Just Livin' the Dream

Guess who we saw today?!

2011-12-21T12:48:00.000-09:00

In addition to all the usual holiday ho-hah (mailing presents, wrapping presents, finding presents, remembering where I hid the presents), we are doing swimming lessons every day from 8:10 to 9:20. I am also playing in and reffing the Juneau Holiday Cup (our team name is Ring-A-Ding-Ding, RADD for short, in case you want to follow our standings...)

Today after lessons, the girls and I stopped by our local Safeway picking up some grub for Greg's office party when a very friendly (and rather meddling in retrospect) stranger walked up and said, "Hey, did ya know Santa's across the street right now? He's over at the hardward store!"

Guess what we did? Well, yeah, you betcha... as soon as we completed our purchase, we hightailed it straight over to see the jolly guy in red! Earlier this week, we had seen him at the mall, but neither girl could think of what she wanted, so Santa told them to just write a letter and put it in his mailbox there at the mall. Both girls came home that day and got right to work. So today, we had our letters handy and wanted to just give them to him when we heard he was nearby.

And did I mention that we have come directly from swimming with snarly, wet hair and red, chlorine eyes?

Now, we rarely listen to the radio in the car (too much garbage and inappropriate stuff), but if we had been today, we would have known BEFORE we got to the hardware store that the radio station was doing a live remote broadcast, with Santa as the star and that they were sending out urgent pleas on the radio for kids to come see him. Ugh! We have the two most shy girls ever. They don't make eye contact, they nod instead of speaking aloud, and they are therefore really not well-suited to the radio airwaves.

When we had seen Santa at the mall, Gwen wouldn't even get near him. In fact, while Amelia was perched up on Santa's lap (but not speaking to him of course) the elves belittled Gwen so much she started crying on the way home about how mean they were. Call me crazy, but with our track record of Santa encounters, we are the least likely to be fabulous radio air filler.

But in we waltzed, unknowing and totally unprepared. There was a collective crescendo of "Oh! AAAH! Children!" as several producers, clerks, and other assorted vultures swarmed us excitedly and loudly asking, "Oh, did you come to see Santa?! You did, right?! You really wanted to see him, didn't you? Oh yes! You can barely wait, huh?! Aren't you SO excited?!!!"

Do these kids look SO excited or what?!

She looks more, um... terrified?

Excited? Not so much.

Even Santa doesn't look all that jolly.

Gwen decided on the way in the door that she was going to deliver her letter to the mailbox in the mall instead of giving it to Santa at the hardware store. But we gave Santa Amelia's letter; he opened it and she had asked for a picture of him. Just Santa, no kids. Here it is! The folks at the store were nice enough to email these all to us, including this one that might just end up under the tree.

The moral of the story? Next time we'll bring the hairbrush to swimming.

Photo Post!

2011-11-14T15:21:00.000-09:00

Lots of great pictures at long last....if anyone wants more details, please leave a comment with your query....

Zippity

2011-11-06T21:51:00.000-09:00

My, the school year is just zipping by! We've been busy with swimming and skating lessons, lots of field trips, math and more math, and of course crafts. We have two girls who just love glue, scissors, markers, glitter, paper of any sort, and especially yarn and fabrics. Lots of holiday crafting is happening around here these days.

In honor of our first measurable, non-melting snow of the year, we are going camping. Luckily, we rented a cabin, but first we have to get there and that is what we are working out right now. The "easy" hike is 3.75 miles one way, and the "rigorous" hike is shorter, but much more challenging and we've been told our girls would likely not be able to make it in.

So.

We'll let you know how it works out.

In other news, I'm still as anti-plastic as ever. Here's some food for thought as I sign off for now...

Indeed.

Oh wait... plus, I broke my toe on Friday and as of last Wednesday, I am violently allergic to some food but I'm not sure what.

Once Upon a Time (with photos)

2011-09-29T14:59:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, the homeschool program in our town offered virtually free passes to head up the Mt Roberts tram. Being the cheapskates we are, we signed up quickly.

After arriving up top, we thought to take a "quick" hike to Father Brown's Cross, a local landmark that we'd never been to.

What's this? Another trail? Can we go all the way to the top of the mountain, Mommy? Sure! Let's give it a try!

Wow, this alpine vegetation is sure neat!

Let me get your picture on the trail, ladies!

Aw, you guys are so cute. But why are all these pictures so foggy?

Thanks for the cameraness, Gwen!

Is it getting dark already?

Hey, is that Mountain Goat poop?

How far up are we, anyway? Let's head back down, girls who are wearing shorts....

Oh, a sign! We must have missed this on the way up.What's it say?

Yikes.

Wow, look at those teeny tiny cruise ships!

Let's go, girlies!

The end.

Girlies!

2011-09-29T14:26:00.000-08:00

I'm at the library right now with our laptop, posting as much as I can. We got rid of the internet at home so will only be posting here sporadically, and checking email rarely.

Some people are really getting caught up with and highly proficient with this techno age. Not us.

Burying their feet in the sand, aka, "Making boots."

"Oh that sun is so bright!"

"Okay, maybe we can unshade our eyes for just a second!"

"Yikes, that was really bright, huh?'
"Yeah, so bright. Ouch."

Busy girls making bridges and tunnels for the stream to better reach the sea. Maybe they will be engineers like Daddy.

Shorts over leggings. Quite the Alaskan fashion plate, no? Hey, our main goal is modesty, not trendiness.

Thinking hard about math.

"We're done with school already? Yay!"

We have had several really nice days since we started school. The girls and I have moved lessons to the beach on some of those days. We love homeschooling.

More Bears and some pictures

2011-09-29T14:07:00.002-08:00

...but not of the bears.

Last Sunday morning as I took a load of mixed paper down to the garage for recycling, I stopped on our first set of steps, before I got to the landing. Even without my glasses, I saw some movement in the bushes near our neighbor's house, about 20 yards away. Actually, it looked like there was something under their house. My first thought was, "I didn't know they had chickens! Do they have chickens? Black chickens? They must only have laying hens since I've never heard any cock-a-doodle-dooing. I should ask them about eggs. And chickens." (I think really fast...)

Then I realized that the "chicken" was much larger than a chicken. I thought, "What is Dale doing under his house this early in the morning? Was there some wind last night? Did a tree fall? I wonder if there was flooding? Wait, Dale doesn't get up this early."

That's when a very large, very fluffy, very sleekly black, shiny bear came out of the brush and stood in Dale's driveway, broadside to me, paused in silouette in the sun, with his breath puffing out into crisp morning air. It was a beautiful sight to behold. He was magnificent.

When I slowly eased backward up the stairs through the door and said softly, "Bear.", Greg came bounding out with his slingshot and a fist-full of lead balls, with wild-eyed excitement.

My Kodak moment was over.

These are shots of a bear from a few months ago. We saw him several times in the same spot eating lots of grass and greens, while on the way home from fishing. He was usually right by the road and never seemed too leery of strangers.

But wait!

There's more!

This morning, we were up early to take Greg to the airport for his hunting trip (Elk. Wyoming. Yum.), we encountered THIS:

PS: This is the neighbor's trash in our garage, so don't jump to any conclusions about those beer bottles, thank you very much. Go ahead and razz me about all the miscellaneous junk those - that's all mine!

wishes

2011-09-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday, Dad!

I wonder if you know how much I miss you. How much I wish you could have met Greg and the girls. They have started asking for stories about "Papa". That's what we call you. I tell them about funny, silly things like your monster face; you teaching me how to make gravy - patiently; you making green eggs and ham for us which we were grossed out by and didn't eat; you trying to poison me with green milk; that your favorite color was yellow.

I also try to explain to them why you died before you could know them and why you smoked. I try to help them learn from your life the things that they should and shouldn't do, just as I do with my own life.

We enjoy talking about you backing the Blazer over the trailer; demonstrating "One Grecian Urn" for us in your trickle, trickle, trickle way; your insane love of all things baseball; your disdain for cats, except when they are snuggling on your belly and purring in your beard; you scaring off the solicitors at our front door wearing just your undies while you were working nights for so long; and your devotion to their Granny.

You would have been 68 years old today and you would have just hated being an old man. It's been just over 12 years now since you died, but I keep you with us every day.

This time of year is reflective for our whole country, and for me too. But for a different melancholy reason.

Marauders and Guns

2011-09-03T19:02:00.000-08:00

How on earth did this story skip my mind? I should have started off with this last time, but I guess I'm just so used to living in Alaska that it didn't hit my radar has hard as it would have 15 years ago...

Several nights ago, Greg and I were sound asleep when, at 3:24AM, we heard two very loud, very close gunshots following a shout of "You git outta here!". We ran to the window and watched two very large black bears come into our yard, meander around our truck and boat and then move quickly away when Greg opened a window to yell at them.

Now, Greg's truck is an older model Ford. It is just a regular old pick-up, right? Not a huge monster truck, but not one of those little half-trucks either. The back of each bear (their heads were down; they must've been sniffing something) came up well past the back bumper, almost over the top end of the taillights. So that's about 3 1/2 feet from the ground up. Big, fluffy guys.

Turns out these are most likely two male brothers who are about two years old. With our cold weather and rainy days, they're getting a little daring in their food searches and they've been vandalizing the whole neighborhood like clockwork for about a week now.

The neighbor who shot at them (just birdshot) had caught them up on his front porch eating the birdseed and squirrel treats he left out right in front of his big picture window so he and the missus could get a good, close look at nature.

So let me take just a quick moment here and say, "DUH!"

Even if the bears break in through the window to snack on their cat, we won't have any sympathy for that guy, the birds, squirrels, or the missus. We will however have something to say to him if he wounds a bear in the middle of the night and my girls get mauled the next day while they're out playing forts in the woods. Not cool.

The other big news related to this posting is this cute, special-interest story from our local paper last week.

Wrapping Up Week 2

2011-09-01T22:37:00.000-08:00

We are really having an amazing time at school this year! The girls are doing GREAT, and that must mean I'm doing okay too. Lots of smiles in the house this year - so far.

Swimming lessons start next week. Gwen will be in Youth Level 3 and Amelia is in PreSchool Level 2. Both girls are excited to become better swimmers since we are going to Hawaii in February for Uncle Steve's wedding. We are hoping to do some family snorkeling, so we'll need the girls to get used to masks and snorkels.

I remember the first time I went - with my friend Jill on Oahu... I started breathing in the tube and very quickly snorted water into my own mask! When I heard myself breathing, I sounded just like Darth Vader and even now, over 13 years later, I still giggle when I think of it. So yeah, there's some acclimation to do with snorkeling. Luckily the girls have never seen Space Balls, the movie. Or Star Wars.

Nothing much else new under the Alaskan sun except that the sun is getting more scarce these days. We actually had to turn the heat on this morning. It was 58 in the school room and that was a little too chilly for school. No, we didn't cancel; we just moved out to the kitchen table where it was a more luxurious 62.

Speaking of school I'm hoping to have some pictures of our school room, nature hikes, and the like very soon, but am having a very hard time with our OLD computer not wanting to do anything I ask.

This is how non-technological we are: when we ordered this here new-fangled computer from Dell in the spring of 2005, I made sure to get a 3.5" floppy drive so I could get to my old college papers and stuff. Ummm hmmm. I had no idea that the software we used back in the day (1995!) would ever be obsolete.

Plus, on our top-o-the-line model we don't have a, um, what-d'ya-call-it, little slot thingy for the little card that comes out of the camera either. And I think the cord for camera-to-computer downloading is lost forever. Instead, I now put the little picture card in Gwen's homeschool laptop and burn a CD to then bring over to our archaic old grandfather computer, so I can try to get those pictures to upload to Blogger.

Blogger is having none of it.

In other news, we have stopped buying supermarket meat due to the hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, plastics, and general uncertainty of the quality and/or safety of the meat. Greg leaves for a moose hunt to an undisclosed location in a week, so the pressure's on! Get a moose or we starve. I suppose we would just eat halibut and salmon all winter, which may be the same thing as starving in my book.

Our First Two Days Were Great

2011-08-23T18:59:00.000-08:00

Okay, Day One was definitely better than today, but they were both WAY better than pretty much anything we did last year. I had a migraine all day today, but we still managed to be pretty dang productive. Yippee!

Today included among other things our first Nature Study session. We hiked a very short trail in the pouring rain after lunch. This is a concept that is central to the Charlotte Mason (CM) methodology. As some of you may know, or can infer, this is something that is also near and dear to my heart. I like to be outside and I especially like the kids to be outside. Without me. And lock the door behind ya! Ha! I kid!

Actually, this is an area of my life where I can FINALLY use that college degree (that I'm still paying off - true story) and it feels fantastic and rewarding and whole. My degree is officially in "Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Services Administration", with an emphasis in "Outdoor and Experiential Education". I think. It might be "Experiential Recreation. " Anyhoodle, my whole theory is that people do not get out and enjoy the wilderness, the great outdoors, mother nature, God's green earth - whatever you want to call it, there is a serious lack of it in many lives today, primarily kids' lives. Wait, technically that's not true. Unfortunately, the kids are the only ones we are likely to reach since not many 33-year-old computer addicts are heading out for their first camping, hunting, or fishing trip with their similarly like-minded and nature-deprived buddies.

So the general movement focuses on reaching kids before they graduate from high school. I mean, as tomorrow's leaders, if they develop a meaningful, well-balanced (not to one extreme or the other) connection to the out-of-doors, that can only be good, right?

Once while I was still in school (yeah, I crammed four years into nine so I was in college for a while), a group of us Rec Majors entertained several busloads of middle school students from inner city Detroit. The kids came up on a field trip to "experience the natural world" and as up-and-coming educators of all things earthy, we were selected to formulate programs and activities for these wide-eyed kiddos to give them a meaningful, tangent natural experience.

Bah! Ginormous flop!

The kids wouldn't get off the pavement. They were afraid of the bugs, the dirt, the sounds that the birds made. It was like they were in a foreign land. Seriously, big, husky, burly African-American guys screaming like little girls about having to walk directly on the grass or (gasp) a well-marked, dirt-and-wood-chipped trail. We ended up doing all the group activities in the parking lot.

Here's a way more official wiki article on this subject, but that was my first-hand experience and it was instrumental in my current thoughts on the topic.

Our personal session today was nothing like the asphalt fiasco.

My girls, aged 7 and 4, were off the trail, chasing spawned-out nasty salmon, looking for bears, and drawing pictures of ravens and fiddlehead ferns.

Success!

Charlotte Mason Homeschooling

2011-08-21T19:01:00.000-08:00

Well, tomorrow is the day; we begin our new, improved homeschooling. We're calling the room "The Last Frontier Homeschool". I've transformed our guest room into the school room, received and organized the curriculum and supplies, outlined our first week (and most of the 1st quarter, and some of the whole year), and now it's time to pray like crazy!

Lord, please let my patience and enthusiasm be at an all-time high as we head into this week. Put in me the words You want the girls to know about You, Your Word, and Your world. Let them both be open and obedient and curious about our lessons and about You and Your Son. Be with Daddy this week as well as we all try to adjust to our new schedule and all-encompassing, learning lifestyle. Make our love for You and for each other obvious and overflowing. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

As I mentioned last post, we are utilizing the Charlotte Mason approach this year. Her methodology is quite difficult to describe in a nutshell, but luckily we have access to http://www.simplycharlottemason.com/, (my new best friend) who offers this explanation:

Charlotte Mason was a British educator who lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Her method, the Charlotte Mason method, is centered around the idea that education is three-pronged: Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life.

By “Atmosphere,” Charlotte meant the surroundings in which the child grows up. A child absorbs a lot from his home environment. Charlotte believed that atmosphere makes up one-third of a child’s education.

By “Discipline,” Charlotte meant the discipline of good habits — and specifically habits of character. Cultivating good habits in your child’s life make up another third of his education.

The other third of education, “Life,” applies to academics. Charlotte believed that we should give children living thoughts and ideas, not just dry facts. So all of her methods for teaching the various school subjects are built around that concept.

For example, Charlotte’s students used living books rather than dry textbooks. Living books are usually written in story form by one author who has a passion for the subject. A living book makes the subject “come alive.”

She taught spelling by using passages from great books that communicate great ideas rather than just a list of words.

She encouraged spending time outdoors, interacting with God’s creation firsthand and learning the living ways of nature.

These ideals fit in so well with how I picture the best homeschool for our girls. They need so much a gentle, nurturing, but focused agenda, and I really believe that if I can manage it, we will all be very happy with the process and the results.

We're also incorporating a system of "workboxes" which hopefully will enable the girls to work independently a few times a day, so Mommy can focus on dishes, laundry and dinner.

And that will be a big blessing to Daddy.

Post and Dash

2011-08-18T14:29:00.000-08:00

My Weight Chart:

A new gadget!

We are super busy right now. We just said good-bye to some great guests (so much fun, you guys!!), and are prepping for homeschool to start on Monday. I can pretty much state at this time that I will not be ready. I'm trying, but other things are popping up. Played my last soccer game of the outdoor summer season last night. It was close, but we lost 2-1. Argh! Greg is packing and planning for his hunts this fall. He's jetting all over the place this year.

Tonight we are heading to the Governor's picnic and then to get our derby prizes. One of the yummy prizes I will get is a one-month membership to our local Curves. And I am totally going to use it! I'm hoping if I use it every day for the entire month, I can drop another 20 lbs without having to actually purchase a membership. Good plan, huh? That would put me very close to my goal and I could possibly wait to have my follow-up bloodwork done after the weight is gone. That would be fantastic!

I'll be back soon to discuss homeschooling. We've got a new approach and a new attitude this year. Yay! Let me just give you a teaser... two words: Charlotte Mason.

Getting a Little Mavericky with Gadgets

2011-08-09T21:40:00.001-08:00

Here's a feature that I'm hoping to utilize quite a bit while trying to shed some poundage for a wedding in February...

