We finally reunited with Chrissy Dix and her boys. Covid kept us apart for far too long! I think we got together with the Dix and Hope families for Easter 2020. That was the last time I saw Chrissy in person until now. I saw Suzanne in August 2020 just before she moved to Colorado. It felt amazing to give Chrissy a hug. I am grateful we have kept close through Marco Polo (an app on our phones that lets us record video messages to each other) because that helps me feel like I see them more often than I really do.
One of the fun perks of Todd's new high council calling with the Spanish-speaking branch is that we put Hazel and Jack on the piano-playing schedule. Each of them has had an opportunity to play the hymns for the branch's Sacrament Meeting, and are scheduled to play again in September. It's been a wonderful opportunity for them to use their piano talents and serve in a satisfying way.
I realized our zoo membership was about to expire, so I quickly made plans to go one more time with Katie George and her kids. As always, we enjoyed ourselves. Jack could have stayed twice as long and wanted to return the next day.
I've been going for walks around the neighborhood on Monday mornings and listening to scripture study podcasts while I'm out. I've been learning a lot about the Doctrine and Covenants and Church history this year and actually enjoying it. Marshland remains a lovely spot to see early in the morning.
We spent a rainy week in Sitka. The weather was a little disappointing, but the company was excellent. We brought along our old friends Mitch and Jill Dabo, who we met when we first moved out to California in 2005, and their five kids: Derek, Taylor, Brooke, Audrey, and Josh. Everyone had plenty of people to talk with, play with, and adventure with.
We drove the road that takes you up behind the Fortress of the Bears to give the Dabos a free peek at the bears, and then decided to continue up the road towards Blue Lake and see what it was all about. I don't know if it was because there'd been an extra lot of rain lately, but there were small waterfalls flowing off the sides of the mountains everywhere. It was gorgeous! That drive was one of the highlights of the week.
We went to the raptor center to see the eagles, hawks, and owls, and we walked the half-mile trail there as well, up to the spot where they release rehabilitated bald eagles back into the wild.
Traveling on the boat was part of the adventure. The kids all donned life jackets and whenever the weather let them, they sat on the nose and had the best views. And there was plenty of marine wildlife to see; we spotted otters, sea lions, plenty of jumping fish, and ... I'll leave the best part till my pictures of it!
Even fitting all twelve of us in the truck was an adventure! We usually had kids on laps, and kids going loosy-goosy in the very back. We had to take multiple trips when we were moving luggage to and from the airport, and it was a challenge to fit in a weeks' worth of groceries along with all the humans. All part of the party!
The main reason we like to go in August is because the huckleberries are ripe. They are addicting to pick and deliciously tart and sweet at the same time, and they are growing all over the place.
Okay, my best moment of the entire week happened in the boat. Todd said, "That's either a really big rock, or it's a whale," and sure enough, it was a humpback whale! We saw it spout multiple times, and then its back would come rolling up and down above the water. Then, it flipped its tail out of the water and dived down deep. It was an incredible thing to see.
We made sure to hike to Salmon Lake, my favorite hike we do every year in Alaska. We have to anchor the boat and ride in on the dingy, which only adds to the fun.
The signpost claims it's only a one mile hike, but everyone we've ever brought agrees with us that it feels more like two. We tromp through rugged jungle steps carved in the rocks and covered in moss before reaching our ultimate destination.
There was an extra lot of water on the trail, due to recent rainstorms. I actually slipped off a log we were crossing on and got completely soaked! Mitch had an extra sweatshirt in his backpack that I traded my wet thermal and fleece for, but there was nothing we could do about my wet pants, socks, or hiking shoes. I just had to be wet and cold for the next several hours.
The extra surge of water had left a couple fish stranded in a pool that was never going to reconnect with the river. Some of the kids got in for a fish rodeo. It was funny to see Gemma catch a salmon in her bare hands!
None of us likes to eat fish very much, so we weren't interested in fishing for anything we could keep. Every year when we try for halibut (the least fishy-tasting fish I've tried) we get nothing. They swim deeper and are difficult to catch. This year, we just played catch-and-release with rock fish, and everyone who wanted to catch anything caught all they wanted. Gemma even brought up a literal rock!
We used our one day that promised sunshine and good weather to take the long ride out to Goddard Hot Springs. When we arrived, we were the only ones there. There are two hot tub huts that have been built, along with actual mud pots further up the mountain. The hot tub closest to the ocean had been drained, and the one in the middle was only lukewarm, so it took some time and work to get the first tub filled and set to the perfect temperature. Meanwhile, most of our group was daring enough to try out the steaming hot mud pots. We had enough time to enjoy our freshly-filled hot tub before two other groups had shown up, and we turned the area over to them.
Gemma, Audrey, and Josh all fell asleep on the boat that afternoon.
From the hot pots, we boated over to the fish hatchery, where our Alaska church friend Andy had told us we might get lucky and see a bear or two. He had a picture on his phone from just a couple days before when he had seen some. And right on the money, we came by and saw two young bears, watching the water for a salmon snack. It was fun to finally mark seeing bears off our bucket list - and to have been a safe distance from them when we did see them.
We hit the Totem Pole park on a morning before the rain was coming in. We took the Indian River trail to see both totem poles and countless salmon swimming upstream before heading indoors to look at everything the museum had on display.
We spent more time than expected on the island, playing games at the cabins in the pouring rain. Although I wish we could have hiked outdoors more, no one seemed to mind being together indoors.
We came home to a ridiculous bounty on our raspberry bushes. We were thrilled! Usually we're lucky to get five per person a day, so a whole bowl full that needed to be devoured was a special treat.
Todd got his second Covid shot and felt miserable. He got a fever and thrashed in bed for hours, and definitely let us all know he needed to be pitied for the entire weekend. It is discouraging that by now people are getting Covid (via the Delta variant) even when they're vaccinated. Fighting Covid feels pointless. There's no way people all over the whole world are going to get two or three shots every single year, especially when the shots aren't as effective as we first hoped they would be.
But good news! In-person school started! The kids have to wear masks indoors, and they feel like the only ones who take them off when they're outside for recess or PE, but they've made it through a whole week of school without any news of Covid outbreaks or shutting things down. Everyone was super excited to go. Hazel is in 7th grade, her second middle school year, but her first one really there.
Gemma is in third grade. She has Mrs. Aguilar, the same teacher Jack had. She's pumped to make new friends and learn cursive.
Jack has Mrs. Atkinson for fifth grade. I can't believe he's the oldest group at Croce. He has made a goal to try to enjoy recess while he's still got it, and has been trying out wall ball and four square, with goals to try out tetherball in the future.
We are hoping for a strong year! Praying the schools don't get shut down again.
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