Little Entrepreneurs & Summer Shenanigans

The girls embraced their entrepreneurial spirit during the first weekend of sun this summer and set up a lemonade stand at the end of the driveway, in coordination with the adjacent neighbor’s moving sale. For over two hours the night prior, all three worked on customized signs, using lots of color and adding hand drawn lemons and cookies. My freehand bubbles letters are not great, but their tracing and coloring over them turned out nicely. If you look closely, stylistically all three signs are very different, with Reagan spending a great deal of time drawing patterns in the letters, Emerie went for a more jagged look, and Harper added a cookie path at the bottom. Craig woke up early that morning to hand squeeze two Costco bags of lemons, and I managed to drop an entire first batch of it on the front steps (at least it wasn’t inside!) as we were setting up. Life lesson, carry juice containers from the bottom, not by the handle, which is useless…. The girls also helped Sue make chocolate chip cookie bars and her special rice krispy treats, which were individually bagged and ready to show the neighborhood the delicious treats typical in our household.

The two hour event was busy, and definitely hot from the first direct sun of the season! The girls hung out for most of it -a year ago it probably wouldn’t have held their interest that long- and Craig even had to run to the store for more lemons, thanks to my fiasco. We ended up raising the goodies to $1 a bag, after getting a lot of grief they were too low. The first sale of the day from a neighbor produced a $5 payment, which impressed me but not the girls, who seem to have a preference for quarters. It took about two hours to completely sell out, which I didn’t expect to happen! By the end of the morning, inflation became a major factor in prices and the girls were telling people $20 for a cookie bag, up to $36! Good thing that came with lots of giggling.

A few other notable things from this past June:

With childcare costs dramatically increasing this year, we opted to bring Grandma Sue up to spend time with the kids while the parents worked. With Craig traveling for work and me heading off to the office each morning, the girls discovered a couple new shows; one being The Lion Guard, a spinoff show to the Lion King, and Sofia the First, which is all about the princesses. In addition to some new shows, all three collected sticks on our adventures this month, absolutely heartbroken with denials they couldn’t come in the car, so in true Grandma Sue style, everyone found new sticks and made customized “Rafiki sticks” to play with. After lots of feathers and other craft material, and half of Craig’s hot glue from the garage, all three prance around with them proudly, surveying the pride lands of Alaska. Summer is fun, folks!

Two weeks of real sunshine meant all kinds of backyard activities to shove into that time, in case July turns cloudy and rainy like last year. The girls turn into self proclaimed “swim-girls” and love selecting a swimsuit to rock for the day. The water slide came out a number of times, as well as the kiddie pool, with insistence that cold water is still not acceptable. After many summers, the water table is still a hit, whether it’s filled with Orbies, water, dirt, or a combination of the three. The puppy also enjoys drinking out of it.

A sunny week wouldn’t be complete without a quick jog down to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage at least once. It was a perfect day and warm enough to leave the coats off, even with the breeze. We accidentally timed it to see a newborn, surprise baby muskox- only 16 hours old and snuggled in the sun, not a care in the world. After many fruit snacks and my feet are tired -oh and the picking of TONS of dandelions and other weeds- we had a great afternoon. Did I drive toward Portage at the end to make them sit in a patch of lupine for a photo?? You bet I did!

Our annual trip to Kenai was also a success. Craig continued to work from the office that week and I attended a work inspection and public involvement event while the girls chilled and explored with Grandma, and it was even easier to navigate than last year’s excursion. We did the usual fun, hopped over to Homer for an afternoon to walk along the spit, swing on the swing by the ocean, eat cheeseburgers to warm up, and find more flowers, played at the main Soldotna playground and walked along the Kenai River, and even ate breakfast (caramel waffles) in a retired train car, which was really cool. Dinner at cousin Jamie’s house, with smores and a fire, is now an expected activity when we wander around the peninsula. The girls really enjoyed playing games with Hayden and Maddie while Grandma and Mom had a nice break around the fire. We ended up staying up late every night, and the girls did pretty well with the routine change and were up for the challenge.

