family – Page 101 – ~HB ADVENTURE~

July 14, 2009

We Look Different After Our Road Trip

I adore my cousin Chaya. She’s super funny, smart and there was a time in her life that she wanted to be just like me…..come to think of it, at that time I wanted to be just like my other cousin, Danielle.

Anyhow, while we were on our road trip Chaya (a.k.a. Chach) and her man, Brian, took care of HBHQ. They fed the fish, watered our lawn, ate our blueberries, and even mowed! They also had a raging party that sounded fun.

On the morning that we were to return home Chach left a message saying that ‘everything was in place at HBHQ” and to call her when we got home. This message was very typical, nothing special. As I walked in our front door with my arms loaded down I meant to dump my bags and return to the car for my second load, but a black and white picture caught my eye. It was a picture of Chaya and Brian! How nice, I thought, they left us a picture of them. Oh, was I wrong.

They replaced each picture of us with pictures of their own:

in the front room (3 in frames)
on the fridge (3, including strip from photo booth)
in the living room (1 of just Brian replaced 1 of just Barry)
in the office (1 in a frame hanging)
in our bedroom (2 in frames)

This type of thing happens in my family often, it seems. Not the whole-replace your cousins pictures with your own, but jokes. My family thrives on jokes. Really good jokes that people talk about for years.

This whole thing reeks of my Grandpa Elvrum because he, I believe, is the MASTER at jokes like this. I know this whole shenanigan is Chach, but I have doubt my Grandpa is proud.

Although I adore Chach & Brian, this joke is one that deserves an answer!

June 17, 2009

Hobuck

Last weekend I had the chance to go camping with my parents, Phil, Izak, and Genevieve while Barry went camping for Adam’s bachelor party. My family headed to one of the most beautiful places, Neah Bay.

We’ve been going out to Hobuck for years and even have pictures of us as kids there. (Specifically shots of Izak…) There is a special campsite that, quite frankly, I consider ‘ours.’ By the time that Izak and I rolled in late Friday night my parents had already put some signature Elvrum/Lowman stamps on the site: rearranging the campfire, collecting buoys, and even making a sculpture out of sand dollars, rocks, and other beach findings.

After the Sparky & Sydney reunion on Saturday morning we headed down the beach to check out the neighboring coves. Sydney really doesn’t have an ‘off’ switch on the beach. She just keeps going, and going, and going, and, well, you get the idea. Izak brought his frisbee and he and Phil spent their time throwing it back and forth, back and forth, back and forth….oh, well, again, you get the idea.

A couple years ago we went to Hobuck with the intent of having a fun-filled weekend, but it was raining so hard that we were forced to hang tarps everywhere! I remember waking up to my dad and brothers working hard to get the rigging just right, a depressing sight in August.

I’m not a huge meat eater, I love seafood very, very much, but Phil has a passion for meat in all forms. I believe that his first word was ‘meat’ as a child, that is how strongly he feels about meat. I don’t remember eating a whole lot of meat growing up. Tofu? Crab? Vegetables? Rice cakes? Yes, yes, yes and yes. I do remember, however, cooking steak over the campfire with my family as a teenager at Hobuck.

I think the best part about the trip was that we all made an effort to be there. I hope we always do this.

June 2, 2009

HB + Westport = Laughter

This is Barry and his brother Brian. Notice how they are both laughing? They are almost always laughing when together. I imagine that they probably laughed 99.9 percent of their childhood.

They even laugh when getting ready to surf. Sometimes I’m not really sure what is so stinkin’ funny!

This is Brian and he’s obviously not laughing. It is rare that Brian doesn’t have a smile on his face, kind of like Jay Leno.

This is Darcy. She went surfing for the first time in her life and emptied more water out of her wetsuit than Barry and Brian combined. When she warmed up she was able to laugh about it. This is me. I forgot my really cool lens that would have enabled me to take pictures of Darcy getting water in her wetsuit while surfing. (Note to self: Remember lens and improve self-portrait face.)

This is Barry right about the time that he realized that not all the tent stakes were with the tent. Oops. Luckily, we he packed enough gear to weigh down our mansion of a tent. Isn’t he handsome in his new camping shirt? No need to answer, I already know….

This is Sydney and Barry. She’s trying really hard to peer-pressure him into some board-time.

This is Barry wondering when I’ll put my camera down and join in on the laughter and waves. Those Miller boys really do know how to laugh-it-up….so, I better get.