A Pleasant Surprise

Tired of the added heat and weight of her long hair, Stacy decided to chop a good amount of it off. She gave Eric a warning that it was coming, but didn't tell him when. One evening last week, he walked in the house from work to discover that Stacy had gone through with it...and he loved it!

Your vote?

And then there was fire ...

It took exactly one year, but we finally finished our first "major" home improvement project ... a backyard fire pit.
The end result turned out great, but here's how we got there ...

First, we had to dig a hole.

We took turns digging until we reached a depth of about 8 inches (that's what she said).

Once the main hole was finished, we dug an additional hole in the middle another 6 inches deep to help with drainage.

Next, we filled in both holes with a layer of pea gravel, or small rocks.

We used sand for the last layer and leveled it off before placing our first row of stone pavers.

We built two more layers of stone, leaving a small opening for easy access (again, that's what she said).

Ta da ... Our finished product!

The next night, we invited Stacy's brother Scott over for the inaugural fire. He showed Stacy the best technique for starting a blaze.

Sure enough, it worked! We made fire!!

Thanks for imparting your Boy Scout skills Scott!

No campfire is complete without s'mores ...

... right, Eric?

In typical Alexander sibling fashion, they couldn't pose for a serious photo :)

It's not much, but we're pretty proud of our handiwork! We hope you all get to come up and enjoy it with us sometime!

Saquish Beach 2010

In mid-July, we accompanied our former landlords, the Taylors, on a week-long vacation to a rustic cottage on Saquish Beach in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Stacy had joined them last year, but this time Eric got to go along. It was a great week with good weather and good company!

Here is our "private" beach at high tide.

At low tide, we went for a walk along the mud flats looking for treasures. Stacy insisted on wearing flip flops because she didn't like the mud on her feet, but it turned out to be a bad move ... they kept kicking up mud at her!

Gilman, the youngest Taylor at 4.5, was a good sport until the walk back when he kept getting stuck in the mud. Eric had to carry him the rest of the way.

Peter, 11, was all about looking for creatures that weren't quite dead yet, which creeped Stacy out. Here, he's holding a horseshoe crab by its tail.

We spent most of our time down on the beach. Max, 17, enjoyed a little light reading when he wasn't testing the water.

Eric took advantage of some quiet time to read as well ...

.. when he wasn't serenading beach-goers with his guitar!

At low tide, Stacy enjoyed looking for sea glass. She found quite a bit, but not as much colored glass as she would have hoped.

The beach seemed to stretch for miles and was never that busy, even during some really hot days. It was nice to get away from our TV, laptops, cell phones and jobs for a week.

The Russells Go to Baxter

For Fourth of July weekend, we went to Baxter State Park with Eric's mom, Sandy, and his brother, Brian and girlfriend Becky. The trip was a Christmas gift from Sandy that we had been waiting for all year.
We left Saturday morning and couldn't check into our campsite until the afternoon ... so, we did a warm-up hike to Katahdin Stream Falls. Although beautiful, it wasn't on the same level as the waterfalls we saw a few months ago at Yosemite National Park.

After a quick swim at a nearby pond, we had a laid-back afternoon at the campsite and an early bedtime. The next morning, at about 6:30, we embarked on our quest to summit Mt. Katahdin.

Since we both wore matching red bandanas, we called ourselves Team Bandana!

The first leg of the hike up Katahdin was the Chimney Pond Trail from our campsite at Roaring Brook. Stacy still had a smile on her face in this picture, so it must have been early in the ascent :)

And here we are at Chimney Pond, which was about 3.2 miles from Roaring Brook and 1,400 feet up! This is where Sandy, Brian and Becky left us.

Chimney Pond offered a nice view of the Katahdin peaks.

We left Chimney Pond and ascended Katahdin via the Cathedral Trail. We knew there would be some bouldering, but it was essentially 1.7 miles and more than 2,000 vertical feet of scrambling. It was challenging and nerve-racking but made for an exciting climb.
Here, Stacy follows the blue trail markers.

The last stretch of the ascent was littered with smaller, loose rocks that moved every time you stepped. With diminished energy, we worried about turning an ankle and not making it to the top ...

... But, WE MADE IT!!! 5,267 feet. The highest point in all of Maine. It was a great way to celebrate our nation's birthday.

Looking down from Baxter Peak, you can see Chimney Pond. It was hard to believe just a few hours before we were standing at the edge of that small body of water.