The first Saturday market visit of the summer couldn’t have been on a better day. The girls went down the massive slide a dozen times, their pace eventually slowing up three flights of stairs. Craig, Papa Cliff and I rode the merry-go-round a couple of times, even sitting on the horses. The spinning swings were a huge hit and a first for the girls. Even Reagan, who doesn’t like going fast, had a huge smile plastered on her face. Emerie posed her arms and legs silly ways each time around, looking like a suspended ballerina, and Harper hollered and yelled snarky remarks at us each time they circled.

One spinning ride turned out to be a little too adventurous, even though Harper and Emerie pleaded with to ride it again. All three were strapped in together, and as the ride picked up speed, they forcefully ended up squished into one side, laughing and squealing. Reagan, on the other hand, wore a look of pure terror, clutching the safety bar as if her life depended on it, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and regret. Harper and Emerie, meanwhile, couldn’t stop giggling, their infectious laughter filling the air. It was a scene straight out of a comedy show, although Reagan might not completely agree with that. We all agreed that we’d save that ride for another summer, or perhaps next time, when a non-motion sick adult could join to keep the peace and balance the scales a bit. Until then, we’ll stick to the merry-go-round and super slides!

We also adventured a little north this year and rented a cabin in Talkeetna for a few days. It was a nice break to go somewhere we haven’t explored in a while, and the girls wanted to check out EVERY single tourist shop in downtown. It was a lot of fun and all kinds of treasures were found, including patterns to a turtle and seal themed quilt -which Grandma Anne is now tasked with making, as well as finding an equivalent panda pattern to create for Reagan- and felted, kid-size purses, one being a panda. Lemonade stand revenue was definitely used during this trip. Much ice cream was ingested (I even cheated on my diet to collect fireweed ice cream calories), as well as a couple fun dinners out. We played along the water with a beautiful view of Denali, and timed our excursion before the wildfires up north began. The last pit stop on the way out of town was to a spruce syrup farm, who had the BEST ice cream and syrup for sale.

I can’t wrap up this blog without giving a special shout out to Craig, who continues to fully embrace his girl dad side. He not only rocked custom six-year-old makeup but did so with an admirable level of enthusiasm. The girls have a unique flair for makeup artistry, preferring to make each eye a different, vibrant shadow color, resulting in a look that can only be described as delightfully chaotic (you like that?!). And this day was no exception. Picture Craig, out and about, his eyelids a kaleidoscope of clashing colors that adorned attention with every blink. The funniest part was seeing people’s reactions – a mix of surprise and amusement – whenever they made eye contact with him; I kept forgetting about the colorful masterpiece he was sporting until he’d respond to me on something. The girls were absolutely thrilled with their work and beamed with pride as they wore their own rainbow-hued eyelids for the day. It was a testament to Craig’s dedication to making his daughters happy, no matter how wild the makeover! Don’t even get me started on his toe and fingernails….

And now, it’s time to kick off July with a bang and explore the exciting adventures that await us in Southeast Alaska!

❤

Jun 02

Performances and Puppies!

After months of inquiries as to when it would happen, the girls attended their spring dance recital earlier this month, for both tap and ballet. After Harper’s solo dance class last spring, Emerie and Reagan begged to join so they could perform on the big stage like Harper. Custom costumes for each routine made for some excited little girls, and the big evening happened on an already big day, the last day of school.

Attending another ballet school’s performance the weekend prior also amped up the excitement. The Alice in Wonderland theme was really fun and everyone dressed up for the occasion, including Papa Cliff! The girls kept saying I looked beautiful -just for wearing a skirt- and all wanted do pose for photos and wear crowns. Craig went all out and did temporary hair color for each kiddo and everyone was ready for an evening downtown.

To our surprise at the girls’ show, Emerie turned out as the crowd pleaser, waving constantly and ensuring she was in the front of the group. Harper attempted to stay close to Miss Jess just like last year; while Reagan was more shy and stayed toward the back, focusing on her footwork. It took a bit to figure out who was who from so far back in the auditorium, and even then I wasn’t completely sure I was right on Harper and Reagan. Doing the same hairstyle and costume and a significant distance equals difficulty!!