So far, so good! Keep checking back to see if I a) even use this at all, or b) actually lose any weight.

simplify

2011-08-08T23:41:00.000-08:00

I love the whole "vibe" of the word simplify, and I totally get that it's an attitude, but for me right now, STUFF is my main focus. It's about sorting the stuff, cleaning the stuff, organizing the stuff, finding the stuff, wearing the stuff, and maintaining the stuff. And not just my stuff- I'm the mom; stuff is my job. Stuff, Stuff Stuff! In my pitiful defense, I do come from a long line of packrats . But guess what?... the buck has got to stop here.

Case in point, I just realized a few weeks ago that I really don't nee-eeed 15 pairs of jeans or 37 tee shirts (almost all of which have a soccer ball on them). Neither do my kids. They end up wearing the same comfy favorites every other day just like I do, so why am I folding and sorting and washing all this laundry when we'd all be perfectly happy with a lot less?

Here are a few more things (I counted these up before I wrote this, by the way... so these are real numbers) that I don't need in "mindless multiples": 19 pairs of undies (TMI, I'm sure, but I never wear more than one at a time!), seven pairs of running shoes (I don't even run!), 414 kids books (granted we do homeschool, but this is excessive!), 55 Sharpies (!!?), 11 fleece sweatshirts... it's awful. So I just recently started being very harsh with myself and my "normal" reaction to clutter. Usually, I can't bear to throw anything out - if I get rid of it, I give it away, donate it, consign it, reuse it, recycle it, repurpose it, etc... Today I simply purged and tossed. I (gasp) threw away some junk that no one needs!

Wait, did someone want a couple of Kenny Rogers cassettes?

That's a Fine How D'ya Do!

2011-08-06T22:29:00.000-08:00

We had a tremendously wonderful day out on the "big wide open ocean" today. Lots of fishing (and catching!), sun, and silliness for us. We took lots of great pictures to share and some that are destined to become our favorites.

Just as we were hopping in the truck to head home, I dropped the camera. (Apparently "hopping" and "dropping" are kissing cousins.) The battery and little memory card both popped out. ("Popping" is an acquaintance as well). Since I so cautiously had secured the camera in its leather-esque, protective pouch before leaving the boat, as always, I didn't realize these two important items had been catapulted out of place.

Of course, that is, until I got all set up at the computer just now to share our beautiful day with you. And all the pictures had been zapped. Erased? Zilched? Ruined? What is the proper term for this blasted technology screwing with my mind again, anyway?

On the up side (not), our hot water heater is gurgling water all over the garage. Thus the hot water no longer is.

Good thing we won't need to wash our hands after processing fresh halibut all day tomorrow. Oh, wait...

April to August?

2011-07-30T23:08:00.000-08:00

Well, I've never journaled or kept a diary. I'm obviously not very good at (read: "committed to") blogging either, but I just couldn't let four whole months go by without a post.

Blogger has been temperamental this evening or I would have left you with just a few semi-recent pictures.

Another time, then.

Where, oh, where are you tonight?

2011-04-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

We are enjoying an extended vacay "down South", which has included Seattle, Tacoma, Snohomish, Leavenworth, Grand Coulee Dam, Colville, Sandpoint Idaho, and Yakima, mostly all in the great state of Washington.

We'll be back in AK tomorrow and will have lots of PICTURES to share. No guarantee on how quickly those will post as we have a birthday coming up... Amelia will be 4 on Wednesday!... and we are also moving this month to another rental in town.

Quite the big doin's.

What the?

2011-02-07T14:02:00.000-09:00

So, last week when I slipped on the ice while checking the mail, cracked my knee open on the driveway and bled all over my "nicer" pants, I had no inkling that it was going to get worse.

So much worse....

That was Tuesday morning. Just 10 hours before this, on Monday afternoon, we had dropped Greg off at the airport for an overnight to Petersburg and I realized that we never checked the mail Monday.

Good news? No bills.

The reason we forgot to check the mail in the first place was because we were shopping like fools on Monday afternoon (after the airport drop and run) and just plumb forgot about ballet lessons for Amelia! I was so upset with myself for forgetting her weekly lesson that we just went home and fumed a little. And put away groceries for hours. Luckily, Amelia was a little under the weather so we probably shouldn't have been at rehearsal anyway, right?

Back to Tuesday morning:

Amelia now has a temp of about 100 and a croup-y cough. She cannot go to preschool, which is a huge bummer for her - it was "pancakes and pj's day" and she really wanted to go. Alas, we ended up dragging her kicking and screaming to the pool instead. (Yes, literally. When Dad's away, it's no holds barred at our place.)

Anyway, shortly after arriving (late) at Gwen's swimming lessons, I was helping a very polite little naked stranger turn on the showers after her lesson ("Excuse me, Lady. Can you help me turn on the shower? I'm short and my dad can't come in here because he's a boy."), and somehow (I still cannot figure this out) I jabbed myself on the upper lip with my own thumbnail. I then had to visit with the other homeschool moms for about an hour during Gwen's lesson while holding a really gross bloody paper towel against my lip since the dang thing would not quit gushing! I got sick to my stomach from swallowing so much while I was trying to keep hydrated in case I passed out from excessive blood loss. Ewww.

Meanwhile, Amelia was crouping away on the rest of the homeschoolers.

Good news? Gwen is a great swimmer! She is doing just fantastic with her lessons and progress! We are so proud of her and she has come such a long way in such an amazingly short time. Awesome!

Since there was seriously no pacifying the sick kid, after swimming we raced out to the preschool to catch the end of the festivities and see all the other kiddos in their jammies. We played Duck, Duck, Goose and even got to have one leftover hotcake for the road. Score!

After piling out of there with our contagions, the three of us girls tooled around looking for a new place to rent. There is nothing in the paper or online, so I figured we would just scour the (nice) neighborhoods looking for "for rent" signs. After about 45 minutes of looking, counting dogs and broken-down autos, and finding people we know, the girls started to get cranky and hungry so we headed home, at which point Gwen asked innocently if Daddy would be there when we get back to the house.

Huh.

It's 12:37.

We were supposed to pick Daddy up from the airport at noon. Oopsie!

Good news? He was still standing there waiting when we screeched up (and over) the curb at the aiport, and had not stormed off walking the several miles back to work. Whew! Dodged a bullet there. Of course, as soon as the truck door opened, both girls had to tell Daddy how Mommy totally forgot all about him! Thanks, ladies!

What? And I was supposed to bring lunch for Dad?!

If you're keeping track, you'll already know that in my little play-by-play of last week, it's only Tuesday at about 12:45pm....

There were lots more crazy things in there (animal shelter closed for mysterious reasons only moments before we were to volunteer our regular, weekly shift), and by Friday the truck was broke down on the side of the road and we were having our incredible taxi adventure!

Good news? It was full daylight and was not raining when we had to walk to the nearest phone. (Being low-tech really has it's disadvantages.) Other good news was that Greg was with us and we all had warm clothes on for the hike.

More good news? Our idiot landlord has screwed things up enough with the prospective buyers that the deal is off and it's unlikely the house will be sold at this time. Or ever.

Plus, some nice people from church have let us borrow their car for as long as we need it.

Plus, the mechanic just called and we can pick up the truck and it's brand new shiny alternator this evening.

Yet, even though these are some truly incredible blessings, I can't help but fleetingly think of the fact that one week from today, I will turn 41 years old.

Just when I thought the streak was over.

Digging into the Archives

2011-01-31T21:49:00.001-09:00

Disregard the dates on these photos. Not only were these not taken in 2003, they were also not taken recently. The approximate date on these is May of 2009.
Just a reminder that you can click on the photos to enlarge them. There may be some seals, sealions, or whales lurking about...
Enjoy!

Juneau's Sunny Cove. Aptly named judging from this beautiful day WAY back in 2009. Still no camera cord, obviously.

A huge, giant sunstar. There's a close up shot next, but I wanted to show you (and remember myself) how the kids just stood there, mesmerized for several quiet minutes...

He was a lot more purple and salmon-pinkish-orangish in "person", but still neat to see all the detail.

Kids, sun, beach, low tide, fresh stream, sticks, rocks, grass, sand, and dirt. No assembly required.

Happy sisters! You can see how old this pictures is... Amelia was just two, and still looking like a baby. She'll be four in April!

AMAZING! Almost every day the girls and I stop in our tracks looking at the incredible place that we live and say out loud, "Look at what God created today!"

Thank You God for Your creative beauty and majesty!

"Finally, some shade!" Seriously, that is exactly what the girls are saying here.... they are definitely fit for SE AK where we get so little sun and light. Took some video of them on the deck this week in their swimsuits. It was only 44 degrees, but it was sunny! Crazy Alaskans!

Here comes February, ready or not!

alrightythen

2011-01-18T15:37:00.007-09:00

Thanks to those of you who commented with your reading preferences. Let's get to it, shall we?

All have decreed and agreed; thus the topic for this post is "everything". Unfortunately, I'm still missing that little cable that plugs from the camera to the computer so I can get the current pictures off and show you guys what we are up to. Bummer.

Weather or not
But here are a few shots of the type of brilliantly sunny and crisp winter days we have been enjoying lately...

I don't think the date on this one is right. This was in Valdez, probably the winter of 2006-2007, taken from the parking lot of the trail that went out toward Shoop Bay, right over the top of the garbage dumpster. Oops, did I just ruin it for you?

This one is Mt McGinnins, I think, from Auke Lake right around Christmas time of 2003. Greg was the shutterbug on this one. This is what we see every Tuesday and Thursday on the way to/from preschool. I just love how the trees look so frosty and delicate.

And this is the Mendenhall Glacier taken from across Gastineau Channel (part of the Pacific Ocean) from the boat launch on North Douglas Island. Circa December, 2005. Ish.

That concludes the picture portion of this post.

Plastic is killing me
The Lockwood Anti-Plastic Brigade doesn't seem to be making any headway. Wait, that abbreviates into Lockwood APB... not quite the mood I was hoping to set, although I'll tell you what, there just might be an APB out on me if I can't find some meat packaged in something other than plastic. And I mean TODAY. Right now! We are a very carnivorous bunch, but we want to spare the planet from run-off and plastics-borne pollution through leaching. How the heck am I supposed to do that when most meats are packaged in not one but TWO layers of plastic wrap around not only the aforementioned protein product, but also a handy STYROFOAM tray? Ugh!

Seriously, this stuff is amazing!

Otherwise, plastic consumption is way down around here. And that is a very good thing. Remember my teaser a few weeks ago about the best product ever? Well, here it is: BAKING SODA!

Now, if you happen to be in your twilight years, or are at least a marginal housekeeper unlike yours truly, you likely already know this little treasure well. I come from neither a generation or family who passed this simply miraculous catch-all down, nor have I ever been really interested in alternative (or any but easy, quick and cheap) cleansing methods, but sodium bicarbonate is my new best friend. Here are just a few of the things we now use it for (but I find new uses every day!):

deodorant! Absolutely, hands-down, the BEST for this purpose. Even if I wasn't worried about the dangerous toxins in deodorant itself or in finding "dodes" in a non-plastic container, I would still never stop using this odor- fighting wonderment. This might be too much information: My lumberjack of a husband now uses it exclusively. Since we've now detoxed completely from that chemically poison the grocery sells, we can sometimes go days with only one application of baking soda. Yes, even the lumberjack, the guy who works out every morning and then rides his bike to work four miles each way... last week he mentioned that he keeps forgetting to put his "pit powder" on. Still not stinky. :)
toothpaste!
hand cleanser!
exfoliator!
grout scrubber!
laundry stain pretreater! (need to use a brush and scrub a little)
foot fungus killer!
body powder!
shampoo alternative!
I'm thinking the list is endless.... if anyone thinks of something else, let me know!

Speaking of APBs (Yes we were - earlier. Scroll back if you need to...)
Mommy got what you'd call a "moving violation citation" a few days before Christmas. Happy Holidays from the Juneau Police Department, huh? Anyway, it's complete bunk and now I've got myself a court date to prove it's bunk. Wish me luck on Jan 26th, wouldja? I'm prepping for my defense these days and hoping to avoid not only the $65 fine, but also the 4 points on my license, possibly making our insurance go up. Plus, well... it's just the principle of the whole thing, y'know? I shouldn't be penalized for something I just flat out didn't do, right?

Suffice it to say, I can't go in to detail here, but it was "the Perfect Storm" of conditions that day. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'll let you know if the baking soda holds up in court.

I've got to close for now, but I promise to be back soon to tell you the tales of If you wanna, you could let me know what would be your top choice and I'll jump to that one first. See you next time!

first dance lessons for both girls,
soccer for seniors,
Atkins for me,
our house got sold, we think,
spring break in the Northwest,
thoughts of escape,
homeschool shenanigans,
and much more...

Pick a Topic, any topic...

2011-01-09T21:55:00.000-09:00

So, I am awful at blogging.

There! I've finally admitted it. Now you can all join in and commiserate with me.

Okay, enough of that; let's find a solution...

AHA! Here's one: I'm going to lay out a bunch of the things that are running through my brain, usually following the phrase, "I've got to put something about this on the blog..."

Once we get a few (is five too many to hope for?) votes in the comments section, I'll go ahead and wax poetic about whatever you guys pick. About a week between choices and the actual post, I figure, so we can tally the mountains of votes. Ha.

Ready? Here are your choices for this week:

1. What in the heck are you still doing playing competitive soccer at age 40+ (including the results of the Holiday Cup Tournament I just ~~won~~ played)
2. What are the kiddos up to this year/semester/week? (some activities include ballet, swimming, horsemanship, preschool, and AWANA)
3. How's the weather up there? (Will include some scenery pictures of AK)
4. What's going on with your anti-plastic fetish? (Lots of insight and some links to share, as well as our new FAVORITE PRODUCT OF ALL TIME!)

Okey-dokey. Have at it in the comments and no fighting or name-calling, please. I will get to all of these exciting issues eventually.

I'm excited to see what you guys want to hear about. Thanks for reading and playing along.

Gasp! A post with pictures!

2010-11-15T21:15:00.002-09:00

Well, hello dear readers! I'm so glad some of you are still with me....

It has been an amazingly convoluted and action-packed few months up here in the Great Land. We had our trip back east including a jaunt around Lake Michigan. We started homeschool. Amelia started preschool. I'm in the choir at church. Greg is traveling quite a bit with work. Mix in all the other miscellaneous stuff like the fact that the house we are renting is for sale (lots of strangers traipsing through our chaos), some hunting and fishing trips for mostly Greg, plus illnesses and injuries, and you've got yourself a better picture of what's going on up here.... yes, you're right - it's the same ol', same ol'. A lot of it.

All these pictures were taken with a disposable camera, thus the surreal 110 film quality. Classic, huh? Very retro!

Here's the big KING crab that Greg and the girls caught in mid-October. (editor's note: Greg informed me after I published, that this crustacean is indeed an Alaskan King Crab. Yowza!)

What happy Alaskan girls! They were so excited about that huge crab!

Amelia learned how to ride her bike this summer; she is fast and fearless!

And a few pictures from Greg's moose hunt in September.

A new glitch that we hadn't anticipated has recently tossed us like a rogue wave. We have sold our microwave, are no longer using the dishwasher, and have not only gotten rid of most of our plastics and other synthetics (like polyester and nylon), but also are trying not to purchase or acquire any new ones. It is impossible, I'm here to tell you.

Need a hole in the head? Need a reason to find fault with every consumable item currently manufactured? If not, don't read this book: Slow Death by Rubber Duck.

Look at this little guy:

Isn't he just adorable? He's also toxic and likely has known chemical properties that disrupt hormone development in children. Nice!

Seriously, after innocently picking this up off our "new book" shelf in the local library, I can't UNknow what I now know. I have tried for three weeks now to purchase groceries without also purchasing plastics. NOT YET POSSIBLE, at least in Alaska. We have no bread stores where I can purchase fresh loaves in paper sacks. All our cereal, even the bulk stuff is in plastic bags. I've taken to making my own noodles and bread. And crackers. And just how am I supposed to buy meats? The teen/young-adult goofballs at our deli department don't even know what "butcher paper" is. Help! Don't get me started on my Teflon, Ziplocs, and yogurt container issues.

Aside from being exceptionally dangerous to both the immediate and the long-term (like in, "up to three generations after exposure") health of humans, plastics will be with us forever: once plastics are created, they can't be UNcreated. They will NEVER go away. Yes, they can be recycled into lovely hats and sweaters and fashionable eco-fleece products, but what happens when those garments are worn out or become out-of-style? Yes, they can also be reused, given to charity, or consigned to the less fashion-conscious among us (me, thank you very much), but what of them after they serve their useful life?

Greg has this great fleece jacket that he's had longer than he's had me. It's blue and in places, it is worn through so thin that I can see his tee shirt beneath it. Not even a (really tall) homeless guy is going to want it, but guess what? Earth can never be truly rid of it. It will not biodegrade. The only close way to make it be gone is to burn it, but did you know that fleece is a PETROLEUM PRODUCT? Yes, it is made from a combo of two different petroleum derivatives, including antifreeze. So burning would surely send something toxic into the very air we like to breathe.

The next time you see an environmentalist in her fancy Polartec (c) coat, spouting off about how we need to save the trees and birds and animals, let her know she is killing our planet, wouldja? Please, do not get me wrong (or send me hate mail) about this - living in Alaska, being the outdoorsy folks we are, we have basically survived in fleece for 10+ years. I think I knew that fleece was just soft, fluffy plastic all along, but I never realized how invasive and pervasive and dangerous the compounds and polymers in plastic are and how easily they are ingested and absorbed into the human body. It's quite scary, really. (Here's a mind-blowing fact: right now, in the US, the burden of proof regarding the toxicity or relative safety of a chemical, plastic, product, medicine, food, etc is on the consumer... the consumer must prove that something is dangerous before the FDA or the company who manufactures it will pull it from production. CRAZY! With what we know of the hazards of plastics and other toxins, shouldn't whomever wants to utilize it/market it first prove to us that it is safe? I mean, am I way off base here? Did we learn nothing from Agent Orange? Alar? Lead-based paints? Why can we still be subjected to all manner of lethal, insiduous products in such a sneaky, profit-driven way?)

