Ahhhh, holidays. The time of year we happily trade the hustle and bustle of everyday life for a different kind of crazy. It’s magical madness: a season where the refrigerator is always full and the mailbox is never empty. We silence our alarm clocks and turn on the Christmas music. We shop, wrap, decorate, bake, host, visit. Santa makes his naughty and nice list, while … Continue reading Holiday Highlights
For me, Mexico was a brief intermission to a bigger show: after 18 long months, I once again had a ticket to Nebraska. Clark and the kids wouldn’t join until the following week, after the state soccer tournament. I was headed home. Alone. So much had changed, yet everything felt the same. If that makes sense? First up: a new family member to meet. My … Continue reading Home Again
A few years ago we got passports for the kids, but our first international family vacation was cancelled due to Covid. We had grand plans to visit a friend in Switzerland, followed by a few weeks in Spain and France. Instead, we stayed home… just like everyone else on the planet. It turned into a long Alaskan winter, especially with no escape for a year … Continue reading Nuestras Vacaciones Familiares
Sadly but not shockingly, the year is rounding out with a Christmas tree shortage. Really 2020?! Fortunately, we harvest our tree from the Chugach National Forest each year, which has 5.5 million acres of spruce to share. Access roads and pullouts weren’t plowed like usual, but eventually we found a spot to safely stash the truck while we wandered into the woods. It was an … Continue reading Treepiphany
It’s hard to believe we are finishing Week 6 of pandemic restrictions in Anchorage. The orders to hunker down are working, and today we celebrate that no new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Alaska! Next week our city begins the slow process of reopening, and I pray our numbers remain under control. In the past few weeks we have established a family routine that … Continue reading Our New Normal for Now
Families everywhere are looking for ways to pass the time and connect during this pandemic, and in our house we’ve stumbled upon something that is working really well. Like many families out there, we play games. And like most families out there, we watch movies. But we’ve linked these two activities in a competitive manner, and it has made all the difference in the world. … Continue reading Game Nights for Movie Rights
So COVID-19. Wow. Many of us are simultaneously working, teaching, learning, parenting, and disinfecting. Let’s be honest: if these are our frustrations, we are the lucky ones. It means we are healthy. I desperately want to write about this global pandemic, but it’s so overwhelming and I don’t even know where to start. So many topics are ping-ponging through my brain right now: Check my … Continue reading Today. Just Today.
Here I sit in September, finally exhaling after a whirlwind summer that blew us straight into a new school year before anyone had a chance to fasten their seat belts. I’m scrolling through a zillion cell phone snapshots and feel the need to pay homage to all the Alaska adventures we had after returning from New York, DC, and Nebraska. Here are those summer 2018 … Continue reading Summer 2018: The CliffsNotes
Alaska’s salmon swim to the open sea for their adult lives, but they always return home in their final phase of life. Nebraska’s brome grass is the opposite: it sets deep roots, but there’s no telling how far its seeds will spread, setting new roots in faraway places. Moving 3,000 miles from home seemed like a good idea when we were in our 20’s, when … Continue reading Going Home
Sam participated in the National History Day competition in his 8th grade social studies class last spring. It’s a contest where students research topics of their choice and create projects based on an annual theme. This year’s theme was “Conflict and Compromise,” and project options included documentaries, websites, papers, performances, or displays. Sam and his friend put together a documentary entitled Geneva Conventions: The Laws … Continue reading NYC & DC
Profoundly Ordinary 