The girls were excited for “real” eyeshadow and my eyeliner, and did pretty well to not smear it everywhere. Harper ripped her tights after the first dance and although displeased, thankfully didn’t throw a fit over it. Also unlike last year, Craig didn’t have to carry a screaming, overtired toddler to the car; all three did great after the picture with their teachers and some much needed French fries; bedtime routine was smooth sailing after a long night.

Another fun event that week, arguably the best run kid event ever, was the annual Anchorage Fire Department’s spring open house, at the training station over by the hospital. It was seriously the most fun event, with an immediate stop at the free face painting, a hotdog snd hot chocolate lunch due to the cold temperatures, and tons of activities to try and things to climb on. Don’t forget the bouncy houses and shaved ice!

Everyone climbed in the fire trucks and asked the kind firefighter five thousand questions about all the buttons; I had to pry Reagan away as she kept thinking of new things to ask. Everyone tried drilling concrete (with ear protection of course!), smashing soda cans and crumpling wood piles with the cool power tools. All in all, it was a really well done event, even with the rain! We will definitely return next year.

While Papa Cliff was here for a quick visit, the girls were excited to build the girly Lego sets with him, and we were quickly reminded that building a set with three six year olds at the same time is impossible. Building with two is actually doable. All three definitely demanded turns and they are improving on putting them together.

With summer’s arrival and the ground completely thawed, we finally buried our sweet kitty Rory, who spent the past two months solidly frozen in the garage freezer (unbeknown to the girls!). About two years ago we did this with Rafi and impressively the girls remembered that and knew what to do. Everyone sprinkled rose petals on him from their dance bouquets from Craig and added a million dandelions atop the dirt. It’s never easy to bury a beloved pet, but as death is still a part of our lives, I believe it is good to share the experience and talk about it, and prepare them for something that is not enjoyable, but happens in real life. They did great; Reagan needed some hugs but otherwise all were satisfied decorating his resting spot and asking questions about him in heaven with Rafi. Yes, Emerie still verified that his head was indeed still attached to his body….just in case that changed since she last inquired.

Unrelated to the burial service, Craig convinced me and the girls that adopting a puppy was the logical next step for our household. While this is continuing topic in our lives, he managed to find a super calm, five month old lab mix to bring home to love. The best part…in my opinion? She chews EVERYTHING, so all toys and clothes have to stay off the floor. That’s an instant way to convince kids to clean up after themselves, don’t you think?? The poor little teether is finding all kinds of goodies to enjoy, including our feet, cat toys, real mice, and the handles off bags. Seems like we have another toddler in the house. Just like with Rosie, the girls unanimously agreed with Harper’s first name suggestion, Gemma, and insist she sparkles like a gem or diamond. Insightful, right?

So we ease into summer with an empty, cat less freezer, and a new, sweet pup. If we can potty train three toddlers at once, we should be able to train one pup…I think!

❤

Aug 09

Pre-Kindergarten Fun

And just like that, the final two weeks of summer vacation; meaning the time before our first school year kicks off, means some family adventures and activities to round out the season. I started day one of fourteen with kids home off with a bit of a bang- while Craig went into the office at the crack of dawn, I worked a couple hours before everyone woke up, made requested zucchini muffins during breakfast, completed a couple loads of laundry, packed up lunches and the car, loaded everyone up and drove down to explore the wildlife conservation center about an hour away, AND made homemade, puffy chalk paint, that the girls proceeded to make a HUGE mess with on the driveway (and themselves).

This was our first conservation center visit in quite a while and it was probably the nicest, least windy weather we’ve ever had there. The girls played with stuffed animals and counted waterfalls on the drive down, and saw the train twice! The shrieking for a train sighting woke up Emerie, who had drifted off to sleep. She excitedly watched it out the window and went right back to sleep. Everyone was more excited to pick dandelions and other flowers than get up close and personal with the rescued animals. Emerie walked around the center announcing I’m a triplet! to anyone nearby, whether or not they wanted to know or were remotely paying attention to us. Silly girl. We ate packed lunches at the picnic table by the playground; at one point a hornet- or some kind of massive bee related bug- drove all three away screaming. Now every time anything even close to the same species flies by; everyone scatters. Even dragonflies and mosquitos. Needless to say, there is more reactive screaming now than previously.

