessed to spend time together.  Although we love fall, it is hard to say goodbye to our college kids. 

 Kirsten practicing to be Katniss and getting pretty good at it!

Lenore's new ride:  Flame.  Now we have his and hers and can go out moose hunting or anything else.  Yeehaw!!

 Flame and Brutus on the trail behind our house.  Spoiled ATV's (and riders).

The last days of summer are filled with flowers, green grass, fireweed and beautiful views! 

 Claire's first day of sophomore year!  She is an awesome student and ready to learn, ski, play soccer and generally succeed.

Lenore had some fun creating a cammo birthday party for Josh Lockwood.  Even the Kale chips match!

 Last few days of Livingstone daisies.  They do love the sun.

 Awesome August view from our house.

 Baby blue eyes love autumn.  

 One more s'more and fire out in the yard.  

 Kirsten and Claire enjoying a fire and some yummy s'mores the last few evenings of Summer.

 We made 3 1/2 cords of wood while we had 5 Swanson's home together.  We are almost ready for winter.

 The final product after cutting and splitting all day long.   YEAH!

 Karl is packed up and ready to go back to college in his new WRX.  He is a Senior but has 3 more semesters to complete his 2 degrees:  Mechanical Engineering and Math.

 Yesterday we took a boat ride across the Bay to pick blueberries.  We had a great time enjoying our new (to us) boat, "Finding Remo".  We found berries, bear scat, mud, dying humpies (pink salmon - who were at the end of the spawning cycle upriver) and a lot of fun.

 Captain Kirsten Swanson takes the helm of "Finding Remo".

Tonight we take Kirsten to the airport to fly back to San Diego for another year of college.  We are 3 weeks into our own school year.  Pete is enjoying being the principal at McNeil for the 14th year and Lenore is teaching Music and PE to all K-6 grades and afternoons of 2nd grade Science, Health and Social Studies. Have an awesome fall and come visit us in Alaska anytime!