Spring Break 2012

Dman: "What the heck!  This is NOT Spring!"  ME:  "But it is the kids' Spring Break holiday from school."  Dman:  "But look (pointing to outside) There's still TONS of snow.  Do you see any pretty flowers mom?"

So we are making the adjustment in the weather here.  True, it is Spring here.  True also, there is still a ton of snow.  But, we can see pavement in many places.  So this is a breakthrough.  It is also much warmer...or it just feels warmer.  Perhaps that is because of the light.  It is now light from about 7:30am til about 9:00 at night.  I am loving it!  I just feel a bit more productive and able to accomplish more.  Before the day disappeared so quickly.  The down side is that the days do appear to be very long with one running into the other. 

I have now declared the 4:00-4:30pm slot of time to be my jogging time.  It seems to be the ideal time to be out running.  Mornings are too cold and rushed with getting kids where they need to be.  But, at 4:00, the weather is sunny and bright and just perfect for a bit of mom  time.  The older kids are home to watch little man while doing reading before heading out to sled.  We sled and play in out mountain daily. (The mountain is simply the snow mound in the center of our cule de sac.)  We climb it and then sled down our hill.  Inevitably someone gets hurt daily.  No broken bones yet?!?  Perfect time to get some excercise.  The problem with the light is that we are just coming in for the night around 8:00pm.  This makes mornings long faced and difficult. 

So as the season is shifting my mind is shifting also to all of the fun things we have planned this summer.  I can't wait.  We started making a list.  It's a bit overwhelming.  This state is HUGE and I think it is going to take several decades to see most everything.  Many people who have been here for 15+ years say they feel that they have only scratched the surface.  Some of the biggies this summer. 
1. Fish on the Kenai and camp overnight.
2. Denali National Park
3. Kenai Fjords Cruise with the kids.
4. Whittier Ferry to see Whales.
5. Valdez one road fits all tunnel.
6.  Flight lessons
7.  Hiking Hiking Hiking
8.  Cabin on the Russian with bears.
9.  Bike ride through downtown with kids
10. Playing in all the mud...oh what fun I'm told.

So at this change in season I'm feeling refreshed and excited.  I believe we will be running on nothing constantly.  They call it dead man months because everyone runs on no sleep and just enjoys the summer ALL DAY LONG.  They even do "suicide runs" where they head to Kenai after work and fish all night and drive back to work the next day.  When the fishing is good...you do it.  Cheers I say, cheers.  We are eager to learn and have fun trying it.