Domestic Kick

Last week, Andy and I were sick all week. Fortunately, Sydney and Wynn seemed to escape our illness due to vaccination. Andy wasn't as sick as I was, but the doctors' prognosis were pneumonia and pertussis. I'm not sure I've even been so grateful that our kids were immunized so they couldn't get sick. I don't know how we would have survived. We are still recovering but doing much better! Before our illness' hit however, I went on a domestic kick and started finishing up a bunch of crafts I've been meaning to for a while. The first was making some pull over bibs for Wynn. He quickly learned how to rip the velcro bibs off his neck as soon as he mastered grabbing things. It only took him a week or so to figure out he could yank on the button snap bibs and they'd come off too. I have some store bought pull over bibs, but their necks are pretty wide and he just pulls them over his head and off too! What a stinker. So I set out to make my own Wynn-proof bibs. I'm pretty proud of my result and so far, he can't get them off. They are just snug enough on his neck to keep him from pulling them up and off. The best part is that they are just kitchen towels so they are easy to wash and replace!

As a side note about the bibs... ever since we moved to Alaska and I didn't have Maxine's sewing machine to use, it seems I keep coming up with reasons to use one. I've had to borrow my friend Rachel's at least three or four times in the last year. Well, about a month ago she gave me a call and said a lady from church had told her she had an almost new one to give away... did I want it? Of course! Turns out, Mrs. Bingham's mother was a seamstress and in her honor she buys up used sewing machines, fixes them up and gives them away to younger women learning to sew. The one she gave me is practically new and came with a big basket of sewing supplies. I am so grateful and have been able to finish my first project without borrowing other people's supplies!

Another project I completed is this cute mini cupcake tin advent. Scrapbook paper + stickers + strip magnets = awesome easy reusable advent! My favorite part is that the squares and ribbons can be taken off and stored and then replaced with new ones for any holiday imaginable. I love advents and am excited to make the pieces for every holiday I can think of. Sydney is excited to help me put new treats in for every holiday too :) The lighting in my kitchen is weird so sorry the picture's not the best!

I finished two more projects but can't post pictures because they are gifts and I wouldn't want to ruin the surprises :). Happy fall everyone

Hike #3 "It's only a mile"

 Last Thursday, it was a beautiful sunny day. "Let's go for a hike, Liz!" We attempted this hike earlier this year but took the stroller since we knew it was a wide trail. BAD IDEA... this time we took packs. It's called the Perseverance Trail and follows Alaska's first road into several basins where huge gold mining operations used to run in the early 1900's. This time we hiked further than I've ever been on the trail several miles in before we came to a turnoff for the Glory Hole Lookout. I'd heard it was only a mile or so up to the lookout, so I convinced Liz we should try it. She had already jogged for an hour that morning and insisted on carrying Sydney, but she agreed. Well, it may have been a mile, later we looked at a map and it might not even be that far, but it was up, up, up. My bad. The glory hole was less than glorious since it was still full of snow and you couldn't actually see how deep it was, I however did discover a GREAT patch of yellow salmon berries still ripe since we were at such a high altitude. Yellow ones are my favorite! The way down was lots of fun since we practically had to jog and we'll definitely be exploring more of this canyon next summer. 

Hike #2 "My Face is Salty"

Oh the optimism that we had when we started out on this trail :). We were with a local women's hiking group on a Tuesday morning, it was moderately raining, and we were going to hike a four mile round trip out to a cabin for lunch and back. There were four adults, four kids walking and three others being carried. This is Kowee Meadows Trail in Bridget Point State Park.

Nice clean feet...

And the rains came tumbling down....

On the way out we noticed the meadow appeared to be flooded so we opted for the longer way through the woods. Turns out, the woods were just as wet and harboring hidden patches of mud as much as two feet deep. The kids who were walking were champs as they sunk in to their knees multiple times and had to pulled out barefoot and then their boots dug out from the quicksand like mud. (Notice they're still smiling though)

Finally we arrived at our destination, but it took us two hours to get out there, and Liz had to get back in to work. We ate a quick lunch, left the group and decided to be adventurous and take the quick way through the flooded meadow to get back.

It makes me laugh even now.

Despite the rainy weather, the view was a different kind of beautiful. The clouds were so low it seems the trees could almost touch them and the eagles, since they weren't in the air dotted the trees all around.

 The meadows weren't so bad at first and then it got deeper and deeper until. I have to give Liz props for carrying Sydney all the way. And Sydney props for being so cheerful despite the fact that her legs were soaked. She and Liz sang songs practically the whole way. I had it lucky since I just tossed my rainproof carseat cover over Wynn in the carrier and he slept to the sound of the rain and singing most of the way.


I managed to stay on my feet and only get stuck in the mud once until the last fifteen minutes when I slipped and landed on my right side, waking Wynn up :(. He was still a happy camper though once we were back on our feet.

We accomplished the way back in 55 min! 

There were about 4 or 5 inches of water in my boots and we were SO tired from trekking through the deep mud and water it was like trying to run with your feet buried in the sand. 

This is kind of embarrassing, but it show how wet and exhausted we were!

And as a final reward... we got to wait for 35 more min to get dry and showered for the pilot car when we were done since they are improving the end of the road in Juneau. 

It may not look like it, but I think it was our funnest hike all summer and definitely the most memorable.

Liz

Our friend Liz moved here last December from Hawaii and I've been able to spend a lot of time with her this summer. She's a big help when I need a favor, but my favorite thing about hanging out with her is that we always end up laughing about something and get to spend a lot of time outside no matter what the weather. I've been waiting to get the pictures she has taken from some of our adventures this summer while Andy was at work. The next few posts will cover my favorite adventures with Auntie Liz so be sure to read them all!

Way back when, we did our first excursions in late March when the weather outside got more tolerable for Wynn. Auke Lake was still frozen over and covered in snow! We then headed out to Auke Recreation area and walk out to St. Louisa Point. Since it was a beautiful clear day you could see the snow covered mountains in every direction and Sydney got to look for sea creatures on the beach.

Mt Roberts Tram Hike

Last week on a sunny morning, we undertook our most intense hike yet. My neighbor told me that if you hiked up to the tram and ate or bought something at the gift shop, you can ride down for me. We took the kids in packs and started the 2.5 mile climb up. We kind of underestimated how steep ti was and we were both incredibly tired by the time we got to the top, but we did the 1800 ft climb in just under an hour. It felt good to be at the top and look down and see how much we accomplished, although it would've been significantly easier without kids on our backs. There are SO many trails to try in Juneau, but another hike down, many more to go!

Our picture from the view platform at the top!

Finally free from their packs

An permanently injured eagle that they show at the top of the tram 

A picture from the internet of the tram we rode down on

The channel view on the ride down; it clouded over while we were eating. The weather here changes SO FAST!

Berry Month

August is berry month around here, and we've been picking all the berries we can. This year we picked blueberries, black huckleberries, red huckleberries, raspberries, and even some nagoonberries (Andy loved these, but they are pretty hard to find)! Sydney liked to pick the berries, eating most, and was a good helped making raspberry freezer jam this year. At first, the raspberries in our backyard weren't doing so well, but a friend told me they were too wet and after we thinned them out we've been getting a great crop. Andy and I got to can on our own for the first time. We made a blueberry jam and syrup, a huckleberry mix jam, and even some fireweed jelly. It was fun to taste the product of our efforts, but I'm done for the year now :D. Toward the end of this season, we even invested in our own berry rakes to make next year picking even easier and found our own secret berry patch right near town with all the kinds of bush berries we're interested in picking.