autumn pictures!

Sitka has a pretty drastic change of weather in the Fall, something almost completely unfamiliar to Arizona. I would be lying if I told you that I was completely prepared for what was in store for us, but the transition wasn't nearly as bad as some our our friends and family had feared. The summers here are mild, topping out at about 73°F. There's usually some mist or fog in the mornings, the afternoons feature short stretches of sunshine, and the evenings are overcast and cool. There was a clear division between the last days of Summer and the beginning of Autumn, though. Mist and fog turned to heavy rain and gusts of wind, the promise of sunshine stretched from every few days to every few weeks, and the evenings brought more chill to the wind and rain than there had been previously. The mountain peaks rotate in and out of their white wintry coats of snow every week or so. There is so much rain that it washes the snow away that frequently. A couple of weeks ago, a storm blew in at 75mph, with gusts up to 85. It took out the city's electricity, so we were running on diesel generators for a few days and the residential areas were on rolling blackouts to save money. With all of this weather, though, life doesn't stop in Sitka. People still walk and ride their bikes to work. The schools still let their students out for recess. Hunting and fishing continue and the trails still get used. Everything continues on just as it did the day before, maybe just a little more bundled up.

In the midst of adjusting to all this, I've been trying my hardest to "do as the Sitkans do" and just get out and ignore the weather. Seren still goes to the playground as long as it isn't raining too hard and I've been on at least one hike in the rain. There seems always to be something going on downtown, whether it be a parade, a sale, a carnival, or a charity walk/run and we try to take advantage of those things when they come up. That said, here is a whole slew of pictures of us (mainly Seren and Porter) celebrating our way through the past month.

Blowing bubbles:

It was probably about 50°F outside, but Seren was having so much fun!

Seren's 4th birthday:

Monster cake!

Seren's first impression of the cake.

Blowing out the candles.

One piece for Seren.

For anyone wondering why her sweatshirt says "STEPHEN" across it, this is the very same sweatshirt Seren's Baba (Cindy) made for Stephen when he was about the same age.

One piece for Porter.

Note the lack of cake on his fork.

That's a happy boy.

Carving our Jack O' Lantern:

Porter is very interested in what I'm doing and Seren is supposed to be picking seeds out for roasting later.

Finished.

And lit.

Trick-or-treat:

My little monkey and my big cowgirl, ready for candy.

I love the banana sewn into the pocket of this monkey costume.

The entire downtown area was a zoo with all the trick-or-treaters and their families!

My vote for best costume of the evening: "Lobster in a Pot"

Two things in this picture: 1) Porter's chocolate face just enhances his costume, doesn't it?, and 2) that white stuff on his costume is hail.