Viruses, Children, and this Crazy Winter

 

 The children were/are/will be sick.  First, it was Sophia. The fever came up the Sunday of a three day weekend. After four days of sitting on the couch, we took her in to confirm our suspicions...yessir, influenza. The poor girl stayed home all week.  She missed the awards ceremony (she was due to receive another academic excellence award) and the spelling bee she worked so hard to study for.  The following Saturday, she was (finally) okay.  But then Liv had come home from school the day before and immediately laid down on the couch. 102.6 fever. *Groan*  This morning, Dylan's incessant coughing woke me. *oh, no* He insisted he just had a small cough (he has basketball games every day this week). Mean momma made him stay home.

Kids will get sick from time to time. This winter has been pretty brutal for this fam, though.  And now, they all want to be ill right before I start work.  Ugh. You would think as it is cold as all h3ll (-20, high of ZERO) these viruses would just freeze.

Staying Ahead in the Game: Summer Planning

Ya'll have called me crazy, I know. Summer isn't for another six months, Winnie! Yep! I'll smile and say, "Yes, I know." But hey, when you're smack dab in the middle of July on a bright sunny beautiful Alaska day, and you say, "Hubby, we really should go camping in this weather!"...and then spend the rest of the day cooped up indoors trying to search for a campground with a vacancy and FAIL. I'll be the one snickering (I'm not that nice, you know.) We learned this lesson the hard way last year, and even now, some facilities we wanted to reserve again are already booked.  

Last year, the fam figured out just how extensive an adventure we could pull off with the munchkins. The one that comes to mind is Dylan's birthday, in Denali National Park, and the girls dragged me up to the Mt. Healy Overlook 2.5 miles straight up and another 2.5 miles down.  I'd say they're capable of plenty. So much more camping, hiking, adventuring to do!

Remember last year when I obsessed and obsessed about finding the only iris field in south-central AK? Well this year our family photo will be taken here...lupines this time. And yes, I know where it is. 

One on our hiking list: Virgin Creek Falls

I'm also bound and determined to hike the Hatchers Pass area, with Gold Cord Lake Trail as the first on the to-do list. And maybe, I can convince the girls to hike the Butte in Palmer.

Our big trip this summer is here:

Homer, Alaska

Every year since we've been in AK, we go on a special trip for Dylan's birthday. We were first considering taking an RV there, but since we want to explore more of Kachemak Bay Park (that swathe of land across the bay) rather than Homer itself, it didn't make too much sense to do that. (Halibut fishing is not an option for us. (Little Livy is allergic to fish --the other one (Sophia) who loves seafood gets seasick)

We will stay here across the bay in an ocean front cabin. Sweet!

 

One of the days in Hideaway Cove will have us hike the Grewingk Glacier trail, and kayak in its lake. 

The next day, we'll water taxi it back across, stay at a local inn and explore the town, Bishop Beach, and it's tide pools (we are timing it just right during a negative tide...yeah I looked that up, too). Needless to say, we are excited.

Camping? Yes, please. Our traditional Memorial Day camping trip to Otter Lake will once again take place on my birthday. :-) Calendar is marked the day reservations will be accepted for Eklutna Lake (group), Russian River, and Williwaw.  

Biking? The Bird to Gird trail is still the biggest item on the biking bucket list. 

And this doesn't count all the other stuff we're gonna take my sister's fam to (the Rigby's are coming for a visit in June).

So much to do! Now if only winter would speed up!

Better Late than Never?: Fam Och Holiday Newsletter

 As organized as I proclaim to be, sending holiday mail on time or at all is always a task I fail year in and year out. Gomenasai! We hope your holiday season was as blessed as ours. Here's to another year!