Californiahhhhh.... Escape from Redoubt

We arrived to verdant hills, spring blooms, blue skies, lots of strawberries and other fabulous produce, sunshine, and exceeded Anchorage's summer quota of 70 degree days by a factor of five! We visited my brother, Roby, and his family on the front and back end of our trip. My mom and dad flew out from Indiana to meet up with us at Roby and Kim's. Then we drove up with my parents to spend the bulk of our trip in Los Osos. My parents and Russell's love to get together so we had a ball with all four grand parents doting on us and the kids. We returned to Burbank via the Amtrak Pacific Coastliner train making our visit truly one of train, planes, and automobiles.


Morro Rock as viewed from Los Osos during one of many walks with the kids and Tanner (Sue and My's dog).


We spent our second day with Roby and Kim at Carpenteria playing on the beach. Shelby is six and Rachael is just 5 months older than Liam. The cousins had a fabulous time together and for the first time were at ages when they truly played together.


Liam initially fell into a tide pool, then jumped in again fulling drenching himself and not minding the cool Pacific in the least.

Rachael Wilson hamming it for the camera.

Duck, Duck, Goose in Shelby and Rachael's backyard.


The kids enjoying a bedtime story from Uncle Roby.

Picnic Dinner out on the dunes in Morro Bay. We used the Hoods' two canoes to make the short journey across the Bay.




Beachcombing with Grandad

Reading with Granny Sue

We visited the tidal pools at Coralina Cove in Montana de Oro State Park. Liam is practicing is one finger touching technique he learned at the Alaska Sea Life Center to get an anemone to close up.

The kids enjoying a hike through the live oaks.

And... a couple of parting shots from home before our trip south.


Natalie in all of her adorable grandeur telling one of her grandmothers about her fifth birthday.

Winter Update

We are repaying our debt for having our wonderful break in the Fall and I am working quite a lot. Russell is playing the role of house Dad brilliantly. But I miss him and the kids and the feeling is mutual. Russell gets stir crazy at times and I am not enjoying my work as much as I would like. BUT, the days are lengthening in daylight 5 and a half minutes a day - so way noticeable. We are all healthy - way more so than last year - one of many perks to having a stay at home parent. Natalie seems to be enjoying her preschool and is as prolific an artist as ever. Still incredibly curious about everything and has a great love of learning. And if ever our moods shall dip, Liam keeps us all laughing.





Liam's favorite song at present is Swing Low Sweet Chariot. I must try to get a video or at least audio clip of the two of them singing it together. Below is their duet rendition on the piano.



I worked in Seward, AK, a couple of weeks ago and will go again in a couple of weeks. Russell and the kids go as well and the hospital puts us up in their B&B. We usually get a couple of rooms along with the common kitchen, but had only one this time. Natalie has always referred to it as the "compartment" in Seward (instead of apartment). But, it is really so much more fitting a term that we talk of when we will return to the compartment as well. Nonetheless, it is fun and different medicine for me and we all generally have a pretty good time. Above is a picture of downtown Seward in the early evening in January.


Here is the view of Mount Alice that you see across Resurrection Bay in Seward complimented by the lovely low angle light of winter.




We tried stopping along Turnagain Arm on the way home after working in Seward to enjoy some of the new snow. Unfortunately, with a stiff North wind it was awfully bitter cold for the kids and our foray was not as long as we might have wished.



While Liam will still ride in the Chariot without much complaint, he is a heavier 2 year old than Natalie was. I took Natalie and Liam both out skiing today. It was Liam's first time on the snow in his little strap on skis and he loved it. When I tried to get him to go back in the Chariot all I heard was "Want some more ski!"

BATH TIME!


Natalie trying to work her fairy magic to tame the boys (Sam and Will Lord on the bed and Liam trying to get up)


We built a snow tunnel from the snow on the deck. It was a collective effort to both pile the snow and dig it out and all were involved.
"Look at me!"

Our artist carefully painting a bird feeder.



Liam was pretty excited about his birthday Brownie and ice cream!


Enjoying the ice sculptures downtown Anchorage

Having Fun at 25 Below

This is now our tenth winter in Alaska and this winter thus far has been one of the coldest we've experienced. Our first winter in 98-99 also saw a prolonged period of subzero temperatures. But, I set a new record for myself this past weekend.

That same first winter of 98-99 when I was an intern at the Alaska Family Medicine Residency we went out to Eklutna Lake for a weekend and learned to build snow shelters, start fires, and make mukluks out of the remains of supposed plane crash debris. This was the beginning of a strong tradition at our program called the Winter Wilderness Survival Workshop. Attendance is mandatory for all the first and third year residents, but I think I can safely say that the majority both look forward to and enjoy it. Because of or despite the fact that all the first year residents must make and sleep in a snow shelter for the night.