In fact, most plastics do eventually break down. "Fantastic! Finally some good news!", you may think. Sadly, the breaking down just serves to make teeny, tiny sloughed-off pieces that look very similar to krill and plankton. (Take that, ocean creatures!) And to think, only about 25 years ago, plastics were still only rarely used for food packaging, let alone for clothing.

Remember when milk came in glass bottles? Me neither. But remember when Coke did? How about mayonnaise or ketchup? Some of you may know how much my husband loves ketchup. Actually "loves" might be too weak a word. I think "needs" would better describe his relationship with that tangy sauce. You may not be aware of this, but it is extremely difficult to find affordable ketchup in a glass bottle. In Alaska.

I mentioned already that polyester is not a naturally occurring fiber, right? OK, since in AK, cotton is NOT our friend, we are now aiming for all-natural fibers such as wool, linen, silk, hemp, ramie, jute, and bamboo. However, depending on how these fibers are processed, they can be just as harmful to ecosystems as plastics. What is a girl to do?

Well, for starters, here's a great list of how to reduce your dependance on plastics, if you're interested:

http://fakeplasticfish.com/plasticfreeguide/comment-page-4/

Nothing will change if we do not hit the companies in their collective pocketbooks. If we stop purchasing their products due to the unethical packing, maybe they will revert to plastic-free papers, cardboard, and glass.

We can tackle the garment issue in another post. For now, here's a promising brand ...http://www.ibex.com/

Are ya with me?

Oh, wait, one more thing - an incredible irony: What are store-bought reusable grocery bags made of? Yes, polyester! Ha! Gotta laugh at that!

Glad to be back. Hope I can keep this to a regular, once-a-week post, at least. Let me know your thoughts on any of this, will you?

Randomosity

2010-09-15T13:23:00.000-08:00

We had quite a busy summer what with a trip to Prince Of Wales Island, many fishing excursions, soccer, soccer and more soccer, and of course, our big trip Back East. We'll have more on that trip in an upcoming post; for now, here are a few random glimpses of the summer.

The girls love playing outside in the rain with their umbrellas and rain boots.

Mama bear and her two babies out by the Mendenhall Glacier. We like to go watch them catch and eat salmon, and try to figure out what a porcupine is.

One of the last times we were out at the Glacier in the summer, it was a beautiful, flat-calm, clear day. We don't get those very often, so it was definitely a reason for a picture!

Oh, these are a bit older, I guess. Amelia turned three in April, 2010.

And this is the day before we left for our Back East Trip. And oh, what a trip it was! Come back soon for all the details.

Need More Time?

2010-08-31T16:32:00.000-08:00

My dad died eleven years ago today. He was 55 years old.

I turned 40 in February of this year. On June 4, I got some lab results that were not good. The first words my doctor said when she called with my blood test results were, "What pharmacy do you want me to send this to?" I looked at my genetic makeup, my poor test numbers, and my two lovely daughters and thought, "Fifteen more years is not enough time with these girls."

I have lost 21.5 pounds since then. From June 4 to July 13, my overall cholesterol went from 176 to 143, and I lost 18 pounds in those five weeks. I have cut out butter, bacon, virtually all cholesterol, SUGAR, and most carbs. The doctor's new decision after this turn of events was, "No meds needed at this time."

My weight has been pretty static since the end of July. I'm down only about three pounds since Aug 1, but I am determined to lose more and get even healthier.

One thing I've figured out from this situation: losing weight is actually easy. Everyone knows how to do it: "Eat Less; Move More." The major sticking point is motivation. Mine was pretty obvious and immediate. Yours may be less tangible and more elusive. Regardless, you are the only one who knows what it is. Nothing that anyone can say to you will MAKE you lose weight.

But if you do, you can get more time too. How would you spend it?

POW Camping

2010-08-03T15:08:00.000-08:00

Okay. Fine. At long last, here are a few pictures of us! We went camping for about a week on Prince of Wales Island (the US's third largest) here in southeast AK over the Fourth of July. Greg's mom and one of his nephews met us in Ketchikan and we ferried across to Hollis and ran amok on POW. FUN!

Lots of rain, noseeums, mosquitoes, and whitesocks later, we were kind of happy to be headed home. We saw many bear, deer, and met so many lovely people, that we are planning to spend quite a bit more time on the island if we can.

One of our very most favorite pastimes was eating berries. No exaggeration, we consumed many gallons of salmon berries and blueberries. The raspberries were not quite ripe or we would've put the hurt on them too.

Big sister, little sister; a love that never ends...

We have many, many pictures of boo sleeping. She must've just been worn out the whole time.

A girl and her dad with her first gun.

Eating berries by the branch.

Baby deer and mommy deer.

Greg with his wood pile. We cleared a lot of brush on one of our lots.

Opened up the beach and the view.

A little dog found us at our second campsite of the week.

The girls named him Scruffty and wanted to bring him home with us.

Lots of cocoa and s'mores all week long. And yummy pizza on the open fire, too. YUM!

Our next adventure begins Thursday as we fly to Chicago, drive to Toledo, circle around Lake Michigan, stop in Green Bay, and then fly back to Juneau via Chicago and Seattle. Seven states in twelve days and near 90-degree temps with two kids under six. Woo Hoo! Thank God the rental car has AC. We hope.

Eight whole years

2010-07-30T13:21:00.001-08:00

Well, it's solstice in Alaska: the longest day of the year. We here in Juneau will enjoy just over 18 hours of daylight today. Sunrise was at 3:52am, with sunset at 10:09. It is the start of winter, really. From here on out, we get less daylight per day, leading us ever onward to winter's dark days. There are celebrations planned all over the state.

We are planning our own little celebration right here. Greg and I got married in a little town (even by Alaska standards) called Moose Pass eight years ago today, at the Trail Lake Lodge. Our ceremony was perfect, complete with a really loud floatplane taking off from right underneath the deck we were all standing on. We had beautiful weather, even more beautiful guests, and a great band. In fact, it looks like the Pretty Damn Close Band is still doing their thing!

Happy Anniversary, PB!

2010-06-01T11:41:00.000-08:00

May in Juneau 4th driest and 7th warmest on record

May's weather in Juneau ended up being significant for how warm and dry it was.

Meteorologist Nikki Becker is in the Juneau Forecast Office says it was the fourth driest May on record with a total rainfall of 1 point 25 inches which is 2 point 23 inches below normal.

The wettest day of the month was the 15th with zero point 5 inches which was a record for rainfall that day.

A trace of precipitation in the form of hail fell on the first.

Last month was also the seventh warmest May on record in Juneau.

The average temperature was 50 point 8 degrees, 2 point 9 degrees warmer than normal.

The high for the month was 80 on the 27th and the low was 29 degrees on the third.

Adventures in Word Coining: The state of being hectic

2010-06-01T11:37:00.000-08:00

Hecticity? Hecticness? Hectictude?
Prior to starting this post, I was sold on "hecticity", but I think "hectictude" just won me over. See if you don't agree. Let me use it in a sentence for you: "Our weekend was wrought with Mommy's hectictude."

So true.

It all started innocently enough..... (cue the dreamy music....)

Several weeks ago, I was bestowed with what seemed to be, at the time, quite an honor. A volunteer with the Alaska High School State Soccer Championship committee emailed me to ask if I would help select the player of the game for each of the matches. Since the tournament was held in Juneau this year (for the first time ever!), I was thrilled to help roll out the red carpet for the rest of the schools, parents, and tournament organizers.

On paper, this sounds like a fine way to pitch in, right?

Uh huh. In reality, it entailed me being at every single game (ten of them!) at one particular field and two games at another location over the course of three days. While I really enjoyed it, we are all paying the price this week as I play catch-up on all my normal chores. Each game is 90 minutes long, plus a halftime and overtime if warranted.

I ended up also working in concessions (I may need to get a cheese machine), setting up, taking down, running errands, helping the announcers, filling out the player certificates with my calligraphy skills (huh?!), and otherwise generally being a stellar Gal Friday. I really thought I'd be called on to sing the National Anthem at one point, but the scheduled teen finally showed up, so I was cast aside (whew!). There are times when I'm so happy that it's "all about the kids", as they say.

In a side note, congrats to the Juneau Douglas High School Crimson Bears boys varsity team for their newly acquired state champion status! Congrats also to the JDHS girls team who came in third, I believe.

Throughout my duties at the fields, I thought of Greg and the girls who were having adventures of their own.... (cue more dreamy music).... On Friday, they had a field trip with Gwen's class, out to the beach as part of the festivities for Beach Week. Greg had a few moments of dismay and panic when the kids decided they wanted to play in someone's sewer outfall and none of the other adults seemed to mind. He quickly herded the kinders down the beach a ways, so as to circumvent any pesky HepB situations. Great weather and a small class size + lots of adults and a WONDERFUL teacher = fun day!

Hectictude alert: Friday was also the day we found out that our landlord is moving, the house (a duplex) is being sold, and we need to let a realtor in here to assess the place.

[Incidentally, that remark I made about chores? Seven loads of laundry, one dishwasher load, and three hand-washed loads of dishes have happened in the background while typing this post. So far.]

On Saturday, Greg and the girls went out in the boat. Now that Greg's got this slick (self-engineered) pot-puller, he can pull pots all day with nary a muscle strain. They soaked both the shrimp and crab pots while they trolled for Kings. And guess who ended up with the big fish? Amelia! She got her very first Chinook salmon, dime-bright and weighing in at a little under 30 pounds. Not bad for a three-year-old.

Once they pulled up the pots, Greg tossed a lot of the crabs back since we are not big crab fans. He ended up keeping about 15 large dungeness. The big, juicy (four-inch tails!) spot prawns totalled about 135, and they were so yummy! We had a kingly feast Sunday night in the back yard, and I'm still cleaning up that mess. We have to be extra careful when cooking outside at this time of the year. Boiling shrimp and crabs and sizzling salmon fillets attract lots of hungry things, including bears.

Yesterday, instead of moping around here doing even more chores, we as a family went for a wee hike. Gwen defines "hike" and "walk" thusly: "A hike is not done in a city on a sidewalk, but a walk is. A hike is in the woods with bears and animals and way more fun things than you'd ever find in a city."

Indeed.

As Juneau has many, many incredible hiking trails of various distances, difficulties, and locations, we ~~pulled a trail name out of the air~~ studied the trail info diligently and finally selected the Windfall Lake Trail. If you click the link, you'll see that the trail length was a mere 3.5 miles. One way.

The girls did fantastically! Amelia was a trooper, even without having a nap. She hiked just over half the total distance, but Gwen did the whole thing! We were so proud of them both for their attitude and ability.

Once at the lake, Greg caught two little fish who were not keepers at all but were fun to show the girls. It was the first time either of them had seen a trout. One was a brookie and the other was a cutthroat. Amelia spent most of the time at the lake hunting for leaches. Gwen seemed to just enjoy sitting and watching everything. It was a really beautiful setting and we are glad we pushed ourselves through the clouds of ravenous "maquitos" and blasted gnats to get to the end of the trail. We are happy to have two tough Alaskan girls who we can already take on these marvelous forays into God's country.

Until next time when you'll hear Jenni say, "Let's talk about the weather."

Party Time Up North

2010-05-19T08:40:00.000-08:00

O'er the last six weeks or so, I've hosted a few of those at-home product parties. I thought it would be non-negotiable motivation for me to get and keep our house clean.

Well, guess what? It worked.

We are living in a clean and tidy house. Mostly.

We still have an area of dire concern - the "upstairs". Seriously, the whole second floor depicts the scariest scene from "Hoarders: Too Much of a Good Thing." More on that in some other post. Maybe.

Another area of dire concern around here is how much I really like the party products. Some of you may know that I sell NYR Organic products. Yes, they are seriously pretty awesome and SO good for you and the natural world, as opposed to the chemical poisons that most folks still use these days. Ahem. Sorry. I'm quite passionate about safety in cosmetics and beauty products, and if you have any questions about the poisonous dreck that is sold on supermarket shelves, most of which can be linked to cancers or sight disorders or severe skin problems, let me know. Whew.

But NYR Organic products are consumable. I can use them up. I can get one thing, use it until it's gone, then use the cute blue glass bottle or jar for something else.

Other at-home-party products are just with you forever. It's quite a committment, especially when you're paying the outrageous prices most of them ask.

A few weeks ago, I hosted a Pampered Chef party and just last night, a Longaberger basket party. (If you would like anything at this time, check this website and then email Longaberger consultant Ann Doty to place your order. The show closes on Thursday at 4pm AKST.) Anyhooo, now that my house looks so dang wonderful, don't I need to fill it with nice things? Maybe things that weren't found on a curb? Or obtained at my favorite place ever: FREECYCLE? That's a dangerous line of thinking in my book; however, a few nice pieces goes a long way for me. I've gotten several (read: 'way too many') neat gadgets from Pampered Chef and now for my first Longaberger pieces ever, I'm excited to venture in to the world of wrought iron. Love it!

A important, not-to-be-excluded component of a successful product party is the absence of hubby and kids. Last night, Greg and the girls went to the beach for swimming (didn't) and fun (did). They stumbled upon a smoldered fire ring with a nearby stack of firewood, so they plopped down around the fire and watched the sun set over the Chilkat Mountains. After several minutes, Amelia requested that we as a family "do this every day, Daddy."

In short, a good time was had by all. And there is no longer a towering stack of laundry on the couch. Yippee!

We've got these fish, see?

2010-05-13T09:49:00.001-08:00

Ok, so being that I'm blogging from the wilds of Alaska, and that we are an avid outdoorsy family, you'd think the title for this post would naturally allude to salmon or halibut, cod or trout, right?

Wrong.

I'm talking goldfish today.

About two months ago, Juneau's Glacier Valley Rotary held their 2010 Boat and Outdoors Show. One of the ~~annoying~~ fun things available to entertain the kiddos, while moms and dads perused the boats and accessories they will never be able to afford, was a Zodiac filled with water and, you guessed it, goldfish. Kids tooks turns netting a fish and then could take it home with them. For free. What a deal.

So, we did that. Got one for each girl. They picked out the ones they wanted based on size, color, and behavior. Then Mommy helped them catch the poor little things, and we ended up with two tiny calico fish. Orange and white, both of them. And, this is important: they were each less than an inch long. So exciting for the girls! We brought them home and added them to our existing ten-gallon tank, thoughts of Ick whirling through my brain.

Both of our newest fish friends have names, of course: "Orangy" and "PahtootieTah". Other names of our 13(!) fish are "Spot", "King Baggenburger", and "Princess", who is a Kissing Pink variety of somethingorother and seriously follows the other fish around "kissing" them, particularly Orangy and PahtootieTah. (Greg thinks Princess is actually a boy fish, it being springtime and all, but it's impossible to tell.) Our remaining eight fish are guppy-like and it's difficult to tell them apart so they do not have names.

But back to Orangy and PahtootieTah.... so, is anyone else aware that goldfish will grow to whatever size their tank allows? Is this common knowledge? Because I did not know this and now it seems we have a Koi pond in our living room. Seriously. These two fish are growing SO fast and SO large, especially PahtootieTah. He is almost four inches long and almost as wide. When he eats, he lunges and leaps, just like Koi fish in a frenzy when you toss bread crumbs their way in the mall fountain (which is a funny reference only to people who live in Juneau since we have no real malls, let alone fountains! Ha!).

While it's been amazing to watch the growth and interaction, it's starting to be a little alarming. Kind of like when the meddling kids in a movie continue feeding their science project things like acid rain and nuclear waste and pretty soon, you've got yourself a full-blown, lame, B horror flick.

Did I mention we started off with two tiny snails? We now have at least 17. True story.

New furniture!

2010-05-07T23:18:00.000-08:00

Well, new to US, anyway. We got a slightly used couch and matching chair/chaise/ottoman dealie off craigslist.com today and we love them. Of course I have yet to make room in the house for these new additions, so I just can't share a picture with you. (Can you say "chaos"?) However, I can tell you that they are the most stylish, modern, even remotely non-80's-looking furniture we've had since we got these two messy kids. The new stuff is recent enough to be trendy but it was cheap enough that if we end up spilling sticky juice on it or wiping peanut butter hands on it, we will still be OK with that.

I spoke too soon. I will absolutely NOT be OK with that.

I really like these pieces. They are very plain, very neutral, but comfy and versatile and the nicest furniture I've had in so, so long. I guess I'm saying I don't want to say "so long" to them any time soon. I told Greg to just stick a bow on them; that's all I wanted for Mother's Day. As soon as I can get things organized how I want them, I'll have a place to entertain. Actually, I've been wanting to have a nice place for a women's bible study, so this could work. Woo hoo!

We are all getting up early for Juneau Appreciation Day tomorrow. Many businesses in Juneau are offering local discounts and specials all day so we are hoping to ~~rake in the free stuff~~ have a lovely family outing.

One of the participants in this super fun day is The Dipac Salmon Hatchery. We will be ~~chowing on their free chili dogs and snacks all day~~ viewing the aquariums and teaching the girls about the life cycle of a salmon. We tend to visit the hatchery several times a year as they present a great spot for field trips. It's a fun place and there is a gift store on their page that you can check out to order fun, Alaskan trinkets, many of which are made in China.

Big day tomorrow. Good times.

I QUIT!!

2010-05-06T23:20:00.000-08:00

That's it! I did it.... I nuked my Facebook page! And I feel GREAT!

