Free-Range Summer School

Summer always starts out with big plans, goals, lists and we go into it with a kind of maniacal mother-son gusto that probably concerns my husband, but we push ahead anyway.  We like the talk, the planning, the possibility for fun experiences.  And this summer was no exception.  And when I say we, I mostly mean me.  G is always up for a good time and along for the ride, but I'm the Virgo that enjoys making a list and checking things off.

Doran Beach - June 2014

What made the list?  Skate parks, donut shops, libraries and lots of camps.  Throw in three separate family vacations in two and a half months and you have a recipe for meaningful memories peppered with a wee bit of road trip tension to keep it real. We were all in as a family.  Hip hip hooray?  Well, sort of.

Last Days of Summer Vacation @ Sebastopol Skate Park

Our days were packed with art making, reading, travel and lots of DVD rentals.  It was also full of new experiences for Grady and that brought about a shift in our parenting.  Historically, we were the planners and determined how we would spend our time.  This year?  We listened to our kid.

Shortly after school got out, Grady picked up his skateboard and wanted to hit the local skate park, noting that he had wanted to do this for the past two summers and we never took him.  It was time.  My husband took the lead on this and the boost of self-confidence it gave our son was palpable.  The actual skateboarding has come a long way since June and watching him "drop in" for the first time is a sweet memory that I will not soon forget.

A caveat to all of this skateboarding was my son's increased interest in fashion.  Particularly, his insistence on wearing his jeans with the blown out knees.

All.  Summer.  Long.

Cool jeans + XTRATUF's

Shoes and hats, friendship bracelets and pendants on chains around his neck were his flare.  Purple Nikes, Plaid D&C's & kelly green Converse were just a small portion of his tennis shoe fleet.  When donning shorts, socks also became a big part of his outfit.  Shaun White's colorful socks were IT.  Truth be told, this accessory-loving mom was all for this.  He was finding his style and feeling really good about himself.

Foot Fashion

The young men at the skate park were really kind to my son.  Sure, a lot of them cursed like sailors, but they always seemed to be nice and willing to share their space with a kid who knew absolutely nothing when he showed up on the first day of summer.  

The kindness of strangers always delights me.  As I sat on the bench at the skate park reading, sketching or checking my phone, I could hear these young men (ages 5 to 25) talking with G about form, technique or just letting him know it was okay to use the space they were all sharing.  The younger ones just wanting to chat about skate stickers or my son's hair.  It was all very sweet and it felt like a transition was happening right before my eyes AND, for once, I was really aware of it!  I grew to love the skate park and what it was offering my kid.

Library Junkie(s)

The remainder of summer was spent doing a lot of reading and making art.  Lots and lots of drawing and library visits.  I'm kind of a library addict and it feels like I get a hit every time I walk through those sliding doors.  Oh, the possibilities!  We would divide and conquer our local branch library and then treat ourselves to frozen yogurt at the shop next door.  Win-win, right?  Right.

And so, here it is.  The end of summer vacation.

Portland.  Bodega Bay.  Alaska.  I'll write about Alaska in a separate post.  It needs it's own place to shine because it was that awesome.

The end of free time.

The end of endless choices.

The end of late bedtimes.

The end of cereal for breakfast at 10 am.

We strengthened the bonds of our little family and soaked up the foggy summer nights.  We hit farmers' markets and enjoyed our new Sunday ritual of coffee & the New York Times.

Every single pair of rain boots G has ever had
All of them found new homes (except for his first pair)

And as I purge my son's room and try to create order in the chaos before the new school year commences, I'm quickly reminded of all the life he's led up until this very point.  The baseball uniforms, the basketball trophies, the rain boots…they all serve to remind me of the string of days that have been carefully stacked upon one another and given me to this strong, capable young man.

Summer seems to be a different time for learning.  And while there haven't been math books or spelling tests, there has indeed been lots of learning going on.

We have attended a sort of free-range summer school.  The kind of school that allowed us to create and make our own curriculum.  We wrote & lived many stories, painted our days with beautiful hobbies, enjoyed the peace & quiet of our home(room), as well as setting off on a few adventures during recess.

Each one of us taught the other a little something new.  I learned to sit back and watch my son fall - only to witness him getting back up and jumping on his board to try, try again.  My husband finally found the sport that would bring him closer to our son.

