an alaskan marathon

i found it emotionally impossible to post my farewell to alaska as i was actually in the process of leaving it. six months removed and i can finally share some of our last great experiences there.
up first: the best date i've ever been on

thanks to our wonderful friends "the hartzells" who entertained our kids for at least 36 hours so we could tackle a great alaskan institution: the 26 miles of iditarod trail from Girdwood to Eagle River. no words can possibly describe so here is a visual tour of the best hiking in the world.



the beginning


one of many waterfalls along the way.

our first view of the first mountain climb on the hike.

glacier melt waterfalls.

at the top of the mountain there is a public use cabin if you want to camp. most people were just using tents however.


see.




raven glacier.


heading down the mountain we had to go through some snow, it was challenging because if you fell you were headed for a steep ride down into the glacier fed stream.

a look back at how far we'd come, about 3 miles since the beginning.

this is our first "river" crossing. it is raven stream or creek or river.....i forget. it was cold, but nothing compared to what was to come....

the flowers were incredible, i really wanted to frolick...

this is were the creek drops into a spectacular waterfall. it falls over 100 ft. these pictures just don't do it justice. about 5 miles into the hike...


just up and to the right of my head is the raven glacier. and this rock's name is sylvester.


ginormous bull moose.

mike is standing on the trail here. the foliage was so thick and deep we had to look down alot. we took turns whistling to scare off the bear. we didn't see any, much to mike's sorrow. but we found out later we were close to a crazy incounter....



awww...

just so green......

bear poop. i guess this one likes berries.



our first view of eagle glacier, that feeds the Eagle River, that is 40 yards across, that we have to cross, that people have died trying to cross it.......
so we get to the crossing, about 13 miles into the hike and we are hot and a little dusty, and so we get some sticks and hold hands and plunge into the river. it is up a little past my knees and my first thought is "this feels good on my feet" immediately followed by, "someone is pounding my feet with hammers," and rapid breathing and panic. i started to head for a sand bar in the middle of the river because i was seriously dying of pain and luckily mike wouldn't let me go and said, "we can make it across. if he hadn't been there, i'd be a causualty of that river too. love that man. so we get to the other side, (but we still have to cross another 20 very shallow feet) and my body feels like it is going into shock and i tell mike to build a fire (it is 75 degrees) and he says, walk around you'll be okay!!



this is me trying to deal with the pain on the other side of the river. all the blood left my face and hands and arms for a minute to rush to my legs and warm them up. i couldn't move my hands or face for a few minutes. it was kinda funny though.




after the river we made good time. on one of these ladders mike's knee suddenly gave out. he had to limp the last 7 miles. we found out later that he just had severely fatigued tendons.

bear poop. 18 miles in.

a dryer, warmer, river crossing. 20 miles in.

oh my. i'll never forget this view. 22 miles in.


this is the eagle river nature center. 25.75 miles in.

the end!! 26 ish miles.

it took us from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to hike it. it was one of the greatest days of my life. mike and i had so much fun. when we got to the end there was a sign that said a big grizzly bear was gaurding a moose kill on the trail (at about mile 18) and that it had charged several hikers and that the trail was closed!!! crazy. we didn't even see it. i think it was the whistling.

complaint department

do you ever just....get sick of stuff? and it's really hard to pretend like your kids aren't driving you crazy? do you try to pretend that the 8th time you sweep the floor is no big deal? like after you've spent 2 hours making a giant dinner and when it's ready no one says, "thank-you this is fabulous!," they just say something like, "geez.....finally." and so you want to really just smack someone, but instead you dish up everyone's plate and then like the mother in "a christmas story" spend the rest of the meal in the middle of a game of keep away between your fork and your sweet family's demands for seconds and milk? do you hate dishes and laundry and peepee toilets? to the point that when you see one, you don't even get mad. you just stand there. waving your white flag.
sometimes everyone is simultaneously needing help, asking a question, needing a drinky at one time. and i want to yell at the top of my lungs, "SHUT! UP!" and sometimes i think if one more kid argues about one more trivial thing, i'm going to develop a tick. maybe i already have one actually? i did smudge mascara all over today.
i think a gal just needs to lock the bathroom door, scream and cry into a pillow, and then go back out there and beg for more. it's like when you play sports and you say to your teammates, "sacrifice your body!" you know, give it everything. even when it hurts.
luckily, i love these people, especially when they are asleep.
and then like a good pep talk, someone says, "mom you bum is squishy, i like to squish it." or "hold me?" or "i love you." or "snuggle me." or the rarer still, "these mashed potatoes are awesome! you are the best cook." stuff like that.......you know.
and then it all sorta makes sense. they need me. to do those annoying insane things. that most people won't do. because i'm strong. i was born for this. i can take it. i can be awesome.
and that tick........it looks good on me.

