Summer recap

Things don't always turn out as one would hope or plan.

I had a tough July. I suffered a miscarriage. The pregnancy wasn't advanced but the loss was felt. I won't go into the awful experience except to say it was probably one of the worst things that has ever happened to me. I feel that over the last several years life events have hardened me but this one has demanded a new level of 'life isn't soft'. It's not. And if yours is, well, bless you.

While that event tempered every bit of joy I had since, we have also had some adventures. We got stuck on the south side of a 7 car accident at Portage on the Seward highway. Since the road south was opened, the kids and I (day trip, remember? No camping gear) headed south to Seward since they were projecting a few hour closure of the highway. Better to play in town than sit waiting for a closed road to reopen. Long story short, the road was closed for ten and a half hours (!!!). For those out of state, there is literally one road back to Anchorage from there, and that was it. We were kindly taken in by friends who have a second home in Seward. I got to see a friend from elementary school and her kids. My children played with friends from school into the late hours of the night. We had pizza, ice cream, salmon, halibut and broccoli pasta. A nice way to be "stuck" somewhere!

The kids have had some separate summer adventures. A youth group trip to Seward for the day, and just today, a whitewater rafting trip. Lots of friends popping in and out. We made it twice out to Hatcher Pass and Independence Mine. We hiked to Gold Cord Lake. New things, new experiences.

Pet and Rose will be attending a new school this year. I hope the change is a positive one. It's difficult to make changes like that without the perception that you are being silently critical of the thing you've moved away from. If I can confirm anything, it is that every school can have issues and each student has different needs. With that in mind, I'm looking forward to having all the kids except the high schooler in the same place this year.

I have back to school supply shopping mostly done, which I suppose is good since school starts on Wednesday for most of the kids. Hopefully this explains a bit of why I've not been around. Life has been demanding and I am doing my best.