Oh my, I fell off the blog.
Time to wrap up the summer stuff.
We returned from our Bemidji trip and dug into August... My niece Madeleine's birthday party was on the 1st - roller skating - and it was so much fun. My girls don't roller skate much, so there were some tears at the start but they didn't last long. My favorite part was when they all stood in the middle and did the hokey-pokey with their glow-jewelry in the dark. Happy 9th!!!!
That whole weekend, the Zane Cup soccer tournament was on in Anchorage, so we had a good time cheering on Taia's team. It was their final tourney for the summer and it was bittersweet - they started the season as a powerful, coordinated team but by the end, they'd lost confidence and gone a bit backwards skill-wise. Taia loves being out on the field though, and her coaches told us that she's a solid defensive player they could depend on in every game. This soccer league is spendy, but it's well-run by good, friendly, professional people and we love it so far.
We also checked out parts of Nancy Lakes Recreation Area, the same place we winter-camped in March.
The idea was to find a good berry-picking spot, but we ended up stomping around in some boggy areas around a few lakes and finding very few berries. I did get some nice pictures. The rest of that first week we picked berries at Hatcher Pass. It was a soggy undertaking, with a creek to cross (my poor baby girl fell in), mist, rain and fog - but it was irresistible. The berries we picked were on a slope and they were eNORmous! I got to teach my girls how to find and pick
aluiaq (sourdock leaves)... It was my favorite green to search for when I was about nine years old, spending summer weeks at Grampa Al's 1901 log cabin in Council.
We visited the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage for their 40th Anniversary celebration.
A No-Dad Day, sadly. We check out the zoo about once a year... Moose, eagles, bears, tigers, snow leopards, seals, there is so much to see. The polar bears, when they're swimming in their tank, are the best part - but all we saw was the butt-end of one bear that had its face-end in a pile of polar bear food.
The kids entered a mask-making contest and rocked it! Taia placed second and Remy placed third, but Kira didn't have enough time to finish hers so she was broken-hearted.
The week before school started, the kids had eye appointments and now only one of these 5 eskimos is glasses-free! Little Dude is farsighted and needs glasses for close-up work. Kira (hopefully) will continue on having perfect eyesight, but Taia's eyes worsened this year. Eh.
The rest of that week we spent in Nome.
BIG QUYANA to Crystal again for giving us this gift... we could never have done it without you!!!!!!
Our first day there, we visited my dad at his office, drove down the coast to his/his wife's camp on the beach, caught up with my Aunt Betty Ann and my Papa at the salon, and I brought Remy to Airport Pizza to have lunch and laugh with some '89ers.
It's hard to describe the feeling of showing your kids what your childhood was like, especially when theirs is so different. They don't get to comb beaches for blue glass-rocks or play in the waves or take a day-trip in a little airplane like I did thirty years ago.
We stayed with my bro Willy, Bridie, Orson and Oliver. They're so loving and giving. !!! Mom decided to travel along and she picked berries by both airports no matter what the weather was. We visited Kevin's aunt Maggie, ate Sister's good food and let the kids loose with the Olson sisters... We got to catch up and LAUGH with Marie and Tok. We even stopped at the softball tournament as it was ending and Kevin had a night out.
The best parts of the trip were going to Golovin and then to Bustercreek.
My Gramma Nuz lives in Golovin, 70 miles east of Nome. Mom grew up there and in White Mountain just north of there. So my sibs and I have lots of childhood memories of Golovin and its fish camp, Kichauvik. Dad let us borrow his airplane, and even though we had to put the trip off, the day we finally got to go was just
beautiful.
All three kids got to sit on their dad's lap and fly the plane. I remember doing the same thing with my dad - but I was always so nervous about it! My kids were totally fearless... Gramma met us at the runway on her 4-wheeler and gave the kids a ride to her house. She's had a hard year after breaking her hip last winter, and she doesn't do as much as she used to, but she walked down the hill with me to the beach, past her old house and to the playground where the girls were shooting hoops. To hear Gramma's voice and just be with her was
home. She fed us and let Remy pig out on blueberries, then gave me some bags of berries she had stored in the freezer. We got to take some pictures of relatives' headstones, since Kevin and I have been piecing together our family trees. It was such a good feeling to be there... I just love my gramma and I wish we could have visited longer! Tears :(
After Golovin, we finally made it to Crystal's house. I got to cuddle with her baby son, eat some more good food and just relax and TALK. There is peace in old friendships.
Bustercreek is the gold mine my dad and my Papa worked for years. It's in the hills north of Nome along a creek; you get there by crossing the Nome River and driving on a crazy trail through the willows. Kevin wasn't with us but we got to bring Papa, who hadn't been there all summer. It used to be his summer retreat, sort of an escape-from-the-wife place, but Nanny's in an assisted-living place in Anchorage now, and Papa also had hip problems last year so he doesn't get out to Buster much. It was hilarious to see my carseat-conditioned kids, in awe at driving through a river, bumping and thumping around in the truck (Remy's Nome highlight). Better than a carnival ride. We had lunch, the kids splashed around in the creek, I took pictures of stuff and Dad and Papa sat at the table talking. Papa decided to inspect his shop buildings while the rest of us drove up the trail to find berry patches. More screaming laughter with every bump and heave on the trail... and we hit the jackpot with berries. It was perfect.
We had to return to our real world Saturday of that week, to have all day Sunday to prep for the first day of school. Kevin's dad made his yearly trip from Minnesota to Nome the following week, so Kevin headed back up for a few days. We all got to hang out with Jerry on his way back through Anchorage.
I think somewhere during that part of August, I got sick with pneumonia AGAIN. Vulnerable. I was well enough by the end of the month to take the kids to the State Fair in Palmer by myself... and I think we wrapped up the whole of August with a league banquet to celebrate the 2009 soccer season.
August. Quyana tunni to all of our Nome family and friends who helped us make the trip - the kids still want to move up there! Belated birthday and anniversary wishes to everybody! Love to you from me & mine.
Taia's was an ice skating party - she had a good time and she was grateful and sweet. Kira's party was at the big city park followed by an hour in the party room of a local ice cream shop. I missed out on it completely because of another ER visit for pneumonia. The sky was cloudy, the rain was coming down, I was figuring out the logistics of rescheduling her party during the drive to the hospital... but Kevin decided everything should go on as planned. They had so much fun at Scoops!!! 
I wish I could have been there. Thweet.
We took our tired selves over to a local you-pick farm later that day for their big Harvest Festival. There were fun kids' games, a hay-ride, an Air Force band, leaves to throw around and lots of good memories. There was a huge turnout too, so I was pretty satisfied with my early self that day...
