Putting the Presents to Work

Winter break, time off from work and beautiful weather made for the perfect combination to use some of our new outdoor adventure Christmas presents.

My scientists

We headed out to Point Louisa to use our new microscope.  Instead of putting a slide under a lens and looking through a scope, this handheld microscope is placed directly on top of the object you want to magnify and its image is displayed on a computer screen.  We set out to find some tidal pools and look for creatures to examine up close.

Sea urchin

Barnacle

Legs of an anemone

Another urchin

Leg of a starfish

Leg of a hermit crab

 There was a group of seals, at least six of them, playing out in the water off the point.  I think they were examining us just as much as we were examining the marine critters around us.

On the Monday after Christmas, we met up with Graham on his lunch break and took the girls on Perseverance Trail, up to Ebner Falls.  The girls tested out their new binoculars, looking at old remnants of the mining company and its equipment.  

We had inside fun as well.  I just couldn't resist taking pictures of Cora working so hard on this scissor activity book she got for two reasons.  One is that she was so stinking cute working on these pages.  She spent hours, literally hours, that day working on them.  She was determined to finish all of them.  And her little tongue was out the entire time.

The second goes back to our first parent teacher conference for Cora. 99% of what she told us about Cora in the classroom we could have guessed on our own.  But then she caught us by surprise with her observation that Cora did not know how to use scissors.  She put it so delicately, making sure we knew it was not a problem but just a goal she had for Cora for the year - to provide some direction to Cora on how to manipulate scissors.  Graham and I could not help but laugh on the way home.  How could she not know how to use scissors?  Sure enough, when we got home and asked her to cut something, it was the most awkward and fruitless but thoughtful attempt.  Somewhere along the way, I forgot to impart that life lesson.  I guess the "don't run with scissors" part of my mothering had taken over.  Anyway, the irony of seeing her so hard at work on this scissor activity book was too much.  Each time we looked over at her, all we could say was, "oh, if Ms. Cheryl could only see her now!

A Quiet Christmas

Our Christmas celebrations began on Christmas Eve at our church, Holy Trinity, with an intimate family service.  Beautiful music and the Christmas story told by the lead Sunday School teacher.  Graham joined the church choir and went back to sing for the candlelight service.

Our stockings were hung by the chimney with care.  Notes and snacks for Santa and his reindeer were prepared.  

And then came Christmas morning.  The girls ran out of their beds to see if Santa had left any clues - most notably, presents, of course - that he'd been there the night before. As Addy found out, when you ask Santa for an elf, the best he can come up with is an Elf on the Shelf.  Here she is studying up on how it works.

Addy proudly watching Cora open the presents she picked out and wrapped for her.  It included every manner of little bug she found at the store - a motorized caterpillar, some banana slug window clings, and a fuzzy, wiggly worm.  She knows her sister and her love of worms and slimy things well.

Uncle Sean fed the girls' Star Wars craze with these super awesome lightsabers.  Admittedly, we've all had a little fun playing with them.

I just love Cora's face in this one.  She gets really into it!

A token zombie gift for Graham.

We got to enjoy the rest of the day relaxing and checking out all our new toys.  It didn't take Addy long to dive into this detective adventure, or for the girls to start making zip lines from their new Goldieblox kit.

And, we kept tradition going with a delicious beef tenderloin dinner.  A wonderful Christmas.

Yay for Winter Solstice. Now please bring back the sun!

The sunrise today was at 8:46am.  Sunset was at 3:08pm.  Enough said.  

Some advantages of extended darkness:  (1) holiday lights are on nearly 24 hours a day so everything is always festive looking; and (2) you get to go on cool night hikes, 'cause it's nighttime at 4pm.  

We took one such night hike with the Juneau Outdoor Family Playgroup. All the kids made lanterns for the hike.  Addy and Cora made theirs out of sticks and tissue paper with a flameless LED candle. 

"This little light of mine.  I'm going to let it shine!"

Singing Elves

Cora also got to showcase her musical talents this holiday season.  She and her fellow preschool classmates went to visit the senior day center, sing some Christmas carols, and well, as it turned out play some cards.  Pretty darn cute.

If I didn't tell you they were playing Go Fish, this otherwise looks like a pretty serious game of poker!  High stakes, I guess.

Riverbend JAMM

I can't say enough about the Juneau, Alaska Music Matters (JAMM) program at Riverbend Elementary.  For Addy, and for so many other kids, this is the highlight of their 1st grade year.

The program begins in kindergarten and continues through 1st grade.  Each week, the students get 90 minutes of violin instruction.  And you ask any teacher at the school, this is not music class.  This is academics.  This is math foundation, logic, learning to focus and control one's own body.

Addy took to it straight away.  She loves the teacher and she loves the discipline of playing this instrument.

Performing Addy's favorite song they've learned so far:

The small group standing off to the left in the video are 2nd graders.  The program is so popular among students that they offer it as an after school club, which meets twice a week to play violin together. 

Pleased with her performance.

Nutty Nutcrackers

We went to see a local production of The Nutcracker, and it was great.  The girls loved it.  Know how I know?  Watch this:

We were just about to make some chocolate covered marshmallow pops; I was standing at the stove melting chocolate and able to grab my phone to video their "performance."  All until being discovered by Addy.  And yes, Cora does command a "blueberry break" part way through.

On Being 7

So remember how much fun we had at The Rock Dump.  Guess where Addy wanted to have her birthday party?

Here she is, waiting with Cora and friends to get their harnesses.

