It's been awhile!

Life has been very full since school started. Five kids in school full time has been an adjustment - with it came sports, some higher level academic demands, lots of decision making and other challenges.

It's nice to still have Aidan and Alex at home. Aidan will start Kindergarten next year and there will be an adjustment to having "just one" for at least part of the day, since Aidan's school is half-day for Kindergarten.

The days are getting shorter. Kids are reading a lot. We decided not to participate in Junior Nordic this year because after careful evaluation of the kids' academic loads and the way our schedule has been running, sadly, there is not the time to add in another evening activity. I hope that decision helps us to maintain some of the balance we have left.

Not really sure what else to put here - I miss writing regularly, but the time to do so comes up short any more.

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.

Hello out there!

It's been a long time - the time doesn't seem to be there much any more. We took a break from the internet, but missed its siren song when it came to things like math review over the summer (no, I'm not going to design 5 different leveled math worksheets and then correct them while making dinner... some people can do that, kudos to them!) So back to very limited internet it is, for us.

What's been going on?

*We have made a couple trips to Byron Glacier/Portage Glacier area. These are day trips and just fabulous in warm weather. On one of them, I took my mother in law and I think she enjoyed it. Regardless, the children love these trips. We make them fun with special foods, water guns, and so forth.

*I got to visit my folks in Ketchikan for five days, inclusive of travel time. What a treat! I love, love, love seeing my folks. I helped get their landscaping in order, I cut down a tree, we gave plenty of business to Cape Fox Lodge (yum!). I took a kayaking trip for pleasure. No, I didn't take any kids and they had a blast here with Allen while I was gone!

*We went camping in Seward. This one went less smoothly than I had hoped. I did sleep "enough" the night we stayed. We did get to see the Sea Life Center and Exit Glacier, and Lowell Point as well as Seward Playground. Someone (one of the older kids) might've vomited with no warning in the middle of the night and that sparked a long cleanup job, very inconveniently timed!

*We hiked Winner Creek in Girdwood. Reality: we had to leave the hand tram with a l-o-n-g line with kids in tears because the wait was too dang long to wait through to get rides ourselves. Bummer. But still such a nice hike!

*I have been Crossfit-ing with really nice results! I'm very pleased and I really enjoy Crossfit. I will also talk about it at length to anyone who gets me going... so I try not to go there unless someone brings it up or is interested. I have to give credit for this to my mom, who reminded me that I used to enjoy lifting weights in high school (8 million years ago). It's true. And I still do!

*I got to kayak Campbell Creek here in Anchorage with a friend. It's really neat to kayak in the biggest city in the state. Salmon are spawning in the river and we would glide right over their pink swimming forms!

*I saw three bears (a mom and two babies) while hiking the Turnagain Arm Trail (known to be a good place for a bear encounter, not that I want those). We turned around.

*Everyone's health has been good - thankfully there's not much more to say about that.

*Kids are happy in general. Lots and lots and lots of reading. I have 2 library cards almost maxed out with books for us and for them. Math review.

*Allen (son) went to JROTC camp. He is enrolled in the NJROTC program for his freshman year of high school which starts in the fall.

*The kids have a new violin teacher as their last one quit teaching for now. Things seem to be going well there.

*Allen (son, again) also scored his first job at Dimond Skateland. He is a skate clerk/cleanup guy! He enjoys working and enjoys the paycheck too.

*Allen (husband!) is on a 2 week vacation "stay"cation. There is so much to see right here in Alaska and we are having a great time. It is positively amazing to sleep in and not have to say goodbye to him for the whole day. It's so much fun to have him around and I'm so glad I recognize I feel that way! I think a lot of people drift through life bored... maybe that's just the impression they give.

*Today is our 15 year anniversary, and 17 years since we got engaged. Wow, huh? That's a long time. And it's been a BLAST. Looking forward to the next 15!

That's about it for now. I can't promise I'll be back soon, but I'll do my best to jump on as I can. I miss reading people's blogs!

At the park

This morning we visited Balto Seppala park in Spenard. My overall review would be positive, but mixed - the park is listed online as having play equipment for 2-5 year olds - but you know what that consists of? 4 swings. There is, I suppose, a multi-age digging area with sand (and two "diggers") that is nice, but I definitely think this is geared towards older kids.

Three year old Alex thought the MOA guys powerwashing the picnic tables was pretty nifty.

Next, they checked out the digging area. I had to help Alex figure out how to manipulate the controls but he got it pretty quickly.

Four year old Aidan!

We wandered off into the trees and did many rounds of "let's climb that hill!" This park has a GREAT - HUGE open space, though, unfortunately, unconscientious dog owners just left some poo around in a couple spots. Yuck. Overall the park was clean and the grass was not wet.

Aidan on this spinny contraption. He thought it was pretty great.

There is a "Little Free Library" at the park.

Alex pouting about Aidan getting his turn on the preferred swing. He took off his coat and shoes in protest.

Aidan on some of the "big kid" climbing equipment. I think Andrew would have been all about it had he been here, but he was in school.

Andrew's DinoStars kindergarten play

 Andrew's kindergarten class engages in very elaborate plays as a way of building character, public speaking skills, obedience and a number of other virtues. His teacher has been teaching Kindergarten at this same school for 37 years and this is her final performance and final Kindergarten class. The kids did an amazing job!

 Andrew was a hadrosaurus.

 Here Andrew is engaging in one of his many speaking roles. These kids did a fabulous job memorizing their lines. The background was painted by his teacher!

 
Here is a picture of one of their dance numbers. Again - it doesn't get cuter than kindergarten kids performing.

Random life shots

 Just a nice picture of Andrew and Perpetua

This picture from a time of sickness, but still sweet. This was a few weeks ago when four of the kids came down with a stomach bug that knocked them out cold. They spent the day either in gastrointestinal distress... or sleeping, as pictured above.

Finished dining room

The color is a lot richer "gold" than I think the colors show up as - perhaps it's just the computer I am viewing it in. Regardless, we really like it and think it looks great. It's very wake-you-up bright, which is exactly what I wanted.