So January was gray and uneventful. On February 1st we started our journey to California. I debated whether or not to include this trip in the blog but quickly realized vacationing in warm locations (or at least dreaming about them) is undoubtedly a part of our Alaska experience. I love that when people in Homer vacation they go big. It takes quite a bit of time and money to get out of Alaska, so once you're out you might as well stay a while. Our neighbors, with kids similar in age to ours, took their kids to Thailand for three weeks in January. The owners of our favorite restaurant closed up shop for the month of January and went to Belize with their young kids. A friend of Kate's leaves tomorrow for a kayak and camping trip in Mexico with her family. As you can imagine, I really identify with these adventurous travel types. Below: Homer airport before take off.
We went to California because the ship (and more importantly Brian) is in Long Beach for maintenance. Well Brian isn't there for maintenance, but you know what I mean. It took us three flights and an overnight in a hotel to get there, but the kids were great both directions. In six flights, there was only one 15 minute rough patch, but it was really rough. The entire row of seats in front of me got free wine, as did I, for dealing with James's massive meltdown and attempt to sabotage the flight at take off. I would do it again in a heartbeat though.
We spent the first week in Anaheim doing our due diligence as parents at Disney. I'm not sure I would have taken the initiative to go to Disney if the ship wasn't docked nearby and the beaches and air temps weren't so cool. Also, thank you to Disney parks for providing discounted tickets to military. It was a great trip made even better because we shared it with my parents. James surprised me with his desire to meet and hug characters while Kate focused her efforts on all things dark and creepy. Hollywood Tower of Terror (below) and the Haunted House were her favorite attractions. James really loved everything, but below he's taking on the Jellyfish Drop of Doom as we called it with Grandma and driving Mickey's car with Grandpa.
We spent the second week in Long Beach relaxing with Brian's parents. Since Brian and I lived in Long Beach years ago (holy shit we are getting old), we had a lot of fun walking, riding, and paddling (that's Brian below) around to our favorite spots.
Kate loved roller blading everywhere in town.
We ate an unhealthy amount of happy hour tacos, hit In-n-Out burger,
dusted off our old wet suits for a little surf (yeah it still fits me),
and even drove to Sea World San Diego (Thanks to Anheuser Busch for giving military free admission).
Enjoying Hodad's world famous burgers with Mimi and Pop Pop.
It was hard to leave Brian and the warmish days, but we were happy to arrive home and find the days in Homer almost 1.5 hours longer. In February, we were gaining 6 minutes of light every day. As I type this, we have just turned our clocks forward and now it is still light out when I put the kids to bed at 8pm. It's crazy.
The moose sightings are too numerous to count now. Almost daily we see them on our street, in our yard, holding up traffic in the road on the way to school, on the frozen lake, on the ski trails, and in the Radio Shack affiliate parking lot. That's right, the town is too small for a real Radio Shack, but there is a small store that is considered an authorized dealer. If I sound even remotely put off by the moose, I'm not. It never gets old for me. I am constantly taking photos, terrible ones I might add with my phone. This next one is of a mama and young yearling in our yard.
Here is another from the ski trail. As you can see we had to wait until we could tell the moose (left side of photo) was headed the other direction. Thankfully my friend's 6 month old golden retriever, captured on the right of this photo, is a good listener. He really wanted to go check out the moose, but we convinced him to stay with us.
Not too long after we got back Brian came home for a long weekend to celebrate Kate's 8th birthday. When the kids were in school, we went for a quick ski so I could show him what I've been up to for the two months that he's been enjoying the SoCal weather. I am afraid when the ship returns, the snow will be yucky and melting. The weather in late February and early March has been so great for skiing and sledding as it hovers in the mid to low 30s every day.
Here, Brian hit the ski trails (above) and the best sledding hill in town (below). The sledding hill is at the upper elementary school where Kate will go next year. Nice view of Kachemak Bay from the playground.
As I type this, it is spring break for the kids, so we've been filling our days with activities. Kate finished her Junior Nordic ski lessons last week, so we went for a real ski with a friend the other day. Can you believe the scenery? Here are Kate and Hazel skiing Sunset Loop.
We also hit the local gym's rock wall. This was an awesome experience for two reasons. First, Eve who was working the wall is half of our favorite couple from Alaska: The Last Frontier. So perhaps she is not living a completely self-sufficient life style if she is working kid climb time at the gym, but we loved meeting her and Kate even asked if she did real rock climbing while homesteading..."you know to hunt mountain goats and stuff?" The kids, especially Kate, is obsessed with the idea of homesteading. The only real application she enforces is turning off all the lights in the house, so we can hangout by candle light or with flashlights. The kids run around yelling "homesteading night!" while the microwave is heating up their hotdogs. Oh the irony. So, the second reason why the rock wall experience was so cool is that Kate, unbeknownst to us, is a phenomenal rock climber. Her legs are insanely long and lean and she's like a spider up there. She went to the top of the 3 story wall several times, trying a more difficult wall each time. I think we'll be back.
Kate putting her name on the ceiling.
Even B-man got to give it a go.
After months of requesting an opportunity, Kate (and I) finally volunteered at the local animal shelter during Spring Break. James hated the smell from the minute we walked in, so we had to find someone to watch him while we played with and petted mangy, stinky cats. Kate loved it and has her eyes set on walking dogs as well. We will be back for sure, but it will be easier when Brian is home.
We also tried out family karaoke night at a local restaurant and will definitely hit that again too. It was a hoot. Here are Kate and Birdman singing Wheels on the Bus. Check out the guy who runs the karaoke machine...for real y'all.
The ship is en route to Alaska and will make a stop or two to drop off buoys along the way. We hope to have Brian back by Easter. The three month trip went better than expected (for me anyway) and hopefully the ship won't have to take a trip that long again (not holding my breath). Our family situation is not, however, unusual for this community. There are so many husbands that travel for extended periods that no one thinks our situation strange. In addition to the 30 or so Coast Guard families that live here, we have met several friends whose husbands drive commercial ships, fish commercially, or work on the slope. I had several people tell me they "work on the slope" and I felt too silly to ask what that meant. I knew it had something to do with oil and being north, but that's about it. Most slope workers are engineers employed by BP, Exxon Mobile, or Conoco Philips in Prudhoe Bay, north of the Artic Circle. It is the largest oil field in North America. Their schedule is 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off. They can live anywhere in Alaska (not sure if they can live elsewhere?) and they are flown up to the slope for their two weeks and then back again for their time off.
Side bar: Alaska is rich in oil but has no refineries. I paid $4.30 a gallon to fill up today. Thankfully, the town is small, and I can't even remember the last time I filled up.
Another friend drives for the Alaska Marine Highway system and has the same 2 weeks on/off schedule. Our neighbor who set net fishes in Prince William Sound (out of Valdez) is gearing up to leave in a few weeks to start maintenance on the boat before the start of the season. I hope to do a future blog post on the fishing, but obviously need to make it through the spring and summer first. I have a lot to learn. I hear Homer is just women in the summer as so many men are commercial fisherman. For me, I like knowing that it's not akward to show up to a dinner party unaccompanied, and that it's okay to tack myself on as the third wheel to another couple's date night (if you can stomach that term) because almost everybody in town is in a similar situation. Off the top of my head, I can only think of three families that have both parents living and working in town year round. Mind you I don't know everybody...yet. Small town.
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