And they're off.  Peyton and Addy to the top.  A little story about Peyton, though.  It makes me so happy to see the friendship that has developed between these two.  In that first week after moving here, when Addy was crying at the side of the soccer field because she was just feeling too anxious to participate, it was Peyton who came over to talk to her, got her to laugh even, and tried to make her feel welcome enough to take the field.  It was Peyton's dad as coach that greeted Addy only with smiles and a kind heart, telling her when she was ready, there was a spot for her.  Peyton and Addy are now members of the same Girl Scout troop, and even though they were on different soccer teams for the indoor season, still get excited each time they see the other for a game.

The birthday girl.

And just like that, she's 7.  

* And just for posterity's sake, Addy's only complaint about turning 7?  It's an odd number.  If only it were even.  Girl's got a thing for even numbers :)

First Snow in Juneau

It finally came - our first snowfall!  10+ inches and it did not disappoint.

Let there peace on Earth!

As you can probably tell, both pictures were taken from my car - safely, I promise! The first is a street in our neighborhood.  The second is the road in the Lemon Creek area of Juneau.  Lemon Creek is where you find shopping.  Costco and Home Depot to be specific.  You can see the Home Depot sign in the distance.  But in classic Juneau fashion, the road to Costco and Home Depot ends at a trail head.  This trail, marked by the peace sign clearing, is 6 miles in length, climbing 2000 feet in elevation and leads to the Juneau Icefield (meaning, source of many area glaciers).

Our Efel

This is an Efel oil burning stove.  It heats our house.  The guys who came to teach us how to use it service it told me all about it.  See that glowing orange thing in the middle, generating the blue-ish glow from "boiling" oil.  That's called a dragon.  Cool, huh?  Little scary?  Yes, to me anyway.

Why is this Efel stove such a gem?  It requires no electricity, which is important when you live in a place where the power goes our frequently and for extended periods of time.  The oil is gravity fed.  Even the fan on top that helps circulate air is powered solely by the force of the rising warm air.  I've been told it's very efficient.  And you can cook on it, which we had to test out to believe for ourselves.  So we did.  Corn for our Thanksgiving dinner.

The Rock Dump

The Rock Dump, Juneau's indoor climbing gym.

I'm not sure I would have made my way to an indoor climbing gym on a random Sunday afternoon a year ago.  But with Juneau's persistent rain and winter's increasing darkness, I'm game for a new challenge.

After some training for Graham and I on how to belay, all four of us were outfitted in climbing shoes and harnesses and we were off.

It really should come as no surprise that Addy took right to it.  From the very first time she climbed out of her crib, before she could even walk, we knew she was part monkey.  

What did come as more of a surprise was how well Cora took to it as well.  A little more hesitant but just as determined, Cora wanted to show she is one mighty girl, too.

The kids finally let us have a turn.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little scared.  You quickly are higher off the ground than comfort allows and I prayed that rope was really going to hold me.  It was also more physically demanding than I realized.  But shaking arms and all, it was exhilarating.  

Guess who also made it to the top of this particular climb?  Yup, Addy.  Thanks for showing us up, kid.

Overall, a really fun Sunday afternoon.  Just hanging out.

Parking, Juneau Style

Juneau, particularly downtown Juneau, is built into the side of mountains.  Everything is on a hill.  This was parking for church one Sunday morning.  Notice all the tires, turned and up on the curb.  I guess as a backup to your emergency parking break?

We did our part to fit in - that's our minivan third car back.

A Night at Hermitage Cabin

"Let's go camping!"  Graham and I declared as we thought about what we could do with an odd mid-fall break in the girls' school schedule.  Sure, it's November.  In Alaska.  Who wouldn't want to go camping?

This was our cute, little cabin - the Hermitage Cabin at the Shrine of Saint Therese.

You can see the cabin just poking out through the tree line, with a view to the wide open frontier.  

Happy campers

We saw beautiful shore birds and lots and lots of sea lions.  And let me just say, sea lions are noisy things!  We heard them from our cabin while we were making dinner.  And then on into the night.  

It was a one room cabin, with two twin beds (a luxury for our first "camping" trip, really) and wood stove.  We cooked dinner and had s'mores by the wood stove.

No electricity, just the light of our lanterns.  Which was still enough light by which to read :)

We were so ready for the cold.  We wore our long underwear, packed fleeces, sleeping bags and many, many blankets.  Turns out, we grossly underestimated the power of the wood burning stove.  The cabin was more like a sauna.  We ended up sleeping in nothing but our underwear; and not the long underwear kind!

The next morning we set out to explore.  One of the things I love about many of the beaches and shoreline areas is that there is so much room.  Just room for the girls to wander and discover.  Here Addy is just a speck out on the rocky beach, collecting sea weed and cool rocks.

Like this frosty seaweed specimen.

Addy and Cora have always been close.  Through this move, and now on these family adventures, their relationship really has grown even more.  Cora has a little difficulty walking and balancing on all the slippery algae-covered and/or barnacle-covered rocks.  But Addy doesn't let that hold back her sister and is just as willing to help her along as anyone.  Or when we took a hike, marked only by the bright green crosses, and which turned out to be much more challenging than Graham or I anticipated, they helped each other along.

Alaska is so big.  The size of it and its many treasures - the mountains, the glaciers, the sheer wilderness - but there is such beauty in the small things, too.  This tiny dew laced spiderweb.  And this rock covered in mussels.  I love capturing it all.

The Lanz Ladies take on our first Alaska cabin camping adventure?  The smiles say it all.

And just for your viewing pleasure, I even included the picture of us doing our best sea lion impressions.