Summer in Anchorage is slowly rolling in, or at least I will continue to whisper that to myself until actual sunny days and seventy degree temperatures appear. With this season continuing the cold snap and dreary, rainy weather, the girls are still asking when summer will get here. And it’s a fair question.
The weather confirms my decision to not pursue kid soccer this summer and opting to wait until they are older with better participation. It also means we don’t have to sit outside and be cold and wet while watching! Instead we opted to do parkour gymnastics once a week for summer session with all three in class together. Two weeks in and so far so good on behavior. The teachers have everything handled by splitting them out into separate subgroups for each activity and while they push limits a bit, overall they are doing much better than a year ago. One difference between the weeknight and Saturday morning class is the level of kid whining from the group in general. You can easily tell everyone is far more tired into their day than when it’s the first thing on the weekend. So far we seem fine and are home by about seven for a quick dinner. Harper will also say she’s sad that Miss Jess, her dance teacher, doesn’t work on Tuesday nights, and is already asking for dance to start again.
Even without sunshine yet, we kicked off our first weekend of June with a birthday party in the valley, random face painting and shaved ice treats, and a multiples barbecue with a ton of twin sets and us! By the time we made it to the final event of the day the girls were in rarer form, grumpy and disobedient, but we survived! A year ago that much activity in a single day would have ended in disaster, and we have to remember how much easier it continues to be each day. It’s not only a relief, but also a little sad, knowing the girls are growing up into bigger, more independent kiddos.
It was a nice change to attend an event and the girls found ways to entertain themselves, something that never used to happen without adult containment and constant attention. When they were smaller I always felt like I missed socializing at every event, because they needed constant attention to stay out of the disaster stage while we were out and about. So for a solid hour my tiny humans climbed and played in the mayday tree next to the birthday party, and it was amazing. By the time we loaded up to the next event, probably more than half of the tree’s flowers were either discarded on the ground or in massive bouquets intended for soup and other child creations once at home.
I believe that instigated the next stage of our non-summer weather, with a straight kick of pollen to the face. The handfuls of mayday flowers, which smell amazing to those of us that don’t have allergies, likely spurred the coughing that we are still seeing a week later. Surprisingly enough, Emerie is the least affected so far, and not the one with a runny nose or coughing fits. This year seems worse than prior ones- even with all three on daily kid-Clariton medicine- and Reagan and Harper are stuck in the midst of it, with continuous coughing fits for the last several days but no fevers.
Grandma Sue arrived middle of last week and together we trekked with the girls down to the Kenai Peninsula for my work trip. We left midday on Friday while Craig was still at work and spent two nights enjoying life outside of our hometown after a long winter without much travel. At one point on the drive down all three girls and Grandma were snoozing and I enjoyed the quiet drive listening to music and seeing the beautiful Alaskan landscape. Everyone snuggled in the new blankets Grandma brought up from Juneau and Emerie slept a solid hour with the blanket completely encompassing her head. At one point I tried to smoothly pull it off so she wouldn’t suffocate and she fought back in her sleep with an angry groan and wouldn’t release it.
The rental outside of town had two bedrooms and a main living area. Upon arrival the girls immediately chose their own twin bed and proceeded to spread out their blankets and stuffed animals until they were set up for bed. It was the cutest thing and completely inspired by them. Grandma and I brought in the gear and then we headed back to the car to more adventure.
The first night we walked around the Kenai River festival in Soldotna and the girls played at the amazing playground. The sun vanished and turned to rain and wind as soon as we went to the first booth- sidetracked by mermaid themed goodies and a mermaid treasure chest full of treasures the girls HAD to have- and it turned very cold for the next hour. We managed to hide under merchandise tents and order some food truck food for dinner, the girls sharing a big hotdog and the adults enjoying gyros on white rice (super delicious by the way!) under the overhang. We met up with Cousin Jamie, Steve and Maddie and walked around and caught up a bit. The girls did great and settled pretty easily for the night at the rental. At one point they danced to the live music and caused some chuckles from folks sitting nearby.
The next morning I headed off to the Kenai Municipal Airport for the annual air fair. It was my first time attending the event or having a booth at it, and the girls adventured around town with Grandma Sue and Cousin Jamie. Everyone stopped by about halfway through the afternoon and I took a break to walk through the planes out on the apron, something the girls really wanted to do last year at the aviation festival in Palmer. The sun returned and momentarily eased up the rain long enough for us to enjoy the helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, especially the old Everts cargo plane. We had to pry the girls out of that plane; they quite enjoyed sitting in the cockpit and asking Hayden twenty questions he couldn’t answer because he’s not a pilot and doesn’t fly the skies of bush Alaska.
We might have a pilot in the making, in addition to my painter/artsy girl, because Reagan asked a million questions at both helicopters, one LifeMed and one Guardian. The poor flight medic tried to answer all her inquiries on the buttons and how to make the plane go forward and fly, and it took some convincing to move on so others in line could have a turn. Everyone took a turn getting strapped into the critical patient spot and laying down on the stretcher. Everyone also asked a ton of questions on the gear, pointing to the ventilator, the oxygen mask, the blood pressure cuff, and excitedly wanting an answer so they could point at something else.
At one point a plane did some tricks in the air above us- the funny thing being I couldn’t get the girls to look up for the life of me, as they were all focused on the beautiful color of the hanging pilot’s helmet in the helicopter, and the fact it was an hombre teal color. Priorities folks.
The first trip of the summer was definitely a success and simpler than last year. I am proud to say that no one asked for any screen time on the drive down or back, everyone went to bed pretty easily at night and in their own designated bed, no specific schedule needed following, and no massive destruction occurred at the rental (well no kid destruction- sometimes you can’t take Grandma Sue anywhere without a little destruction and she will kill me for writing this!). We are dancing on the edge of a major growth spurt, with everyone hungry and filling a big appetite. For example, Emerie ate three half sandwiches, two servings of fresh peaches, a cucumber, and half of Grandma’s potato chip bag on the drive down. The remainder of snacks were devoured on the way back by all three! We also collected massive kid allergies for Harper and Reagan, who both still have a dry, unproductive cough, and could see the layer of pollen on the car each morning. They were both good sports about it for the most part and it was nice to see Emerie escape the crud and go about her day, business as usual.
One brief stop to the beach equaled a massive amount of “pretty” rocks in the back of the car, fancy rocks that are now a part of the family and sitting on the back deck. Hopefully our next beach adventure will be slightly warmer temperatures and seashells, at the girls’ request. We also enjoyed a pancake breakfast with cousins and the girls lasted a solid two hours at the cafe, coloring at least five pictures each and staying chill longer than they do at most our food outings.
The mosquitoes weren’t too bad for all our time spent outside, likely because of the level of wind; but at the end of the weekend, Reagan woke up with one eye swollen shut, from a bite right underneath her eyebrow. Funny enough she told me a story, claiming a mosquito followed her into the house that night, waited until she fell asleep, and then BIT her on the eyeball. It was very descriptive and told ever-so seriously.
I also noticed the girls are now referring to themselves in third person. So when one answers an adult question or comment and we respond asking who said that, because we aren’t looking that direction in the moment, they’ve taken that to heart and now simply answer with Reagan said that or Harper wants milk or no, I’m Emerie. Apparently us adults need to pay better attention now so that we don’t spend our lives hearing third person responses!
I look forward to next weekend’s adventure, which should be fishing but with counts so low and gil netting canceled, we are still determined to simply get out of town and enjoy this summer, however that will look and however cold it may be!
❤
The Douglets 