Becky went up to Talkeetna with Grandpa, Randy, and Kelly to enjoy the 70 degree weather, so I took that Saturday with the kids and loaded them up for a hike to Symphony Lake. It’s a beautiful view and even though it is far enough up the mountain to be above the treeline, it’s actually a very flat trail. It’s a great walk for a pre-schooler.

Piper loves getting in the pack, looking around from a new height, and babbling away. Henry made it a point to wave at all the hikers that passed us by, telling them that we were “enjoying the beautiful view.”

We hiked about a mile in before taking a break to spread out on the tundra and give Piper a bottle. Henry was very curious about the blueberry and bog berry bushes, along with chasing around little spiders. Piper happily dozed off after whistling down a full bottle.

Awake and filled with food, Piper bleated loudly along the trail, while Henry was beyond happy that he was able to fling his banana peel into the woods. He asserted that we must return soon and check on them.

We were all a bit tired by the time we made it back to the 4Runner, having put in a little over 2 miles. In Alaska you must embrace the summer days. The skies were blue, sunny, and light for a little over 19 hours (dusk follows for 5 hours). We’ll catch up on sleep in the winter.

It involved some rushing around and a fair amount of driving, but the Memorial Day weekend trip down to Homer was a success. Grandpa Barnes arrived Thursday night after a long day of changing planes, only to be thrown into a 4 hour drive the next morning. He didn’t complain and before we knew it we all were eating lunch in Soldotna, having left Anchorage early enough to miss the holiday traffic. I needed to return sooner than the rest of the group for work, so I drove separately, though Henry was happy to ride shotgun in the Ranger.


I answered innumerable questions about trucks, fishing, trains, Chicago, and where I camped when I was younger. Henry in turn told me eerily similar stories about the things he did “Back when he was in high school.” I’d call shenanigans, but I know I’d only get asked what that word means.









The weather in Homer was warmer and clearer than usual, though we did have our required moments of rain. The Time Bandit crab boat was moored in town, we walked up and down the spit, paused for some ice cream, and just enjoyed mixing in with the holiday crowds. Also, Henry went in the hot tub at least 6 times. I am quite sure he will refer to this trip as the “hot tub trip” from now on. Piper found the water very pleasant, but the bubbles were a bridge too far – she lasted about 5 minutes.








Fishing on Sunday was just a blast. Our group was large enough such that we opted to reserve the whole boat – a discount and the freedom to tailor the trip to the fishing the group preferred. The King Salmon fishing was a bit slow, but the fish were big and each us of eventually marked our licenses in pen, “Kachemak Bay – King – 5/24“. 6 Kings in the box and off we motored for Halibut.

As always, the last chicken (smaller Halibut) is the hardest to catch, but the fishing was fast and the Halibut were very good sized prior to that. The crew worked very hard to get us good fishing, limits, and funny chatter in between.



Grandpa pulled up a 30 lb Halibut as well as a nice King. Everyone shivered as the breeze cut over the ocean water, looking at the small town of Anchor Point’s cabins and homes along the shoreline.  After a long day on the water we ended up cooking brats on the grill, whistling down some cold Alaskan beers, and eventually laying in the hot tub as Henry squealed in turning on the water jets.









We took quite a few trips to the Homer playground, enjoyed some campfires on the spit, watched Henry enjoy collecting shells and coal on the beach, and missed the traffic by arriving a day early and leaving a day late.


Grandpa will head back to Wisconsin with a full box of Halibut and all of our clothing smelled like campfire. A perfect trip.

As a preface, I should note that Henry really loves his new shoes -- really loves them. They aren’t very fancy for being regular Velcro shoes, but they have the Avengers picture on the side. Also, the Avengers light up when he takes a step. He has had zero exposure to the Avengers, so for all I know he thinks the superhero team’s superpower is creating flashing red lights. He loves these shoes, and took them to school for show and tell. It’s a sad time if we’re going somewhere muddy and he needs to put boots on instead.

 

After school this week Becky took the kids to the zoo for a picnic lunch and a quick lap past some of the favorite animals. At one point they found themselves on a wooden bridge near the wolf and tiger cage. Obviously the exhibits were not connected, but there was a section below the bridge that was fenced off. Not quite in the cages, but certainly off limits to visitors. When Becky was holding Henry up on the bridge railing to better see the tiger, into that connecting section went his right shoe. Down, down into no man’s land, behind an electric fence.

 

The tears immediately began flowing, and Becky soon determined that she couldn’t retrieve the shoe herself. After a few moments to calm Henry down, staff was contacted and a maintenance guy appeared. All was soon well, and Mom and Dad are happy to report that Henry thanked the man politely.