The one thing we didn't do that we wanted to was Knife Edge, which connects Baxter Peak to Pamola Peak about 1 mile away. When we reached the summit, we were a little behind schedule and there was threat of thundershowers, so we decided to play it safe. Eric did go out a little ways to pose for a picture, but that's as far as we went. Maybe next time?

Like most trips, our time at Baxter was too short. But we had good company, good food and an unforgettable hike.

Father's Day Surprise

Stacy's father has been talking about the family going to a Portland Sea Dogs game for years, but we never seem to get around to it. So, we all decided to surprise Joe for Father's Day and take him to a game. It turned out to be a perfect evening for baseball, sunny with a cool breeze.

With good weather and good company, it should have been a great evening, however, there was one not-so-quiet hiccup. The moment the National Anthem started to play, we discovered that we were sitting in front of the most obnoxious fans in the entire ballpark! While we all can appreciate zealous fans, these guys were way over the top! The highlight of the evening? When at the bottom of the 8th inning, in response to the them yelling, "Take him out! Leave him in! Take him out! Leave him in!" about the opposing pitcher, Joe yelled, "Take THEM out!" and pointed to our new "friends," earning cheers from those around us!

If you look closely at the photo below, you can see one of the fans directly behind Stacy making a fitting face!

What was Sue laughing about? You'll have to ask her... ; )

All in all, it was another memorable evening to add into the Alexander Hall of Fame. Happy Father's Day Papa Joe!

Double Nickels' Club

Stacy's mom had never had a birthday party. Given the difficult year she had, Stacy's dad thought it would be the perfect time to throw her a surprise bash to mark her 55th birthday. Stacy and her brothers (and sister-in-law) spent several weeks working out all the details. They settled on a luau theme and as luck would have it, Stacy happened upon some pretty sweet decorations in storage at her office including two inflatable glowing tiki arches.

Welcome to the luau!!!

Sue was completely surprised, even though Joe slipped a few times in the hours leading up to the party. Here she's enjoying her favorite "adult" beverage, a Bahama Mama.

Melissa and her mom, Connie, had the tough task of grilling hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken for 50 guests, but they did it with a smile.

The Alexanders kids baked and decorated three cakes for the birthday girl. The one below was the "show" cake, which was pretty standard, but they had some fun with the other two cakes. Their favorite was the one with a giant wave and the text, "Tsu-Mami," -- it works whether you call her Sue or Mommy. Cheesy, but when you're decorating at 11 p.m., it's a lot funnier!

The Alexanders needed to make sure they had a family portrait with the inflatable as background. But before they did, they had to make sure Joe looked presentable. As you can see, it took all four of them to do it!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Yosemite National Park

During our recent visit to California, we took a three-day trip north to Yosemite National Park, which none of us had ever been to. In the higher elevation, there were pockets of snow, something the Russell boys were not used to! This was a "snow play area" but to Mainers it was just a light dusting.

Our first hike, which was supposed to be a short one, turned out to be nearly six miles since the road was closed to vehicles. We weren't about to let a closed road stop us from seeing the giant Sequoias!

Stacy is quite the tree-hugger!

This is the Grizzly Giant, which is believed to be the oldest tree in the park and one of the oldest on Earth. It's also one of the biggest, as you can see!

Another famous tree in the Mariposa Grove at Yosemite was this tunnel tree. At one time, a car could drive through it.

Our second day of the park started with this "inspirational" view. On the left is El Capitan and in the middle, way in the background, is Half Dome. The waterfall at the left is Bridalveil Fall.

Once down on the valley floor, we took a short "hike" to get a closer look at Bridalveil Fall.

The boys, Colton (3.5) and Grady (20 months), were able to do this hike on their own, which was a nice relief for their parents!

In order to really see Yosemite, though, you have to do a real hike. We settled on the John Muir Trail, which took us a few thousand feet up to see waterfalls that weren't visible from the valley floor. We were captivated by this view of Vernal Falls.

On the descent, we broke the rules and came down the Mist Trail, which was technically closed due to the threat of ice and falling rocks. We encountered neither ...

... And if we went another way, we never would have captured this vista looking back up toward Vernal Falls.

Even though they weren't expert hikers, our adorable nephews were the best company we could ask for.

On our final day at Yosemite, we drove back down to the valley floor and did a short hike to the base of Yosemite Falls - a nice backdrop for a family portrait of the "California" Russells ...

... and the "Maine" Russells.

Yosemite exceeded all of our expectations. It was nice to cross another national park off our list!