Shaving Acacia's head at the wedding to fund-raise for St. Baldrics.
To get to the wedding in time, I hopped a tender from Ugashic to Naknek, flew overnight-ish to Seattle, caught the first shuttle of the morning to Whidbey, Grandpa picked me up from the shuttle and dropped me off at my pre-packed car which I drove straight to catch my ferry to Port Townsend, and got there just in time to set up for the wedding. I hope I didn't still smell like fish! I took my hair out of it's braids for the first time all summer, put on clean clothes, and felt pretty fancy. I finally got home the next day and got to sleep for the first time in what felt like a week after de-summerizing the bus.
And for Tilly's birthday, we did her favorite things: we went to a mock-search up in Sedro-Woolley where she was a super-star! The first case, I carried her on my shoulders through blackberries over my head, she ran around in a corn field and in the woods, then we came back around to the big open field at the end where she got to be the dog to make the "find". The second scenario, we took a nice walk past some ripe blackberries and ran around while some other dogs did the leg-work and finding. Then we went to a new dog park with all our search friends! What could be a better way to spend the day?
On the way home, we stopped at Aunt Noree's house to see the rest of the family and congratulate Cousin Sarah on dental school. Tilly was very good after such a big day and found a good spot for a nap amid the party.
Aunt Jody, Uncle Loren, Uncle John, Aunt Beth, Dad, Aunt Noree
The next week, Tim was back from fishing too - just in time to join us in some repelling training for search.
Ariel and Tilly geared up and ready to repel.
Tim took Gracie down the ropes so the puppy could get some hang-time experience.
Tim and Margot holding dogs while humans hook into lines.
Tim learning the ropes.
Ariel and Tilly going off the drop.
Tim and Gracie lining up on the drop.
Andy and Elias came for a visit on the weekend to see the property and catch-up. Their next stop was Alaska where Andy was going to go hunting for the first time and needed a crash-course on gun safety before going. Tim led an excellent intro to firearms course for us and everyone did a little shooting while the dogs put up with the noise.
Reviewing parts and safety before going out
Andy and Tim lining up some shots with the .22 rifle
Elias trying out the hand-gun
In exchange, Andy and Elias taught us about aerial yoga after a trip to the farmers market.
Stretching to warm up
One person is the "base" and the other flies! Tim and I tried it.
It takes a lot of strength and flexibility.