 

Piper just calmly looked around at the green buds on the trees during the whole experience.

Our Saturday Mother’s Day excursion to Girdwood satisfied our expectations (hiking and rain) and brought a few surprises (the hand tram). We started with breakfast at The Bakery, which is famous for a very large sweet roll. The food was fine, but most importantly our stomachs ended up full.  Throughout the meal I kept glancing outside, watching the rain alternate between drizzle and downpour. As we walked outside it nicely shifted back to drizzle.

 

Wisely, we geared up at the Winner Creek trailhead in anticipation of heavier rain. Henry slipped into his muddy buddy and Piper was positioned into the backpack such that she wasn’t in direct contact to any rain. The drizzle soon picked up, but the tree cover on the trail helped a great deal. We stopped here and there to jump in a muddy puddles, fling some sticks, and kick downed logs. We eventually made it to the hand tram, where to my great surprise Henry eagerly jumped into the tiny, steel tram. I had really expected some push back here.

 

Becky and Henry went across the gorge and hiked beyond towards the waterfall. I kept a snoozing Piper in the backpack while pulling the tram rope like a Good Samaritan for about 10 different folks. According to the hikers passing by, she eventually awoke and smiled while she bobbed back and forth during my huffing and puffing.

 

After returning from the waterfall (where Henry’s curiosity at the height of the falls got him a quick yank backwards from Mommy), we hiked back to the car, slammed a snack down, and then proceeded to head for the Girdwood playground. From the road it was always clear just how nice a playground this was, but once we were inside it, we found it even better than we had imagined. There were close to 20 donated Tonka trucks drifting around the empty playground.

 

Suffice to say, we had a hard time getting Henry to hit the road an hour or so later.

 

Lots of snoozing on the way home after a successful day.

Life inches along here, usually with subtle changes; Piper is rolling over, Henry is wrestling down the tricky teens, etc. Sometimes a few big things happen at once and you feel a big step forward. The weather is much warmer (high 40s ), Piper is much more stable, and Henry is all the more brave and confident when it comes to climbing around the playground.

It all adds up with Piper happily in the backpack as I cart her around the playground and the bog. After a half an hour I can usually crane my neck to the side and see her pink windbreaker leaning forward, her snoozing head tucked down. She spends her time looking around quietly, bucking her legs into my back at any excitement, or snoozing away – all adding up to simple enjoyment for her.

Henry tries endlessly to master climbing the wrong direction up a slide, only to be thwarted by his new, too smooth shoes. Piper takes it all in, only to wear herself out.

Summer looks to be coming early for sure, and we’re out there enjoying all we can.

Sometimes things just work out in a perfect way, seemingly out of thin air. A friend of ours mentioned that her husband, an Alaskan State Trooper, was going to be giving a private tour of the hangar containing their helicopter and plane. Would we like to come? Saying no would have scarred Henry for life!



As the copter is a bit open and high up, Henry took a bit of coaxing to crawl inside. At a glance down it doesn't feel like you're standing on much. He soon accepted that it was sturdy enough to crawl around inside, and even put on the head phones.

His eyes opened like saucers when the GPS system was clicked on, causing multiple monitors to flash and blink before displaying a colorful, contoured map of Anchorage. Henry was keenly accepting of its being turned off, as he knows all about what happens if you let batteries drain too low (ie. Daddy doesn't replace them right away ).




He seem to enjoy the small, two-seater plane the best. He was able to reach and manually adjust the flaps. It was a pretty fun, immediate sense that he was actually flying the plane.

Easter came with a great deal of excitement and expectation. The Easter Bunny brought Henry 2 gifts last year, therefore it is understood that he will bring 2 gifts each year forever and ever. This conclusion came about as we had to remind Henry that the Easter Bunny is not like Santa, meaning he should not expect mountains of gifts. Some hidden eggs, a basket of sweets, and 2 small gifts is plenty.

Just to be on the safe side, we insisted on near nudity for egg coloring, which Henry was happy to oblige (pants are a challenge some days). He was much better this year at gently lowering the eggs into their Paas baths. I credit his fine motor skills to all of the lego usage.




Henry and Piper were champions at the dentist this past week. When asked if his teeth were bothering him, Henry replied clearly. "No, but my tummy hurt a few weeks ago."

"Oh."

"I scraped it on the art table."

So Dr. Bob considered this seriously and then made the choice to blow on his stomach with the air jet. Henry laughed and asserted that it helped a great deal.