We had some orphaned baby skunks on the path next to our house. Hazel was in love! She made the skunk a gift and left it on the trail, and an anonymous neighbor picked up the cause and became pen pals with Hazel, leaving her notes and gifts and claiming they came from the skunk. It made Hazel so happy! (I was happy when a concerned citizen took the skunks to a rescue shelter.)
We signed Hazel and Jack up for swim team. They have practice every day and meets every weekend in June and July. That's a bit much for us, so we're taking a relaxed approach and have been attending practice two or three times a week, and will probably make it to two or three meets. We just want our kids to have opportunities to exercise, and thought they'd enjoy this since they like to swim. So far, so good.
We went to the Oakland Temple with our primary group. It was a nice, warm, clear day. We are lucky to live close to a temple.
I caught Hazel being sweet with Gemma, helping her do a puzzle and talking so patiently and kindly with her. I love when I see my kids treating each other so nicely.
The kids have all been in tumbling and trampoline classes since January. Gemma was just invited to join the bigger kids' class and she's so excited about it. It's awesome to see them doing tricks on the tramp in the backyard, and Hazel's been doing cartwheels nonstop lately. It's fun exercise and they all usually love it.
We went back to Sitka, Alaska for a week over Memorial Day. The pilot let the kids check out the cockpit before we took off, and they got to talk into the announcing microphone. "Hi, Dad!" It was one of Jack's highlights.
We invited Todd's sister Laura and her husband Tyler to join us with their family. It was a great opportunity for our kids and theirs to get to know each other better, and for us to share such a beautiful place with a family that loves to be outdoors.
The kids played a lot of Monopoly, Apples to Apples, Old Maid, and other games.
We went on a hike nearly every day - heaven! We lucked out and were there over some really great weather. It only rained on us one day. Mostly, we enjoyed a lot of sunshine.
We had a crab trap off the dock, and we found an octopus eating a fish that had been trapped. It was very exciting to see and touch the octopus before we let him back into the water. I'm bummed I don't have a better picture.
There were bald eagles all over the place. Look close, and you'll see two sitting on the rock to the left of the trees. One night, we grilled steak out on the deck. Eight or ten eagles went nuts, swooping around in the sky above us - they must have smelled something good! But although we tossed fish out towards them, and Hazel got the idea to leave some fish out on the dock a bit aways, they did not touch the food. They are not like birds and squirrels at campsites; these guys are still wild and afraid of us.
We made s'mores. Todd has been branching out and creating some delicious new flavors. My favorite so far is to use a Reese's instead of Hershey's chocolate. It's so good!
With the big group, we played some epic games of Hide and Seek outside on the island. Usually, I put Gemma to bed while everyone was playing, but our last night with the cousins, I let her stay up and play. We found a genius spot and layer down and snuggled and were never found! (Although I've got a sneaking suspicion we were out of bounds. I wasn't super clear on the boundaries...)
Jack loved that Todd taught him how to drive the boat and let him be in charge when the waters were safe.
The fishing wasn't great this time of year, but lucky for Gemma, she caught one!
Our last day, we took a long boat ride to an isolated spot and hiked to Salmon Lake. It was bar-none, my favorite day, my favorite hike, one of the happiest days of my life. My heart was overflowing, the trail was so absolutely beautiful.
When I got back, my friends all wanted to see my pictures and wanted to know why we love going to Sitka so much. It's hard to put into words. It's just so unplugged. You're absolutely surrounded by beautiful nature: green trees, water, marine life, eagles, bears, you're just completely outside and it's so lovely. There's no TV, no work, no phones, and hardly any people. You just slow down and spend your time with your family and nature, and it truly fills my soul. I just love it.
Gemma had her last day of preschool. She's had so much fun at Hoot Hoot (where Jack went). It's been such a good environment, so happy and loving and creative. She made hands-on, open-ended art projects just about every time she went to class. We are super sad that her teacher, Ms. Diana, is moving to Colorado this summer, so Gemma won't be able to come back to Hoot Hoot for pre-K.
Our yard is done! It's been so fun coming home to our lovely flowers and lush green grass. We had a little porch poured in the front and I can't wait to get some chairs out there.
