In desperate need of sleep

When daddy's not home, the girls survive by trapping "lady bugs" (that's what Kyra calls any kind of bug) under see-through cups. I don't think Kyra's particularly scared of insects, but she's developed a reaction modeling mommy's behavior which involves plenty of screaming ( such as "Daddy, save me!") and jumping on top of couches. (Sorry, Thomas). All day long, Kyra circles the cup telling mommy what the bug is up to and then when she thinks that I'm not looking, she "accidentally" bumps, trips, or kicks balls at it causing mommy to be on constant edge. Meanwhile, Ethan doesn't sleep. His little fists are balled up ready to strike a punch at whatever he can focus on. His eyes blink rapidly in paranoia. Perhaps, he senses that he must now be the man of the house or maybe he's just scared being left alone with the girls.

Last night, around two in the morning, I had finally rocked Ethan to sleep (after feeding and changing him since 9pm) and was looking forward to collapsing into bed. I stumbled blindly down the dark hall and threw my weight against the bedroom door only to find that it was locked. Kyra was snoring from within. Several hours ago, I had tucked her into bed and she had said, "Open door." In three-year-old speak this means, please close the door. I'm not sure if she had gotten out of bed and locked the door or whether I had somehow triggered the locking mechanism when I shut the door. In my state of panic, banging on the door, trying to break it down, yelling for Kyra to wake up, Ethan began wailing. I searched all over the house for Thomas' tools. I tried dismantling the door knob...that didn't work (no visable screws). I phoned Thomas a couple times, but he never answered his phone. When I calmed down a bit, I knew that I needed to find that tool shaped like an L that comes with easy-to-assemble furniture kits. But by 4am, I still hadn't obtained any tool that worked. It didn't help that Ethan cried the whole time. Finally, when I was about to call the police, I found this tiny flat head screwdriver which fit into the lock releasing mechanism. The door sprang open. Kyra slept through the whole thing. Ethan was still crying. And so was I.

Hailing already?

Erica and I took the kids up to Hatcher's Pass (just a half an hour drive away) this weekend. It was a beautiful sunny day down in Eagle River. So we were ill equipped for the splattering of hail near the summit where Independence Mine and Hatcher's Pass Lodge is nestled. These photos were taken shortly after the hail stopped.

Galveston

Thomas found out yesterday that he's being sent to Galveston, Texas today to help with the hurricane relief. 50,000 out of 60,000 residents were evacuated. Many are without electricity, natural gas, water, or sewer service, so I guess I should keep my grumblings about watching the kids solo to myself. On my way home from dropping Thomas off at the airport, I drove past four moose: a mommy and baby near University of Alaska Anchorage and another mommy and baby a few minutes from my driveway.

moosemoosemoosemoose

A moose with an enormous rack strolled past my living room window. He looked at me for a moment, in a rather bored way, then continued down my driveway. This is the fourth or fifth moose I've seen this summer. Either Ethan is a Cinderfella, attracting animals since his birth, or we must live on a migratory pathway. The animals (even the bears) go up or down our driveway and cross through our front yard to the "Spirit Park" which you can see through my kitchen window.

MaMa would've loved living here. Every summer on our roadtrips through national parks, MaMa stalked mooses. Yes, she desperately wanted to see one. And I'd often wake from slumbering in the backseat of the car, to her screams, "Moosemoosemoosemoosemoose." Unfortunately, the only moose she ever saw were tiny brown patches of fur wavering like a mirage between trees.

She would've loved sitting on my porch (as I am now). Terminal dust creeps down from the mountain tops. Winter is coming.

Scare me, bear

I'm sitting on my porch, writing this post, watching the river rippling by (in less than a month, the river will freeze and disappear beneath a blanket of snow). This is awesome, I think. In four years that we've lived here, this is the first time I've been able to get my router to work (it required a one hour phone call with my DSL provider and a very helpful young man who took control of my desktop and laptop) so that my laptop can connect online. But then, even more awesome, Kyra just dragged her purple plush Dora chair out onto the porch, carefully placed it next to mine, plopped herself in it, leaned back and said, "I sit down, too."

We don't say much to each other. We're enjoying the river, the brisk wind. I'm thinking, How cool is this? My daughter can finally hang out with me. She then, looks at me and points to my coffee cup, "MaMa, where's my drink?"

I tell her to go inside and ask her dad. Daddy, by the way, is on the couch watching football with Ethan (six weeks old). She returns with a plastic cup filled with juice (yes, daddy likes to spoil her), takes a long satsifying gulp, and places the cup inside my cup holder on my camping chair. Points to my coffee cup and says, "That's your juice." Then, she gives me very wet, juicy kiss!

Anyway, what Kyra really wants to do is run down our porch steps and play in the long grass, tearing up flower petals, collecting sticks and rocks. But this summer, we've had close encounters with three bears on our property. A grizzly strolled up our driveway and headed for the park behind our house on my birthday, June 27. That was the highlight of my bday. Unlike some of my friends who are petrified of bears, I moved to Alaska because I want to enjoy these magnificent creatures outside of a zoo. Around Ethan's birth, we spotted a black bear strolling down our driveway. Last Saturday, Thomas took Kyra to the park behind our house and they came home seconds later with Kyra screaming, "I go playground. Scare me, Bear." Thomas said that he was pumping up a basketball on the park bench when our neighbor's dog ran by barking and chasing something. Thomas looked over his shoulder and saw the backside of a grizzly not more than a few feet away. So, now we can't let Kyra play outside on her own. I suppose I understand why my friends are scared of bears. It doesn't help that there are headlines, such as "Attacks by Bears Put Anchorage on Edge" and this summer we have had several bear attacks in Anchorage.

Oh no! I started a blog...

Okay...I've been telling all of you (for years), no blogs for me. No facebook. Please, don't even show me yours because I just don't have the time to maintain something like this or keep up with what all of you are posting. But then this past weekend, Thomas never went to bed and when I went to check on him, he confessed that he had joined facebook and you would never believe what so and so is up to and (while I tried to run out of the room, no....please don't show me, I said) my dear husband says, "Do you want to see xxx's (for obvious reasons, I can't reveal the name of this family member) secret girlfriend?"

Several hours later...Ethan bouncing in our arms...we were still surfing friend/family blogs and facebook profiles. Argh! The next day, I started reading my writer friend's blogs...Signe and Jonathan...and now a week later, I still start my day by reading their blogs. And...my worst nightmare...Signe twisted my arm into starting my own blog. Sigh. Afterall, she said, "it's such an easy way to keep in touch with everyone all at once. "