This year I got to be one of the lucky faculty to help put on this workshop. It was at the tail end of our cold 11 day stretch of subzero temperatures. Our high on Friday (the day we built our snow shelters) was -25 degrees F. The low was -37. I must confess that I, along with another of the hosting faculty, did not sleep in a snow shelter but instead hunkered down by the wood burning stove in our cabin. However, lest any of you think that we carelessly subject our residents to such element extremes, I must tell you that the temperature in the occupied snow shelters varied from 18 to 33 degrees ABOVE zero. Which is precisely why they are great shelters and a great survival tool. A good sleeping pad, however, is key. I nearly froze as an intern because I was sleeping on a 3/4 length foam pad. And the folks that came in to the cabins earlier in the night did so because their sleeping pads were inadequate. You are, after all, still sleeping on snow!

Although one of our third year residents that grew up in Interior Bush Alaska brought her brood of 4 kids under 7 years old, my kiddos stayed at home with Russell and built forts with the furniture, quilts, pillows, and sleeping bags. It was inspiring to see these kids outside and almost unphased by the frigid weather. I went home and told Russell we were being pansies with our kids! But, lucky for Natalie and Liam, it has warmed up. In fact, Russell and I were depressed to see that it was raining earlier this evening.

Russell is off to Juneau tomorrow evening to spend four days visiting Kevin and Aleria, our new nephew, Atagan, and old friends from his Forest Service days that he hasn't seen in too many years. The kids and I will play in the slush that remains after our "warm" spell.

Family, Fires, and long Frosty Sunsets - We are Home

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It wasn't the easiest adjustment to reaclimate to the bitter temperature change and lack of daylight. Our second day back when we hauled the kids off to the zoo in single digit temperatures they both balked at the number of layers they had to wear. I believe Liam's words were "Want Off!" referring to the coat, hat, and gloves. But, as you can see he has adjusted and is back to wearing the hats as a fashion statement indoors. It helped that it was Christmastime and Russell's parents arrived just a few days after we did. The excitement eased the transition for the kids.

Understandably so (I guess), after three months away, I was more or less thrown back to work and saw very little of my wonderful in-laws. Although I missed visiting with them it was probably a blessing that they were there for that time period to help Russell. They are now visiting their newest grandson, Atagan Asher Hood, in Juneau. After much anticipation he arrived on December 18th.

The kids have been having a ball reacquainting with their toys - both old and the new Christmas ones. But, Liam still has a fondness for the trusty little cars and planes that traveled Central America with us. They just a get a ride in the John Deere dump truck now. Natalie will start at her new pre-school next week and I have no doubt she will be glad to have some interaction with kids other than her brother.

Meanwhile, Russell and I are slowly trying to get back into skiing shape. Fortunately, the snow is awesome so far this winter. We just need to toughen our skin up to the cold and strengthen those skiing muscles. After a week solid in the hospital almost all my freckles have faded. Sniff. And I think I need to go buy some Vitamin D now. I miss humidity as well. But, this is home and it is good on some level to be back.

The trip slideshows can still be found scrolling to the end of the posts.

Happy 09!!

Panama

One of the highlights certainly of our Panama travels as well as one of our favorites during our entire trip has been our visit to the San Blas Archipelago. It is a strip of land and offshore islands (mostly coral atolls) on the Caribbean coast. It is owned and managed autonomously by the Kuna Yala people. The island on which our lodge was located was about a half acre in size and all sand with 19 coconut palms (Natalie counted them). It was idyllic and we could have easily killed some more time there. The famous molas - a brightly colored reverse applique emboridery characteristic of Panama - are made by the Kuna Yala women. The water was incredible and there is nothing like a small self contained beach island to keep two kids entertained and out of trouble for a while. Our Kuna lodge manager took us snorkeling, to visit his village, and up one of the rivers to see their plantations. They made wonderful meals of seafood for us every night as well.

We used Panama City as our coming and going spot and during our stop-over days visited the canal. Natalie and Russell were enthralled by the ships going through the locks. I might have been too, but was busy keeping Liam from damaging himself or destroying something. The lack of sleep, missed naps, and schedule (or lack thereof), have made him into a bit of a handful at this point. It was fascinating to watch these ginormous barcos move through the locks. And the museum detailing the construction gave me an awe for this feat of engineering - especially at the turn of the century.

The following day we did a boat tour on the river and lake that make up part of the canal. We saw more monkeys and a toucan as well as some more mega-boats transiting the canal. The jungle around this part of the canal is protected (the rainforest must be preserved to ensure that there will be adequate water to operate the locks) and rich in wildlife. We visited a national park nearby that had an observation tower overlooking the canopy. Despite a sign warning us not to take children under 12 Russell and I took Natalie and Liam (on my back) up the winding spiral staircase trying to reach the top before the sky unleashed a storm on us. We had just reached the top and were admiring the view when a lightning bolt struck not more than a half mile away. As soon as I was able to say, "Time to go down!" the clap of thunder reached us and Natalie let out a blood-curdling scream. She was in hysterics the entire walk back to the visitor center and did not really calm down until we got in our minivan back to the hotel. Liam fed on her hysteria and we had two wailing kids in the pouring rain. We really couldn't do anything but laugh at the whole scene. It is a shame we didn't get to explore this cool park more and look for more wildlife (other than our kids). I did enjoy watching about six or seven - at least - different species of hummingbirds feeding around the visitor center. The Hum Birds also helped to calm Liam at least.

