Plenty of Work for Two (dad and Doug, mostly)

Ben "almost an adult" Calaway helped Doug get the Sea Doos in shape and ready for the first launch. With dad and Doug at the cabin, everything eventually worked-- a rare state at the cabin. Even a faulty dryer was no match for Doug who crafted a broken part out of the debris he found piled up in the garage. Definitely the MVP of the reunion. And with dad there, the cabin got some much-needed long-term maintenance, starting with the removal of the suspicious lump that hung from the plastic covering of the chimney hole in the two storey ceiling. We had all suspected for years that it was probably a bat that had expired, but none of us was willing to scale the ladder and investigate the uninviting bundle. To all the kids' disappointment, the lump turned out to be a clump of leaves sucked in over the years. Doug explained the physics of the "ventura effect" later to Emma-- apparently an open-ended cylinder creates a slight vaccuum effect. I think a mostly decomposed bat would have been more educational.

The best part of the cabin is its easy proximity to the lake. For Ella, the best part was getting to wear her swimsuit all the time.

Ella knows that the beach is the best place to catch up on light reading.

The Cabin

A rural road, right outside of Wilbur, Washington, so familiar to me I can drive it blindfolded, leads to a ramshackle cabin, circa 1969, where some of my best memories were formed.

Like the dirt road I learned to drive on when I was about 13. I can still hear my dad's voice instructing me to find the smoothest grooves, avoid the shoulder, shift into second for the steep hills, and for heaven's sake, take off the parking break (oops).

With five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a loft, the cabin is rumored to actually de-value the lot which it sits on. Joining our family in 1989, the cabin hosted two annual family reunions every year wtih forty people or more and multiple outings with friends or immediate family. It feels more like home than anywhere else.

Good Traveler

There was a lot of flying on this vacation, and Ella was almost always a perfect traveler. She even helped out with the bags at the airport.
Ironically, the worst flight was the shortest, a 90 minute flight from Salt Lake to Spokane. Ella screamed uncontrollably for 87 of those minutes. It seemed much longer than the flight from Moscow to Los Angeles.

Sunday at Grandma's

After coming back from California, we spent a few days with grandma and grandpa Sandgren.

Ella got to spend some time with her cousin Mia, just a few months younger than her. Mia was nice enough to share her book and her daddy with Ella.

Haslam reunion

The main event of the reunion this year was Bryan and Liz's wedding in San Diego.



Ella was very interested in all the babies that were around. The feelings were not always reciprocal.

Santa Monica

After the reunion, we spent a few days in LA with Scott and Melissa Crow, who had to miss the reunion for a work obligation in Hawaii. We took Ella for a walk in Santa Monica. She seemed to really like the beach.

So Long

It's been so long since I updated our blog, that I actually forgot how to log into it today. I have plenty of excuses; gone for seven weeks, sketchy internet access, switching everything to a new computer, blowing up the new computer and then switching everything back... the usual. Ella and I were in the US from July 24 to September 4. We attended two reunions, ran lots of errands, emptied all the merchandise out of Target twice, visited doctors, and spent as much time with family as we could. Then one week after our return, Andrew and I left to spend a week in Aruba with my family. Today is the first day that feels normal.