Seriously, it's been about three weeks now and I can't believe how clean the house is! I do still miss my Scrabble buddies, but I truly feel like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. Too bad it didn't lift off my hips.

Being FB-free is freeing and I suggest you give it a try if you find yourself spending WAY too much time there. I'm hoping that I will be able to post more regularly on this blog, but I may become too wordy, because... speaking of regressing even further, technologically-speaking, we are also going back to primarily using 35mm film for picture-taking and memory-saving. We are not techno-heads and we likely never will be. Thus pictures may become scarce here shortly. Did I mention we may also do away with the Internet this fall?

A few more teasers about our life these days:

Gwen may be homeschooling for first grade.
Amelia is starting preschool this fall.
My bulbs from last year are coming up! I feel like I finally have some roots!
We have tons of trips planned this summer and fall. (POW Island, maybe Kenai, and of course the whirlwind IL/IN/OH/MI/WI/IL adventure extravaganza!)
I quit my job with the soccer league, effective the end of August.
Amelia is almost completely potty-trained. (She did it herself in just under four weeks.)
I'm anticipating SHAPING UP in the next twelve weeks.
We are still looking for a home church, but are getting closer every week.
We are celebrating Mother's Day by going shrimping. I hope you are doing something equally fantastic.

Are you still there? Send me a note in the comments if you're still checking in. Maybe I'll just blip this too!

Just kidding.

Or am I?

Waaahhahahhahahahhaaaaa!

Where's that Dad guy?

2010-03-24T16:34:00.001-08:00

Rarely if ever have I featured Greg on this blog. Well that is about to change.

He's playing in the 64th Annual Gold Medal Basketball Tournament this week. He's playing for Juneau's Filcom team.... that's sports-speak for Filipino Community. No, he's not Filipino, but the team seems to enjoy having him play with them and he does like the guys quite a bit. They've played one game already (lost by 15 pts) and have their second one tonight. Hopefully they will ease through the loser's racket and be back in it at the end.

He's a shot from yesterday's game from the Juneau Empire:

The caption read: "Hoonah’s Showalter Martin finds a way to stop Juneau’s Greg Lockwood." Greg got drilled so many times he can't exactly recall if there was a foul on this play or not.

Miscellaneous Randomness

2010-03-15T17:08:00.000-08:00

Here is the intrepid shutterbug:

We have a severe dearth of technology in our lifestyle. Usually we like it a lot. Occassionally, it's a bummer. Like when we have two digital cameras and no computer to download photos to. Also, when we can't figure out how to print off pictures on the computer (finicky printer) to send to Granny or others. In an attempt to pacify the relatives, here are some random pictures of the girls from Gwen's camera.... she won cash in the derby last year and used it to buy a pink digital camera. Greg loves it!

A great shot of our empty fish tank. Gwen bought this the same time she got the camera, but we went back the next day and got the fish. We started with eight fish and two snails. We now have four fish and seven snails. Maybe I can convince her to get a money shot of the beautiful, full, lush tank....

Little sister playing on the stairs. They worked for the better part of an hour setting up this shot. Great composition, huh?

Last fall we took a hike out to the Glacier and Gwen got this one of Daddy and Boo. She's getting better!

I think this was an attempt at capturing a black bear on film. It was awfully dark in the brush off the trail, but he was there all right, eating fish and splashing in the creek.

This is the roadside in Hawaii. Gwen was a little excited and you'll see why in the next shot.

Yes, that is a zebra! In Hawaii. He lives with that donkey. They seem very happy.

Stalagtites! In a lava tube in Hawaii.

And here's Grandpa in the kitchen in Hawaii. Not sure what he was headed for or what she was exactly trying to capture.

That's me eating turkey bacon and grinning. Yikes.

Christmas already?

2010-02-05T21:45:00.000-09:00

Ha! No. Not Christmas already, but Christmas at long last.

We are packing for Hawaii right now, leaving tomorrow, and I am cramming in all the stuff I didn't get done in the last month or more, including posting Christmas pictures on the blog.

Short on words, long on pictures..... cuz that's how we roll.

PS: For my mom and anyone else who doesn't know, you can click on the pictures and they will enlarge so you can really see the detail.

Aloha!

2010-01-27T16:25:00.000-09:00

For several months now, we've had just the one vehicle like I said in my previous post. Here are a few pictures of a typical afternoon when I have to go pick-up Gwen from kindergarten on foot. Amelia LOVES being in the sled; she falls asleep almost immediately when the sled starts moving. These are pictures from a few different days. The walk is about 1.5 miles round trip. Sometimes it gets a bit tedious for the girls and I have to be pretty dang creative to get them to keep moving and quit whining.

Mush you huskies!!

What a patootie! And she will sleep through everything. Nothing wakes her up... not traffic noises, kinder noises, weather noises or snow falling on her face. She is always very rested once she naps in the sled or stroller this way.

Recap

2010-01-20T12:24:00.002-09:00

As many of you reading this are well aware, it has been over two months since I last posted here. While this is certainly true (Blogger says so, anyway), it is a big surprise to me! I had no idea I had let this go for so long.
I may have mentioned that our computer is just about dead. We will find out soon if anything (meaning all of our pictures) can be salvaged. In the meantime, I've been taking lots of new pictures, hoping to be able to share them with you someday.

For now, here's a quick recap of some of our fun times in AK recently:

We've been a hopping bunch of busy Alaskans lo' these past many weeks. Lots of activities and holiday prep stuff. What with living so far away, we end up mailing our gifts hither and yon to relatives and friends. So we need to get things made/bought, wrapped and shipped earlier than we would if we were celebating in person with all the folks we wish we were celebrating in person with. Sounds like everything got to where it needed to go when it needed to get there. Whew!

On Thanksgiving, we took a big hike out by the Mendenhall Glacier in the morning, followed by some fun sledding and then a big dinner that night with just the four of us. We talked at length about the many many blessings God has given us, not only this year but all ways, always. Oh, and we started a new tradition called, "Pie for Lunch". Big hike, pie for lunch, then dinner. And after dinner, no need to have pie. It has proven to be a very popular tradition with the Lockwoods. We may even incorporate this event in to every holiday.

In December, we had some cold frigid weather, and hunkered in for the darkness that IS Alaska in the winter, especially December. We hiked out for our Christmas tree one bright Saturday when we had originally planned to camp overnight in a State Parks Cabin. We hiked almost as far as the cabin (about 2.7 miles or so we thought), found a tree, and lugged it and the girls back to the truck. While we were excited to have a yummy picnic lunch in the chilly meadow that day, before leaving the house we had decided not to stay overnight due to Amelia's 103 degree temp. We later decided we would have been fine and that we should have gone ahead and camped. (Later yet, we discovered that we were right not to have camped out with a sick two-year-old in the freezing Alaska winter. Remember this fact - we will revisit it in the January segment.)

Anyway, Gwen had a wonderful, deserved, long break over Christmas; she got her five-year-old self in quite the frenzy for Santa's arrival and relished all the excitement. Even now, I'm not quite sure she and Amelia truly enjoyed playing with each other all day, every day for over two whole weeks. In reality, we were all kind of relieved when school started back up on January 4. Never thought I'd say it, but we all needed the routine and structure, however fleeting it is.

Also during December, my car finally died. Yes, that was my Grandma's 1991 Ford Escort. What a little go-getter that thing was! For now we are down to one vehicle, and Greg rides his bike to work about 7 miles roundtrip most days. (Today he took the truck due to a dental appointment, so Amelia and I are hiking down to the school to get Gwen shortly.) We celebrated with Jello Pudding Cake on Dec 30 for Greg's birthday. The girls loved decorating and we still have some balloons up. It's fun!

The 19th of December was the start of a long soccer tournament for me. The Juneau Holiday Cup added an over 40 division, so I decided to put a team together.

You may not quite be able to read the matching shirts we are all wearing.... they say "Classics Division Champions!" Believe me, NO ONE was more surprised than US that we won it all. On paper, it never should have happened. It was so much fun though, that I'm playing in another tournament when we get to Kona next month. I got picked up on a team from Whitehorse and am trying to get in shape now. Of course, I waited way too long to try shaping up, but I'm still hoping I don't perish in the heat.

The big story of January so far is our camping trip on Jan 8th. We RErented the Cowee Meadows cabin which is owned, operated, and ~~allegedly~~ maintained by Alaska State Parks. In the pouring rain, we hauled the girls and all our gear several miles through the near-dark to a rustic cabin about three miles from the road in a remote area of Juneau. We got back to the spot we had harvested our Christmas tree in December and even made it to the cabin with daylight to spare. That's when we realized we were at the wrong cabin and we had somehow lost the trail.

With nightfall coming quickly, we raced to find the correct trail and get to the correct cabin. On several occasions, I ended up knee-deep in water from plunging through the icy, half-frozen creek surfaces. In fact, we were all soaked by the time we reached the Cowee Meadows cabin almost an hour later.

In case you are not aware of it, this is NOT GOOD. Even Gwen, who is only five, knows very well the danger of being wet in any season in Alaska. Hypothermia is only a foolish mistake away all the time.

Now, you may or may not know that Greg is not only a seasoned and highly skilled outdoorsman, but he is also a licensed Civil Engineer. Yes, I am currently a mom (a position with a huge skillset) but I also have quite a bit of winter and remote camping experience, as well as a degree in Parks and Recreation. Between the two of us, we could not get the diesel stove to ignite so we could warm up and dry out. After five hours of Greg trying to get things going, he finally opted to hand-carry the fuel from the tank out back to the stove. All night, we listened to him:

"Slam. Stomp, Stomp, Stomp. Splash!

Click. WHOOSH! Slam!"

To clarify, Greg brought the fuel in and slammed the door against the now-biting cold. He tried to get the majority of snow and ice off his boots. Then he crossed to the stove and opened the door, threw the fuel in and then the match. The fuel would burn each time for about ten minutes, then he'd then go out and do it again. With that process, he was able to get the heat up to around 44 degrees, so we all managed a comfortable albeit abbreviated sleep. We even had a big meal before first light.

Apparently during the first few hours after we arrived, I was delirious because Greg quickly banished me to a sleeping bag to huddle for warmth with the girls. I do remember trying to find a gargantuan Mountain Dew bottle with a straw in it at some point in the night. Whether that bit of goofiness was from the cold, the lack of sleep or food (too cold to eat), or just wishful dreaming on my part, it really could have been a much better time for all of us. While we are truly thankful we're alive (kind of a thin line between alive and dead up here), we sure hope the girls are game to try it again sometime. Greg and I actually enjoy winter camping, so we'd like to show the girls how fun it can be.

Greg and I reached the truck that next morning in record time with high spirits, but I did end up speaking my piece to the Parks Superintendent a few days later. If I had talked to him that next day, I might not have been nearly so "reasonable". (Those of you who know me will hopefully read between the lines here and notice I haven't been incarcerated.)

When thinking back now on that camping trip, I'm so glad we didn't take Amelia out there when she was so sick. Adding one more problem to that trip may has resulted in quite a different outcome, the least of which would have been me going stark raving mad in the Alaska bush.

And that brings us up to the here and now. Our main focus these days is packing for Hawaii and finishing up some projects here at home. Greg made bunkbeds for the girls and I am painting them. As always, I am trying to keep up with everything usually not doing it. Have I told you that I currently co-direct the adult soccer league in Juneau? (see http://www.juneausoccer.com/)

Once we get the ability to post some pictures, I will. Until then, check back when you can!

A Breezy Night in Juneau & other news

2009-11-12T09:35:00.002-09:00

Wind gusts over night include one at 132 mph on Sheep Mountain (from http://www.kinyradio.com/)
A wind advisory is in effect through nine this morning.
Gusts to 50 miles per hour are expected.
Meteorologist Michael Mitchell in the Juneau Forecast Office says there were gusts to about 40 miles per hour at South Douglas. There was a gust to 46 at the Federal Building and it hit 49 miles per hour at the airport.
A 63 mile per hour was recorded at the Mt. Roberts Tram. There were gusts to 85 at Eaglecrest and a gust clocked at 132 miles per hour was recorded atop Sheep Mountain.
The Southeast winds are forecast to diminish to 15 miles per hour this afternoon.

And this one, too:

Studio settlement reported for fake movie news

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports Universal Pictures has agreed to pay $20,000 to the Alaska Press Club to settle complaints about fake news archives used to promote the move "The Fourth Kind."
The Anchorage lawyer who negotiated the settlement for the Fairbanks paper and six other media outlets, John McKay, said the fake online stories undermined the credibility of the news organizations.
Universal created a series of online news articles to promote the movie about a plague of alien abductions in Nome a decade ago.
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

We have a winner! Oh, and one more thing...

2009-11-08T20:55:00.000-09:00

Last post, at the very conclusion of my rambling, I issued a challenge of sorts and I'm excited to announce that we have a winner. Woo Hoo!!! (Make sure to read all the way to the end of this post to see an additional question, with more salmon for the first correct answer.)

Hearty congrats to the Nowak family and their brilliant (yet humble) daughter Brooke for offering the correct answer which is "Robin Hood"! The opening song that is repeated throughout the movie is quite catchy. It's one that sticks with you fo' dayz!

I'll get a few cans of yummy salmon to you guys soon. Maybe I'll include some recipes in case you tossed all your Alaska-themed cookbooks when you moved to the LoneStar State.

CONGRATS AGAIN, Nowaks!!

*** More salmon will be sent to the first reader who comments with the name of the artist who sang the Oodalolly song for the movie... NOT the character (Rooster), but the artist. GOOD LUCK!

The Rundown from Up Here (plus a contest...)

2009-11-06T09:14:00.003-09:00

Yes, that's our first snow of the season; we woke up to it on Halloween day.

Ok, let's review a bit...shoulder: I'm scheduled to see the surgeon on Monday the 9th. I've been feeling pretty good since I got the referral. Methinks it is a reflection of how much I don't want to have surgery and how much better I have just been dealing with the inconvenience and (slight) pain.

In a related story, I got my bloodwork results back and everything was normal (including glucose, which is a HUGE concern of mine since diabetes runs in my family), EXCEPT... my Vitamin D levels. Normal is apparently 32 to 100. My number was 16.5, which is common for folks living in Southeast Alaska. The symptoms of such a deficiency are sluggishness (yes!), headaches (yes), lack of motivation (yes), and excessive sleeping (yes). So I've gotten myself a bottle of Vit D and am to take 7000 IU daily for the next eight weeks. (The normal USDA recommended daily amount is 400 IU.) Anyway, I'm anxious to see how things are in a few weeks. I'm excited that this may be just the ticket to me getting more done around here, and in a much more pleasant manner, I might add. I'll keep you posted. Down with SLOTHITUDE! :)

Halloween costumes! So, let me just say WOW! We had a successful holiday if the costumes and candy are any indication. Gwen went as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She looked beautiful and regal and very much the lady. She was so over-the-top compared to her classmates, but I seem to recall the same thing happening to me as a girl (in costumes such as "soccer ball", "southern belle", and "two-headed scarecrow"). I even let Gwen wear some lipstick - she thought that was awesome, but passed on the eyeshadow, wrinkling up her nose and saying "ewww". Gotta say I wasn't too upset about that! Gwen was a little shy about approaching houses, but Amelia just marched right up and yelled out for tricks or treats.

Amelia (Boo Boo) went as Boo from the movie Monsters, Inc. At the eleventh hour I got a sweet costume finished by utilizing my sewing machine for the first time ever. No pattern, very little measuring, but it turned out so well! Amelia was coached and kept saying things like "Mike Wazowski!" and "Kitty!", lines from the movie. She even had a Sulley doll for Daddy to carry around while they were out on the town begging for treats.

I've got some better pictures but I'm having a hard time using the laptop to get then on the blog. I'll work the kinks out soon and share more later.

And in the vein of the ever-popular BLOG GIVE AWAY, I'd like to offer a can (or more, depending on your family size) of locally caught and processed Coho (silver) Salmon to the first person who can name the movie this phrase is from....

"Oodalolly, Oodalolly, Golly what a day!"

Enter your guess/answer in the comments section and I'll get that prize out to you ASAP.

Good luck to all!

It's Always Something...

2009-10-28T18:01:00.001-08:00

I've been having a fair bit of pain in my right shoulder for about a month, probably longer. Greg and I keep telling the girls they are just growing too big for Mommy to keep picking up, and I've altered the way I do just about everything around here, from putting on my socks to driving to carrying groceries... it's gotten pretty inconvenient to say the least. At first, we assumed I had slept on it wrong. Then I suggested that I probably have that pain because I carry all my stress in my shoulders and neck. It was really a never-ending speculation festival.

Just this week, I finally recognized the pain. In college, twenty years ago(!!!?) and only a week apart, both my shoulders suffered separations and dislocations during soccer games. Ironically, both of those games were at a stadium in St. Louis. (Cue the eerie, creepy music.)

At the time, our athletic trainer told me I'd need to have surgery if I wanted to continue playing competitively. I was only 19 and thought I could give up soccer so I opted not to have the surgery(s). I hit the physical therapy pretty hard and ended up with no adverse effects, other than the unique party trick of being able to pop my shoulders in and out of socket at will. I even went back to playing soccer regularly about six years after my injuries (currently playing three nights a week), and never had any problem, until now....

So, even though this pain felt vaguely familiar, I was truly hoping that indeed I was just falling apart, another popular hypothesis with our crowd.

Today, I got a much more official speculation from the doctor. She referred me to the orthopedic surgeon who I will see tomorrow hopefully. Two words uttered today that I really hoped I'd never hear in relation to my own medical care were "rotator cuff".

I'm gonna need to get tougher.

Kids say the darndest things!

