Denali

Russell has made 4 trips to Denali this summer. He did several science courses that take place in the park, but also did a pack raft trip with our friend, Jeff Pickett. Just prior to our family trip to Denali he and Jeff rode the bus into the park to float down the Savage River drainage. It was a wet, cold trip, but both Russell and Jeff enjoyed the spectacular scenery.

Jeff at the beginning

Brief blue skies as they camped at the top of a pass.

A cold, wet Jeff before descending down to float the river.

Russell returned to retrieve the kids and I and we went into the park to stay at an established camp at Teklanika. There were canvas wall tents with bunk beds, all our meals were prepared, our own private van, and an incredible naturalist, Martha, who taught us and the kids all variety of things about Denali. We did a great hike up through the tundra and I was really proud of what troopers both kids were. It was cool, overcast, often drizzling, and they were having a wonderful time. It did help, I'm sure, that periodically Martha would pull out some new nature game for them to play or sit down and read them a book.

Liam loves Forget-Me-Nots, our state flower, and gets very enthusiastic when he finds them. Natalie had to break out her own camera and take a few pictures of them as well. We saw four of the "Big Five": Moose, Caribou, Dall Sheep, Bear. No wolves on this trip. Many other animals and birds as well. When Russell recently returned from his 4th trip Liam wanted to know if he had stayed at the camp with the puddles. The puddles and mud were a huge hit with Natalie and Liam.

Admiring the Forget-Me-Nots

Story Break

Spotting the Dall Sheep

Hike on the Teklanika Drainage

Teklanika Mud

Juneau Hoods July 4th Visit

Kevin, Aleria, and Atagan went with us to one of our favorite hikes out of Girdwood. It is an easy 1-2 mile walk to a hand tram (Liam kept calling it the hand stand) across Glacier Creek. The July 4th Girdwood Forest Fair was also going on so we explored that as well. Actually, since the Forest Fair is right next to a really fabulous playground, the kids played and Aleria and I explored the Forest Fair in more depth.

We really loved getting to see them this summer albeit only briefly. They took the sunny weather we were having home with them to Juneau and left behind their rain for Anchorage to enjoy the remainder of the summer!

Cousins

Liam on the firepole

Kevin and Atagan

I write the blogs, but except for a few pictures here and there, this is my photographer - in action:

Sweet as a Lilac

Busy as a Bee

Memorial Day at Cooper Lake

We rang in the summer with a camping trip to Cooper Lake with our friends, Gary and Heather, and their girls, Tazlina and Marley. Natalie, Taz, and Marley had their own tent and, of course, had a blast together. We did a similar trip with them at Cooper Lake 4 summers ago before Liam was born. It was the first time camping with both kids that both were asleep before 10pm. It was the easiest camping trip with kids we've had since Natalie was born and gave me great confidence for the summer trips ahead.

We did get a visit from a bear at our camp the second morning. Probably a young adolescent checking things out. We successfully scared him away from our tents and kitchen area but he skirted the camp and exited above our camp to munch on sedges across the creek from where I did the dishes. The kids were all very interested in the bear and surprisingly none of the girls were too concerned about being in the tent on their own. I think they were too tired the second night to think about it.



Gary and Heather taking the 4 kids out for a paddle on the lake.
Marley (5), Natalie (6), and Tazlina (7 - almost 8)
Liam engaged in his favorite past time while the girls were off exploring.
Exploring the shoreline.
View of our camp.

Enjoying Winter

After 10 days in Hawaii what better way to embrace the cold again then ski a 30K race! Natalie skied the 2.5K option with Russell and Liam (in Chariot) as her back up team. Lot of hills and a rather exhausting race, but it felt good to do it. I can't say I've really "trained" this year. But, I have been able to do more skiing this year than I have since Liam was born. A combination of Liam and Natalie being older and the job change. I skied once a week with a group of other women and our coach, Holly Brooks, until Holly made the Olympic ski team. We were all very excited for her and it was fun to watch our Anchorage contingency on the US Nordic Ski team in Vancouver. To say nothing of getting to say your coach is an Olympian!

We got some warm weather shortly thereafter that made for great snowball/snowman making.


Granny Sue and Granddad arrived the beginning of March. I did a 50K race called the Tour of Anchorage. The kids greeting a very tired Mom at the finish line. It was a stupendous day to ski as you can see from the sky!

Natalie and Liam perched on top of the snow mound that Russell fashinoned into an enormous snow cave/fort for them. Three entrances and big enough for Liam to stand up in! It was fun until it collapsed this week.

Russell's parents, aka Granny Sue and Granddad, enjoying some great Spring cross country skiing as well during their stay with us. There is the faintest view of Denali on the horizon.

Liam loves to go skiing, as you can see by the grin. "I'm a good skier," he likes to say as he goes chasing after his big sister.

Liam, Granny Sue, Natalie, and Granddad enjoying the trails at Hillside.

We had a party for Natalie's sixth birthday. She decided she wanted it to have a tropical theme. She drew picture of all sorts of animals and things associated with warmth - red-eyed tree frogs, dolphins, coatimundis, coconuts. There was clearly a theme of her memories of Central America which was cool. She taped these drawings all over the walls (TWO WEEKS before her birthday). There was a lot of excitement to say the least. She has such a small kindergarten class and with it being at the tail end of Spring Break we invited the whole class taking a gamble that half wouldn't be able to make it. I lucked out and was right. Nonetheless, with our other non-kindergarten friends, we still had 15 kids at our house. Controlled chaos and fun.

