Of all the Christmas books and stories and legends, Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Who Stole Christmas is my absolute favorite. It’s a joy to read aloud, with its brilliant combination of silly Suessical lyrics and a serious sentiment that is impossible to miss: Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means … Continue reading Christmas Hangover
Every year our family embarks upon an old-fashioned quest for the perfect Christmas tree. We gear up and trudge through the woods, often hiking for miles in deep snow before we find a healthy spruce tree to adorn our living room throughout the holiday season. Anyone who has seen Southcentral Alaska’s forests understands that this tradition makes for great memories, but hideous trees. Actually, the … Continue reading Tree Day 2012
Snorkeling was a new experience for many of us on Maui. I have a healthy respect of the unknown creatures that lurk beneath the sea, not to mention the giant sea turtles that rolled in the waves right outside our lanai. Despite these fears, I vowed not to go home again without at least trying to snorkel. My first attempt was solo: big mistake. I … Continue reading Gettin’ Our Snorkel On
There was absolutely nothing traditional about our family Thanksgiving in Maui, and we were all just fine with that. While many folks spent the day wiping their floury brows in an overheated kitchen, we spent the afternoon dusting sand from our legs in the warm sunshine on the beach. We made sand creatures instead of desserts and played in the ocean instead of watching football. … Continue reading Maui & Mahalo
It’s a funny word: aloha. Ten days ago it was full of hugs and hellos, a family reunion in paradise. It meant Welcome to Maui. We were shuttling people in a mini van between the Kahului airport and an ocean front condo in Kihei, anxious to ditch our bags and decorate the sand with our footprints. My side of our family lives in three different … Continue reading Aloha & Mahalo
I’ve always loved carving pumpkins, stringing spider webs, and checking out the cute ghouls who visit our doorstep on Halloween. In our younger days we attended the occasional Halloween party, most infamously as a pair of dice. I still remember walking into the party and my principal saying, “Oh, look at that… they are in para-dise.” Very funny. In the pre-kid days, our poor dogs … Continue reading Halloween Memory Lane
I finally got the kids their own “real” library cards this weekend. Up until now they’ve had pretend cards they received years ago during a preschool story time, and all the books we borrowed actually went on my account. That worked when they were toddlers and we only wanted print books, but times have changed. Both for our family and for libraries! In this digital … Continue reading Living Libraries
This weekend we headed to the Reindeer Farm near Palmer, Alaska for their Halloween Fun extravaganza. There was no way I was missing this event, since I’ve always envied the fall family festivals my Midwestern family and friends attend. They have a plethora of pumpkin patches to explore, while we are stuck digging through cardboard bins of squash at the local Fred Meyer. (As if … Continue reading Family Fun at the Farm
On Sunday Clark decided to take the kids hunting. A light dusting of snow had fallen the day before, so apparently the conditions were ripe for tracking without trudging. Clark has been dreaming about this day since the kids were conceived (probably longer) just as much as I’ve been dreading it. Don’t get me wrong: I’m grateful Sam and Maggie have a dad whose greatest … Continue reading Bunnies and Pachyderms
It’s rare to find an Anchorage resident who hasn’t climbed Flattop, a 3,500 foot peak in the Chugach Mountains. Today we decided it was high time the kids ascended it too. It had been years since Clark or I had scaled the peak. So many years, in fact, that we couldn’t even remember how to get to the trail head. As we pulled up the … Continue reading Flattop Flashback
Profoundly Ordinary 