family picture

why do i hate taking family pics so? let me count the ways.....
actually this time it was rather painless. Brooke Pehrson took ours this year, she is amazing. One day I will be on top of it and have her do them outside. poor quinton was the family picture casualty this time. you know it really is near impossible for every one to look 100% normal in every shot. just so you all know, quinton doesn't normally stare off into space like an alien looking for his home planet.

diving for golf balls

we've been taking advantage of the midnight sun around here. bike riding is our chief "nighttime" activity. last week the kids wanted to throw rocks in the river by our house, so we hopped on our bikes and took off! our usual rock skipping spot was occupied so we went a little further on down the trail, where someone spotted a golf ball in the pond. that's another of our favorite pass times, golf ball diving. so of course quinton wanted to go in and get it, and of course being the awesome parents we are, we let him.

no that's not pond scum! it's those little cotton thingies from cottonwood trees. they'll factor in later on in our story.

quinton dove for it, couldn't find it, and came out fast and freezing!! he was totally bummed to go through all that and not come up with the prize. we told him if he got it we'd give him 4$. he was way too cold, so we promised we'd come back the next day. meanwhile:
austin gets a bloody nose. but we can't do much about it......or can we? so mike gathers up all the cottony stuff and smooshes together tight and ......wahlaaaa!!



"i'm okay, hello everyone"

and on day two: quinton came prepared and.....he conquered!! and so we gave him 4 bucks (cause it was a titleist pro-v) and a slushy and lots of back slapping!

what is up?

we've already had our 80 degree day here in AK. it's a rare thing, so we turned on some sprinklers, as evidenced by austin's shirtless state.
mike and i had our first night time bike ride. this pic was taken at about 10:00 p.m. about five minutes after mike took this shot of me, we were riding and mike said, "i've never seen any wild life on this trail. (all the while i am talking loud and non stop to scare away bears) and then about 6 minutes after mike took this picture of me, (which i gotta tell you piggy tails are not my best idea ever) we saw a BLACK BEAR running down the trail!! He was about 100 yards away, and running fast, so mike wouldn't let me turn around and run. which i am glad for. cause we didn't get eaten, and i have a good story to tell. man it was awesome.
princess avery and her daddy were invited to the neighborhood "princesses and daddies ball" avery had the time of her life. there was dancing and food. Mike said that avery combined both into her experience by dancing with one hand and holding delicious crackers in the other. 1,2,3...twirl... and eat....
austin and Mike have taken in some golf. they couldn't wait. it's golf day today and it's windy and rainy. so say your prayers that the sun comes out for them. it's important.
sunday was beautiful! we bbq'ed and ate outside and wrestled dad on the grass. jace loves a good grass eating.

happy memorial day

ggggoooooooaaaaaallllllll!!!!!

it's that time of year again......

one of the coolest things about alaska is iditarod. while the rest of the world has croqus' and daffodils beginning to sprout, and warm weather, shorts, and flip flops just around the corner, we in the frozen north are just that, froze. so we tie 10 or 12 dogs to a sled and go for a 1012 mile race! it's fun. it helps us to not feel so bad about the fact that we are still sportin' snow suits instead of spring dresses.
so i hauled all the kids down to 9th and Cordova, to see the ceremonial start to the 2010 Iditarod. the real things starts tommorrow 40 miles away around the Knik arm of the Cooke inlet, in Willow Alaska.

we got there a little early and to kill time they put a pop can in a tree and tried to hit it with snow(ice)balls. can you see it?

quinton scored some fantastic seats.
jace thought he was real funny hugging the parking meter.
kids on the berm. they didn't last long this year. We only saw the first six teams. (there are around 72 teams in the race including a guy from jamaica whose legit and whom i didn't get to see cause the little ones were freezing) See the little booties on the dog's feet? one of the mushers threw a used one to the kids and said, "here's a dog bootie for ya!" it is the single most awesome alaskan souvenir i have.