Granny Sue was very obliging to do over 90% of the construction of our homemade monkey pinata. Russell and I must assume responsibility for his scraggly looking limbs. Russell gets to take full credit for his climbing harness suspension. Liam watched the construction all week, but we neglected to tell him that it gets brutally destroyed by a bunch of kindergartners.

Natalie's classmate, Eli, taking his turn at the pinata. Eli broke his leg sledding down a hill at his home. Enforcing my personal belief that sledding is one of the more dangerous and frightening things that our kids do. But, so is jumping out of a car window to get away from a wasp.... But, I digress. Liam watched in silent horror as each child attempted to beat up the monkey. But, when head and limbs started flying off he lost it and fell into sobs. He finally told me between sobs that he needed to go upstairs and didn't want to watch any longer. It took quite some time for him to get over it. I felt terrible for not warning him. I can totally see how confusing it must have been for him, especially as tender hearted as he is! However, the other 14 kids had a ball and greatly enjoyed our monkey.

Russell and my last "date" together taking advantage of having his parents in town. We skied up a valley close by in Chugach State Park. With the sun on the snow it was so warm we ditched gloves and skied in thin t-shirts going up. But, when we got to North and South Suicide Peaks and Windy Gap, it was cool and windy and otherworldly. Russell has continued going on such ski outings numerous times in the past few years. I think it has been years since I've back country skied more than a few miles! Although I feel nostalgic for the baby stage from time to time, I am definitely feeling the liberation of getting beyond it and having the time to enjoy it. Having the youngest turn three definitely does feel like a bit of a turning point in getting to do a few more of the things I/we used to do.

We may, if we're lucky, have a few more weeks of skiing on the trails in and around town. But, we are fast headed toward Break-Up season. Lots and lots of mud and slush. Spring here is not tulips and daffodils, but rather pot-holes, rubber boots, and many carwashes. Long live our remaining snow! Happy Spring.

Hawaii

In February, just before the days are palpably longer and winter is wearing on us all, Alaskans like to do as their humpback whales do and head for the warmer Pacific waters in Hawaii. We convinced my Atlantic sea-coast loving parents to leave Florida and fly across the country and Pacific to join us. Our logic being Alaska is just as far - at least Hawaii is WARM.

We split our time on the Big Island, half on the Hilo side and half on the Kona side. I was on the Big Island about 20 years ago with my parents as a teenager; it was fun to return with them. We rented two fabulous houses, both of which lulled us with the sound of the waves out the window. The house in Kapoho on the East side was absolutely idyllic. We watched humpbacks from the lanai and saw more stars than I've seen in years. And it was walking distance to several tidepools we could snorkel and swim in. Not pictured are any photos of Volcanoes National Park. It was incredible to see the old lava flows, hike through the lava tubes and down into some of the old craters. There weren't any active flows to the ocean during our stay, however.

The kids had a fabulous time. Poor Liam, on returning to Anchorage, met the harsh reality of where the plane had taken us. While inside the Anchorage airport all bleary eyed and tired he was unaware that he was no longer in Hawaii. The moment he stepped outside with me, saw the snow, the dark, felt the chill in the air he literally refused to go another step. He bawled, "I want to get back on the airplane! I don't want to be HERE. I want to go to Hawaii!" For the past month he tells us, "On Saturday (his generic for in the future) we will get on an airplane and fly to Honolulu". Both kids spent so much time in the water playing that they both advanced to "the next level" in their swim lessons.

It was hard to leave. But, in my next post I'll show that the kids actually do enjoy the 'other' white stuff as well as sand. Kevin, Aleria, and Atagan as well as several of our other Alaskan friends both either preceded us or followed us in their winter treks to the Rainbow State. With a direct flight from Anchorage to Honolulu being a mere 5 1/2 hours, its quicker for us to get there than most places in the Lower 48 (aka Mainland in Hawaiian)! It could get addicting.

Natalie was up literally before dawn our first morning so she got Meme and Papa out of bed to watch the sunrise with her from the lanai.

Russell cracking open a fallen coconut on the a'a' lava out in front of the house with the kids.

Ahalanui tidepool. This tidepool was a short drive from where we stayed and was geothermally heated to a very comfortable 92 degrees. The kids could have stayed in it all day and made a couple of visits while we were there.

Soaking in the lushness of the wet side of the island before heading to the more arid west side.

Russell and Liam watching the mother, calf, and the "boyfriend" humpback whales during a whale watching trip we did.

One of multiple beaches we hit during our stay. And one of many sand structures constructed and destroyed...

Liam doing what Liam always does when he spies any body of water - throw rocks!

Natalie giving Liam and I her snorkeling lessons in a shallow tidepool. She did snorkel with Russell and I a couple of times. On one of her trips she got to see a sea turtle. In fact a surge pushed her into the thing which rather surprised both Natalie and the turtle.

Warming up on some pahoehoe lava.

Sand is just fun.



Run, Papa! The waves breaking by this naturally protected, large tidepool were really amazing to watch. The tidepool was a perfect place for the kids to play and the beach was awesome.
And, so we returned there to soak up our last sunset just before leaving for the airport. Aloha.