By the end of the day I was TIRED from overdoing it a bit, and the girls were asking to go to bed by the end of the night. Reagan and Craig picked up Grandma Sue at the airport and everyone snuggled into their beds afterwards and drifted right off to sleep.

The following day Sue and I packed up the car and headed down to the Kenai Peninsula for a few days of adventure. We are getting quite good at long drives with the kids and made it down in one straight shot, only stopping once for a random traffic backup. No naps, no screens, a lot of snacking and music, and of course, coloring. Tiny notebooks and multi-color pens are great for drives. The tunes for this whole week were the new Little Mermaid soundtrack- the girls ask for the songs Prince Eric and Ursula sing, not Ariel- and a lot of My Little Pony, the movie and the show. I recently introduced them to some “old” techno with Cascada, and they now ask for her by name, and a couple songs from Imagine Dragons. It’s cute that they fight over the band name; Emerie is convinced it is Magic Dragons and Reagan argues it’s Imagine. Harper just asks me to play the magic in my bones song!

The girls were SO excited to see Becky and spend a few nights at her house on the lake. After asking for a solid year, you know since our last stay, they were more than excited to play in the yard and run up and down the stairs. Becky made her fancy pasta salad and brisket and all was well in the world! I may have eaten that salad for breakfast the next day…it was THAT good.

With no agenda for the trip other than to do whatever we felt like whenever we felt like it, we spent day two traveling down to Ninilchik for a quick visit with Cousin Brian and an afternoon in Homer. The farther south we went, the nicer the weather, so by the time we arrived on the spit, it was glorious. After a fantastic late lunch of burgers and fries (and soda sips courtesy of fun grandma!), we explored the docks and looked at boats, walked on the boardwalk and took pictures in about every cardboard cutout, checked out the catches of the day, tested out some sorbet, loaded coat pockets with shells, and reluctantly checked out the swing under the boardwalk, with a high tide underneath. All the random strangers entertained the girls questions and comments, especially those cutting or hauling fish caught that day, and we stopped to ogle at the 109 pound halibut hanging at one of the charters. The girls watched the experts fillet fish and toss the bones, with both interested and horrified expressions. Emerie announced a number of times to a crowd of fish professionals, that she hates fish and it’s DISGUSTING. Harper and Reagan watched with interested but also wouldn’t go anywhere near any of it. Maybe someday we will get them to like salmon…but for now they will eat halibut, especially when told it is chicken!

We left the beach with less shells than our last visit, mostly with instructions that only whole and unbroken shells couldn’t come with us. You can tell the beach is one of their happy places the moment they see one. Emerie is instantly throwing rocks in the water with loud giggles of pleasure, hefting big ones with joy and watching the splash; Reagan immediately hunts for a good stick and scrutinizes the sand for treasures; and Harper hollers after finding each big shell and random bird feathers, which made it all the way back to Anchorage with us. Oh yes.

We tried Face-timing Craig on the return drive and they were so wild, it was just screaming and three kids yelling into the phone all at once. We stopped one time at the only solid fireweed patch we spotted the entire drive, and the girls entertained their mother’s request and smiled and wandered through it for a few photos.

The following day we wandered around the area and searched for treasures at random garage sales. Nothing crazy, but some great scores and a good way to explore Kenai and Soldotna. Grandma spotted an amazing old dollhouse with tiny furniture that was worth more than the fifteen bucks we spent on the house. Packing that into the back of my SUV, with all our trip gear and bikes, was quite the adventure in itself.

After a delicious lunch at a recently discovered restaurant in Soldotna with Craig’s cousin Jamie and Steve, with noodles and oodles of egg rolls, fried rice and broccoli for the girls, we meandered over to the park across the street and did the traditional stroll down the riverbank boardwalk. The riverfront beach area that we played on in June was completely submerged underwater, so instead the girls checked out each fishing group at the bottom of the access staircases. One group caught and released several red salmon and everyone sat quietly at the top of the stairs and surveilled. Another kind lady brought her catch over for the girls to see up close.

