4 x 4 Fun for Father's Day Weekend

Father's Day

Wish I could have been in AZ to have a brunch with dad, mom and Lolly. I'm sure they had a great time and I'm glad that we got a chance to visit on the phone. My dad is someone I love very much. And while we couldn't spend time with the folks in person, we did get to celebrate Father's Day with Cannon in person and we had a terrific day. Caleb and I had been working on a few gifts and we had fun giving daddy lots of attention: An Autobots hood ornament, a Costco size box of Oreos, a hand drawn helicopter by Caleb, breakfast in bed, a scrapbook and a moose meat loaf, mashed potatoes and gravy dinner to top it off. We also went for a family bike ride. Caleb rode his trike and we corralled him down the sidewalks and paths of the neighborhood. It was sunny, calm, non-mosquito weather and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Then we sat on the front lawn and ate popsicles and watched a baby bird learning how to forage for food. The mama sat in our front tree and the baby waddled around in the grass, learning how to pluck the grass. Sometimes the mama would feed the baby, after it had been struggling for a while. The baby had very fine feathers that stuck up all over it's head and body. A total fuzz ball. Totally adorable. After watching the baby bird for a while (and probably traumatizing it with our close proximity), we watched a cute movie (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) and then wrapped up the night with the usual bedtime routine.

Grateful for the father I've got and for the father that Cannon is.

Living Green: 40 Uses of Baking Soda

I really like articles that share information on living green. This article on the beauties of baking soda was great. And at the bottom it has links to uses for vinegar, lemon juice, etc. Pretty cool!

Camping Trip!

We've had a great couple of weeks (except for when Cannon got his car stolen--yes, we live in Alaska but we live in the largest city in Alaska and it's 2010 so there are gangs and crime like in any other city! We did get the car back). I'm about to go into my 3rd trimester and I'm feeling great!

It's finally green and gorgeous. Our summer has started off with a memorable camping trip to Byer's Lake. The great thing about camping in Alaska is, well, we're camping in ALASKA. Overwhelmingly majestic and beautiful. We rented a kayak, loaded up our gear and took off across the lake to the little cabin.

What you don't see in the pictures are the swarms of mosquitoes and you don't smell us (think no running water, lots of Off layered on our skin for days, and campfire smoke in our clothes and hair), and the drizzly rain that was constant except for a few breaks--which is when I snapped pictures. Really, rain up here isn't a deterrent to any activity, we all just wear jackets. I did actually brave the cold lake to take a bath. I'm pretty much half superhero these days. Cannon and Caleb thought it was hilarious to see a nearly 6 month pregnant lady doing a brave Byer's Lake boogie. Cannon caught some trout--I got a pic of the first one. It looks so tiny compared to the salmon he has slayed in the past. We don't even blink at the tiny fellers anymore, we just let 'em go. Of course, Caleb had a great time exploring the cabin, riding in the kayak, trying to jump out of the kayak (giving mom a heart attack), throwing stuff in the lake, eating s'mores, watching for bears and watching Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed movies while dad kicked mom's can at a game of chess. Good times!

On our way home, we stopped at the Princess Wilderness Lodge and got a bite to eat. We walked in smelling like a campfire that had been put out with Off, wearing hip waders and smiling from ear to ear. The tourists were all prettied up and pretty bewildered at the local color. It was probably our smell! Ha, ha! It's really easy to spot a cruise ship tourist during the Alaska summer months--they all have cameras, they are wearing make up and have their hair done, they are wearing "chic casual" clothing or sometimes REI catalog gear from head to toe, and they walk around with eyes as big as saucers.

We hope your summers are starting off well. And we hope you all plan on taking a trip to Alaska to visit us. Our house is cozy, our fish is fresh, there's plenty of daylight for playin' and there's plenty of blankets and floor space for sleeping. Come on up!

Memorial Day

(WWII B17 Bomber)

Happy Memorial Day! I wanted to pay tribute to my uncle Val Stoddard who passed away this week. He was actually a cousin to my Grandpa Stoddard and I had the privilege of getting to know he and his wife, Judy, when I was going to school in Pocatello, at Idaho State University. It was 1994 when I first met Val. Val and Judy were a couple of characters. Back when I lived in "Poky" they were chain smokers, friends to all stray animals, avid golfers, and feisty with each other. They were good hearted, comical, tell-it-to-ya-straight folks that you could visit with for hours simply because they'd lived full lives and always had an interesting story to tell. And they were truly interested in me. I swear they are the only people who I could sit in a smoke filled room with, as animals were crawling on or around me and totally enjoy every minute in conversation with them! (I don't have the strongest lungs and I'm not really a pet person). And Val was the only (and will be the only) person who ever called me "Kathy" and I answered.