2009-10-28T17:30:00.002-08:00

So, right back in to the routine, Amelia and I dropped Gwen off at school then had a fabulous time grocery shopping earlier this week. She is quite the little adorable goofball. Throughout the entire store, for almost a whole hour, every item that I put in the cart received a lot of clapping and one huge, "THANK YOU GOD!!!" Seriously.
Cheese sticks? "THANK YOU GOD!"
Organic milk? "THANK YOU GOD!"
Two cartons of brown eggs? "THANK YOU GOD!"
One poor dented, damaged, neglected box of No-Bake Oreo Cheesecake Mix on clearance? "OH THANK YOU GOD!" OK, even I said it for the cheesecake!

Business as usual

2009-10-20T15:58:00.008-08:00

Well, I'm back. I left home all by myself and lived to tell the tale. I missed the girls "show bad" as Amelia would say, but had a really fun time with my friend Amy, who has not changed a bit since we were kids. I only have a few pictures to share at this time since our computer is on the fritz, but I'll add more when I can.

Here we are in front of the Arch (Thanks for the pics Amy; sorry but I just HAD to use this shot! It shows us exactly like we were all weekend - laughing and joking and being silly and trying not to pee ourselves.). We did some of the obligatory things like seeing the Arch, but we did it in style atop a four-seater bike through the downtown traffic, swerving to miss the horse manure left by the fancy tourist buggies.

To prevent your sheer boredom, I won't share the vast majority of the pictures I took on this trip. There are lots of things that my kids don't see very often, if ever.... bridges, traffic, trains, sky-scrapers, graffitti, billboards, farms, muddy rivers, fall colors, pollution... the list is endless. And while I had a great time catching up with Amy and meeting her family (they.... are..... AWESOME!), I had a really hard time being in the big city. (Hope I didn't complain too much, Amy!) It was quite the eye-opener for me to realize how truly Alaskan I am to the core.

I'm not sure I'll ever do another trip without the girls and Greg while the girls are still young, but being away gave me exactly the break I needed and the focus that I was lacking before I went. Next time I might just head out the road for an overnight hike/camp instead.

Mini Vacay for Mom

2009-10-14T08:56:00.003-08:00

Well, I am actually doing it. I am going on a kid-free trip and while I was fairly excited about it, I find I am now kind of nervous. I have to be at the airport tomorrow at 6am and I'm already dreading the leaving. The 'being there' part will be great, but it's just being anywhere without the girlies and Greg that is going to be rough. I've never been away from Boo overnight. Aside from Gwen's first week of life, I've only been away from her twice overnight (once at her cousins' and once with Granny). Plus, both girls are coming down with what look to be pretty bad colds. Greg is never going to let me leave again.

I'll be gone for five days, to St. Louis to see an old friend whom I just reconnected with this spring on Facebook. Will wonders never cease? Look out, Dysoninskiwicz! Here I come!

Hunting and Training and Bears, Oh My!

2009-10-08T08:54:00.005-08:00

So, we've had several crazy weeks/days.

On October 1, Greg left for a hunting trip with a new buddy from work, and even though I had the complete itinerary and all the specs for the boat, trailer, truck, passenger, captain, and location, plus the Plan B and Plan C info, I was still unusually uneasy about this trip.

My anxiety manifested itself in unbridled shopping each day Greg was gone. As we are on quite a tight budget, this was not good to say the least.

What IS good, however, is that Greg is back safe and sound. He and his friend had a fun trip, their weather was awesome (crisp and clear) and they got to explore an area that Greg had never had time to in the past (It's a secret, I can't tell you where they went!). There is no meat for the freezer, but he may give it one more try before we winterize the boat.
Yes, they went boat hunting. This entails taking as much as the boat can carry while being diligent to leave enough room for a slayed moose or two, as well as room enough for two large burly men to sleep. In addition, you have to be sure to carry enough fuel to get you back home since it's not like there's a station on every corner, or even a corner for said station to be on.
Anyway, it was a pretty luxe trip by our standards, but kind of roughing it by lower 48 criteria (no shower, running water, heat, walls, etc) but it was Greg's one big hunt for the year and he had a good time being out there. They saw lots of moose sign, but no moose. They saw thousands of goats, but weren't prepared to hike up in to the alpine on this trip. They saw several deer but no bucks. And they saw the biggest brown bear Greg has ever seen. Luckily they were in the boat at the time and the bear wasn't.

Speaking of bears.... while Greg was gone, we had one here at the house. He ripped up our trash pretty good and spread it all around the neighborhood (the bear did, not Greg). We also had a mouse in the house and the girls and I had to set out traps. Later that same day (yes, mouse and bear came around just minutes apart), I smashed Amelia's hand in the trunk of my car. She is fine (just a small bruise) but I was a little wobbly to say the least.

Speaking of Amelia (such original segues, huh?), she is potty training! Yes, she's only two and a half but she seems ready so we have the "big girl potty chair" out and are giving it a try. She is pretty hit or miss, but doing a great job so far. Some days she claims she is still a "widdle baby" and needs to wear diapers. But usually she is clamoring for the pull-ups.

Speaking of pull-ups (remember those exercises you used to do in gym class way back when? the trembling arms, the straining, the agony...) Well, I'm not doing them. But I am in training. Lo and behold, I am going to be 40 YEARS OLD in February, people!!! I am trying to lose 40 pounds so I can play in a soccer tournament in Kona, Hawaii over President's Day weekend, which is the same weekend as my birthday this year. I've been picked up by a team from Whitehorse (Yukon Territory, Canada). Since I really want to survive the heat and enjoy the challenge, I am up nearly every morning at 5:39am before Greg goes to work so I can hit the gym.

So far I have almost zero progress to report, but I feel I'm on the right track, if only I wasn't set on eating all the Halloween candy in Juneau before those pesky kids can get it.

Speaking of Halloween, you may wonder what in the world Amelia was wearing in that last picture. She and Gwen were saying good-bye to Daddy and Amelia insisted she wear her "Princess Jaguaria" outfit to do so. It was sent from Yakima by Greg's sister, Suzanne and Amelia loves it. Although I'm fairly certain the little cheetah/jaguar costume was meant to be separate from the adorable princess/ballerina dress, my girls combined the two and came up with "Princess Jaguaria". Behold:
Greg and the girls have a standing date every week at the swimming pool. They have a great time. Greg insists on "lessons" for the first half hour then free time for the second half. It seems like a good plan and the girls get a 'big' reward (it was homemade cocoa last night) when they get home. I may have to join them and do some water aerobics while they are doing lessons.

I can't figure a smooth way to transition in to this, but my mom got a chuckle out of it when I told her, so maybe you will too....

Gwen came home from school last week and told me about all the drills they have to learn in Kindergarten. I asked if she meant fire drills and she said, " Yeah, and drills for the big waves and earthquakes. But the drill we had today was the best one." (By the way, "big waves" = tsunamis.)

"Oh, what drill was it?", I offhandedly inquire.

With eyes gleaming as only five-year-old eyes can, she said, "It was the bear-on-the-playground drill, and it was so fun!"

Winter is here, no kidding!

2009-09-30T12:35:00.003-08:00

This is Mount McGinnis, to the west of Mendenhall Glacier for those of you who have been to Juneau. The stunning Mount McGinnis will be featured quite frequently on my blog this winter, as it is my view and my barometer. This is what I see from my kitchen window, from the front yard, from the front door. It is an incredibly beautiful mountain and I've been watching the snow crawling toward me all week. On the days when neither the snowfall nor the cloud cover or fog or rain blocks ol' McGinnis from my gaze, I'll snap shots to show you how quickly and fiercely winter comes in these parts.The bright sun of yesterday melted quite a bit of snow, even at elevation. I have a feeling that today's low, low temps will bring more termination dust soon. We are preparing for hibernation. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Shortest post ever.....

2009-09-28T21:18:00.000-08:00

There's new snow on the mountains and it's headed this way!

School Days and Delays

2009-09-15T09:34:00.007-08:00

Before we even get to the pictures (they're good ones, too; Gwen is such a big kid, those five years went so fast!) and in the interest of I-don't-know-what, I just want to make a quick point here...

Since "we" started Kindergarten this year, we have collectively as a family referred to it as "real" school as opposed to preschool being more of a "pretend" school, even though we don't call it that. Kindergarten is "Big Kid" school - the real deal. Granted in Alaska, Kindergarten is not a legally required grade, but it is still more official than the wonderful cooperative preschool Gwen attended last year and which Amelia has hopes of attending next year.

So we are all geared up for "real" school, the place that Greg reminds us often where we can't be late, ever. (We, along with many of the other parents and preschoolers, were often tardy for preschool, but only by a few minutes.) Thus far this school year, we have not been late even once, nor even frantic or rushed or panicky, I might add. Believe me, I'm just as surprised as you are.

Today, Gwen wanted to take the bus. I casually mentioned it to her last week one day, thinking we might work up to it, but if not, that would be OK too. Well, she was bound and determined to do it and she had her brain fixed on today being THE DAY. Uh huh. Gwen is milling about with at least three of her classmates while waiting for the bus. Amelia and I are off a ways sitting in the car, waiting for the bus. And we wait. And we wait. And then we finally wait some more.

Once I realize that the bus is really running behind schedule I have to decide if it is better to just be a little late (and risk Greg's frustration) or to rip Gwen away from her pals and suffer the subsequent breakdown just to get her to school on time. We opted to continue with our bus adventure, with Amelia and I following in the car, since our mission was to follow the bus to school and wave at Gwen as often as we could. We all made it just fine, and here are the pictures to prove it:

(EDITOR"S NOTE: We're still not sure what the point of this story is, as alluded to in the first paragraph; maybe it is something about how the mom was doing fine without the "help" of the bus. Maybe some attempt at illustrating to the dad how the "real" school messed up the perfect attendance that was so carefully guarded and prized by the mom. It's hard to tell what the point is what with all the incessant rambling.)

At first, Gwen was just barely civil as we got ready to leave the first day of school (this is way back on Aug 27, FYI.). She wasn't going to smile at all, even though Amelia seemed pretty excited about Sissy being gone all morning. Nonetheless, these girls are not yet early birds, even though Greg is trying hard to instill that trait in them both:Nope, not gonna smile or smirk or grin:OK, maybe a smirk:Oh, wait! She forgot all about her swanky new backpack and lunch bag and all the supplies!Now she's ready for her first day of REAL school!She's in Ms. McLaughlin's class. It's a straight K with only 15 full time students, and two part timers. To the right side of this picture, you can see the red board; that is where the calendar action takes place. Just as suspected, Gwen is NOT the calendar girl this week. Her friend Alyssa is, and that seems to be just fine with Gwen, although she claims Alyssa doesn't do it "right". As a person who is always right, I am hoping to steer both girls far away from this line of thinking. I finally got Gwen to admit that Alyssa has her own way of doing the calendar and that it is just a good as Gwen's way, just different.As you can see, Amelia thinks she belongs in this class as well. I've had to make a pretend classroom at home and do fun activities with Amelia, too, since she is, as she says, a "Big Girl too!"Everything in the classroom is well organized and tidy. It's so different from our chaotic house, that Gwen is sure to learn all sorts of things such as how to keep your stuff put away.There are several big bins of dress-up clothes and both girls think that is the very best part of school:Fast forward about two weeks and here is Gwen at the bus stop for the first time. She was a big hit when she arrived. That's her new friend Alyssa, also smiling for the camera. The kid in the second picture, over to the left in a green jacket is Cade. He lives two doors down and we've been playing all summer with him and his brother Jake, who isn't in this picture, since he rode his bike to school this morning. Sorry these shots are so blurry; those kids are on the move early. They just wouldn't stay still.My camera went on the fritz before I could snap a picture of her getting in the bus, but I got one of her exiting. She was literally on the bus for less than a mile and yet, she seemed to have forgotten all about the plan for Amelia and I to meet her at school and walk in to the building with her.

All grown up! Such a big kid! Wow.

the Punch Line

2009-09-14T10:15:00.007-08:00

OK, there is no punch line to the "joke" I thought was going on last week. It's just business as usual here and that business is the business of LIFE.

Just to tie up some loose ends for you, Amelia is not allergic to bee stings. She weathered it like a champ. I held an icepack on her cheek on and off for about an hour, and that was the end of it. You could barely see where the stinger went in by the next morning.

We never had an infestation of head lice here. We are still kind of freaked out and occasionally Greg will get kind of crazy-itchy and think the worst, but a thorough check reveals nothing. We are stocked up on all sorts of products though, just in case.

Gwen seems to really like school. She got to do the "calendar job" all last week which consists of arranging the one whole wall of her classroom into the correct date, day of the week, number of days they've been in school, the month, the weather, etc. She LOVES that job and wasn't quite thrilled to hear that each week the job assignments change. She feels since she is the best at that job she should just get to keep doing it.

Anyway, we like the school a lot. The teacher Gwen has, Ms. McLaughlin, is great. I went in several days to help with lunches just be another adult in the room, but since there are only 15 kids in her classroom, the extra grown-ups aren't really warranted. It's nice to note that I am welcome in the classroom at any time, though. Amelia thinks she belongs there so we do go in at least once a week to help with a tricky recess to lunch transition. The "big" kids really enjoy her being there and the girls dress her up with all sorts of princess clothes and shoes. Amelia just eats it up!

Gwen is getting pretty independent and tells us she'll be taking the bus to school before this week is out. We have followed the bus to school several times, and we'll actually watch the kids get on board tomorrow (several of them are from her class). The next day, Amelia and I will follow the bus with Gwen in it. I was a little nervous about this whole idea until I realized that we are the very last stop before the bus gets to school. She'll be on the bus for all of about 4 minutes, so I think I can handle this.

No pictures today, but I will have some of Gwen's first day as well as the DEADLIEST CATCH crab pots that are now resting in our side yard.

Are you KIDDING ME???!!!

2009-08-31T14:07:00.005-08:00

This week in review:

Kindergarten craziness, surprise mullet.... a friend tells us her daughter who was over here all day on Wednesday and went with us to the salon for Gwen's 'do tweak (which is growing on us and looks super-cute) now has lice. Amelia had a 102-degree fever and the rest of us had scratchy throats and flu-like body aches yesterday so we all missed Church, and today Amelia got stung by a bee, which is more than a little alarming since Grandpa is allergic, so I'm constantly checking her for anaphylactic shock and other symptoms. We start school on Thursday and Greg "won" two used commercial (like Deadliest Catch?) crab pots in an auction.

Where is the Candid Camera crew and the laugh track? Surely someone is joking.

Usurper of The Day

2009-08-27T09:08:00.010-08:00

Something unexpected happened this week, Tuesday to be exact. It overrode, or usurped if you will, everything else that day.

We've had a whirlwind school season so far and it hasn't even started. We had planned to send Gwen to a Christian school here in town, but after an orientation Monday night, we sadly and suddenly pulled the plug. Gwen would have started kindergarten on Wednesday. But alas, she is still home, while I am frantic to enroll her in another school.

All day on Tuesday I was on the phone or the computer getting tips from the other moms, some of the admin staff at various schools, and even the inside scoop from some of the teachers I know. I spent hours talking to principals, librarians, and to poor Greg who was at work while I literally freaked out at home. As of this post, it seems we have found a school and we are pretty pleased with our decision.

Back to Tuesday....Mid afternoon, during Amelia's naptime, I came up for a much-needed breather, some water, and to answer nature's call and found this:

Kind of alarming to see scissors lying about on the bathroom counter when I've got a toddler, but Amelia was sleeping so I was able to remain calm.

And then I saw this:

Why, it's the bathroom rug. Hmm. What could be strewn all across it? Bend and peer at it closely.... scanning, scanning..... my, my, what's this in the waste basket?

My voice quavered like that of a starlet in a scary flick... "Gwen? Where are you, Bug? Gwen?" Of course with my mother's intuition, I vaguely understood what had happened. But until I saw Gwen, I didn't really grasp the abject horror that had now become my eldest daughter's hair....

BEHOLD!

THE MULLET TO END ALL MULLETS:

(Goodness, I didn't realize how much these looked like mug shots until just now.)

Well, I'll have you know that I am very proud of my reaction. Those of you who know me well will hopefully be rightfully impressed that I said,"Oh, wow. What happened here, Punkin?" while my inter-monologue skipped along with, "Are you KIDDING ME??!!! School pictures are in like TWO WEEKS! OH GREAT! Is that a MULLET?!! Wipe that smirk OFF YOUR FACE right this MINUTE!!! I can't believe I'm on the phone trying to find the BEST EDUCATION for you and-now-you-look-like-you've-just-been-through-chemo-no-wait-oh-man-you-look-just-like-my-brother-where's-the-Flowbee?" (Yes, we do really have one of those. Greg uses it religiously.)

So, we raced off to the salon. There was some hacking and some whacking and then we ended up with this:

I ask you, does this look like a child who is ashamed of her actions? Embarrassed? Chagrined in the least? Nope. We even asked her while we were out visiting last night how she thought Mommy felt about the new haircut. She didn't have any ready response, so I led the witness a bit. I asked if I was mad about it and she quickly, confidently answered "No", as if it was preposterous to think I'd be upset at all. Thus I must have successfully hid my true feelings of sorrow, resignation, and self-recrimination. But be assured, she is not getting unsupervised scissor time until she graduates from high school.

I keep trying to remember that it really could've been worse. I have an ongoing list of positives running through my head...

She didn't poke out her eye. She didn't maim herself or her sister. We can see her pretty eyes and face. No more tangles and fights about brushing. No more losing barrettes and hairbands. No more syrup and yogurt and milk getting into those long locks.

She is beautiful, but I really think this is just a precursor to the teen years. And I'm more than a little scared.

Granny's in town!

2009-08-13T10:53:00.003-08:00

We have been on an exciting whirlwind since last Wednesday when my mom flew in from Toledo. Boy are her arms tired! :) Actually, she is pretty wore out....We've been hiking several times, fishing hard for halibut, on the ferry back and forth to Skagway, on the White Pass Yukon Railroad, and now Granny's recovering while we get packed up for derby fishing this weekend. Hard to believe she's only been here a week! The girls are loving it, but they are a little pooped too. Photos to come soon. Thanks for checking in!