Jaren and Savaya stopped by after a bit and broke out their fishing poles, so we put life jackets on the girls and let them carefully walk along the riverbank while the experts reeled some fish. Harper had the one snafu of the afternoon, who lost her footing going down the grated, metal stairway and would have tumbled fifteen feet down and into the flowing river, except that I happened to be standing several steps below her. Some tears, a bloody knee and bruised leg and foot later, and they were back to exploring.

The rest of the day was spent playing on the dock and in the yard, soaking in the sun. With only a light breeze and intermittent clouds, the lake was smooth as glass. Over the three day visit they must have biked the driveway loop a hundred times, enjoying the hill and practicing how to balance on the way down while in traffic. It stayed warm enough for swimsuits and Jamie’s kiddos Amber, Hayden and Maddy swam in the water and played on the floats with the girls. Hayden attempted to catch a fish and bucketed minnows for them to play with. You could hear goofy giggles from afar on the float as the girls sat with Amber and devoured a snack, and also somewhat tortured her! The girls wouldn’t commit to swimming, even given the warm weather and great water temperature- well Reagan tried for thirty seconds and was not a fan- but they did enjoy splashing their feet, scooping buckets, and playing with the dock ropes. Watching Hayden jump off and into the water was also quite the hit; about as much them torturing him on the float out in the water or later on the grass. Lots of snacks, chit chat with family, and silly kiddos made for a nice and relaxing afternoon. It’s wonderful now that we are at an age they can play and mostly entertain themselves and the adults can actually converse with each other! For the most part they fully entertained themselves and played with family. Other than the minor whining and meltdowns throughout the day, everyone was mostly on good behavior and having fun and everyone patiently waited to go down to the dock until adults were ready to go. Kids don’t float!

In case you were wondering, Harper also learned how to whistle this week. She now walks around whistling about as much as Reagan breaks into random song, and it’s pretty cute. She is very proud and also announces to strangers at the store that she can whistle! Reagan and Emerie are less thrilled that they haven’t quite figured it out yet; Reagan’s missing front tooth certainly isn’t helping her learn it. Reagan managed to find all kinds of cool treasures this trip, that would all end up in my pockets somehow. She picked unripe cranberries and put them in her purse, green pine cones, and tons of clover and other flowers so she could use them later.

I also discovered that Emerie still chatters in her sleep; at one point I woke up enough to hear her snap I told you the color was purple! and then settle back down with a grunt. She said another phrase at some point that night, but I wasn’t awake enough to remember it the next morning. Emerie was also a good sport about patching a couple hours each day of the trip, since she does that for the mornings at school. Throughout she was still biking and running around doing her thing, her only request to sit behind me or in the middle in the car, so she can see out the window with her left eye.

More fun activities continue during our staycation before kindergarten starts next week, including a visit to the you-pick farm in the valley and meeting up with more cousins, this time Tyler and Chatum, for a quick lunch and minor torturing. We also snapped a couple photos sitting in Uncle Chris’ vintage teal truck (Reagan has told me it’s hers but I don’t think the boys will agree with that!) and everyone is looking so grown up. Grandma taught them how to climb up the side of a less vintage truck in the driveway (since you know…Tyler has multiple options!), and now all three proudly pull up on the tire and hike a leg over the side of the truck bed and taunt us to come get them.

One more week until kindergarten!

❤

Jul 28

Backcountry Fun & Emerie Eye Update

We took advantage of the first beautiful sunny weekend of the summer this past week; saddest part being it didn’t happen until almost the end of July. On Saturday we went the easy route, going to a local park with lake beach front, and the kids played in the sand and dove right into the kiddie swimming area. The water was “warm” in Alaska standards and I was surprised how quickly they played in it; last year it was received much less enthusiastically. Friends brought floats to play on, teenie-tiny fish were a hot topic for kid conversation and collection- with parents trying to keep them alive and well in water buckets and kids more interested in checking them out- and the ice cream truck stopped by for a nice, midday treat. We played outside for the rest of the day, washed the cars in the driveway and the girls wore dress up and played with their sun umbrellas. We ended the evening picking up the trailer at cousins for the real adventure the following day.

