Today marks our Fourth trip around the sun here in the Land of the Midnight Sun.
Thing 1 just had her 14th birthday (how is that possible??) and Lil’ Bit is getting ready to celebrate her 8th. June is a welcome arrival in our house, not only for the birthday celebrations of my two pearls, but for the Kenai River Festival, FISH CAMP and time spent with friends, plus summer camp for Thing 1. And Alaskan summer.
A simple number, four. It’s often over looked for it’s neighbor and easy multiplier 5, but what about 4?
There have been a lot of famous fours over the eons. In the Bible there are many fours: 4 seasons, 4 “corners” of the earth, 4 Rivers of Eden, on the fourth day of Creation Week we are introduced to day and night and the demarcation of time. The 4 Authors of the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Skip to the end of the book and we see the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
More recent history, Georgia was the fourth state to Ratify the Constitution. James Madison was the fourth president of the USA. Fast forward, we see the Fab Four-the Beetles and The Highwaymen, four of Country Music’s outlaws: Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson.
Four can be interesting. 😉
Today is the 4th anniversary of Dad’s death. Later in June it will mark our 4th year here in Alaska. I have 4 children, so does my Mom. Four is a good number.
The kids and I continued our 4 year tradition of going out to the end of the road at Cap’t Cook to have a campfire cookout, go beach combing, just spend some time in nature. This year we were blessed with our friends joining us to honor Dad’s blessed memory. It was really great to have friends along! ❤
We have Mother’s Day, we have Father’s Day, we even have Grandparent’s Day. But what bout those pesky brothers and sisters?
Today is National Siblings Day. A relatively new holiday (and not officially recognized yet) it is merely a teenager, 14 years old. But for those of us who grew up tolerating annoying little sisters and brothers, or bossy big know-it-all sisters or even the over-protective brother, this is momentous. We finally get a day set aside to reminisce those wonderful memories of growing-up with other little people under the same roof.
I have three biological siblings and many more non-bio siblings that have joined the family over the years. Most of my memories are naturally of those whom shared the same roof as I, even if for short periods of time. I had the torturous experience of growing up with two full-time siblings until I was an advanced teenager…then came Mert. Periodically we had Billy & Mike for summer visits.
Those mug-shots are from somewhere circa 1990-ish.
Most of my memories about growing up with my siblings involved some sort of fighting or disgruntlement. There were many grave injustices, which of course always happened to me... There were “clean up the room” fights, and “who does the dishes” fights, and “why did you cut my doll’s hair off” fights, and no one will ever forget the “why did you paint my Bon Jovi Scarf” epic fight. The “stay on your side of the bed” fight was a regular occurrence in our case, my sister and I always shared a room except for a few brief moments in history.
There were astonishing amounts of “why do I always have to do all the work” statements and plenty of rolling of glasses-clad eyes and sighs… oh the sighs. But there were those tender moments…
*crickets*
Surely, there were tender moments?? Right??
Ah yes, but those came later. Much later. Grown adult moments. Holding each other’s newborn babies, or getting birth announcement phone calls. Being in the wedding party. A sweet hug after a long absence. Rejoicing in one another’s joys. A strong embrace in moments of grief. Sharing an inside joke, or a good laugh after a stinky fart…(outside mind you). And copious amounts of adult beverages.
The Fab Four
Now look at us, all grown up!
They are mine. I am theirs. We cannot deny each other, we are stuck with one another for life. 😉 *evil laughter*
I love them & miss them all. Even my “new” siblings who joined in along the way: Missy & Matt & Kathleen & Sean & JOHN!!
Today is our one year anniversary in Alaska!
This was our first glimpse at the beauty surrounding Homer last June.
June 2013 overlooking Kachemak Bay
We’ve seen all four seasons cycle, bears, moose, a wolf, a few caribou, and so much beautiful scenery. One never grows weary of it all! We’ve been awed, inspired, stuck in the mud, stuck in the snow, on adventures we never even dreamed of… Alaska is a good fit for us. Being surrounded by nature, learning, exploring, living and loving…. a great way of life!
We are looking forward to new adventures this summer! Spending time at the beach searching for treasures beyond measure, maybe doing a little fishing… who knows??
To all of our loved ones, we miss you and send you lots of loves!! XOXOXO
The experts say it takes two weeks (or is it three) to develop a new routine or habit. We’re working on our third week here and thankfully we’ve started to develop some new routines.
The big one would be bedtime of course.
Going to bed when it’s still broad daylight outside is a challenge to anyone, especially to children. Thanks to blinds and a dark curtain, we have finally gotten into the swing of going to bed by 9 pm. The little ones are headed to bed at 8:30 and Thing 1 gets to read for a while before bedtime. But lights out at 9!
Mom is doing good too in that regard. Still a night owl, but not the 2 am sort anymore. I’m rarely up past midnight, and when I am, it’s usually because I had to work or we were doing something outdoors that kept us out late. I’m up early too most days. A real change for me to say the least!
Another great routine is tidying up the place. Our apartment is definitely not cluttered (we don’t have too much stuff yet) and we like it that way. The kids have several toys and are learning to keep them picked up when not playing with them. Thing 1 has a tote full of craft supplies that our neighbor gave her that she also likes to get out and string all over the place. As long as she picks up after herself and puts everything away, we are good!
The dishes are put away and dirties loaded into the washer, rarely do we have a sink full of dirty dishes! It’s an awesome feeling! Plus my counter-tops are clear! And for any of you close enough to me to know that this is a big issue for me! 🙂
The next routine is that of getting used to the new job then come fall, incorporating our homeschooling into this schedule. Working odd shifts that change daily is going to be a challenge, but thankfully we have some good people helping provide us with childcare! I’m very thankful for that! It’s hard enough to find folks to care for your kids when you’ve lived somewhere for years, let alone a few weeks! I am truly blessed that YHVH has brought us several good people to help fill this need!
