August... !

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.

kickers, boaters, travelers

...bet you got tired of looking at the bugs.

My apologies, this was another one of those times when I had so much to write that I didn't write anything at all.
Blogger's block.

Well, summer's about over! The kids started school 9 days ago, the fireweed blossoms have turned into seed-fluffs, and it is DARK at night. We've been busy...


Kira finished up her WYSA soccer season, but missed the final game. She's lots of fun to watch out on the field because she really goes for it. I'm just happy she enjoys it and thankful that my kids are more athletic than I ever was.



On July 19th, our friends Darren and Gabe took us out for an overnight trip on Big Lake, aboard their friend's boat. We're so lucky to have friends who love the outdoors! The kids loved every minute of it, especially when they got to sit out front. I had to admire this fine example of a Valley truck- it's just... very Alaskan. Very American. Whole hog.













Our first big summer adventure was a trip to see Grandma Rose, Grandpa Jerry, Auntie Missy #1, Kelly, Al, Isaac, Abe and Ben in Bemidji. It was our first visit back there since Remy was a newborn, so we had a lot of catching up to do. Putt-n-Go was a huge hit! So was the rental car, because it wasn't "stinky like our van, Mama!" and it didn't "whine like our van, Mama!". Grandma Rose got out the vintage Fisher Price toys which Remy loved... and she also cooked some big meals which we all loved. Kevin and I sat down with Rose and Jerry and went over lots of genealogy information and put together more of the family tree. The highlight of it all for the kids, I think, was just being able to cross the street and play with Isaac, Abe, and Ben. Ahh, cousins!


We were able to take a day trip over to Grand Forks to visit Grant & Kristy and family. What a relaxing place... I think I could've lounged and knitted and yakked in the backyard for weeks. Deb & Kober, Tammy and Howie showed up too for the Ming sighting. Good times.


A big THANK YOU ALL and giant HUGS for our family and friends in Bemidji and GF.




That takes care of July... I'll have to put August in another post. I promise, no more bugs.

bugs

infesters

I've got the creepy-crawlies right now. I was out watering the berry bushes in the back yard and I saw what looked like white paint splatters all over the tops of some fireweed flowers. I looked closer and saw little dark-gray clumps of what must be aphids. Blech. Those fireweed went straight into the garbage. Then I went out front to water the garden and the bed of wildflowers... where I saw clumps of spidery green aphids all over the two huge lupine flowers. EE-YEW. No wonder the lupine's bright purple color had been fading to a dead grayish-white.

So I can't stop brushing imaginary bugs out of my hair.

I've got a plan, though. Before the soccer game in Anchorage tonight, I'll stop at Far North Garden Supply and get some ladybugs. They come in bags of 1500 bugs, for ten bucks, not bad. According to some website, I'm supposed to mist the bag-o-bugs with water, put them in a cool place, wait until late evening and release them into a well-watered garden.

At least the kids are excited.

Fifteen

New flowers! There are twelve beautiful red roses in a vase on the kitchen table... It's our fifteenth anniversary today. Thank you to my husband for love and support, strength and tolerance, three happy kids and some laughs now and then. Fifteen years went by so quickly!

The weather this week has been beautiful. I won't be wasting the rest of today inside, but I'll be filling in the blanks of the past two weeks.

The girls went to Camp Togowoods, a Girl Scout camp about six miles down the road from our house. The weather wasn't so great for the six days they were camping, but they still had fun hiking, kayaking, canoeing, making crafts, singing songs and all of the typical camp stuff. I know I complain about their noise and mess and attitudes sometimes, but having them gone for so long was just unnatural. Misterguy learned how to be the center of the universe.

It turns out that this entire month, T has had pneumonia, though she's seemed fine, except for the cough. BossLady picked up strep at camp. I think by next week we could possibly all be healthy at the same time.

The garden is doing pretty well, though we're obviously not old pros at gardening. My dream of having a lawn for the kids to play on has crumbled to little bits of hope that one might be planted in the fall... and the planned addition/garage has been put on the 2010 burner. I told someone a few days ago that living in Wasilla is a lot like living in Nome, with dirt roads and odd people - but with a WalMart within driving distance. So, growing up in Nome at least gave me a pretty high tolerance for zero curb appeal.