Emotional Rambo

Remember my annoying rug? i'm still working on it. Last night i decided to put my nose to the grindstone and crank it out. i had just checked on all the kids, they were sleeping and austin and fallen asleep in Quinton's bedroom. went back down stairs to finish BBC Persuasion and get this stinkin' rug on the floor and outta my hair. So Persuasion ends and i'm flippin' channels and i hear some noises. with mike gone, and uncle gunther on a date, i am missing that he-man bulk. you know, that decidedly masculine quality that makes scary noises mere explainable trifles, and the lack there-of turns the trifles into insurmountable hurdles. so i'm trying not to freak out, and i decide maybe a wayward moose is just trying to mate with my outside wall. austin's room has a good view of the source of the noise, so i go upstairs and peak between the blinds warily. nothing. no moose, or big hairy bad guys. i'm beginning to shrug it off when i hear the unmistakable sound of a door closing. i try to be cool and calm, but someone is coming up the stairs, slowly and then more rapidly and then that darn feminine hysteria takes over and i shout, "whose in my house!" ...........
......just as poor little austin rounds the corner of the stairs, hear's my crazed shouting, bursts into tears and runs to me certain that hairy bad guys are chasing him up the stairs. I feel two things. his heart beating so fast it could burst, and total relief that the insurmoutable hurdle, is merely an explainable trifle. austin had to pee, and i hadn't noticed because of that increasingly pain in the bum rug. and i scared my 7 year old nearly to death. high-five maggie.

All of this has got me thinking. my best friend and i had a mantra in high school. it is as follows: men are good for 2 things: manual labor, and kissing.
I've learned since then to add more to the list. (although the kissing, and manual labor thing were dead on) I've mentioned before how i never cry. it's one reason i love the olympics, because when i'm frustrated after months of not being able to expell all the stress and frustration of life into palpable watery manifestations, i can count on sports battles and national pride to get the water works going. seriously no matter what, i'm teary during the anthems.
but since my man has been in Iraq, crying is a daily thing. or maybe i should say tears are a daily thing. And i've figured out after 10 years that not only do i need and relish mikes big protective muscles, but he's also my personal, Emotional Rambo. His easy going manner carries me through all the puke, and the 9 year old with attitude, and the 7 year old who is as slow as cold tar, and the little girl who can make a mess like a professional hoarder, and a sweet little toddler with a concussion. He takes all of that weight and says something like, "well, we can either laugh or cry!" who can argue with that. he flattens emotional rollercoasters' with his proverbial giant clown foot.
I can't wait until my big, muscley, hairy, and clown footed friend gets back.

choices

mike sent the kids books from iraq. the cool thing is they come with a dvd of him reading the books. so they get some special one on one time with dad, even though he is miles away. he reads them the stories and interjects with comments about the parts he thinks they like the best, or how crazy the picture of the author looks, or a promise he will read the story to them for real once he gets home.
when we are done watching the dvd's austin turns to me and says, "you made a good wedding choice."
yes, i did.

afternoon!

these two monkey's wanted to "shovel" this afternoon.


look at that snow fly.
jace resorted to using his hands. shovels are heavy.
then (thanks to drive-way salt) they resorted to spring time activities. Jace learned how to go forward on his bike!
"greetings brothers!" can i tell you how awesome it is that they can walk home from school. i like to imagine the adventures they have on the way home. they like to complain about the distance (2 city blocks) and the weight of their backpacks. it makes good practice for when your a parent and you need a story to top the misery of your children's current situation. for example: when i was a kid we braved bullies, deer poop, and wind on the way to and from school and we even walked home and back for lunch. ha!
.someone wrote, "ur cute and caring" on one of this kids valentines.
be mine funny valentine.