NAOMI’S LIFE IS TREES
Since she’s 18 now (Oh God!) we safely avoided the child labor laws and put Naomi to work stacking wood her second day here. (See OWIE, MY BUTT HURTS for the first day’s activity). Naomi proved to be an old pro at the job and helped us stack around 11 cords of wood with no injuries, except the new green sweatshirt.

OWIE, MY BUTT HURTS!
Can you say 3 hour ride to Northern Montana to ride a gondola over the mountains of Glacier National Park? Can you say gondolas don’t open until Nov. 25th? Can you say we’re back in the car…again. Also take into account the 3-1/2 hour ride to and from the airport and the many, many trips to the grocery store because Laura forgot something. Can you say butt rot???

IS THIS SUGAR RAY?
In Naomi’s continuing effort to keep her old auntie hip and fresh, she was the musical adviser for the entire trip. Every time a song came on the radio, Laura would ask, “Is this Sugar Ray?”, prompting Naomi to wear her headphones most of the time. This prompts Auntie Laura to laugh every time she sees Naomi making her headphone noises, such as “Yeah!”, or “Neener, neener, neener, neener”, or “Oh!”. Watch her next time and tell me if I’m right.

MY BUTT FROZE AND FELL OFF
Budding photographer Naomi Juedes found her butt missing today after getting up at 6:30 in the morning in 25 degree weather to go to the refuge and watch her auntie taking pictures of ducks who didn’t want to be photographed. See SUN DANCE for more details. This was not the first occurrence, since during a walk to the trailhead Naomi and her auntie encountered the WALL ‘O COLD AIR. It was 70 degrees at the house, but the trailhead canyon was in shadow, and body parts began dropping off mere feet into the trail.

REGULATION BON-TYPE FIRE
In a continuing effort to singe all the hair off his body, Stevo built a giant fire with flames reaching 12 feet into the air. Luckily it had just rained the day before (what else is new?), so a forest fire was unlikely. However, a wayward traveler, mistaking the fire for a signal, bombed down the driveway to discover he was interrupting a cosy late-night weenie-roast! Naomi kept things lively with her headphone performance.

SUN DANCE
Okay, so sometimes Laura gets a little too into the photography thing, and when she sees a rainbow over the refuge (is that a song?) and is waiting for the sun to come all the way up, she tends to get happy and do a little dance. Her blood sugar was low and Naomi forgot the doughnuts, so there. AND, the sun never made it out.

OWIE, MY EAR HURTS!
Rebel Naomi just had to put one more hole in her head, so Auntie Laura got to hear “Ow, my ear!” for the first four days of the visit. Auntie Laura’s stomach hurts when she thinks about ear piercing, so Naomi didn’t get to say much more than that.

REBEL NAOMI TAKES THE WHEEL
Sans drivers license, or even a permit, Naomi drove the Stevo-mobile! Contrary to her big sister’s belief, this is the first time Auntie Laura has seen Naomi drive. And she lived to tell the tale. Actually, it was on a deserted road in the middle of the refuge. The biggest danger was running over a nasty jogger, and Nomers did a great job of avoiding her! She even waved (yes, she took one hand off the wheel, but I was supervising the whole time).

NAOMI PRIES HER WALLET OPEN
In a surprise move, Naomi bought lunch for her auntie at the Uptown Diner in Missoula recently. Aunt Laura was heard to exclaim, “I should have picked someplace more expensive!” To compensate, she had two cherry cokes and made Naomi leave the tip.

WHAT PART OF REFUGE DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND???
Okay, I may be new to the area, but I don’t understand, and Naomi quite agrees, why people are allowed to HUNT in the wildlife REFUGE! I’d hate to be a deer who makes it down the mountain, across the highway and finally, heaving a big sigh of relief, into the refuge only to come face-to-face with some Buford the Hunter who wants to blow a hole in his chest. WHAT’S UP WITH THAT??

MARTHA STEWART, EAT YOUR HEART OUT!
These past two weeks have seen a virtual cornicopia of food burst forth from Laura’s kitchen, thanks to Naomi. Our first venture was Apple Crisp. We made enough for 4 days of desserts. Next, Cheese Sauce a la Renee. Cheddar, jack/parmesean, and all parmesean. Simply encroyabe! And the cinnamon rolls, oh! With vanilla buttercream frosting, oh! And who can forget the roasted veggies??? She needs to go home so I can fit into my clothes again!

WE ARE SO OVER JULIA ROBERTS!
Okay, there’s the pouty lip thing. Does she think it’s sexy? She does it in every movie she’s ever been in! To verify, we rented Mystic Pizza, which I think is her first big movie. Sure enough, ten minutes (not even ten, Naomi sez) into the movie, she’s pouting her lips. For some reason, this has skyrocketed her to fame. Okay, let’s not even get into her huge nostrils!

DOG ENTERTAINMENT
Joe sits on Charlie’s head
Charlie sits on Joe’s head
Joe has Charlie in a Half Nelson
Dog snorting
Butt biting
Wiener-sniffing
Head-sliming
Dog alarm clock (i.e. dog noses in Naomi’s face)
Toenails (don’t ask us to explain!)
Joe is foiled again
Mr. Winky (Boots scratched Charlie’s eye and now he winks at us all the time)

NAOMISMS
For the love of Buddah
Ow! (shower)
Agghhh! (hair)
Errr! (makeup)
Check it, check it! (music)
Hooker! (you had to be there)
Holy Schmoley!
We’re back in the car!
Here, Ducky, Ducky, Ducky!
The head bob (music)

I FEEL THE NEED, THE NEED FOR SPEED
Poor Naomi. She’s only won one game of speed so far, and her time is running out. We even played with the BIG CARDS, but Auntie Laura’s superior hand-eye coordination has proven to be too much for this blossoming youngster. She will win someday, oh yes…she will!