With the girls back in full force and BORED, we put together a new chore chart with math and reading boxes to check. We also have about a dozen Girl Scout badges for T & K to earn this summer, including some Susitna Council badges specific to Alaska's native cultures. We're trying to keep up with the library's summer reading program. Soccer happens for us 3 or 4 nights a week, so that's our most consistent thing going on.

We're excited about flying down to Bemidji this month! The girls love it there and LittleDude is soooooo ready to hang out with his BOY cousins... In August we'll get to make up for the pneumonia-cancelled trip to Nome, so we're hoping for lots of berries.

Time to head back to the clinic for more antibiotics! And I'll be picking up ingredients for my latest obsession, fresh spring rolls.

inpatient

I have some beautiful flowers by the kitchen window, a sunflower with some pink carnations and some tall purple flowers... Darren and Nancy sent them to brighten up my hospital room this week. I had pneumonia and a lupus-related bleeding-lung problem.

T got sick early this month with what seemed like just a productive cough. MissK caught it two days later, LittleDude was next, then it was my turn on June 11th. K had been flying out of the east coast for two weeks, and when he came home on the 12th I started living on the couch with a tissue box, coughing up my lungs. I pulled it together long enough on Monday to drive BossLady to her soccer practice, but Tuesday morning after the girls' camp physicals I had to see the doctor at the Valley Clinic because I was just too sick to put it off any longer. She had a chest xray taken, sent me home with antibiotics and said it didn't look like pneumonia.

The next morning at 8:45, the pulmonology nurse at ANMC called to say I needed to be admitted. I was actually kind of relieved - my body was screaming at me with pain in my right chest and I was walking hunched over to make it easier to breathe. What I didn't know at that point was that the radiologist who read the xray from the day before had stated that my lungs had multiple round lesions that looked like metastases (cancer spread from elsewhere...). So by the time K and the crew and sick little me arrived at the hospital, the staff was ready to scramble to get me admitted and tested and medicated. I had a CT, a bronchoscopy, and probably a quart of blood drawn. Then I settled into my room to watch tv, have visitors, order room service and watch the i.v. drip. The quiet was nice, REALLY nice, but I missed the family and everything. I couldn't sleep, either. I got so bored that I walked to the nurses' station and had them print my xray and CT reports. So that's when I figured out what was up, but I knew it couldn't be cancer.

I got out yesterday. The doctor believes that the strange lesions the radiologist saw were actually blood in my lungs, a rare lupus complication. I googled it (diffuse pulmonary hemorrhage) and it sounds right. About all I want to do is look at the films, because that's what I'm used to... not vague explanations and dumbed-down terminology. I'll go back on Wednesday for a follow-up xray and more lab tests. Now I just have to get back into the routine, if I can stop having 3-hour naps.

gather no moss

Much ado...
It's been a very busy month here. We went to the Native Heritage Center for Mother's Day; MissK and her class released some salmon fry into a lake; we got to visit with our really good friend Donny and his sweet daughter; MissK sang in the 1st Grade Concert; T had a track meet (500 athletes!); then she had a bowling field trip and finally school ended.

While the kids celebrated the last few days of school, I flew up to Nome and celebrated the graduation of the daughter of my childhood friend... Thanks, Crystal- in a REALLY BIG way- and congratulations to Taylor! She's a beautiful, smart girl with great parents and a world of possibilities open to her. I also got to watch Linda's son graduate from kindergarten, awww.

It's hard to describe going back home after years of being away. I loved every minute of it... Willy and Bridie and the boys let me stay at their house, and I even got to visit with my mom and grandma who were passing through on their way to Indiana. Good times, but with a weird detachment from my three baby birds. K had a few days off of work and stayed here with them... they survived, so did I. It was peaceful.

Part of my excitement about being in Nome had to do with King Island in the late 1800's and early 1900's. That's where my dad's great-grandparents are from, we think... So I got to visit the King Island Native Corporation's archives and search for Anayak and Iutok and any other possible relatives. It was really interesting and I can't wait to go back again.