Day two of the weekend continued the beautiful sunshine and 70 degree temperatures so we loaded up two kid and one adult four-wheelers and headed out to Eklutna Lake, about an hour’s drive from our house. When I was a kid the ten-mile road was full of potholes, scary overlooks and absolutely no pavement; these days it’s much easier vehicle access with two lane, freshly painted asphalt. The girls fought over marker selection on their coloring for most of the drive there, and if you exclude the whining, the day went pretty well.

All the kids abandoned shoes and climbed on logs and played in the water a bit. The driftwood teepee on the beachfront was also quite a hit and they happily played in it and tried to build it bigger. Craig became an unofficial four-wheeler mechanic not too long after we were out and about and by the end of the day, he was manually hauling them back to the car due to a variety of issues. The boys in the group, meaning cousins and Kaden, are all pretty good drivers when they pay attention, so parking lot loops and some basic trail riding was a hit. The girls aren’t quite there yet and probably need another summer before we can trust they will go straight by intention; we will get there. We had several kid crashes off-trail, but none that caused any bleeding or too many tears. At one point five kids and an adult were riding the adult four-wheeler- that’s impressive in itself! Craig installing the back bench was the best decision ever and let’s us easily cart four kiddos on the back safely, all strapped in with seat belts.

It was a fun day and we all returned home with new sunburn lines. Now I just hope we can have at least one more weekend with warm temperatures before we head into fall. Harper keeps telling me summer hasn’t started yet. You said summer was warm and it’s not warm. She makes an excellent point and I don’t have a good argument against that!

Emerie Eye Update

Emerie’s eye specialist checkup this week went great after no visit for six whole months! This is the longest stint without an appointment since cataracts were diagnosed at twelve months in her left eye, and the outcome is looking better. Emerie was on her best behavior; I kid you not, it was the smoothest appointment we’ve ever had! She sat all by herself on the patient chair (past demands involved a parent underneath) and told the nurse all the letters she put onscreen across the room. In January she was seeing 20/40 out of her weaker eye, even with glasses on, and this time she was able to see a few of the letters in 20/25! After a couple in that size she declared they are too small to read!

This visit she also listened to Dr. Winkle’s requests obediently and maintained eye contact while holding still. For the first time he looked in her eyes with the fancier equipment typically used for adults- she is getting so grown up. And she did great! Dr. Winkle said patching must continue for several more years. The nurse did a quick light test before the doctor came in, a test that informs whether her eyes are working together or operating separately in conjunction with her brain. She couldn’t see both red and green, which tells us her brain is still fighting the connection between the eyes and patching will continue to help remedy that. He also praised our efforts to patch daily are paying off and her eye alignment is staying straight and not drifting out; if anything she is slightly inward on alignment. This is largely encouraging and means we don’t need another checkup for six months and no surgery on the docket. Very exciting!!

The plan is to continue patching in the mornings like we do now, and giving her a break on the weekends so she isn’t operating with one eye while we go on fun adventures. I’m not entirely sure how well this will go for kindergarten so I plan to see how she does with school while patched, and reassess if we need to start doing evenings or afternoons instead so she has less hardships during school activities. All in all, she does everything her sisters do while patched and it’s really impressive, knowing that eye is weaker and still trying to get stronger. She’s a rock star.

Lastly, in case you were curious, Dr. Winkle’s favorite color is green. This is not to be confused with teal or blue. He and Emerie had a deep conversation about favorite colors, and she loves to talk to him when we go. She also went off on a My Little Pony tangent and discussed the princesses and different ponies; it was pretty funny. His favorite color was quite the topic of conversation later in the day as well, and I could hear her telling Reagan and Harper, Dr. Winkle told me his favorite color is green! It’s not teal like Reagan’s color, it’s green like the color of Mom’s pants today. He loves green. So, very cute.

