making the dream happen

August 24, 2013

Day: 7 days until departure
Total Mileage: 0

It's "go" time.  T minus one week until departure. As I was sitting sewing away, it dawned on me: we are going to ALASKA! I've got perma-smile. So does Colter.

Adorable.

It's wild. We've been planning this trip for the length of our entire relationship (10 years this fall) and in a mere 7 days it will be happening. Surreal. 

I look through guide books and see all these unbelievably gorgeous backdrops and incredible animals and I have to convince myself that it is really happening. Have you ever dreamed up something extraordinary? Spent months and years, sweat and tears, planning and laboring over it? And then made it happen? It is truly a remarkable feeling.

Grandma and Grandpa have spent the past few days with us. The ladies are taking on reupholstery and the gentlemen are doing manly things. Like drinking gin and attaching pistons to the PopTop (for ease of lifting with weight on the roof).  

CJ takes on the sewing machine.

So it's raining last night, my mother and I are in the middle of disassembling my sewing machine (why do things always break when you only have so much time?) and my hubby comes running in demanding my help. We approach the truck and he tells me to climb on the roof of the PopTop so he can feel if the pistons work.

Picture this: me lying on the roof of the PopTop on a floating wood board. It's wet, dark and rather chilly out. CJ lifts the back up first- so there I am, feet in the air, head down, praying that I am not going to slip off the front end.  I think my feet were in the air for a good 3 minutes- hands braced against the lid of our slippery camper. I survived and lived to tell the tale.

Grandma pins and irons.

Tonight we've got an assembly line going. Grandma is in charge of ironing and measuring. I took up sewing. And can I just say I've gotten rather good (at sewing straight lines....).  I increased my speed triple fold (from a snail's pace to a turtle's). I'm feeling rather proud of myself.

And Grandpa's over giving Owen some love.

 

How can you resist that face??

Ceeg is in the mix now and we are really cranking.