It felt like skateboarding was a metaphor for parenting.  Sure, we put on all of the protective gear we can by reading books on parenting and joining parent support groups.  But it seems like the only way I've really learned anything at all about parenting is by "dropping in" and making my way to the other side.  We might fall a bit in the beginning, but when we finally pop out of the bowl we will have learned something about our kid and most definitely about ourselves.

Heck, we may even high-five someone or give a chin-nod and cooly walk off the scene knowing that we just totally shredded that situation really hard.

The extra credit?  Well, that came in the form of a kid that believes in himself and realizes that it's okay if he gets a little bruised and banged up.  In fact, the failures were part of the fun.  He's more confident and self-assured after our summer together.

I give us an A for effort.

Summer Road Trip :: Portland 2014

We took our first summer road trip to Portland a few weeks ago and had a fantastic time.  Our friends let us use their condo as a home base and we took daily excursions to eateries, book stores, libraries, skate parks, thrift stores, donut shops, ice cream parlors and walked the oh-so clean city streets.

This video was Grady's project during our trip.  He captured images with his iPad and used an app called Over to insert words & graphics.

It's about 3-1/2 minutes long.



I think it's sweet what he wanted to remember and look forward to our next family vacation in Bodega Bay in just a few short weeks.

Last Week of 5th Grade

1st day of 5th Grade (left) - Last day of 5th Grade (right)

The days leading up to the last week of school were chock full of parties and half-days for the boy, meetings, work & an illustration workshop in the city for me.  In my attempt to keep us on track and not overly booked, we worked hard as a family to try and keep a balance and not get too overloaded.  Let me tell you, it was not easy!

We attended the West Marin Review release party for Volume V of their journal at Toby's Feed Barn in Point Reyes to help celebrate Grady's watercolor Invisible World being featured in the magazine.  His work graced page 24 and he was mentioned in the editor's summary of this newest edition at the beginning of the journal.

I learned that this beautiful journal is put together by an all volunteer staff and it took over one year to bring it all together.  Grady's painting was one of the few selected out of 325 art submissions.  This award-winning literary and art journal is a lovely collection of poetry, prose, photography and art.  They also publicly acknowledged the young artists in attendance and thanked them for their efforts and inspiration.

We could not have been more proud of our son.

1.  A year's worth of bread ties
2.  Teacher presents
3.  My last lunch note of the year!

As we ticked off school days on the calendar, there was a certain lightness in our home.  We had been working on teacher gifts (Grady's "Home" poem) and handmade cards for the last few weeks and it all came together rather easily.  I say easily, but it was because we were prepared and had been slowly working on this project for weeks.  I've learned from the past and cramming in making and gifting in the last few days of school is nuts, so we avoided the madness and planned ahead.  It made all the difference in the world.

The big event of the week was G's first school dance.  He claimed to have little interest in attending (or dancing for that matter) and so I didn't focus on the dance too much.  He did, however, want to give a little present to his girlfriend.  Now this was all fairly new to me.  I mean, I knew this pretty little fourth grader kind of liked him and he liked her throughout the school year and sat next to her in chess club, but I had no idea they were, like, boyfriend-girlfriend.

I realized that this was my first opportunity to help guide him in how to treat a young lady.   Off we trotted to the garage and dug into my bin of presents (leftover items from when I owned a retail store, books I pick up on sale, pencils, journals, etc.).  I mentioned that girls almost always like to receive jewelry or flowers.  He quickly selected a sweet bird pendant and decided to hand-stamp a gift bag for her.  A red heart for love and a black mustache for humor.  Yes, he's most definitely 11.

Not only would Grady be finishing up his 5th grade year, but this would be his final year at his elementary school.  As much as we had prepared for this as a family, I wasn't prepared for the emotional boy that got off the bus on the last day of school.

I met him at the bottom of our lane and chatted with the other kids who were getting off at this stop.  As we slowly made our way up to our house, I noticed Grady had his headphones and sunglasses on and his cheeks were wet.  I immediately thought about the dance and the girl and the present, but he assured me that wasn't why he was crying.

As hot tears ran down his face, he told me he was going to miss his friends.  I pulled him to me and gave him a hug and assured him that we would make every effort to keep and foster those friendships.  His hot, sweaty body clung to me and sobbed.  I put my arm around him and guided him home, washed his face and settled him into bed with a few books.  His tired body gave way to sleep and I pondered this new phase we were about to enter.

Top of the List Summer Plans :: Skate Park + Libraries

That evening was an emotional one, but after a long, hot shower and a father-son fish taco making session, Grady let go of the sadness and settled back into himself.  He mourned the loss of his familiar school and circle of friends and I told him it was okay to be sad, to feel things deeply - that meant that he cared about people and that was a good thing.

