Wargan Morwick*: August 2011

Technical difficulties prevented me from posting this blog earlier - apparently Google and Microsoft are battling and they don't seem to care how this affects me. The pictures contained in this blog are several weeks old and in Massie's life that is a significant amount of time.

Unfortunately there are no family pictures of us enjoying the Golden Days festivities as on our way to the parade I had a little rollerblading accident and ended up in the emergency room. All is okay - I was pushing Rory in a jogging stroller but she escaped unscathed (thank goodness). I ended up with a lot of scrapes and received my first set of stitches (on my chin...ugh). Stitches are now out and I'm told that my face now has "character".

Massie is getting big and is full of personality - smiling and cooing - all of that wonderful baby stuff. She can now hold her head up pretty well and is allowing us more sleep at night. Really, she is a pretty easy baby. Rory has been a big help and enjoys her Big Sister role.

Tanana Valley State Fair
Rory surprised us all by hopping on the pony at the fair. Usually a scaredy cat, she got on the pony and didn't need any assistance from us adults.

Rory and her dad sharing a fair staple - corn on the cob.

One of the few rides Rory would go on...like I said before she is a very cautious child.

Rory wiping her dad's mouth after a particularly messy corn dog.

Rory, with her new "do", and her handsome dad.

Rory's grandma Linda brought Rory and all her cousins to the fair for a seven hour fun fest. I'm sure they were given whatever they wanted, did whatever they wanted, and had total control of all happenings. Needless to say, when Rory returned home she was a mess (physically and mentally). As you can tell from the pictures below, she had a rough day being spoiled rotten and wasn't very happy to be home with rules - hence the wet-from-tears eyelashes. Gotta love the second picture - the 40 mile (tired) stare.

Rory's New Truck

We purchased a new (to us) truck over a month ago as we needed another vehicle that kids could be transported in. I like to refer to it as Rory's car as it will probably be her junker truck in 14 years when she gets her license...we'll see how good her grades are.

Creamer's Field Outing

Rory, Massie, Yuri and I took off a few weeks ago for an outdoor outing at Creamer's Field. None of us had ever been on the trails before (which is almost unheard of for true Fairbanksan's). Well, Rory proved to be my child by not wanting to get out of her Chariot (the Cadillac of convertible strollers - only the best). Below is a picture of the one time we coaxed her out of the Chariot.

After Creamer's field we hit Hot Licks for Rory's first stop at the infamous ice cream shop. Below is a picture of Rory after she dug her nose into Yuri's ice cream cone - yuck.

Gardening

This was my second year gardening. In hind site it probably wasn't probably realistic to think that I could keep up with a garden, a two-year-old and a new born. In addition to these factors, the amount of rain we have received this summer is unheard of...there is actually mold in the garden. Having said this, we did get some veggies. In addition to the pictures below, we grew great tomatoes, some zucchini, broccoli, lettuce, a few cucumbers (without a greenhouse I will add) and lots of yummy herbs.

Rory showing off just a portion of our yummy snap peas crop.

The carrots are almost as heavy as her!

I wanted to see if artichokes would grow here. Everyone said that it wouldn't work but so far these artichokes are doing great, and without our usual amount of Fairbanks summer sun. Pretty cool if I do say so myself.