June 21, last Friday, was the day that we had set aside to ride out to the cabin, for just a day trip, to check the trails and hopefully do a little trail grooming/clearing and playing in the mud. We rode out to the end of the road, unloaded the wheeler, parked the truck and took off for the beach. We rode out on the beach half way to Leif’s Creek and then went up “Jacob’s Ladder” to the trail above. Four wheeling on the beach was fun, but wow, what a muddy, messy ride up Jacob’s ladder. Lots of holes and a really messed up trail from all the rough riders ripping and tearing through there. 😦 Really hard to navigate plus you are right on the edge of the bluff.
Finally made it to the main trail, remember, still have about 5 miles or so to go as Leif’s Creek is the half-way point. Through mud. Some places were so dry that we kicked up some dust, but mostly, it was thick, sticky mud, and water holes covered with stagnant water and mosquitoes.
The first part of the ride “my driver” (ha ha, I sound like Miss Daisy) took it easy on me and went slow through the mud. We got stuck in a deep hole that we just couldn’t get the wheeler out of, so we had to use the wench and pull it out. I fell into the mud bog trying to move around in the middle of that big mud hole, holding the rope tied to a tree and the wench. Muddy pant legs from the knees down. Muddy gloves, mud in the gloves. While stopped there I saw some large wolf tracks in the mud. (that’s for you Makayla!)
We went on up the trail till we met some friends on the way, Tami and Mike. Stopped to visit with them a bit. Mike gave us a good summary of the trail in front of us, told us where to avoid and where to go around the bigger mud bogs. Talked about mosquitoes because they are big news this year, they are so bad! And talked about Dad. Heard more stories about him, I don’t think I’ll ever grow weary of hearing people talk about him.
Then we were off again. We forded a water crossing with water up to mid-calf and away we went. The rest of our trip went well, since we had good instructions from Mike about the bad spots and we made it to the cabin with only a few more “stuck” spots. We saw some bear sign on the trail (that’s the nice way of saying bear poop) and lots of moose tracks.
Checked on the cabin, watered the garden, killed some mosquitoes, ate some lunch that we packed in, smashed sandwiches taste pretty good when you’ve worked up an appetite battling the mud! 😉 After a short break, back to the trail to get out. We had to be back in town by 4 pm, and we were racing the tide, needed to be off the beach by 3:30 or so we thought, so we had to get going.
For some reason, the trip back was a little more muddier than the trip in. Someone decided that it would be more fun to baha through the mud more and although he was right, it was a lot more fun, it was also a lot more muddier and bouncy! I nearly bounced off that wheeler a couple of times. My arms are still sore from holding the rack. It was quite the initiation to the summer Gray Cliffs mud and trail, and 4 wheeling.
Ran into Tami and Mike again, who had a few extra friends with them. I love being introduced to new people as “This is Chuck’s Daughter”. LOL Some of them actually ask MY name, others are just fine with Chuck’s Daughter. I need a name tag that says “Hello, my name is Chuck’s Daughter” and just wear it around town. While we were stopped we saw a cow moose and her twin calves coming down the trail at us. She got pretty close considering the noise the 9 of us were making!
We made it to the beach at 2:10 and the tide was coming in. We probably didn’t have until 3:30. Learning these tides is a whole new experience to be sure. There’s the timing of the tides, and the height or how far in they are coming, and learning where that mark is on the beach, and learning the beach… I feel like I’m cramming for final exams.
I’m glad we went in though, gave me a good understanding of the difficulty of the mud trail, and what all we need to get done before Dad’s memorial in July (which is A LOT!). And the reality of how out of shape that I am! Wowzers! There’s no way we could ride the kids in on wheelers in that mess. Maybe a track rig or a 6 wheeled rig, but not a 4-wheeler!
Next time, with rain gear and taller boots I hope, I will have even more fun. Who knows, pretty soon I’ll be riding in on my own wheeler, then we can race, and eventually I’ll win. 😉
Baptized with mud…
My first day went well. It wont take me long to be up to speed, however, punching a time clock will be a change for me after a decade of not having to do so. My trainer is great and I’m going to enjoy working with her, she’s very upbeat and positive. The first three days I’ll be in department with someone, then my last three days this week I’ll be on my own for the large part of the day, on the three busiest days of the week too! Wish me success!!
Our approach to homeschooling is that every day, there is something to learn, whether you think you’re at “school” or not.
Life is learning.
Live and learn, a motto that is my reality!
Especially here! And believe me, you learn quickly here!
We have seen and done so many new things in our short time here than we’ve done in months, or years even, before moving here it seems
Going to the beach, the learning opportunities are boundless. From the tides and how the moon effects them, to the sea and the water content. The rooks and sand are so interesting, most of it being glacial in origin, you just never know what you’ll find. (BTW, to my homeschooling friends back in the lower 48 if you’d like to have a sample of beach sand and rock, just ask and we’ll send you some!) The strata visible on the sloughing bluff. The sandy silty composition of the soil… The mountains, complete with active volcanoes. Plate tectonics. Geology, History, Physics, Biology, our reality!
And that’s just the beginning! Then there’s bear, moose, wolves, and salmon and their interesting life cycles, the different varieties of salmon, all of which is hands on learning when you can see them, touch their tracks or cast them, (like the bear, moose and wolves), or in the case of moose and salmon, eat them! 😉 The kind of learning that we like, hands on, living it out. Being part of our lessons, not simply just listening to a lecture or reading about it in a book, which have their place, but really being a part of learning.
Alaska on my mind... 