I came back after three days and celebrated our DownTheRoadFriends' son's first birthday. It was a beautiful weekend and we got all the leftover frosting. The next day, R fell on his face in the front yard and made a great bloody gash above his left eyebrow. Long story, two hospitals and six hours later we were home.

Now I'm just winding down from five straight days of ballet. Ballet, ballet, ballet. I was StageMom (DUNH-DUNH-dunh!) again, because I love how intense everybody gets and the whole process of putting a show together. I love how city-fied and pretentious some people are. I love the kids because they're brave to step out on that stage... and I love the music. Tomorrow I get to sit in the audience. I'm taking Mom. Yay!

a goodbye

What keeps me away from the blog? Aside from mom-duties, mostly Craigslist, Facebook, genealogy, sudoku or knitting. I can't get into myspace or twitter... even less would get done around here. I'm not devoting enough time to gardening either, as droopy lettuce starts tell no lies. The tomatoes are doing okay, but I've mixed them up now and can't remember which are cherry and which are whatever else I started. K got down to business last week and put the garden back together.

This week is the last week of school. I've been helping out the two librarians as much as I can. The kids are lovin' it since it's devolved into one long string of field trips and class parties. On Friday, each of their schools will have a picnic, and T's supposed to bring batches of cookies, extra clothes and a towel because they're going to have "water games" for the students all day. I've been planning a short trip to Nome to watch my friend Crystal's daughter graduate from high school... but that may not happen at this point - it depends on travel arrangements and weather - so we'll at least have the trip up there in June to look forward to.

Twelve days ago, our almost-6-year-old chocolate lab Chena died. He'd been put out on his dog run in the morning while K was flying and the kids and I were all at school. Sometime during the morning, he pulled himself out of his collar, ran away and was hit by a car. I don't know the details other than that the dog catcher was called, he picked up Chena and brought him to the shelter, where Chena was put to sleep. The kids took it pretty hard. Kevin brought Chena home and we buried him on Saturday the 9th. R cried because his sisters were crying, and he understood partly what was going on, but death is a big confusing concept when you're three... MissBoss grieved in her own way and then moved on. Chena was mainly a birthday present for T when she turned three, in Laramie. So his death affected her the most. I used to bitch and moan about his doggy-ness, the smells, the accidents... but she handed me a lesson in acceptance one day when she said so simply in his defense, "Mom, he can't help it." She loved her dog. I don't know how K's been affected, but for me, Chena being gone means that I don't have my late-night kitchen company, who'd lick himself for ten minutes and then fall asleep, whimpering and wagging his tail until he woke up to put up with me clicking and typing the hours away. It means that I know I should have been a better person for Chena, that's for sure.
We've got our good memories and funny stories...

forget waterboarding

I think we as a nation really didn't need Guantanamo all along. To squeeze anybody for a confession, deal, or national secret, all that's required are two kids in a minivan using the stream-of-consciousness-sing-song-pointless-jabber skill like a drill to the back of the head, and a third child splicing in "MAMA MAKE THEM STAAHHHHHHHP!!" every minute or so in a very high-pitched whine, the sun blinding everyone in the car and the radio blaring in a sorry attempt at blocking it all out. Simple.

We went in to Anchorage not long ago to watch K play in a hockey tournament, and that's when I came up with the idea of minivans as torture chambers. K's team lost badly - but there was a team from Nome playing, so it was worth it to go and see some familiar faces and catch up with friends.

It's been hot this week! We've put away the winter gear and caught spring fever. The kids only have three weeks of school left... I finished R's baby blanket, in a feat of perseverance. I also finished reading Little Dorrit by Dickens, after obsessing over PBS' adaptation of it. The book is overwhelming with its 1800's British phrasing, but it was mysterious and funny and I loved it. SO, now I can move on and hopefully get into a more productive mood.

This weekend we braved another road trip to check out the Aviation Trade Show, met up with Peg & family, then drove to Sutton to listen to a talk by the author Gary Paulsen. T's been doing a book report/project on his book "Hatchet", so she was excited to meet him and get his autograph.

Busy days...