Dear Dax

Dear Dax,
I loved your comment. I will strongly consider what you suggested. Thanks to you, I feel groovier already. If we were on Facebook, I'd add you to my list of friends. But Alana wants you to know we're a package deal.
P.S.
My husband likes you, too.
P.P.S. Stacey, you're already my friend. You are always so positive and sweet.
Love to all,
Irene
Here's what I did today.
After Matt took the boys to school, Maya and I did some water therapy (I washed dishes on one side of the sink, Maya splashed on the other side.) Look at the cat! They look like partners in crime.

Then she tried out Riley's new hockey stick while I got our things together to go to town.

We went to the toy store to get a birthday present for my niece Lexi in California. We found this cute little doll that looked just like Maya before she got a tan.

Here's Maya in front of the post office where the flowers are still in full bloom.

She "mailed" her baby but luckily one of the postal workers fished it out of the bin for her.

Then we went to our favorite bakery to meet Alana for lunch. When I pulled into the parking lot, this is what I saw in the car next to mine. I feel so bad for this poor person.

This was a very, very, bad dog! The saddest part is, this person is using a folded empty bag of dog food to sit on!

Here's Maya showing Alana her new baby doll.
After lunch I passed Maya off to Matt for her nap and went to church to brainstorm ideas for the upcoming year with the other Sunday school teachers.

Then Trevor and I went for a long walk on the Homestead Trail. He was so happy!

Do you think dogs can read?
I always feel better on long walks in the woods. We had such a cold and wet summer that I didn't get outside nearly as much as I would have liked.

Doesn't this photo look digitally enhanced? The colors just look unreal. I love watching the seasons change.

This is the view from my car as I headed back into town. This is where I live, Kachemak Bay. Incredible, isn't it? These mountains just go on and on. To the left are glaciers. To the right it opens up into Cook Inlet, dotted with active volcanoes. It was on an overlook like this that Matt proposed to me. Of course, I had already rented the Brazil Building in Berkeley 6 months prior.

On our first vacation together, we were driving from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to the North Rim. As we drove through an aspen forest, I said to Matt, "Can you imagine if this were your commute to work everyday?" He said, "Yes, this is what my commute used to look like." I had grown up in the suburbs of Oakland, California. He grew up first in Homer, then Fairbanks, Alaska. He was living in San Francisco when we met. Although he fell in love with ethnic food and me in California, this is where he left his heart.