❤

Jun 24

The Road Best Traveled

For a second weekend in row we headed down to the Kenai Peninsula for a much needed life break, from work and the busy, everyday life we lead in Anchorage. It’s been a solid year since I took a week off from my day job; unsuspecting the tough events at work last year were right around the corner of that trip.

With no gil net fishing allowed this year by Fish and Game, we decided getting out of town remained worth it for some much needed family fun. I still revel at the ease of traveling now compared to last year, and with Grandma Sue in tow, it’s about as close to a vacation as you can get (with kids!). The first two nights spent at the same place as last week meant the girls were already comfortable and familiar and very excited to show Craig around. Everyone slept both nights in their temporary bedroom, which is a feat in itself, and did a great job staying at our other house.

With no daily plan or planned places to be, we adventured and explored as we felt like it. We dilly dallied in the mornings and the kids played, much less structured mornings than when we are at home and getting things done. We popped into the Kenai jump park to burn some energy and strolled the farmers market in Soldotna, playing at the playground behind it and trying out a couple tasty treats. The girls fearlessly slid down the extremely old, metal slide- probably installed when Craig and I were kids and now seen as more dangerous- and checked out the old-school monkey bars. At the market one vendor displayed a beautiful wooden bench with a fishing pole sealed into it; the girls all checked that out with interest at how it would come out for use. So funny!

We walked along the boardwalk of the Kenai River, the opposite direction we explored last year after the car broke down. The chanting of kids don’t float! followed our brigade, since life jackets weren’t on and the adults were carefully paying attention. Dandelions, well really any type of flower, were collected into kid bouquets and carried in hands and pockets for the entire excursion. Little did we know this direction took us right to an warm, open (Alaskan standards) beach area with lots of climbing rocks along the riverbank. The girls tossed rocks and sticks into the water with enthusiasm and explored. With the sun finally showing its face, it became surprisingly warm out and almost like summer was upon us! The girls asked to climb out to the farthest rock and in true grandma style, Sue removed her socks and shoes and walked out barefoot to assist them to it.

At one point a random lady and her toddler approached us, asking if we had seen misplaced keys. Craig and I helped her look around and eventually I luckily saw their reflection underwater, just enough to notice them. So random and glad we could help out a fellow mom that wasn’t having as good of a day as us!

At this point the girls’ “pollen coughs,” as I now call them, were in full swing from the warmer temperatures and our time outside, so after an amazing Thai noodle lunch and a lot of ice water to cool down, we drove around a bit so everyone could settle. This followed our plan to be unplanned, and we drove in a few circles trying to find a random flower shop that potentially sold poppies for Sue.

The one planned event toward the beginning of the trip was to barbecue at cousin Jamie’s house and hangout with almost all the cousins on that side of the family. Even with the mosquito club meeting that swarmed around the yard, the evening was wonderful. Savaya, Jaren and Chatum stopped in for a while and it was nice to see everyone. The girls were all on decent behavior, especially after a busy day of adventuring around a new place, at least until Hayden came home from work. Then like they do with Uncle Will…let the torturous games begin! Maddie shared a stuffed animal from her collection with each kiddo, Harper selecting a pink bunny, Emerie a Stitch, and Reagan a cheetah (or tiger?). Since returning home, all three get snuggles each night at bedtime. The pony coloring books from cousins were also a hit and colored while at the barbecue and for the rest of our trip.

After some delicious grilling by Steve, out came the marshmallows. The girls have tried this activity only a couple of times, so it was interesting to see their response to it for the first time this summer. In the past we just made a point to avoid fire situations, since three tiny running toddlers are hard to keep track of to avoid injury! Ultimately they all just wanted to eat the chocolate bars, which they did, and Emerie gave us a hilarious display of slow cooking hers, flipping it over and rubbing it into the fire pit grossness, and making everybody laugh at the ridiculousness of it. Jaren tried to show her a better method and she was not about to listen. By the end of the day they were all exhausted and immediately crashed after we made it home for the night.