PS: During all of our travel, we've been having a robust discussion on whether the girls look anything alike or not. These are bath pictures when they were each just under six months old. You be the judge.

Can you even tell which one is which? I'll be excited to read your comments!

July 4 Round Up

2009-07-28T16:22:00.006-08:00

At long last here are pictures from the weekend of the fourth. We headed out to Elfin Cove and Pelican for the festivities and fishing, and also to the outer coast (aka "Big Wide Open Ocean") for some beach combing. It was a gorgeous, perfect day for cruising as Gwen demonstrates here... sunny, warm, hardly any chop.... And then there were whales.

I've had some queries about the sheer number of these huge creatures that we saw that day. I'd guess we were looking at 80 to 90 of them. Some were miles away and some were right next to the boat. It was beautiful and kinda scary at the same time.

This guy was pretty close to us for a while. He was a big solo humpback and we just called him a him because he seemed so huge. I think the males are larger than the females, but I could be wrong. (Yes, really, it does happen sometimes.)The coveted "fluke" photo. It took me forever to get one; my camera was not at its best that day.Greg's mom Linda took some great shots and sent them to us on CD. I haven't included any of them here, but I'll check and see if I can post the best ones. She got some fantastic close-ups of flukes with water dripping and glistening off them.

I think this is one of the mom and baby we saw. We could hear them "talking" each time the surfaced together. That was truly amazing. Whale songs are so eerie and unusual.After about 45 minutes, we had to say farewell to the whales, their songs, and antics. We were hoping to find some of the beautiful glass balls that the Japanese fishing boats use as floats for their nets, so we needed to get out to the coast and see what the weather was up to.

Unfortunately, the water was too rough to put in to the beach on the outside so we found a different, inland beach at the northern end of Lizianski Inlet and tromped around there with Greg's mom and the girls. We got there pretty close to low tide and were able to explore quite a bit. Not a lot to find there due to the lack of people to discard stuff to find, y'know? The girls found a rock formation they called "Sink Rock" because it had two little divots (not the correct geological term, I'm sure... maybe someone knows?) that they could rinse their sandy paws off in before snacking us out of house and boat. Man, give those gals some fresh sea air and they will not stop eating .... I'm already setting some extra cash aside for the teen years' food bill. No, I'm not really, but I probably should be.Greg looked over the area with his big iron as per the usual.The girls and I found a great spot for rock-throwing. This little creek didn't have any fish at the time we were there, but it looked like it was big enough to be anadromous. (That's the five dollar "Alaska" word of the day!) Boo Boo is a southpaw and she could just fling rocks all day. She tries so hard to get each one to land smack in the water and make the telltale splash. If she throws one too short, she says "No!" and shakes her head. She can't end on a "bad" throw either. Once we say, "OK, one more throw, then we have to get back to the boat," she interprets that as one more "good" throw. So we all have to pay attention then to notice a good throw and make the call that we really have to go...Greg taxied us all back and forth on the raft. Gwen and Grandma went first. In fact here they are just getting to the boat on the way out. Then Greg paddled back to get Boo and I last, while I emptied the ammo from the rifle and kept scanning for bears.

Whew- all that and we haven't even got to Pelican yet... come back soon. It'll be worth it!

What are you girls doing today?

2009-07-11T18:12:00.003-08:00

So the girls were playing very nicely downstairs yesterday and when I went down, I complimented them on how cooperative they were being and what good friends they are.... Gwen answered with "Yeah, we were just taking our babies for a walk. We're playing a game called, 'Big Sister, Little Sister: A Love that Never Ends'."

Where on earth does this come from? I love it!

Taco Mommy Bye Bye!

2009-07-07T15:15:00.005-08:00

Amelia has been talking up a storm since Grandpa was here. Greg's dad was up in mid-June and Greg's mom was just here over the 4th. Since they come up for different reasons, they travel separately and we get several weeks worth of excitement. Anyway, we've been able to vaguely understand Amelia's grunts and sounds, but when the grandparents arrived, I guess she felt she needed to kick it up a notch. She started being much more deliberate with her pronounciation, making sure to put the last letter sound on the word, etc.

Yesterday, she even said her very first sentence... it was "Taco Mommy bye-bye!"

For those of you not privy to this lingo, I'll interpret. Our landlady Melinda lives next door and got a new dog several weeks ago. It's an adorable male Pug, only about 8 months old, and his name is Taco. The girls absolutely love him. They can be doing anything in the house (reading, eating, watching a movie, sleeping....) and if they hear his tags clinking outside, they both will drop everything and sprint out the door, shrieking, "TACO!!!! TACO!!!!". Yesterday, as Melinda was pulling out of the driveway, Amelia noted that Taco's mommy was going bye-bye. Brilliant, huh?

In other kid-news, Gwen had her physical exam for kindergarten last week. She is practically perfect in every way, just as suspected. She is 5 years, 4 months old and 47 inches tall (yes, that's only 16 inches shorter than her mom!!). She weighs 52 lbs (Gwen, not Mom! HAR!!) and exhibits normal progress and development. She is starting swimming lessons tonight and soccer camp next week. Now we just have to see if we get accepted to the school we applied at for her. She's been calling it her "new school" since mere minutes after she was done with preschool in May, so we're really hoping it works out.

We spent the 4th in Pelican and in Elfin Cove, saw about 80 or 90 humpback whales (several of which surfaced a measly 30 yards from us), threw birdseed at a truly Alaskan wedding, barely escaped witnessing some crazy ol' drunk Alaskans streaking along a boardwalk, took note of the Alaska rural recycling program, jigged for and caught some spawning herring (Gwen kept wondering why all the bait fish were roughhousing so much), and then caught four little tasty halibut with the herring.

We'll always remember that we were in Pelican when we heard Palin resigned. Somehow, amid all that spectacular and incredibly vast scenery, we didn't seem to care.

Pictures to follow soon.

The Rrrrrest of the Story

2009-05-27T16:01:00.000-08:00

We have a waterfront lot about two miles north of the town of Pelican Alaska in a quaint spot called Sunnyside. Rumor has it that Sunnyside was a temporary Russian settlement for several years when some folks had to abandon ship in the late 1800s. We haven't found any artifacts to support that claim, unless the Russians were fond of blue plastic tarps, railroad spikes, miscellaneous hunks of styrofoam, enormous water-soaked wooden barges, or aluminum cans of Fanta. Anyhoo, it is a great place. I took tons of pictures. We're heading back this weekend, weather permitting.

Here's our beach:Greg surveying the barge:
So, about the enormous wooden barge... this is the story: According to local old-timer Bill Mork, Standard Oil brought a new tank to town back in 1945. It was to store the oil supply for the town's heating and cooking needs. That tank, while no longer in use, is still visible above the main boardwalk in Pelican. Standard brought the big tank in the only appropriate way - by barge. They waited for a really high tide and finally landed in Pelican to offload the tank. Bill says that "coupla" days had not only an extreme high tide, but also a huge storm. As the men (and possibly some of the sturdy womenfolk Pelican boasts) used pulleys and lines to get the tank in place high above town, gigantic waves of proportions previously unseen slammed the barge mercilessly for hours until it finally snapped free from the dock. The barge was tossed and pushed all throughout Lisianski Inlet and finally came to rest as the tide went out. Fast forward to 2001. We now own the barge. Kind of exciting to have a real piece of Alaskana. But then again, we'd like to douse it with diesel and burn it the heck off of the beach. It happens to be sitting on the best cabin site on the lot. Note to USCG friends: please disregard that diesel comment. We are totally, completely, kind of kidding!

Here is a shot of Pelican proper. You can see the current tanks up to the right side of this picture. The old tank from our barge is behind those new ones. Anyway, here are the girls tromping through our "meadow". This is pretty close to where we want to put a small (really small - like 10' by 16') cabin so we can stop sleeping in the boat each trip:Here's me keeping everyone safe with my big iron... a 12 gauge shotgun with with 00 buck shot (Greg also had his .44 mag with us for back up):I am really a crack shot, too. We did some target practice and I shot everything I intended to. Once Gwen saw that she seemed a tad more comfortable being with Mommy only and out of Daddy's eyesight. She's a little concerned with bears, as we all are and should be.

Moving along, here are the girls finding treasures: Finishing up another great outdoor meal:We have several seasonal streams plus one waterfall that seems to be available year-round. Just enjoying the shade - it was super hot out there last time!

On the way back to Juneau we stopped for a little fishing. Very little! Har! Amelia was the only one who caught anything.

She enjoyed the reeling:

She didn't seem too thrilled about the catching. Seriously! Look at that face! I can't believe how much she looks like my dad. He never cared for fishing either: Like I said, we're heading back to Pelican again this weekend if the weather holds. We'll hopefully have a chance to fish hard and get some meat in the freezer. And pictures for the blog.

What was I thinking?!

2009-05-16T09:11:00.002-08:00

This picture sums up in a way that words cannot how I feel this morning.

Greg and the girls went on an overnight boat camping adventure yesterday. They took the boat out to Berner's Bay and slept in it. Now today they should be fishing. They plan to be back by 7pm this evening. The low temp overnight was near freezing. I can imagine Greg looks about the same as I do, sensing that he may have had two little munchkins in his sleeping bag all night long.

In any case, the whole idea behind this madness was that I would get some peace and quiet; I'd be able to concentrate on some work for the soccer league and also the housework and also prep for my Sunday School lesson (I'm the new teacher of the grade 1 to 5 class). And as a bonus I'd get the chance to miss the girls. If you are surrounded/bombarded by them all day, as adorable and incredible as they are, it is uber-difficult to remember what a blessing they are and how fleeting childhood is, can-I-get-an-AMEN, ladies? So I was to get caught up on all my chores, basically.

Do we think that happened? (Do not answer that Amy, whom I ended up chatting online with long about 2:30 am.)

The answer is "not even close".

I ended up finally getting in the bed at 2:54am, but then I read for about 45 minutes.... what am I reading? OK, let's make this even more embarrassing/interesting: I was reading The Grass is Always Greener Under the Septic Tank, a very entertaining book by accomplished author, speaker and humorist, Erma Bombeck, circa 1972.

Please do not try to convince yourself that I am kidding because I am not.

In a related issue, I miss the girls (and Greg) very much (really, my eyes are a bit misty just typing this), but now I am really trying to get some stuff done. Through blogging, apparently. :)

I Spy

2009-05-13T15:47:00.005-08:00

We all headed out to Pelican the first weekend of May for some fishing and to see our property. It was a great time to be out on the boat. The water was calm and the weather was clear. We didn't catch any keepers, but we had a fun adventure. In fact, as we pulled in to Elfin Cove, we noticed a familiar face greeting us. We didn't think we knew anyone in Elfin, but alas, we found a friend. The girls couldn't believe he was there. Maybe you can see him in the pictures?

What on earth is a big stuffed Mickey in a chair doing sitting out in the wilds of Alaska? It's a long winter in Elfin, I bet. Or maybe the paparazzi finally got to him.

non-aerial wolf hunting

2009-05-13T15:31:00.003-08:00

Seriously, we went out looking for Romeo just after Amelia's birthday. Headed out to the Mendenhall Glacier, but didn't see him nor any sign of him. Instead of shooting the wolf, we shot ourselves.... with the camera! We don't use the guns for the wolves, only for the bears (see next post).Here is Gwen's first attempt as a shutterbug! She took this perfect picture of Amelia and I next to LOTS of snow... it is finally spring now, but we had a long, dark, snowy winter. Yay for sun! Yay for warm! Yay for no shoveling!

...but let's talk about presents!

2009-05-03T22:14:00.005-08:00

Here's the birthday girl with her big sister at the birthday dinner. She's already gunning for the gifts methinks.

A great book (anything by Boynton is awesome in my, um, book.) from Great Grandma Lockwood aka GiGi. Also, see those little bookmarks in the lower left corner? Orange flower with green square below? Well, we planted those. They have seeds built right in to he biodegradable paper and now they are plants. If I remember I'll take a picture and show you. It was a fun project to do with the girls. Thanks GiGi!

Amelia LOVES her Doodle from Grandpa and Grandma. She and Gwen actually fight over it fairly regularly. Thanks a lot! No really, we enjoy it quite a bit. We spend many an evening playing "Mommy, what do you want me to draw now?"

It's a choo-choo! Which is what Amelia is actually saying a she pulls her imaginary train whistle string. This is a 3D puzzle train that moves, from Granny. Love it!

Just a beautiful girl with a cherub face moving on to the next present.

Strawberries for dessert. Looks like she approves, huh?Oh, and these next several pictures illustrate the ham side of Amelia. Once she opened this dress that Granny made, she had to try it on immediately and then model it for us. She has this new thing where she says "cheeeeee" whenever she wants to have her picture taken. (And she does it a lot!) So she had the dress on and kept yelling "cheeeeee!!!!!" in a squeaky, highpitched, adorable-yet-progressively-louder voice until I got the camera rolling. She's really quite the little insistent superstar. No hair, can't really talk yet, but she gets her point across with no problems and in a big way.

My mom also crocheted a few handpuppets/wash mitts for her. This seahorse is her favorite, which makes sense if you know how much she loves Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle.

Amelia is TWO!

2009-05-03T17:50:00.004-08:00

Cake: scratch butter cream with whole wheat flour, in a stack of rounds
Frosting: store-bought cream cheese - verrrrry sugary!
Decorations: purple flowers and green leavesAmelia: preciousI'm not sure if she was thinking that she had to sneak up on the candle or what. She was kind of hiding her eyes and laughing about the flame. Maybe it was just too much for her. She LOVED the part when the lights went out and the singing began.....

Birthday Girl Preview

2009-04-06T18:35:00.002-08:00

HEY! You there... in front of the computer. Yeah, you. Guess what?! Amelia turned two today! It's true! To prove it, let me tell you how cranky she's been all day from the exceptionally ginormous amount of sugar I've been allowing... in the form of cookies, candies, juices, you name it. I even bought peanut butter with SUGAR - the girls have never had that before, but since Greg's out of town, we decided to live it up a little.

Anyway, officially, today's the day, but Greg is in Yakutat until late Tuesday, so we are not celebrating until Wednesday. Check back for all the excitement. And more sugar.

And, apparently, WAY too many commas. I just noticed how many there are. Do I always do that? Level with me, Dear Reader. Be blunt.

APRIL FOOLS

2009-04-02T18:44:00.007-08:00

Here's the weather that greeted us on April 1:

Surely this is some kind of a prank, right? I mean look at that poor boat! We are chomping at the bit to get out on the water and there is a snow berm about four feet high in front of the trailer. We'll be lucky if we can fish by June!

Oh, yes, it's beautiful. I'd even give you "stunning", but it's also APRIL! We are SO ready for spring or summer, or anything other than snow and shoveling... it has been a l o n g winter.

The girls and I went for a springtime stroll today to keep our cabin fever at bay. It was 40 degrees in the shade, but windy once we got out in the open. If we stayed still and in the sun, it seemed almost warm. Here they are sunbathing Alaska-style:

Gwen is FIVE!

2009-04-02T14:48:00.007-08:00

Here are the promised party pictures! Here's almost the whole gang... I didn't realize until I started posting these how few really good pictures we got. Thus, I'll just explain what transpired in words rather than in photos as I normally like to....

We had several kids over, with siblings and some parents, too. I think the total was only seven kids and five parents, including our family, but in this tiny house, it seemed like much more. We had make-it-yourself personal pizzas (remnants of which you can clearly see all over Gwen's birthday face in all the pictures!), the previously mentioned homemade Diego and Dora carrot cake, and Neapolitan ice cream. The kids decorated their goody bags while the pizzas baked, then we ate and ate and ate.

Then came the presents....

We had specified in the invitations: 'no gifts, please', but our generous relatives sent LOTS of presents so we were just happy to have the kids over to play and sing and celebrate. A few of them stayed a little late to help Gwen open all her gifts. It was a really fun day.

BUT WAIT! There's more!!

At school that morning, Gwen's classmates also helped her celebrate her special day! In fact, the pink birthday crown was given to her by her teachers, and Gwen wore it all day. And the next day too, while we were grocery shopping, so she got birthday wishes and greetings everywhere we went. Anyway, here's how the kids at school do up a birthday:

Cupcakes, snack, candles, singing...a fun, active activity with the rainbow parachute... note the little sister close by at all times.Building forts....In conclusion, I give you this.....

She had a SUPER day!

Anatomy of a Cake

2009-04-01T14:12:00.005-08:00

OK, so Gwen turned 5 on March 16th. I know - I can't believe it either! What a big kid! Seems like only a few moments ago we were going through the trauma of her birth and all those issues, and well, it turned out to be only a blink and now she's 5 years old. Do you hear me, people?! My baby is 5 years old!!

Deep breaths. In. Out. Sigh.

Alrighty, here's the cake. Gwen requested a "Dora and Diego carrot cake made from scratch, not bought at a store". Go, Mommy, Go!!

Let's go in for a close-up. Have you ever had these chocolate candy rocks? Oh YUM! You should find some at a tourist outlet near you. They are super good.

And NO, the brown trail is NOT bacon, as Gwen told her friends, but in fact it is cake crumbs. It was a really tasty cake...no sugar, no artificial sweetener, just concentrated apple juice and mashed pears. And lots of carrots. The uber-sugary canned frosting was more than adequate in the sweet department, thank you.

Stay tuned for party pics!

