Father's Day Beach Picnic and Monday's Weather Phenomena

On Father's Day, I had to work at the gallery in the afternoon and evening.  It was another incredibly beautiful day (we have been having record breaking hot temperatures)!

The kids decided to take Charles out for a beach picnic at North Douglas.  They loaded up the car with folding chairs, a grill (to cook the rockfish that Phoebe marinated), beer, mineral water, turkey sausages, fruit salad, SPF 1,000,000 sunscreen (Charles burns easily), and the windup powered emergency radio (they weren't expecting an emergency, they just wanted to listen to classic hits from the 60s).

While I was languishing at the gallery, slaving away making shells for icon shrines, chatting up tourists and eating the gallery's supply of cookies, Charles and the kids had a great time at the beach (I wasn't really languishing - I had a nice time in the air-conditioned gallery).

Here are some photos that Miguel took:

Awkward Family Photo

Charles eschewed (love that word!) his usual beret for his felt hat with a brim.

Beans dried off from her swim in Gastineau Channel by rolling in spruce needles.

Phoebe and Beans.  I love Beans' smile in this photo (and Phoebe's, too)!

Yesterday, after a long stretch of hot weather, we had a thunderstorm.  They are very rare here - it usually doesn't get hot enough or stay hot long enough for a thunderstorm to form.  But the conditions were just right.  I was downtown and looked up and saw this impressive thunder cloud and could smell the ozone in the air.

It was an amazing storm.  It started when I was in Juneau Drug, waiting for my prescription.  I ran to the car in a downpour while lightning flashed and thunder boomed.  All the locals went outside to watch (like I said, thunderstorms are rare here!).  Charles and I drove home in  drenching rain and by the time we got home it was hailing.  We dashed in the house and watched and listened for a half hour until it blew over.

After the storm, Charles and I went to the Glacier Cinema to see Man of Steel.  It was pretty good.  The villain was villainous, the hero was heroic, both Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner were nice surprises, and the popcorn was delicious.  It was both loud and violent, but nothing I couldn't handle.  The back story was interesting as well.  All in all, a fun time!

On our way home, we saw some amazing post storm skies.  We stopped at the Temsco Helicopters parking lot and again at the scenic outlook on Egan Drive to take these pictures.  My phone doesn't do them justice:

I am convinced that we live in the most beautiful place on Earth!