Meeting Kate DiCamillo

It seems a lot of neat authors find their way to our little town. Twenty years ago, the Alaska Quarterly Review was the first to publish Kate DiCamillo, and it was one of her short stories. Since that time, she has written some of our family's favorite stories, including all of the Mercy Watson books, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and The Tale of Despereaux. She had to wade through more than 400 rejection letters before publishing her first book Because of Winn-Dixie. 

And tonight, we got to meet her! She was well-spoken (as one would expect), intelligent, charming and hilarious. We had such a fun evening in her audience and in her company for a very short while. 

She said she reads every fan letter, which amounts to about 50-60/week. She tries to send them all postcards back. That's a lot of letter writing!

Boy Stuff

Well, they learned to shoot. 

Scotty's a lefty. 

I have a story about Scotty that I never want to forget because it captures his personality in such a cute way. We've had a large squirrel problem, so our contractor brought us a squirrel trap. Well, since the boys learned to shoot, it has occurred to them that there's more than one way to get rid of a squirrel. One day not long ago, Scotty saw that we had a squirrel in the trap, and he just happened to be target practicing. Clint was at work, so Scotty found me to ask if he could shoot the squirrel in the cage. I was talking to the electrician outside when Scotty approached with his gun and made his request. The electrician said to Scotty in a very sad voice, "Do you *really* want to shoot that cute, poor little squirrel in the cage?"  Scotty looked at me with an expression of incredulity, as if to ask, "Is this guy for real?!" I didn't give Scotty any cues because I was curious how he would handle it. Scotty looked back at the electrician, nodding his head up and down, and said slowly and resolutely, "Yes, I do." Ha! I laughed out loud then and still laugh thinking back on it. I'm glad the boys have learned to defend their territory. 

And never underestimate the fun of a dirt pile. 

More Summer Fun

It's not so much hiking as it is "forest walking."

And "nature-drawing."

When Max can't have mama, Nicole is an excellent second-choice.

We started swim lessons. 

We made an edible chess board. 

Seriously, does it get better than this?

Outside time!

Scotty likes to make scenes for his toys, as if they're really in the middle of their daily duties. Here we have a mini construction site. 

Scotty is becoming quite artistic. He created this seaplane, which we all agreed totally looks like a real seaplane. It even has a propeller. 

And no summer in Alaska post would be complete without a midnight sun photo. One of the boys' windows allows a beam of sunlight to shine right onto the boys' beds at night. Here is how the boys remedied the problem:

(They are sleeping under there!) 

Since she's growing up so fast, here's a snapshot I grabbed of Nicole yesterday before church. 

And just because it's true ...

Happy June!