Our first blueberry harvest from our one and only bush + oatmeal-blueberry-lemon glaze cookies

And just like that, he moved through it.  The next day was the first day of summer vacation and we had fun planned.  Sleeping in was top on the list, a library visit to stock up on books, a lunch date at our favorite taco joint, a trip to the art supply store and a myriad of errands in town rounded out the day.

We did a lot of hunkering down as a family over the weekend and cooking at home.  Sunday found all three of us in our Queen-sized bed reading and working on our computers.  Breakfast was slow and we had the entire day before us with nothing pressing on the calendar.  We formed a plan and went to town to catch a movie, grab lunch and buy the boy some new soccer cleats.  All very ho-hum, but really nice to have a Sunday with my husband in tow.

Airborne at Doran Beach

And so we close this chapter of our six years at the local elementary school.  I can't believe it went so fast.  People are always telling you how fast it goes, but you never believe them.  It really served us well and I feel grateful for the strong foundation is has given Grady academically and socially.

He's ready to move on and so are we.

But first, we have an awesome summer to plan.

Disconnected :: Connected

Arriving in San Jose, Costa Rica (Sunrise)

As we drove away from our home and down the dirt road that leads us to Highway One, sheets of rain came down in earnest.  Up ahead, the road was flooded and we had to detour to Petaluma.  

We shed our coats and hastily threw them back in our car and made a break for the shuttle bus pointed towards San Francisco.  We just made it.  

At San Francisco Airport the Delta employee moved us to an earlier flight to insure we would make our next connection.  LAX airport had been grounded due to weather.  We waited, along with a hundred or so other people and quietly ticked off the minutes in our minds, calculating how long we had to make our connecting flight.

We had 13 minutes to disembark from our plane, run through the terminal O.J. Simpson-style and hop on the Boeing 757 with five minutes to spare.  This was the red-eye flight from LAX to San Jose, Costa Rica and relief washed over us as we settled into our stiff, upright seats.  

We arrived into San Jose groggy and our clothes wrinkled.  After clearing customs and shuffling towards baggage claim, the warm air enveloped us as we exited the airport and we slowly slid into our waiting taxi and immediately dozed off to sleep.

Best last minute thrifting decision.  A carry-on/beach bag that holds EVERYTHING!

As we pulled into Quepos, our eyes adjusted to the small city that we would call home for nine days.  There were dozens of pedestrians risking their lives to cross the street, bicycles rolling towards to the grocery store and colorful signage decorating the buildings as we whirred past.

Our friend built the house we would be staying at in Quepos and he was kind enough to let us stay here to mark Steve’s 50th birthday.  As we pulled up to our friend’s home, we were a bit weathered from traveling.  We walked up the tiled steps and were greeted by a bright yellow facade and a backyard full of roughly landscaped jungle.

I've been trying to read this book for years.  I finally settled in and can't put it down.

There is a cacophony of insects and birds singing and talking to the wind just outside the window screens.  We quickly set about unpacking, changing our stale clothes.  Our only priority was hanging the hammocks and settling in for an afternoon of napping.

The art of an ice cold beverage here is really important.  Fresca, rum over ice, bottled water.  We imbibed to stay cool, we imbibed to feel refreshed.

There is an unhurried vibe in the home (very much unlike our home).  The air is thick with laziness and moisture.

As we were lulled to dreamland in our rocking hammocks, music quietly oozed out of the screen windows…

Bob Marley.
Mermen.
Clem Snide.

We were languid and relaxed.  The days, weeks and months of responsibilities quickly were shed from our overloaded minds.  Our only jobs were to read, lay about and listen to music.  This pattern was quick to develop and surprisingly easy to adapt to.

The hammocks are a revelation.  Why do we not currently own a hammock (or two)?  How is it that we’ve been together all these years and no hammock has been hung from the fruit trees in our small orchard?  Oh, we will definitely be getting a hammock when we get home.  The boy is smitten and his daily afternoon siestas are becoming a thing of beauty.  He retreats to the back deck, kicks off his shoes, bundles himself up in the fetal position and then sleep rapidly takes over his little body.  I slowly rock the hammock and softly brush the short thicket of hair across his forehead.  His breathing is easy, rhythmic and steady.  He is in a deep, deep sleep.  I can’t stop watching him from where I lie.  I love him so much at this moment and want to burn this memory on my brain forever, so that I can come back and visit it whenever I want.  