I had been getting around on foot and Val helped me get a car to bomb around town in. It was a Pontiac Phoenix and I think I paid $800. It was root beer brown and when I tried to wash and wax it, the paint came right off. There was a radio but it sat underneath the seat, unhooked. And the windows had a purple tint to them. It was a real beauty and I named it "Mahauna". But it got me from point A to point B and was reliable. And I could turn it on without needing keys, which was handy. Ha! I was pretty flaky and sometimes they'd wait for an hour or two before I showed up for dinner or just to visit. Judy would cuss me out and then we'd all sit and talk and laugh for the rest of the evening.

Val was a WWII POW, a true hero. He was a Balteric Gunner on a B17 that got shot down. When we lived in Oregon we saw a B17 and saw where Uncle Val would have sat. He was in a bubble, right below the nose and cockpit of the plane. Not a lot of room to move and a perfect target for enemies. This is the bomber he would have flown in. When I'd visit them, he would sit on the floor in an odd fashion, kind of a quasi cross-legged style. It was from the time spent in enemy prison camps and had become a comfortable position for him.

Judy passed away after I moved to Utah to resume studies at the U of U. But before she died, she and Val had decided to quit smoking and they just up and quit. A couple years ago we met Val at Elmer's Diner in Pocatello and I introduced him to Cannon and Caleb. I'm really glad that they got to meet each other. I asked Val how he and Judy stopped smoking cold turkey and he explained that "The cigarettes was just too damned expensive!" Val suffered a stroke a few years back but he had continued golfing even after Judy passed and with the effects of the stroke, he had had to put the clubs away. He still wrote me letters now and then, even with a slow hand, still kept up the house and got around town, even after his DL had to get turned in. And at 85 he was as independent as ever.

The last time I talked to Val was at Christmas. He surprised me with a phone call to wish me a Merry Christmas. How sweet and thoughtful he always was to me. I knew Val and Judy for about 15 years and it is wonderful that they are resting in peace, reunited and free of pain or sorrow. Here's to the memory of two wonderful people who were generous in deed, kind in words, dedicated to this country's freedoms, friends to the community (especially the stray or injured animal community), spirited at all times, and full of life even till the end. They were really good to me and I'll always love them and regard them very fondly for their goodness in my life.

Who knows, maybe I'll take in a stray animal one of these days, just for memories sake of Val and Judy. Nahhhh...I'd rather take up golf.

We are going outside anyway

I've just got to complain for a second. I'm into my 5th month of pregnancy and I feel great but I still feel pregnant. I've got a head cold that is just miserable. I'm still recovering from spine surgery and that causes very tight muscles in my neck and shoulders that give me headaches. I woke up a couple days ago and just before getting out of bed my left calf instantly got a charlie-horse. And my leg is still cramped up days later. Um, what else. I have a 3 year old boy to chase. And he takes full advantage of my gimpy state, tearing the house apart, as I lie on the couch wiping my weepy left eye (head colds cause at least one eye to drain)!

But it's SUNNY outside and warmish and I just can't stand to be sick. So we're going outside, going for a bike ride to enjoy this sunshine, regardless of my old-and-feeble physical disposition.

I had to complain because Cannon is gone and Caleb feels no empathy for me. Do you ever have days like that where you feel crippled? Haaaa!

Swimming Noodles

As we walked in the door of Target today Caleb took the opportunity to bolt to the $1 bins, as he normally does, and in a half-crazed fit of lightning speed, grabbed the first thing that caught his eye and sprinted away from me as fast as he could. Today it was swimming noodles which are bundled in groups of 2. Naturally Caleb put his head between the 2 noodles (wouldn't you??)and ran like a maniac through the store, weaving as he ran because he was shaking his head back and forth as if to say "No, no, no you can't catch me!" People were dodging, moms were giving me a knowing look, and kids were pointing and laughing or just staring in awe. And naturally, he would wait until I had almost closed in on him before bolting again. Imagine a pregnant mother speed walking through Target, pushing her cart with a noodle head just feet ahead of her, chasing him through the store until he was sidelined by a row of tasty looking Ho-hos.

Thank heavens for Ho-hos at his eye level. (I'm sure they have them shelved at his height level purely by coincidence). So in gratitude, I scooped him up and grabbed a box and he was told to stay in the cart for the rest of our trip. After knocking down bottles of shampoo with the noodles which had now become swords, I shoved them into the first space big enough to hold them and we headed to the check out counter. He was so delighted with the prospect of eating Ho-hos that the loss of the noodles was not even noticed. I love that fact that he has a VERY short attention span. In fact, he kept saying "Go to mom's rocket car? Get in the rocket car? Can I have Ho-ho in da car?" He calls my car "mom'ssuperfastrocketcar" because most of my friends have big trucks and he just loves riding in their trucks and in order to convince him that my car was worthy of riding in (so that he would stop resisting getting in the car), I told him it was like a rocket. Boy, did that ever do the trick! I was really proud of myself for thinking on my toes in that predicament. And I started gunning it every time I would drive up the driveway. Now it is expected that we will "blast off" every time we come home. Who knew my wagon would become a great rocket ship?

