200th Post: A Ketchikan 4th

Here are some of the pictures I took from the 4th of July parade in Ketchikan.
Creek Street on the way back to the car

Ketchikan Fire Department engine

vintage KFD engine. Tell me this is not the coolest thing!

Ketchikan has a motorcycle riders club. Amusing considering they are roadless like Bethel is...

The newly decorated KGB Downtown Shuttle. The boys got to ride to the Pool on this from the rec center during their week of day camp. See how it says "have a nice day" on the top? All the buses have messages like that - it flashes "Have a Nice Day" and then "Red Line" or whatever line it is running. On the back or side some of them say "Try Transit!" I know that if we lived here we would likely go back to one car because the bus schedule is just that convenient. An unlimited monthly pass is $25, and the kids ride for free with me. They like riding, too.

This is either a Tlingit or a Tshimshian dancer... sadly I don't know which, but the boys thought it was Tlingit based on a presentation they watched at day camp.

The Misty Thistle Pipe & Drum Band. They were practicing for their 4th of July songs at the parking lot of the elementary school up the street from here; we could hear them from outside (and it was really nice!) We hiked up there to listen in on their practices while the kids played.

this week: swimming lessons

This week and next week our oldest 3 children are enrolled in swimming lessons offered through the borough parks & rec here in Ketchikan.

Today was day 4 and they are REALLY getting into it! Makes me a little heartsick that we don't live where there is a pool or any true prospect of one in the immediate future. One of our city council members is big on talking about a rec center including a pool, and a couple years back the voters approved a half cent per $1 increase in sales tax that is supposed to be funneled to this proposed building, but the truth is now there's contention in the ranks as it were, the city is not so hot financially (to the point that bankruptcy is mentioned in 2011 depending on various factors) and I don't see a pool in the future if we are here that long.

Our middle son Aaron has been especially enthusiastic and aggressive with trying the things his instructors are showing him. Because we enrolled 3 children who are essentially on the same (zero) skill level they are in their own class, which is nice. At this point they have been taught several different strokes, try them supported, Aaron submerges and swims a little (today, 9 seconds underwater!), and another big event today is that they all jumped off the diving board into the big pool. It was great fun to watch and I couldn't wipe a proud smile off my face. I'll say it again: I really wish we lived somewhere with access to a pool. Seeing my kids in their lessons here drives that home kinda hard.

In any event, we plan on making the most use of the availability and open swims that we can while we're here.

that's how he rolls....

Andrew has woken himself up from naps since he was very young - considering his current ripe old age of 5 months - by rolling himself over. He rolled early, 6 weeks, and never stopped. He slept best on his stomach (please, no posts about SIDS - he could and did roll, it all worked out) so that's how he currently sleeps.

He is having an odd period these past few days with sleeping - today's nap came pretty late for a first nap - noon-ish, he rolled over, woke up, I had to give him another bottle; then he went back to sleep and I held him for a while before putting him down.

He's rolled over and woken himself up twice. I just roll him back over and put a pacifier in - his eyes close immediately. He clearly doesn't want to be awake. The kid must have some VERY active dreams! I wonder what he'll be like as he gets older.

fun in the water

So technically these first couple shots are not water related, but that's ok... it's my blog.

Perpetua & Rosalie on Ketchikan's Creek Street waiting for the July 4th parade

Allen & Perpetua

Hanging out on my parents deck with the $6 wal mart pool

First real swimming lessons for the older 3! Sadly, Bethel lacks a pool. It reaches the point of being a public safety issue in my opinion as just about everyone is out on the water quite a bit during the summer and there are no facilities to teach children how to actually swim...

So, you can see that the children enjoyed their swim lessons. Another good day put to bed here in Ketchikan. Good night!

busy, busy, busy

A few things...

The 4th of July was awesome. The parade was great - we had issues getting there though, lack of a car large enough to transport myself, 5 kids and my parents at once necessitated two trips. Would've just taken the bus but it wasn't operating on July 4th. So we went in shifts, but in between shift 1 and 2, the road closed to accomodate the parade route (hah!). Luckily we were far enough down the route that nobody missed anything, despite Andrew's best efforts to make it happen (a spectacular diaper issue, and then needing to eat a couple of bottles) we all got there and enjoyed it. Pictures whenever I get a few minutes, probably tonight.

After the parade things went downhill - don't know if the kids got overstimulated or what, but it was impressive and not fun. It was a relief to get everyone in bed - I don't normally have days like that, but the afternoon of the 4th was one!

Yesterday was a big contrast. We had a great, relaxing time! In the morning I took the older 4 out to Wal Mart and picked up a small inflatable pool and a manual pump among other things. That thing was worth the $6 I spent many times over. Rosalie especially was out there just about all day. The others as well. They even dine outside - the weather here has been really nice; in the mid to high 70s plus.

Andrew hasn't been sleeping well so that's putting my brain through the ringer. For now, caffeine is my friend. I feel human once I wake up a little. He was up every hour to 90 minutes all night last night - I was up at least 5 times. Then I quit counting.

Today the older 3 kids start swimming lessons. They are looking forward to it. I'm a little nervous (will it WORK?) but I'm sure it'll all go well.

Back in Bethel, Allen went camping this weekend with a bunch of other families who are friends of ours. It was an eventful trip as one of the people who drove the boats fell ill and nobody else was able to drive it - so Allen had to go hunt down a friend from upriver to come back and drive the other friend's boat back. People ran out of oil, he ran into other friends who were drifting and out of gas... it sounded like a wild time, but he arrived safely back in Bethel around 10:30 last night.

That's it for now.

tonight: trip to the beach with my dad & 3/5 kids

Tonight I talked my dad into going to a nearby beach to play with 3/5 kids (one didn't want to go, and we opted to have Rosalie stay with my mom since the older 2 we were taking wanted to run/jump/play... and she runs at a different speed from them). Here's my awesome, hardworking Dad with 5 month old Andrew.

Candid photo, I like this one. Aaron and Perpetua were looking for seashells...

This is actually how I found this picture! Can you believe, the tiny mussel shell inside the bigger one? Obviously it was left there that way by the tide - but still, I thought it was beautiful!

you can see the rock is striated and there are collections of shells and rocks all over...

it's odd how the striated rock meets right up with the ocean-smoothed thin hard round rocks all around Ketchikan. Some beaches have sand too - (still an Alaskan beach - NICE Alaskan beaches, but forget that California fun in the sun stuff - our beaches are special). Last year I came to visit Ketchikan right before Perpetua's birthday and I took home a bag of flat rocks to use in craft projects (painting as ladybugs for a birthday party project, etc.)

The kids found something more than seashells on the beach - baby crabs! The mortality rate for those little guys was kinda high judging from the intact whole bodies we started finding in the rocks. Thrilling for the kids though - Aaron & Perpetua have a crab each to take home.

And, here's what I saw after we got back to the house from our beach run and a "quick" trip to my dad's office... heading southward. Taken from the back deck - I can't say enough what an awesome view my parents have. It's relaxing just to check out!

enjoying fabulous weather in KTN

The boys were enjoying their last day of summer day camp (for this week - we've enrolled them in another week 2 weeks from now... clear as mud? the next 2 weeks are swimming lessons) today and the girls and I and my mom all sat out on the deck. It is amazing what a couple buckets of water and some cups & containers can do for kids! Sunscreen was out, because we all have fair skin, but we all got some nice color and it felt so deliciously good to be out in the Alaskan sun, smelling the tree-scented saltwater air and watching boats in the Narrows.