Grady's hammock of choice on the shady back deck

My heart is so full for both of the guys in my life.  We needed this trip.  All of us really, really needed it.

The afternoon heat is sweltering.  Clothing of any kind becomes like a noose around our entire bodies.  We have taken to shedding all clothing and wearing the lightweight comfort of a colorful rectangle of fabric, a sarong.

My husband’s quick transformation into a sarong-wearing slacker delights and surprises me.  Grady has taken to calling our sarong-wearing ways to an exaggerated “soooooo wrong”, but I quite like the change.  We slipped out of our city clothes and easily slid into our off-mode.  We picked up our unread books, colored the blank pages of our journals and busted out our vintage set of dominoes.  

In our day-to-day lives we are busy, focused, driven and task-oriented.  I like that about us.  And…I sometimes don’t like that about us.

Manuel San Antonio National Park Beach

Today we disconnected.

And we connected.

Big Sur

Big Sur is pure magic.

Morning coffee steam rising with the sun
Post Ranch Pumpkin
SL reading on the deck

We honeymooned at Post Ranch Inn and celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary here.  By a strange twist of fate, I have been consulting for the past five years for the company that manages this amazing luxury resort property.  My boss and his wife let us borrow their private home for a long overdue family getaway.  All of us needed to slow down our feverish everyday pace and check out of real life for a few days.

Making art on the deck

It's interesting to me how much place can affect our mood.  Our family rhythm is pretty entrenched at home with morning routines, chores and work.  We choose to live where we do because of the views, the community and the fact that nature is constantly accessible to us just outside our doors & windows.  However, we've been slaves to our calendars for months upon months and this weekend was the first time in over a year (or more) that we had NOTHING on the calendar for two whole days.  I felt giddy with the possibilities of there being nothing we had to do.

We needed a break from our daily to-do list and some unscheduled time with each other.  We really needed this and I planned it out so that it could happen.  As the mom and social secretary for our household, I needed to carve out a pocket of days where we could clear our calendars, as well as our heads.

Sunset over the Pacific Ocean
An unexpected power outage really forced us to slow down

The stress started to melt away as our car was winding down Highway One and entering Big Sur.  The views made me pause and think about how small we are in the grand scheme of things.  We checked in, so that we could check out.

Morning glow
My new favorite family photo

Each of us retreated to our own little corners to read, write, make art, nap, eat, drink and start it all over again.  We had discussions we have been putting off about holidays, family celebrations and Steve's big five-oh.  We listened to music, took photographs, watched movies and got a little work done.  There was no pressure, just an expansive stretch of hours that seemed to move a little slower for us while we were here.

Rainbow Squirt Gang (front & back)
G created these and played with them for HOURS while we were here

There is something restorative about being in this sacred place.  The simple A-frame home was a work of beautiful design and provided just the right amount of modern conveniences to help us unwind and cushion us from the outside world.

Morning view from the master bedroom loft

Appreciating the sunrise and sunset is a twice daily ritual I always enjoy, but made more special here by the quiet, unhurried pace and the company I was keeping.  Grady had us laughing a lot and I feel grateful that he still likes just hanging out with us, his parents.

This morning I feel rested and full, connected to my husband and son, nature, our life.  Our family needed a squeeze and I feel like we are leaving a little tighter, more on the same page and recharged.

Thanks for the hug, Big Sur.

Halloween :: Scarecrows + Zombies

Cambria Scarecrows

I made a pact with my girlfriend to get away at the end of October, near her birthday.  We made this plan to meet in Cambria back in the early summer, hugged goodbye after a nice long visit and said we'd make it happen.  As mamas, we get so busy in the day-to-day running of our lives with our kids, husbands, households and community obligations that we sometimes forget to stop and recharge.  Sometimes you need a vacation from your every day and we made good on our promise to each other last weekend and met up in the sleepy little central coast town of Cambria.

Before :: After

As an added bonus and delightful surprise, the town was hosting its 5th annual Cambria Scarecrow Festival.  Hundreds (300+) of creative and whimsical scarecrows were scattered throughout the town and that just made us laugh.  We shopped a bit, walked around town, ate a little, but mostly we spent time in our room talking, sipping adult beverages and laughing until it hurt.