Anyway, I'm rambling but I'm sure that in the great beyond when my life is playing before me on the big screen, I'll say "Wait Lord, could you rewind that part where Caleb was running like a madman through Target? That was good stuff!" I'm sure we'll all do that. But for now, thank goodness for journals and blogs, right?

Time to Think Pink!

Yep, we've got a baby girl coming our way! I've already got visions of pink tutus in my mind...

What does Mommy say?

Cannon to Caleb: "What does Caleb say?"
Caleb: (peals of fake laughter) "Ha, ha, haaa!"
Cannon to Caleb: "What does daddy say?"
Caleb: "Daddy's home! I love youuu!"
Cannon to Caleb: "What does Mommy say?"
Caleb: (shaking his head) "No, no, no!!"

The smug smile and look of pure pleasure on Cannon's face is quite irritating. They laugh for a few seconds and I put my hands on my hips.

Somebody's got to set the rules and I guess it might as well be me. *sigh* But before I get too down-in-the-mouth with self pity, I should remember that Cannon does plenty of supportive guiding and disciplining if necessary...but only if necessary. Ha, ha! And also, I get to spend all day with Caleb which I truly love so if he and daddy want to live it up and play during the rare times daddy is home, I'm all for it.

Greenup is upon us...

We are in our "Spring" season but Greenup is really what it's all about. Spring means the snow has melted long enough for the buds to come out and the leaves to be raked. Everything is still baren and gray or yellow or brown. There's no blooming or blossoming or green grass. Then suddenly Greenup happens and it's summer. Everything is either green or blossoming, almost overnight. The longer I'm here, the more excited I get for this time of year. Everyone gets excited and pitches in to cleanup their house, neighborhood and community. We're all happy to do it because we celebrate Greenup. It really is a feeling of anticipation that surrounds this time of year. It helps that the sun comes up at 5ish and sets at nearly 11ish.



Cannon had some training to do up in Talkeetna, AK. We joined him for a night and had a great time. Talkeetna is the town that mountain climbers start and stop at before/after they head out to conquer Mt. McKinley. Some don't survive the climb and never come back. For folks who don't want to climb the mountain and just want to take a flight-seeing tour or have crazy adventurous river rafting experiences, this is the town to come to. I just loved the quaint little downtown area. It's one street with log cabins that have been turned into tourist shops and dining places. There's a small city park, the forest service building and a few hotels and that's the downtown area!

Cannon was working with the mountain rescue rangers who actually rescue McKinley climbers who are injured or dead. It was totally fascinating to watch them go through their rescue drills. It's not something anyone gets to see everyday. Just watching them hitch themselves to a rope attached to a hovering helicopter and being lifted off the ground 1000 feet, flying around in the air, then landing was enough to make me nervous. Once the helicopter picked them up, they were mocking through the air. I can't imagine going through the actual experience of rescuing someone off of a dangerous mountain who's hanging off a cliff or trapped in a crevasse in arctic temperatures with the fickle elements switching in the blink of an eye. We watched the rangers practice using various first aid gear, body bags, back supports etc all while being suspended in the air. These are the types of guys who lead expeditions to Everest and McKinley SEVERAL times a season, when they aren't on call to do rescue missions. Incredible. Cannon gave one of the rangers a ride down to Anchorage and I fixed up a halibut dinner for him so that we could listen to his stories. He was the most humble, unpretentious guy and yet his death defying stories were mind blowing. To him, it's all in a days work. And he's like, our age. Early 30's...

Cannon went on a bear hunt with some friends and returned yesterday. Up here a lot of bear hunting is done by boat because there aren't a lot of roads. He and his friends went to Prince William Sound and had a blast crab fishing, eating, shrimping, eating, halibut fishing and occasionally looking for a bear. Surprisingly, they never saw one. Then again, the bears are probably just waking from hibernation. He brought back a bunch of fresh prawns and cooked them up for Mother's Day. They were the most delicious shrimp I've ever had. Cannon really wants a boat now. Yesterday he said "Boats bring families together." He's really got it in his head that we need a boat. If only the cost of groceries, insurance and power weren't so expensive, we might could entertain the thought of buying a boat.

The weather is nice enough that Caleb and I did yard work, went to the zoo and went on our first bike ride. I'm laughing my head off at all the people in Utah and Idaho crying about snow. Ha, ha, haaaa!

In other news, Caleb is taking very small steps toward potting training. He's got #1 down great but going #2 is a fiasco. However, he has started taking his diaper off after going #2 and depositing the treasure into the toilet and flushing. He just started doing this. So he knows that it goes in the toilet, which is progress. He just doesn't want to give up the comfort of lying on his stomach, in private to do his business. Mercy.

I got my first real Mother's Day gift from Caleb today. A colored picture. I haven't saved much but I'm saving that. I love being a mom. And I was so happy to talk to my angel of a mom today. She is the sunshine in our lives. I want to be like her.

So that's the news in our neck of the almost-summertime woods.

It's been a great Mother's Day.