Autumn 2013 Photos

Little Dude's birthday party: First there was the runnin'-up-and-down-the-aisles-and-through-the-lobby portion, for which he got special dispensation from Mike and Sandijean, then the gift-opening (of which we have video but no stills :/ ), then we got to watch one of his gifts (Despicable Me) on the big-screen, then cake and stuff, then people left, but we and the Booths and the McLaughlin-Fusons (other than Andrew who was sick as a dog, poor guy, and Mike who went to take care of him; we appreciate their having been there at all) got to hang out and throw paper airplanes off the balcony and chat a while, the parts you see here. According to our newly-nine-year-old, it was his 'best birthday party ever', and many thanks to all our favorite Valiens for makin' it so. :)

Hallowe'en at the Bridgepoint Church parking lot carnival. We ran into some Creeker folks and one of Dude's former co-workers from Micron, a gentleman of whom he'd always spoken very highly so it was really nice to meet him and his wife and one of their sons. Unfortunately, that meant I slacked on camera duty much of the time. Again, I got video of some of his 'races' through one of the tunnels and of him climbing halfway up the rock wall (which he's waiting to do here) before he decided that was far enough, but no stills.

Kitty Love

You may be familiar with this little fella (or gal, hard to tell) if you've been hangin' around the Creek for a while. This is the American Dipper, a close relative of the robin, who comes briefly every fall and spring to signal the impending beginning or end of winter proper more reliably than Punxsutawney Phil. Somewhere, maybe  even in this blog, there are pics of him (or her) bob-bob-bobbin' along just like a duck, although again, I didn't manage to catch that this season.

This post feels like an autumn half-recorded. Maybe that means I was too busy being and doing to spend time snapping, and maybe I'll just choose to be grateful for that. :)