MCM coffee table love + Beth Koelker's Day of the Dead Artwork

I have been looking for a coffee table for our living room since we moved in over seven years ago.  And while we have tried to make due over the years with makeshift options, we were in desperate need of a permanent solution.  And then, BAM!...this little mid-century vintage goodness finds me while I'm in Cambria.  I've been looking for a Noguchi-inspired table for over six months (see here, here and here), but not at a Noguchi price tag.  This one fit the bill and the best part about it?  My husband liked it, too.  Not an easy feat, I assure you.  I brought it in, unwrapped the glass and marveled at how the Thrifting Gods always (eventually) come through.  I love that about thrifting.

Pumpkin Carving Contest
1.  Steve's
2. Grady's
3.  The 1st place winner, Mr. Potter

I arrived home just in time to jump in Steve's car and head to the Annual Chute Pumpkin Carving Contest (See 2009, 2011, 2012).  Steve always creates something great and this year was no exception.  He carved an Angry Fly Pumpkin, while Grady opted for...surprise!...a small Throwing Up Pumpkin.  Ten year old boys are so predictable, aren't they?  The Harry Potter pumpkin ended up taking first place, but not without some controversy.  A few years back they created a no tracing rule and, clearly, this guy cheated!  He did trace, but he also was the favorite of the night.  Next year?  I'm already planning for next year and found a lot of inspiration on this clever and creative art website.

Johns Street Trick-o-treaters

On the eve of Halloween, I was washing my little boy's hair in the bathtub and he shared that he didn't want to wear the Jedi Master costume he had picked out for Halloween.  After some tearful confessions about Star Wars being a little kid thing (is it?), he asked if he could be a baseball player zombie.  Ahhh, yes.  The jig is almost up on being something sweet and fun for Halloween.  Heck, I thought I was stretching when I let him wear some thrifted store bought Star Wars costume last year and was relieved when he cut part of it up and put it under the $5 monk's robe we scored earlier in the month.

Zombie Grady + Dragon Giovanni

Nope.  He wanted to be something with blood.   He problem-solved his lack of a costume with a little bit of help from me (and his friend's mom agreed to do a bit of make-up in the morning before school).  He was happy and only a wee bit bloody.

Mom, this is the best Halloween ever!

We trick-or-treated on our small lane and headed over to Tomales wherein the mothers all commented on how easy it all was this year.  The kids ran from house to house quickly, stayed out of the middle of the road without being told 10,000 times and never strayed far from us.  And while all of this is nice, it made me all a little sad to see my sweet boy transform from being a cute little snuggly dragon in preschool to this 5th grade self-imagined zombie character.  I know, I get it.  It happens, they grow up.  But I'm having a hard time with this stage we're in; the in-between stage.  I can still recall the past Halloween costumes and his utter joy at being (mostly) a dog.  He loved dogs so much.  He wore huskie paw covers, barked a lot, crated himself and could get lost in a world of dog stuffed animals for hours on end.  And let us not forget about his total recall of dog breeds from his well-read dog & puppy encyclopedias.  Yes, his shelf of dog books remain untouched lately and I can't bear to give any of them away.

And so, I watched him enjoy this Halloween and tried to soak it all up.  His joy at his tremendous candy haul and new found freedom in voicing what he wants and watching him make that happen.

I felt like one of those scarecrows I saw in Cambria, quietly observing this emerging young man and it wasn't that scary after all.

Last Day of Summer Vacation

Dear Grady,

Yesterday was the last day of summer vacation and boy did we have a fun-filled one this year.  As I looked ahead to the summer months, I made sure to sprinkle in some camps, some adventures and some down time for you and for us as a family.

We made time for a trip to Southern California to see your grandfather, as well as our maiden voyage to Legoland with our best friends, the Christiansens.

We made time for games, library visits, making art and reading when we could grab the chance.  You installed the coolest origami yoda installation in our  kitchen and I absolutely love it.

You enjoyed summer academy at your elementary school and shared your newfound knowledge of the capybara, the world's largest rodent.  You studied anatomy and drew animals that you found interesting.

You attended CYO camp in Occidental, went to the farmers' market with me and picked veggies at Bloomfield Farms.

We spent a week in Bodega Bay where you fine-tuned your golf game, discovered the joys of the tennis rally and swam until your lips turned blue in the community pool.

You renewed friendships and said goodbye to Seth & Heather, too.

An impromptu trip to Alaska landed in our laps courtesy of Stephanie, so we figured it out and jumped on a plane the first week of August and headed north, via 1st class (a first for us!).  You thoroughly enjoyed going to the front of each line and getting your own personal device to watch movies on, as well as really cool headphones.