The second half of the trip was spent in one of our favorite spots, Homer. We only spent about six hours in the town last year and I have been looking forward to a longer visit to spend more time exploring and hanging out at the beach. The weather took a turn toward beautiful for two of the three days, so even with the blustering wind, the beach adventures each day were fun. After the drive down that morning we headed straight to Bishop’s Beach. The wind made the girls instantly cold in their light sundresses, coats and shorts, asking right away to go back to the car. But by the time we walked to the water’s edge and looked for shells, they were more excited to find things than complain about the temperature. Well, I should say Harper and Reagan; it took Emerie a bit more convincing but she got there! By the end of that first afternoon, Harper and Reagan were down to bare feet and no coats and creating forts and “kitchens” out of the driftwood; Emerie kept hilariously laying on the ground underneath her coat, trying to take a nap, and wouldn’t take her socks off but abandoned her boots.

The second day the beach was just as gorgeous but the wind was blowing harder. The tide was pretty far out and we were able to walk a good distance and see some larger shells that weren’t visible the first day. Grandma Sue explained other small sea creatures and goodies as she found them, even finding two (dead) crabs at one point, that the girls glanced at and then refused to carry around with them. Buckets filled up pretty quickly with treasures and we rinsed them off in a shallow pool closer to the shoreline, that Harper ended up falling backwards into. This was after her walloping trek across the water a few moments earlier, which filled her boots with water and soaked her lower half, not that it bothered her (that time!)! While I wish we could have spent more time out there, the wind was so strong it was making my ears ache, and eventually we headed off to explore other spots in town.

This rental was a beautiful three bedroom house, so the girls took turns sharing beds. The first night Emerie won the lottery to sleep next to Grandma Sue and the second night it was Harper’s turn. I may have snapped a couple of nighttime photos of them unknowingly snuggling with one another as they lightly snored. When asleep and wearing the same pajamas, they look SO alike! All three did quite well entertaining themselves while we briefly got to relax, or cook, or enjoy the beautiful view of the water and the spit. Everyone spent a good amount of time playing on the front porch and creating forts with the furniture cover and, you know, fighting over it.

While of course we visited some of the touristy spots, which are boring to elaborate on here, one cute adventure was spent out on the Homer Spit, walking around the pier and looking at the boats. Personally I enjoy reading all the creative boat names, but since the girls can’t read yet, they enjoyed looking at the colors, fish in the water, and activity happening before them. When asked one thing they remember from the trip, it is pretty likely to be seeing the rainbow boat out in the water. It caused quite the stir of excitement and we HAD to walk over and see it up close and personal. Grandma convinced them the “dock police” would come and haul them away if they weren’t on good behavior, which included no running and goofing off because kids don’t float! A few passerby’s joined in on that humor and acted like they might be those enforcers. It was great. We also witnessed a random boat tour loading up and asked Captain Bob twenty questions about his boat. Bob was good sport and joined in on the fun.

As we rounded the turn back to the car we spotted several fishermen filleting catches from the day, one a good sized halibut and the other was cleaning salmon heads for a restaurant here in Anchorage that makes soup. The intrigue intensified and all three asked a lot of questions, wanting to get back in there and check it all out. The salmon fisherman was also a good sport, in general everyone we spoke to was so friendly, and brought one head around to show the girls. All three touched the eyeballs, because why not, and Reagan might have licked her fingers after and then wiped them on her dress. Gross! This picture accurately depicts the reactions; I trend toward the same feeling as Reagan when it comes to fish eyeballs. You could definitely tell they were bummed we didn’t get to do gil netting and we received a few questions why we didn’t go.

I am sure I’m forgetting some other cute and memorable things, but I didn’t write them down in the moment and don’t remember now. It was a nice trip, with tired kids each night, lots of treats and candy from different stores and restaurants, lots of coloring and driving and cute kiddo moments. The coveted candy rings from Grandma inspired Reagan to explain to her all knowingly, well you said we could have the candy rings tomorrow and today is tomorrow so we can have them! Such wisdom for first thing in the morning. The drive home was solid fog for the first hour and everyone snuggled in their blankets, ate their full lunches and snacks and finally watched a movie until we made it home.

❤

The Douglets

Triplets in Alaska

summertime