The end?

Maiya was excited to pack up. For the first time, she found her way into boxes, just as Ella used to do for years. Funny that it took Maiya that long to get around to that...but I suppose Maiya spent less time at the store than Ella ever did.

In the background is our original store, located in the courtyard behind our large store on Broadway. 280 square feet...which increased to 1800 square feet. We sure did grow a lot in 5 years!

At home on the final night, the girls were very excited to pack up the suitcase. Well, they were excited to pack themselves. Ella is pretending to sleep, and Maiya is, in fact, enjoying herself (she put herself in there):

Ella says "Grrrrr!!" Be scared!!

Before and After....

The back room BEFORE:

The back room AFTER:

The store BEFORE:

The store AFTER:
Our jewelry display BEFORE:

Our jewelry display AFTER (from the right, instead of the left):
The back store BEFORE:
The back store AFTER:

I don't think I'll ever be able to put into words how SURREAL it was to tear these stores down, after all the time/money/effort that we have recently put into them. I don't say this with sadness, distress, or anger...it just is what it is. Just surreal.

Moving on Out...

Closing up our business in Alaska required a lot of hard work, to say the least.
Ugh...I'm still tired, just thinking about it!


We also did our best to find new homes for many of our products. For example, we tore down our front window display, and found a new home for our ornaments:


Here is Jared and a neighboring biz employee walking our window display of ornaments to the store across the street. Weird. (By the way--notice the papered windows? This is what Skagway looks like in the winter, after 99% of the stores close their doors until Spring!)

Maiya helped out the best she could.

As did Ella. Here they are, packing up our river rocks from our window display. We realized years ago that we are completely incapable of keeping a window display dusted (or anything dusted, for that matter. After all, I am my mother's child...). Thus, the need for river rocks to cover the bottom of the window display. Dust just disappeared (as did the flies and bees that would get stuck daily!):

Low and behold, this is what was UNDER the rocks (and what we didn't have to clean up over the 3 years of having those rocks in there)! :

The girls were excited to finally have the window display to themselves. What performers!

Whoa. Weird. Totally weird.

The End of an Era...

Not ours, not yet. It takes a bit more time to blog about that...

So, I will instead focus on a distraction...

When I first came to Skagway, I was booked as "showgirl" in a 4 person musical about the history of Skagway and the Gold Rush. It was quite the summer, and I learned a lot about who I am (and am not) that year. Sure, for employment, I wore a cancan skirt, fishnet tights, an feathers in my hair...but my lewd behavior stopped there. Whew.

This isn't a picture of me, but I suppose it could have been (just imagine someone MUCH shorter). If you want to see a fun cancan picture of me, you'll have to look me up in Facebook...where a former cast member tagged me with a fun photo :-)


But this post isn't about me...
It's about this gentleman here, Jim Richards:

He has played the lead role in "The Days of '98 Show with Soapy Smith" for 36 years! And since 300+ performances are done each summer, that is a LOT of shows, folks! Sure, the script changed many times, and the songs have been rewritten, but the male lead has stayed the same. Jim grew to fill the role of this notorious outlaw perfectly, both on and off stage. Need I say any more?

Anyhow...it just seems that there were many shifts occuring in Skagway this summer. Jim retiring, other stores closing, people moving, etc. It's sort of weird to watch a town shift so dramatically in just a summers' time.

Feeling Swine-ish...

Or flu-ish, that is.

We're back in Washington State visiting the in-laws. Within 5 day's time, all 10 of us, currently in the household, have gotten the flu. I thought I personally had escaped it, until it snuck up on me last night! Fun fun!!

It is 10:19pm, and I am in my pajamas. I've been in them all day. In fact, I have spent the majority of the day laying in bed, or on my in-law's couch watching TV for a distraction...feeling yucky and sluggish.

I have eaten a total of 4 saltine crackers, 2 pop sickles, and 2 cups of apple juice. All day. Let's hope tomorrow will be better!

Maiyalicious

Every day, when I pick up the girls from Daycare, I get a sheet of paper outlining Maiya's day for us! They tell us what books they have read, games they have played, how she ate, when she napped, etc. They also have a space for comments, and each day they write "Maiyalicious!" And she IS!! I don't know what is about those baby cheeks...but they are simply kissable!

Here is Maiya posing for the camera. I love her fake smile (with eyes closed)!!

And yet again...

Oh, I caught them un-posed!

I braided her hair one day, then took out the braids the next day. I thought her crimped pigtails were absolutely adorable!Oh yeah...and Ella is cute, too! :)

And while I'm at it...

Gee...I'm on a roll, tonight! So many posts...

Maiya has turned into a total ham in front of the camera, lately.
Here are some poses she came up with on her own!

And this has to be one of my favorite shirts that Ella owns. In case you can't read it, it says "Happy Camper." Could it get any more fitting than that?

But wait...I shouldn't give you the impression that she's always a happy camper...
Here's a photo taken just moments later....

I look forward to the day when she cooperates with a photo shoot.
She always seems to throw a hissy-fit!