Alaska was amazing.  You and the girls soaked it all up and were the best kids on the planet to vacation with.  You attended a marine mammal camp and learned so very much in such a short amount of time.

The weeks passed all too quickly and we now have to get you ready for 5th grade.  I can hardly believe it, but I think I say that every year.

The naked ladies are blooming and that means summer vacation has officially come to an end.  We spent the last day as a family riding bikes along the Willow Creek Trail (you and your father) and I walked...and got lost.  Shocker, right?

You surprised me with your new Shaun White skinny, skinny jeans in turquoise and sported this snowboarder's brand head-to-toe on your first day of school.

We had so many wonderful times this summer and I loved watching you try new things, gain confidence, branch out, be fearless and even win an ice cream eating contest!  Yes, you had fun this summer.

I look forward to this new school year and what you will teach me about you.

With all my love,

Mom

Alaska :: Days 5 - 10

There is a freedom that comes with sending your child off to camp and a small amount of dread, too.  This week found me conflicted with my new found leisure time, as I was in a new state with oodles of time to kill.  I read, edited photos, wrote a little bit, spent hours at the museum, met friends and dined out.  That was all on Day One of G being at camp.  Yes, it would be a long week.

Anchorage Museum

Downtown Anchorage Hot Spots with Stephanie

Alaska has been heart-achingly beautiful.  I totally get why they call this state The Last Frontier, as it's so pristine and rugged.

The Kenai River + alone time

Thursday found us packing up the rental apartment (Stephanie's home for the last five weeks) and hitting the road down to Homer.  I picked Steph up at work, jumped on Highway One South and weaved my way through craggy mountains, hypnotic blue skies and aquamarine rivers.

Homer is a classic, hard-working fishing village and we were staying in the thick of it - just across from The Fish Factory and a major offloading dock on The Homer Spit.  If we had changed for dinner, we would have been overdressed, so we opted for our casual, well-worn road trip outfits and hit the town.

Land's End for dinner.  The Salty Dawg Saloon for adult libations, jukebox selections and lessons on the art of playing pool.  We drank Duck Farts (yes, Duck Farts), discovered the dangers of Jameson + Ginger ale and stayed out way past our curfew.  When in Rome, right?

Friday found us tooling around town to a few spots the locals recommended - La Baleine Cafe for the most amazing breakfast & bottomless coffee; The Alaska Islands & Ocean Visitor Center, Fringe Couture & Consignment Shop; and the Two Sisters Bakery for a late afternoon bite and coffee pick-me-up.  Each local haunt better than the last.

Harbor porpoise articulation + friends and naturalists/counselors

We picked the kids up from the Wynn Nature Center and viewed their harbor porpoise articulation project, as well as heard shared stories of their week at Peterson Field Station on the Kachemak Bay.  It sounds like they learned so much and I felt my mama heart soar when I heard my kid identifying insects, local plant life and marine mammal species.  The one item they felt they needed at the end of all this was a pair of XTRATUF boots and so, well, we indulged them.  They chatted about being the only three kids in California with the coolest boots from Alaska.  I agree, kids, I agree.

We spent the night eating fish at a local eatery and getting filled in on all of the camp stories.  We walked The Spit and ushered them back to our rental, where they showered and fell happily and sleepily into bed.

Views over Kachemak Bay from a floatplane

Steph and the girls rose at an ungodly hour to go salmon fishing, while G and myself slept in and I surprised him with a late-morning float plane ride over Kachemak Bay.

Us in Homer!

We spotted moose, mountain goats, Trumpeter Swans, a sea otter colony and flew over glaciers and the bay where Grady and the girls spent their week at marine mammal camp.  What an incredible feeling to fly over such magnificent lands and seas.  I felt so small in the grand scheme of things.  Alaska has a way of doing that.

5 hours sandwiched between two girls from Homer to Anchorage...he really loved it

My instagram friend, Natalie, lives on Kodiak Island and I couldn't help but think about her this week and envy her remote lifestyle, as well as all of the history and beauty of this 49th state.  Another instagram friend, Maggie, likened Alaska to an ex-boyfriend - one she had to leave, but can't get off of her mind and thoughts wander to what might have been.  I get it.  I totally get it, Maggie.

Alaska, you are a heartbreaker.

Moose
Caribou Skeleton
Grizzly Bear
Beloved round hay bales

This trip gave me the time and space to think about my life and where I want it to go from here.  I'm approaching the eve of my 43rd year and this trip really punctuated my 42nd trip around the sun.

Thanks, Alaska.  I needed you more than I knew.