Moguls Are Us

2009-02-27T16:10:00.002-09:00

Well here we are at Juneau's Eaglecrest Ski Area. Gwen's first lesson went really well. She went for an entire morning with her preschool in late January. Here are a few of the girls (L to R: Kelsey, Becky, Amelia, and Gwen) getting ready to go out for the first time. We are just waiting for the Tiger instructor. Apparently, Amelia thinks she is going too.After a brief orientation, they had the kids walk up this turf/carpet and then scoot over to the "slope", and go!The kids didn't use poles, but they did learn how to use their pizza slice to stop. I was a little lax on taking pictures because the whole thing just scared me; I can't zoom, focus, and keep my hands out to catch her at all times, can I? It was a fun but exhausting day. We took lots of breaks.Rubbing elbows with the likes of Hilary Lindh, we left contented, excited to ski another day.

Birthdays, birthdays, and more birthdays

2009-02-26T09:03:00.005-09:00

Did I mention the birthdays?

This time of year were are inundated with birthdays. While yes, that does translate into lots of cake, it also usually translates into lots of work for Mommy.

My most recent birthday however (a precursor to a milestone... doesn't that make it a milestone in and of itself? Felt like it...) was a bit of a departure from the normal workload for Mommy. In fact, Greg and Gwen made a cake for me. All by themselves. (Except that I bought the mix and the frosting - it's an old family tradition, yellow cake, chocolate frosting). But they baked it and decorated it. It was very yummy. Plus the girls directed Daddy in the placement of crepe paper streamers, both on the ceiling and on the "birthday girl's chair" (that was Gwen favorite phrase of the evening) and how the table should look.

I'm here to tell you it all looked amazing!We had BFD for the evening meal. That's "Breakfast for Dinner" in case you didn't guess. Scratch waffles, sausage, home fries, and cheesy scrambled eggs. It is always a big hit in this family.That's right, I'm officially 39. I believe I will add "and holding" to that next year.Not a fantastic picture of me, but a wonderful shot of the cake. They made green sprinkle mountains and a blue sprinkle "big-wide-open-ocean", even though according to Gwen it was supposed to be my name. Good recovery, guys!

Amelia helped with the candle blowing. She's a natural. Plus, she had wee little pig tails for the festivities. Can you see them?

The next birthday in our house is Gwen's fifth, coming up in mid-March. We are going all-out with Dora and Diego, balloons, cake, kids, pizza... Gwen has it all planned out. There will be crafts and music. It's bound to be a blast. She tells me some new addition every day. She dreams about it in technicolor. Pretty soon there will be real live ponies for everyone and a drive-in theater in our backyard. And a rock band. With authentic mullets. Wow- this sounds like a great party! Why didn't Mommy get rock mullets? Stay tuned for pictures.

So anyway, between Greg's immediate family and mine we have nearly all of the birthdays in January, February, March and April. Two in January, four in February, six in March and then Amelia and Cori in April (they'll be two already this year!). Out of all our immediate family, only three birthdays are not in those months. We have two in September, and one in October. Oh, wait - Greg's is in late December, but he was a preemie and was actually due on my birthday. Does that still count?

In any case, let the cakes begin!!

Hawaiian Flora

2009-01-25T22:39:00.003-09:00

Just a few more pictures of Hawaii and then we'll get back to our regularly scheduled snow (up to 15 inches expected tomorrow here in Juneau). These first few were taken around the grounds of the house we rented with Greg's family for the first week.

And this last one is the view from our hotel room on the last four days. We thought we'd treat ourselves to a little luxury and it was really nice. There were sea turtles basking right in this area and all sorts of colorful tropical fish right here too where the girls could see and enjoy them.

Big Kahuna!

2009-01-25T22:22:00.002-09:00

Gwen with her beautiful smile...

Grandpa and Boo Boo catching some waves.

Gwen and her daddy enjoying the sunset and warm water. Greg finally found some waves big enough for him to bodyboard for quite a while.

More Island Images

2009-01-25T22:12:00.002-09:00

Here is Gwen's Sandman, as opposed of course, to a SNOW man...She spent so much time just digging around and getting dirty.... They both did. And they loved it!

Can you see all the sand on Amelia's face? We're still finding sand and pebbles in weird places...

Conservation Mode

2009-01-16T16:20:00.002-09:00

OK, if it hasn't made the newswire yet, here's the scoop: our hydroelectric power was wiped out by another avalanche so we're (meaning all of Juneau) on diesel generators again for the foreseeable future.

Last April, the day after we moved back to town, the same thing happened. Then diesel fuel was still very expensive and our electric kwh charge skyrocketed to about 52 cents from a norm of 11 cents.

This time, they are expecting we'll go to about 35 cents from our current 10 cents per kwh. Not quite as steep a hike, but it will be noticeable on our bill for sure. Which is why I'm typing this in the dark, have laundry hanging from the rafters, and haven't turned the oven on all week. Plus I'm showering at the gym.

Greg thinks we can chop our usage in half. We'll let you know.

Eventually.

When we can afford to turn the computer back on....

If anyone has any good microwave recipes, pass them on, please!

Sand, Surf, Sights

2009-01-08T00:59:00.005-09:00

OK, we got back from Hawaii last Tuesday and we're still swapping high-fives on account of only one of us got burnt to a crisp. We had a really wonderful time, had some great weather, and saw a lot more of the Island than we did last time. We definitely found our new favorite area of the Big Island and will probably head back to North Kohala next time and just stay there the whole time.

Without further ado, let the pictures begin. First, I will post adorable kids in completely non-Alaskan attire, mostly digging in the sand and kicking it in the surf...

Gwen is either trying really hard not to let her sister fall into the brackish tidepool with the green sea turtles, or she may be pushing her in. Not sure, but they really liked seeing those big, strange creatures. Also, although I've never tried to before, I really wanted to include a video of the turtles but I can't. So enjoy these stills.... there's a lot of them:

We went to a luau with Greg's parents. The girls got to wear their Hawaii dresses (which we bought on the ultra clearance rack at Fred Meyer in Juneau before we left).

Gwen just has such a great smile. I often wonder (in a worrisome, dismayed manner) if we might see this mug gracing the covers of magazines someday... And Amelia had to have her napkin on her lap, just like Mommy had. Good girl!

We were just 'go-go-go' the whole time, so we had many afternoons that ended with Amelia looking like this in the comfy crib that was provided in our rental house:
Yep, sun hat on, still in her swimsuit, with a beach towel for a blanket. We were about a 15-minute drive from the nearest beach (Mauna Kea), so she passed out at soon as we'd start home each day and be drooling when we pulled in to the driveway.

Speaking of driveway, check back soon for some shots of the foliage around the rental house. It was so different than our normal plant life... so this would be akin to someone from Hawaii taking pictures of Devil's Club, a pricky, pervasive, icky, nasty, poisonous weed that is EVERYWHERE in Southeast Alaska. On that note, I'm sure you'll tune in again soon... yeah.

Song Lyrics

2008-12-22T00:12:00.003-09:00

I sang this song at church today and it was really moving. God put this song on my heart several weeks ago and it seems he wanted the whole congregation to hear it. Now I'm being moved to put the words here, too. Even if you don't know the tune, you can reflect on the words and maybe shift your holiday focus back to the original reason for the season.

There are people who are whispering,
and the rumors are running wild.
There's a woman who's not married
but she's gonna have a child.
Her name is Mary; she's a virgin
from down in Nazareth. Now listen close:
She's gonna marry a man named Joseph,
but the baby's father is the Holy Ghost.

And who do you think
could believe such a thing?
Could believe that this story is true?
Who do you think could believe such a thing?
Well, here's hoping to heaven you do.

Now they're sayin' she had the baby
in a barn in Bethlehem.
And the star flew 'round in heaven
'til it stopped right over them.
Then some shepherds said an angel
came and told them 'bout the birth.
They always knew men went to heaven,
but now God had come to earth.

And who do you think
could believe such a thing?
Could believe that this story is true?
Who do you think could believe such a thing?
Well, here's hoping to heaven you do.

Mele Kalikimaka

2008-12-16T15:58:00.008-09:00

OK, we're ready to go on the annual Lockwood Family Christmas tree hunt!The angle of this picture is strange. Can you tell that Greg is walking down a big hill after scouting the forest from above? I didn't think so. Well, he is. I'm taking the picture looking back up the hill after slip-sliding my way down. BooBoo is hanging on for dear life!Talk about the lap of luxury! Those girls just whined and fussed and rode around in the sled all morning. I fear Greg may have three women "helping" him with the tree cutting. And everything else he does for the rest of his life.Close up of the lounging ladies. It was pouring down rain, but they were pretty snug.Critiquing the technique, I think. We just wanted a small tree since we aren't going to keep it up for very long. You'll see why at the end of this post, if you haven't guessed already.TAH DAH! The best one in all of Alaska! Yay Daddy!OK, raise your hand if you want to get back in the truck.... I think Amelia's hands were frozen to her jacket. Hey, wait! There are three girls in the sled! Let's go in for the close up...Wow! Hope Daddy ate his Wheaties today. Actually, the girls and I sledded all the way back down the big hill - about a half a mile, while Greg dragged the tiny yet perfect tree back down to the road.Mush, you huskies! Get to work, girls!Here, little child, carry this dangerous saw and snap to it!Ooh! The money shot!Let's put it in the truck now. Show all the contestants what they could win, will you, Dearie?At last, the angel. And a topper for our little tree.Merry Christmas from these Cutie Patooties and their parents!

Some observant readers will no doubt have pondered at length the title of this post... "Mele Kalikimaka". Good show, dear readers - you have discovered the secret.... we won't have our tree up at Christmas this year, because we will be in Kona Hawaii on the Big Island with Greg's whole family!

In the flurry of packing and racing around rather aimlessly, we have completely missed sending cards this year. Instead, many of you will receive colorful postcards in the next few weeks. We hope you relish these tokens as you welcome in the new year. Look for plenty of tropical pictures to come.

Happy 2009 everyone, and...

merry CHRISTmas!

Missed one!

2008-11-24T15:41:00.006-09:00

Oops.

In my haste to get some new pictures on the blog last week, I omitted a particularly important one. In the following photo, please note that the granddaughter, Gwen, is only four and a half years old. I won't tell you how old Granny is, but she is not quite 5'2". I think we will have at least one very "tall" daughter.

Let me elaborate on why I've placed the word tall in quotes. In this family, "tall" is a relative term, literally. My family's tallest immediate member (my brother - correct me if I'm wrong, Adam) is a whopping 5'9 (and a half)". Greg's immediate family has three people over six feet tall - Greg, his dad, and his brother.

So it is distinctly possible that while Gwen only grows to about 5'9", she'll be an amazon in my family. And a pipsqueak in Greg's.

OK, after all that, here's the picture:

It really won't hurt my feelings if...

2008-11-18T23:08:00.004-09:00

... you would all just flat-out admit that you do not come here to listen to me blather on about anything and everything. I know you only check in regularly for the pictures.

Well, I aim to please, so enjoy...

Clowning around in their PJs:At the mall for trick or treating:

Halloween dress-up day at Gwen's preschool. Amelia thinks she is a big kid, too: The girls just couldn't get enough of Granny. Here they are at a new restaurant in town. Thanks again to Granny for treating us at "Japanese Steak Teriaki Sushi Bar" - Hey, that's exactly what the sign says. Anyway, look at these big hugs! My mom loved it!Auke Lake with Mendenhall Glacier in the background:

At Rotary Park with Daddy on one of his lunch breaks:

Sisters marching in the park. Man, doesn't Amelia's attitude come shining through in this picture? She is in charge and she knows it!

Granny and her eagles...

2008-11-08T10:46:00.003-09:00

My mom is here from Ohio and we are having SO MUCH FUN! She and the girls are just finishing the same book for the 1100th time this morning. now there are starting a new Pooh video. Yes, a real VHS video. Anyway, the girls are so happy that "Granny" is here. They will sure miss her when she goes next week.

Last Monday, Greg took the day off work. So Granny and I (me sans kids for the first time in almost five years!) went to Haines Alaska via the Alaska Marine Highway System for the day. We were on the F/V Malaspina and went up specifically to see the world's largest concentration of American Bald Eagles. It happens every fall at about the same time; thus, this: http://www.baldeaglefestival.org/index.html. We opted to avoid the people crowds so we could focus more on the eagle crowds. We must have seen about 500 eagles, maybe more. It was hard to tell since they wouldn't stay put. They were just magnificently mingling, as they are wont to do. The weather was great, the company first-rate, and the eagles were certainly abundant. Well, see for yourself:

Fortunately, we didn't stumble upon the brown bear crowds...
We will sure miss Granny when she leaves but have had a super time with her. And we still have five more days! Yay!

Dis an Dat

2008-10-29T22:12:00.004-08:00

A little of this, a little of that....

I got Facebooked in a bad way and I'm sorry to say I am chilling over there most days when I could be blogging. To regain your good graces, dear reader, here are some catch-up photos.

'Tis the season... for violently hacking up an innocent vegetable and placing its carcass on your front stoop:

Patiently drawing the design...

Peace, my brother!

Ewww, gourd guts!

'Tis also the season for SNOW! We got several inches last weekend and it was beautiful! The girls loved it, but then it left and that's OK too.

Macaulay Salmon Hatchery field trip

2008-10-20T12:53:00.004-08:00

WOW! Gwen had a field trip today to what us locals call "DIPAC", or Douglas Island Pink and Chum. The kids had so much fun, but it's possible the adults had more fun. The facility is really great, and Rich, our teacher for the day was wonderful. His assistant, Jodi, also had a lovely rapport with the kids, who were pretty rapt the entire visit. The aquariums are always a huge hit and here's why:FYI, that is a Christmas anemone, assumedly due to the red and green variegations.Henry the octopus-

Did you even know seastars even came in so many colors?In light of the upcoming Depression, my go-to question at each station was "Is that edible?"

Time Suck

2008-10-17T20:23:00.004-08:00

Woah. I got sucked into Facebook this week, and it has been a mixed bag. On one hand, I have gotten a little bit caught up with some old friends from high school. On the other hand, my dishes are going to fall over and squash someone.

Speaking of squashing someone, here is a picture of me before my new job orientation on Wednesday. Yikes. Good thing I'm down 7 lbs, huh? Whew - that picture is very good motivation to get to the gym!

Well, we are all aflutter here at our house. I just started a new part-time job, and will begin another one before the end of this month. I can do both jobs from home, luckily. My mom comes to visit for 18 days starting Oct 27, just hours after Greg leaves for a week-long training in Anchorage. On Nov 1, Gwen preschool has its Fall Festival, which I am chairing. It's a fun event for 40 three- to five-year old kids and their families, including such activities as pumpkin bowling and musical hay bales. I'll be sure to post some pictures of the fun when I have a chance.

Until then, here's a picture of Amelia's day. I snapped this from the loft. What a patootie!

Well, what can I say?

2008-10-06T09:15:00.005-08:00

No. Really. What can I possibly say about this week? We were just carrying on and living our life. Nothing particularly poignant or clever or exciting. In fact, it was relatively boring. We can sum up our week in a few bullet points:

Gwen has an awful cold. She feels fine, but sounds terrible. She has missed some school. Poor thing.

Amelia is a stinker. She knows how adorable she is and works it to her advantage. Spanks and scolding do not phase her unless they are from Daddy. Wonderful.

Greg got to take the boat out fishing, probably for the last time. He and a buddy (and the kids) got skunked but had a great day to be on the water. This is a shot from last week when Greg and Gwen went down to the hatchery to see if they could snag some silvers. Greg is getting a little concerned about the lack of meat in the freezer now that we've had our first freeze. Or two.

I started my fall soccer season yesterday. I'm the manager and we're playing in a new facility which is pretty cool. Even though the new field house is great, I kind of miss our old gym floors and the hard walls. Regardless, it was fabulous to get some exercise.

Greg and I are still going strong on http://www.bfl.com/ and my total loss for the week was 3.5 pounds!! Yay! Greg's progress will not be noted herein.
We've had just a few nice, sunny days in the last couple of weeks. The girls and I are enjoying every one. Look! Amelia is finally getting some hair!And I don't really have a category for this picture. I just thought it was kind of neat. And no, that is not Tina Fey. It's getting hard to tell, huh?

Let's Talk about Weather, Baby!

2008-09-30T09:09:00.002-08:00

It is AMAZING here in Juneau today. It is downright balmy at 58 degrees. That's almost 60! In practically October! WOW! It has not been in the 50s in months here. I bet we didn't get up to 58 more than three or four times all summer. We are heading outside for some fun in the sun (and possibly a migrane) ASAP. Seriously, doesn't this day just scream for some bike riding and swing swinging? We're on it.

Meanwhile in other weather news, this morning there was a BLIZZARD ADVISORY forecast for Thompson Pass near Valdez. (Greg and I did a celebration dance in the bathroom this morning when we heard it.... as in "yay, we don't live there anymore"). Sorry to all our friends still in Valdez, but we are so happy not to have to shovel and plow our way through another winter. Of course, this is seriously jinxing us... I'm sure Juneau will now have the most snowfall on record this winter, but at least we'll have today.

UPDATE: The blizzard warning was cancelled. They are still expecting enough snow to limit visibility to less than a mile, though. I'll take our rain any day. OK, every day.

If I Could Save Time in a Bottle...

2008-09-30T07:14:00.008-08:00

...the first thing that I'd like to do is to go back to last week and blog all this stuff as it happens, not inundate my loyal readers all at once. Nonetheless, I will proceed now to do just that.

Where has the week gone?

We've been quite frazzled around here since Greg returned from his sheep hunt about three weeks ago. It is a long story that Greg will gladly tell anyone who wants to call up here and get the details.

Gwen had a few field trips at school, with the seasonal tree and bark rubbings, and of course the obligatory leaf drawings and other autumn-inspired crafts. As a family, we have been enjoying the fall colors as well. In fact, we went for a hike out Montana Creek on Saturday and while we have no pictures to share, I can tell you that both girls got a closeup view of the creek. Gwen fell in as she was making her way out to Greg who was so busy casting that it took him a moment to help her up. Alas, not a fish in sight. So, as we were looking for some pretty rocks (OK, I'll admit it - I was looking for gold flakes! It's hard not to!), Amelia took a header right in to the frigid, glacier stream. Luckily, Mommy had a change of clothes for each girl and we were none the worse for wear. What tough Alaskan kids!

