(May 6, 2026)
The Adventures of the Little Lovelies - Backyard Edition
Castle Lovely and the Edge of the Woods
Wasilla mornings come in slow and gold, even in winter. Dad’s at the kitchen window, coffee in hand, watching two dark brown heads of hair bob past the glass.
“Where are my lovely ladies off to today?” he calls through the cracked door.
Bitty — Brandy, 6, fair skin and a snow-pants swish — stops mid-strut and turns. “Dad! We’re not just lovely ladies. We’re ROYAL lovely ladies. We’re building Castle Lovely!”
Dassah — Hadassah, 3, curls bouncing, cheeks already apple-red — holds up a plastic shovel like a scepter. “Lovey Castle, Dada!”
Dad steps onto the porch and the cold bites friendly. He crouches down and fixes Dassah’s hat so it covers her ears. “Well, if Alaska’s getting a new castle, I better make sure my little lovely ladies are dressed for it.” He taps Bitty’s nose. “Rules still stand. You two can explore all the way to the fence, but no woods without your big brothers. Ocean, Harbor, or Nation have to be with you.”
Bitty salutes, which mostly means she smacks herself in the forehead. “Yes sir! We will not enter the Forbidden Forest without a brother escort. That’s Lovely Law #2.”
“What’s #1?” Dad asks.
“Keep each other warm and make each other laugh,” Dassah says automatically, then looks surprised she knew it.
Dad grins. “That’s my little lovelies. Have fun. Yell if you need the Head Cocoa Officer.”
Rowdy barrels out the door with them, half Pomeranian, half Dachshund, all opinion.
The Construction of Castle Lovely
Past the fence, the backyard keeps going. It’s huge, all lumpy with snowdrifts and stumps and one very important plastic sled. Beyond that is a line of birch and spruce — the woods. And past the woods, if you walked far enough, are other homes. But the brothers aren’t home from school yet, so the woods are just a backdrop today.
Bitty plants her boots and declares, “This snowbank is the foundation! We are Royal Engineers.”
Dassah nods, very serious. “Engineers!” She has no idea what it means, but it sounds important.
They pack and stomp and pat. Bitty is Chief Architect and Head of Funny Ideas. “Dassah, this wall needs a window so we can watch for snow snakes.”
Dassah gasps. “No snake in castle!”
“Exactly. The window scares them.” Bitty carves a lopsided square with her mitten. “See? Snow snake proof.”
Rowdy “helps” by digging a hole straight through their throne room. Bitty looks at the damage, then at Dassah’s wobbling lip.
She throws her hands up. “Citizens! A disaster! The castle has been attacked by… the Great Burrowing Sausage Beast!”
Dassah blinks. Then she giggles. “Wody da Beast!”
“Rowdy, you’re under arrest for crimes against architecture,” Bitty announces. Rowdy licks her face in response, which makes both girls fall back into the snow laughing.
The Royal Rescue Plan
Once the laughter settles, Bitty stands and brushes off her fair, snowy knees. “Okay, Royal Engineer Dassah. We need reinforcements. But Ocean’s at school, Harbor’s at school, and Nation’s at basketball.”
Dassah thinks hard, dark brown curls falling into her eyes. “We do it.”
“Right,” Bitty says, and her voice goes soft, the funny gone for a second. “We protect each other. We’ve got this.”
So they rebuild. Bitty hauls chunks of snow, Dassah pats them into place. When Dassah’s mittens get clumpy, Bitty pulls them off and blows on her sister’s fingers, warm and steady, just like she’s seen Dad do.
“You good, Royal Dassah?”
Dassah beams. “Warm. Bitty make warm.”
Bitty puffs up. “I’m basically a furnace. A beautiful, medium-sized furnace.”
The View from the Throne
By the time the castle is knee-high, it’s glorious. It has a window, a door, and a “moat” that’s really just Rowdy’s hole.
Bitty sits Dassah on the sled — the official throne — and drapes Dad’s old flannel over her like a royal cape. “Presenting Queen Dassah of the North, Ruler of All Snowbanks, Keeper of Moose.”
Dassah clutches her stuffed moose and waves regally. “Hi, Bitty.”
“Hi, Your Majesty,” Bitty curtsies, then faceplants into a drift. She pops up, spitting snow. “The royal curtsy is still in beta testing.”
From the porch, Dad whistles. He’s been watching the whole time.
“My little lovely ladies!” he calls. “That’s the finest castle I’ve seen in all of Wasilla!”
Dassah lights up. “Dada! We make Lovey Castle! We no go in woods!”
“We followed Lovely Law #2!” Bitty yells back. “And #1! She was cold so I… I furnace’d her!”
Dad’s laugh rolls across the yard. He walks out with two granola bars and the big thermos. “Then the Royal Engineers deserve a treaty snack.”
They all sit on the castle wall. Dad’s in the middle, Bitty leaning on one side, Dassah tucked under his other arm, Rowdy on their boots. The woods stand quiet and white beyond the fence, waiting for another day when the brothers are home.
Dad looks down at his girls. Dark brown hair, fair skin, cheeks flushed from cold and joy. Absolutely beautiful little young ladies.
“You know what I see?” he says quietly. “I see two brave, funny, kind little lovelies. You keep each other safe. You make each other laugh. You make old snow look brand new.”
Bitty leans her head on his shoulder. “We’re your lovely ladies.”
“And I’m the luckiest dad in Alaska,” he says. “Now, who wants to name tomorrow’s adventure?”
Dassah raises her mitten. “Pirate ship!”
Bitty gasps. “With Rowdy as the captain! Yesss. Operation S.S. Sausage Beast sets sail at dawn!”
Dad shakes his head, smiling. “Then I better start building a bigger thermos.”
And in the big backyard of Wasilla, Castle Lovely stood guard, warm with laughter, until the brothers came home and the next adventure began.
The End... for now.