From Panama City we took another flight to the northern Caribbean coast to visit Bocas del Toro. The area, unfortunately, was hammered by about two weeks of storms about a week before we arrived. The winds, high tides, and rough seas combined wiped out a lot of their beaches including the one small beach at our accommodations. The heavy rain also meant that the mosquitos were much worse than normal - in fact the worst we've experienced the whole trip. Our accommodations were really lovely, spacious, serene, and again with kitchen which was great. There was a huge expanse of jungle all around us which would have been fun to explore. We really wanted to see a sloth! We were treated to the sound of Liam's Howler monkeys and green parrots. And at night we were serenaded by the sound of frogs and crashing surf (and rain). But, the mozzies were a deterrent for much jungle exploration and the distance from town made getting out to see other parts of the area more of a hassle. We took a boat tour and did a bit of snorkeling and dolphin watching. The coral in the area was gorgeous! So many different types of soft coral in the most vibrant colors. The visibility could have been bettter (also affected by the rain), but it was stunning nonetheless. Our last day we went sailing on a trimaran and did more of the same - snorkeling, watching dolphins, soaking up our last rays of warm sunshine to fuel us through the upcoming months.

Left Bocas this morning and spent the day in Panama City. Natalie got to go diving for rings in the outdoor pool and show off the swimming skills she's acquired in the past three months. We realized that her feet have outgrown all her shoes that we brought with us except the Chacos she's been wearing exclusively for the past 6 weeks. Since Chacos aren't so hot in snow we had to brave the Mall of (Central) America in Panama City and buy her a pair of shoes. It was an anti-climatic way to spend our last night in Panama to say the least.

We are feeling bittersweet. Russell and I are both pretty ready to be home. We are definitely ready to ski and get back into shape! As fun as this laid back life is we are both craving a little exercise and wanting to sweat because we worked hard, not just because it is stinking hot. Liam is ready to have some routine in his life again and the opportunity to sleep as much as his little body needs. Natalie does not at all want to go home or have any of this end and has let us know that today. As would be expected! She says she is looking forward to seeing Grannie Sue and Grandad, Christmas, and reading all her magazines that have accumulated in our absence. But, has no interest in cold and will miss the ocean and swimming pools A LOT. It has a been a wonderful adventure with memories that will fuel us for months to come. It has proven to us that we can travel with kids and we hope it will only get easier in the future. It has helped us all learn to be more adaptable. And it has been a fabulous time spent together. The sun, wildlife, culture, ocean, and jungle will be missed by us all. But, we are looking forward to being home and getting back together with our friends and family! We leave at 5:30 am tomorrow and travel from Panama City to San Salvador to Belize City (pick up two left bags and two carseats) to Houston to Seattle. We get to spend the night in Seattle before our last leg home. Russell informed me that we will have taken 23 separate flights byt the time we get home (he would count them). So, with that ahead of me I should wrap this up and get to bed!

Costa Rica Pacific Coast

We spent our last week in Costa Rica at Samara on the Nicoya peninsula. We had an adorable little house with the perfect pool for Natalie and Liam. The two beaches in the vicinity were also ideal for swimming and we had one of them mostly to ourselves. We had grown weary of eating out with our kids every night, so having a kitchen and the independence that affords was a welcome break. Natalie helped me celebrate my birthday by doing a zipline canopy tour with me in the nearby jungle. Howler monkeys and parrots greeted us in the morning and at sunset with their calls. One of our favorite Liam phrases is, "Hear How monKEYs!" His vocabulary has exploded during this trip and it is fun how many of his words are related to the jungle and tropics. Time to go home and teach him words like snow, ski, moose, cold. I will be sad to no longer hear him say, "I see GeCKO", "Where did dolphin go?", "I hear parrots", "Do you see Hum Birds?". We have been a bit scatterbrained on this trip (as traveling with two little kids can do to you) and have left a trail of forgotten belongings behind us as we have moved along. Most were minor, but Natalie's blanket was unintentionally forgotten in Samara. Lucky for us it is going to be returned to us at home. But, in the meantime her security and familiarity to help her sleep in new beds was gone. I felt terrible and indulged her in an entirely too expensive stuffed toucan which has been named Flappy. We are amused that Natalie traveled down to Central America with a white bear that she named Louie (after the polar bear at our zoo) and will be returning to the land of cold with Flappy the toucan. Louie was left in Belize with other luggage because "he would be too hot in the rest of Central America". Boy, Flappy is in for a shock when he gets home. His orange bill sticking out of Natalie's backpack has generated many smiles.