On Sunday after church, Gwen and I attended a birthday party for a classmate, Maille (pronounced "Miley", but with the traditional Gaelic spelling). Let the adorable pictures begin!!Yes, it was a fairy and pixie party! They played Fairy Queen Says (like Simon Says, but way more fun!)Fairy wands up, Fairy wands down. Oh and even though Gwen and I were completely ignorant in the ways of the pixies, we soon realized that fairies and pixies have to hide when a human comes close.... in fact, the fairies turn in to flowers and have to be really still until the danger passes. I'm still contemplating all the ways I can continue to utilize this fact for years to come....Pin the fairy on the flower... Gwen's fairy was the closest to the center!And here she is with about half of the girls in attendance. All of them are classmates at Gwen's preschool. They made their own fairy crowns and fairy wands.

Nothing else to report except that Greg and I have started on another 12 weeks of Body for Life. I lost two lbs in one day! Yeah, it sounds good now, but I'll let you know my total for the week - that is the real gauge. The last time Greg did a stint of BFL, he lost 50 lbs, FYI. We are in crunch mode now. Exactly 12 weeks from yesterday is the day before we leave for Hawaii. It is awful to have all the staring and pointing when you're on the beach - and not from the paparazzi, either. It's because all the spectators can all tell we big, white tourists are from Alaska. Anyway, I suspect we will still be fairly white in 12 weeks, but hopefully not quite so big. And do not ask, for I will NOT be posting any "before" pictures here.

Absolutely too cute!

2008-09-23T09:15:00.004-08:00

The girls and I went on a little nature walk after picking Gwen up from school yesterday. I can't believe how adorable and amazing these girls are! We all had a fun time in the very crisp (mid-4os) Juneau day. It was the first time in weeks that the cloud cover hasn't been hiding the mountains and glacier, so I thought to grab the camera and it turned out well. Juneau gets about four days of fall before winter hits, so we try to enjoy it all we can.

In related news, I was on the national call-in radio show Chris Fabry LIVE yesterday, talking about my favorite memories of fall, and what fall means to me. If you go to "past programs" you can listen to the Sept 22 show yourself. The show is a favorite of mine and I try to listen every morning, but if you want to zip through most of the show, go to about 19:15. That's where my call starts and I yammer on for about three minutes. Spoiler: my comment involves football and napping.

By the way, in the above pictures, that's the Mendenhall Glacier and the Mendenhall River. Original, huh?

Happy autumnal equinox, everyone!

Bear Report

2008-09-20T08:45:00.002-08:00

Since we moved, we have not seen any bears around in our new neighborhood. However, we did hear all about one of the cubs we had seen at our other house... here's an excerpt from last Monday's news from kinyradio.com:

Wildlife Troopers: Bear cub apparently crushed when sow tips dumpster
A black bear cub was killed in an unusual manner over the weekend. State Wildlife Trooper Nicholas Massey says it happened Saturday morning on Tongass Boulevard in the Valley. He says it appears a sow and two cubs were feeding out of a dumpster there when the sow tipped over the dumpster crushing one of the cubs. He says the cub was laying underneath the dumpster when he arrived. Massey says police were on scene and made sure residents were safe and provided support while he put the bear in his vehicle in the event the sow came back. He says the sow was very angry and disturbed.Massey says he's never run across such a case in the past. He thinks it's pretty unique. He says the owners of the apartment building have made arrangements to stabilize the dumpster so something like that doesn't happen again.

The big boar we had reported on a while back has not followed us over, and we have not heard anything from our old neighbors about his fate. I've got a message in to the local wildlife biologist, so I'll pass on any news. As you can see, anything could have happened to him. It's a tough world out there for bears.

And...... we're back.

2008-09-19T22:43:00.003-08:00

OK, so during the move we didn't so much lose our minds as the camera. Yep, that's why we haven't blogged; we couldn't find the camera. We are in the new rental, and done with the old one aside from the matter of our deposit. We like and trust our old landlord (why do I think of an old SNL/Eddie Murphy skit every time I say "landlord"?) so we should be able to tidy things up in that department soon.

So, although we are 'in", we are so not yet "in" to our new place. I can't find a thing. Like forks. And baby wipes. And guinea pig food. Shampoo. Greg's pants.... The list is endless. Since we were merely moving across town, I just tossed stuff in willy-nilly wherever it would fit and now I'm having second thoughts about that tactic.

Nonetheless, we are pleasantly pleased with our new "home". It is about twice as big as the old place, judging from the amount of stuff we have crammed into it. Plus the yard is great, the neighborhood seems pretty wonderful. We're on a quiet (until you-know-who moved in!) cul-de-sac which dead ends into a park. We know several of our neighbors already, plus.... well, sorry to open an old wound for my friend Crystal, but I've got to tell this story... While we were moving in, four separate neighbors came over and asked if they could a) help us at all and b) welcome us to the neighborhood. What a place! There are lots of kids and I'm really looking forward to Halloween this year like I haven't in a long time.

The only minor negative thing I can drum up is that this place has been neglected. It is in need of paint, appliance repair, new windows, and plumbing. On the plus side, our landlord is very open to any work that needs to be done. She welcomes our input and is happy that I am home during the day to supervise any workmen that might appear from time to time. We're happy that this will be a good fit for us for a while.

OK, one more tiny issue: the lady directly across the street from us in the house that I have to look at from my (really cluttered) kitchen has her yard, mailbox, and house plastered with Ohio State stuff! She was the first neighbor to come over to meet us (as I was trying to back the boat into spongy, muddy ground over the top of the cap to the water main - that's a tale for another day!) and I just had to tell her "Go Blue." She laughingly replied, "Well, there goes the neighborhood!". Little does she know.

In any case, we are indeed back online. Until the house is less cluttered however, pictures will be scarce. Our new address will be forthcoming via email. If you think I may not have your current email address, please post a comment here (using [at] instead of @, to reduce spam and whatnot) and I will add you to our contact list.

Here's the one picture I've taken since we moved in:

This was taken from the loft looking down on Gwen who had apparently passed out from playing with her dollhouse so frenetically this afternoon.

Ooh- tomorrow's tale? Greg subbed for me as the work parent at preschool today because I was too sick to go. Gwen loved it! Greg, not so much.

Now it's personal

2008-09-07T21:20:00.006-08:00

Well, as we were waiting on pins and needles for Greg to arrive back home from his hunting trip, I finally decided that the truth must be told. I have been sitting on these pictures for a few days now and I just must share them. It's outrageous, I tell you! But we'll get to that soon enough. For now, the build-up.....

Remember the bear who has been tormenting our bear-proof trash can? Well the documented case was not an isolated incident, my friends. He has been here several nights in a row, but suspiciously did not maul the can one day this week. Instead, I later learned that he had broken into our neighbors' garage and proceeded to eat all their trash plus some pantry items that were shelved just outside their adjoining kitchen door.... which was not only not locked, but also ajar during the entire time this cocky bruin was munching the treats he'd uncovered.

Yeah. This was at about 2:30am, and I heard nothing. We must've been snoring to beat the band here in our house while just 40 feet away a big bear sat stuffing himself.

Uh-huh. So this is where it gets personal.... I've really been abused by this bear. Here I am, alone with my two small daughters and this bear is just lurking about, wreaking havoc with my psyche, right? I mean, yes, sure, I know where the 44 is and the ammo as well, but that's not the point. We're just minding our own beeswax and he's strutting around as if he owns the place. I couldn't take it and I turned him into the Alaska Dept of Fish & Game. They unfortunately have a considerable backlog of problem bears and said they would get to our guy when they can. They have a lot of really aggressive bears this year that need to be euthanized.

Anyway, after this blatant break-in and vandalism to our neighbors, I was still a bit upset. I mean, this bruin seems to be toying with me. The next morning, as I was perusing our back lawn, what do I see? Look closely, just about 12 feet from my bedroom window...

Yes, it's a pile. Of. Bear. Scat. Well the gloves are off! This means war, Buddy Boy!

Hubbub be thwarted!

2008-09-05T21:30:00.005-08:00

Yeah, so with all the packing and cleaning and bears and Gubernatorial VP's and hunting and moving, I completely zoinked on posting some pictures of Gwen's first day of school. She is at ABC Preschool again this fall, so there are some familiar faces and some new ones too. She seems to be loving it so far (after two days), but here she is last week on her very first day. Amelia seems kind of thrilled to see her big sis go off for the morning:

Ok, here's one of my big girl all by herself at our current dwelling. (Thanks to Brooke and Crystal for the lovely raincoat; we use it a lot!) Say "cheese"!Wait a minute... Let's get a close-up of that face, shall we? What does this look say to you?

Pensive? Coy? Exhausted? Resigned? Whatever that look is, I have a feeling it's being groomed to perfection and that I will see it often over the next 15 years or so. Nonetheless, she was a bit more spry and perky once we actually got to the school:
We have a great group of kids and parents this year and some wonderful teachers that we feel blessed to have working with Gwen. Here's to a great school year for all of you, too!

REAL Rental

2008-09-05T20:25:00.005-08:00

Okey dokey, we're on the way in to our new place. I jumped the gun a bit and we are renting two places simultaneously while we transition. Not exactly a breeze for our budget, but the math guy is out of town, so I did my best.

Details about the rental, or as Gwen calls it, our "real" house... She seems to really like this new abode, however it is a bit alarming to note that she is already thinking ahead to the next time we move. She has suggested several time-saving techniques for using the shelves for her toys. One household hint involved leaving "everything in the boxes so we don't have to pack it up again when we leave." So then I counted all the moves Gwen has had in her 4 1/2 years.... this current adventure is her ninth move. It is Amelia's third. Man, we need to settle down!

Without further ado, the house. This is an attached or zero-lot-line home; we are renting just the right side and our landlady lives in the other side. The gate to the far right leads to some big, juicy raspberries.
And here's the most inportant room of the house.... the kitchen! It's kind of tiny, more of a galley really, but it is clean and has all the essentials. This is the only downstairs window that looks out the front of the house.The upstairs bedroom is actually a big loft with a huge walk-in closet and a cute window seat. It also has a 3/4 bath and lots of windows to let in all that bright Juneau sun. Yeah right.Speaking of windows, both bathrooms have these long narrow windows, which makes me so excited! I love having windows in the bathroom, so I can put plants in there. They help freshen the air, don't cha know?And at last, the piece de resistance, the HUGE backyard! I can finally unpack my garden gnome collection! Just kidding. The swingset will fit nicely though and I love that the fence is sturdy and tall. It's perfect!Unless I find more free furniture (two bookshelves and a paper sorter, cubby, filing shelf-thingy)at Juneau Freecycle, we should be all moved in by Sept 10; I'll email our address out shortly.

Lickety split!

2008-09-01T23:30:00.003-08:00

Just a quick note with a little info...

Greg and Steve hiked back out of the bush today and opted to fly in to a different area. The slopes were too shale-y and slippery for them to make it up to elevation so they are getting dropped off near a lake and hope to be successful. Also, in two whole days they did not see one ram. Plus, the area they were in had a lot of traffic. Usually when you are hunting, you like to see nobody for miles. Not the case on this trip so far. Greg was answering nature's call one day this weekend when an earthy girl almost hiked right up on him. Steve was giggling apparently as he watched the whole thing unfold in his binos.
And, (dah dah DAH!!!!!) we found a new rental! Hopefully I will have everything packed when Greg gets back to Juneau Sunday and we can move right in. I'm hoping I can clean the new place top to bottom before we move anything over. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, big deck, nice garage, boat parking, and in a great neighborhood near a wonderful playground and pond with year-round ducks! Huge yard for the girls and raspberries for me, too! We are so happy! Oh, and our new landlady Melinda said Lilly can live there too.

I will have pictures soon to share, and of course the new address for you all. Our phone number will stay the same.

Airports and Governors and Bears...

2008-08-29T14:27:00.004-08:00

but not necessarily in that order.

WOW! It is just 2:30 here in Alaska this lovely Friday afternoon and yet a lot has happened already today.

The girls and I rolled out of bed reluctantly at 5am to take Greg to the Juneau International Airport for his hunting trip with his younger brother Steve. Greg flew into Anchorage where Steve picked him up and the two drove up to the Palmer area where they are hiking in to about 5000 ft elevation to hopefully fill Steve's Dall sheep tag. We have our fingers crossed that he'll get a big one and the hunt will be a blast for the guys. Here are the girls saying their goodbyes to Daddy. Smile, girls! When we got home, we sat in the driveway for a few minutes, thinking we might be able to hear Daddy's airplane take off, even though we could not see it through the fog. Instead, we saw this through the windshield:

Yep, ol' Yogi just moseyed through the yard, very close to the car where we were just staring at him.

Holy smokes! Thank God I was so exhausted from getting up so early (and also staying up late sewing a neck gaiter for Greg) that I made up a reason to just sit in the car for a few minutes, or we might have had a much closer encounter. So, those of you who scoffed at the teeth marks on our trash can lid (see older post) should be red-faced now.

And because it is such a pleasant surprise and an exciting time for Alaska, we're jumping on the Palin for VP bandwagon. Here is a picture of Gwen meeting Governor Sarah Palin last fall while we still lived in Valdez. Palin was pretty darn pregnant in this photo it turns out, but that still didn't make Gwen (Palin's very biggest fan in the world) want to smile or even look at the camera. I kid you not, when Palin was newly elected Governor in early 2006, Gwen would be running through the living room and come to a screeching halt in front of the TV, cock her head to one side and say, "Did somebody say 'Sarah Palin'?" It was so adorable considering Gwen had just turned two at the time. Also considering that neither Greg nor I voted for her.

Palin was so charming and personable at this event. She stayed and talked to every last person who waited in line, much to the dismay of her aides who were nearly beside themselves and jumping up and down, trying to get her to the airport. She gave Gwen a big hug before I snapped this picture. While we like her immensely and feel she would be a great President, let alone VP, we are sad to see her go so soon. We aren't quite ready for her to leave Alaska yet, but she would be a great leader for our country! Go Sarah! Please note: I am mum about McCain; I don't have an opinion on him yet. Heck, I just got interested in this presidential race this morning! :)

It's Just Another Rainy Tuesday (woah,woah)

2008-08-26T11:33:00.004-08:00

It has been a chilly downpour in Juneau for what seems like months straight. Oh wait, it HAS BEEN months straight! This blurb is from our local radio news desk:

[2008 summer in Juneau tied for fourth coldest so far. Juneau's summer has been unseasonably cold overall. That description of Juneau's summer, if you want to call it that, is from Meteorologist Corey Van Pelt in the Juneau Forecast Office. He says between June through August 18th, its been 2 point 2 degrees below normal which ties 1974 as the fourth coldest summer on record. The coldest came in 1949 when the temperature was 3 point 6 degrees below average. This July was the third coldest on record since records have been kept at the airport since 1943. It was also the second wettest July on record.]

Gwen and Amelia have apparently not noticed this weather phenomenon.

And yes, that is about 4 inches of standing water lying against the foundation. Sometimes renting seems like a good choice after all.

Glory Be!

2008-08-24T19:24:00.003-08:00

Well, we've finally done it, at long last.... we've been diligently searching since we moved here in April, and today we found it!
Nope, it's not a house, but good guess since we are looking for one of those too, just not as seriously yet.... here's a better picture that is kind of obvious...

Yes, that's right... it's our new church! Juneau Emmanuel Baptist

We have been to services twice so far and we feel right at home. In a bizarre twist (or just business as usual for God) Emmanuel Baptist's (Editor's note: OK if you see the abbreviation "EB", it does not mean Easter Bunny) former pastor and his wife, Earl and Shannon Midkiff, are fairly good friends with our old pastor and his wife, Glen and Nancy Little, from Valdez First Baptist Church. We are so happy to feel so at home here with these new friends.

Since we have bounced around Alaska so often, we have fallen in with the US Coast Guard crowd and have many dear friends of that ilk, so it's a no-brainer that we like our new Coastie pastor here in Juneau, Adam Gray. We will have pictures of all of our new EB "family" and activities soon. We hope to dive right in and help out wherever we are needed and where He directs us. Greg was thrilled to hear that "90% of this church hunts and 80% fishes."

For now, we are content to say "Praise God for His wondrous ways!"

BEAR ATTACK!

2008-08-23T10:39:00.004-08:00

OK, it's been a while since I posted anything, primarily because we've had a fairly ho-hum week.

But that all changed when we got up this morning and we noticed something peculiar in the driveway.... we had a midnight visitor... a bear! Greg needed to thaw out some halibut bait for a charter today so he put a bunch of fish parts in the trash can overnight. Well, the bear found that smelly bonanza and did his darnedest to get inside at the loot! The trash can was knocked about rather harshly and we even discovered some teeth- and/or bite-marks!

Here's our bear-proof trash container.... if you look closely at the top,....

... you'll see three white divots in the green lid where the bruin tried to pry the lid open.And a bunch of scuff marks where he dragged the can around on the pavement for a bit before either getting scared off or recalling that lack of opposable thumbs and thus giving up.

In other news, my soccer team is officially out of the running for league champions. We played a couple of fantastic tournament games and didn't head down to the losers bracket immediately like we usually do. We have a year-end party scheduled for Aug 31, during Greg's sheep hunt with his brother Steve. Anyway, here's a few shots of the soccer action:

And last but certainly not least, we think we found a church!! We attended Emmanuel Baptist Church last Sunday and are excited about heading back tomorrow. We think this is the place God meant for us to find, but He wanted us to check out all our options so that when we walked in to Emmanuel Baptist, we would know right away that we were "home". We will include more details on this and other adventures (like the sheep hunt) soon. Stay tuned!