Two Little Bears

We went to Captain Cook State Park, which is 10 miles from our house and the end of the road here on the Kenai Peninsula.  Basically, you get a great view of the ocean and can hike about 2.5 miles along the beach.  We approached the view/picnic area and something smelled terrible.  I was looking around for dead fish and looked down to see something brown moving just 5 feet below me.  Upon further inspection, I saw this:

If you can't tell, there are 2 brown bear cubs.  They were gnawing on a fish, but not getting too far.  One man guessed they were maybe 3 months and that they were still nursing and did not know how to eat yet.  We have been warned more than enough times that where there's a baby, there's a mom.  Doug promptly tossed us in the back of the car and proceeded to snap shots with his camera.  He warned others who were nearby and considering hiking.  Everyone jumped in their car and drove away.  It seems that at least once a week the paper has a story about someone being attacked by a brown bear (they are called grizzly bears in other places).  A woman came back and told us she had called Fish and Game and the bears had been there a week and no one had spotted mom for a few days.  So then there was a large crowd, all very leery, taking pictures of the bears.  We also spotted a bush where we suspected they had been bedding down.  The bears wandered off down the beach.
Doug followed.  I was not happy that he tossed us in the car for safety and then stayed only a few feet from the bears.  Had mom appeared, he would have been dinner.  There are people who live here their whole lives and never see bears.  We called one of the pharmacy techs and teased her because she has lived here 9 years and never seen a bear and really wants to.  We had only been here a month and had seen 2 bears already.  She wasn't happy.  Come to find out later, her daughter and uncle were the people standing right beside us.

They do have awful cute baby foot prints.

After that, we went on a short hike along the Swanson River.  It is a great canoeing river where you can take multiple day trips.  Brenden loves to pick me flowers, and here he is with it in his mouth.

Alaska trivia

On Wednesday I took Doug's parents to Anchorage so they could fly home. We were sad to see them go. Here are two interesting Alaska driving facts:
-In Alaska, you must drive with your lights on at all times.
-It is illegal to have a line of 5 or more cars behind you on the highway. You must pull off and let the traffic pass. The highway only has one lane going in each direction.
I noticed that most people either a) don't know these laws or b) choose not to follow them.

My Wednesday went a little like this: (FYI: it is a 4 hour drive from our house to Anchorage)

-Cosmo had to be at the vet at 10:45 - he had a big open wound in his side. We did not leave the house until 11:00 and the vet is about 25 minutes away in Kenai. I had to talk the vet into keeping him since I was on my way to Anchorage. Doug then had to get off work for a few minutes to pick up Cosmo at 5:30 and then left him in the car until he was done with work (which happened to be 9:00 since they were so busy...they close at 7:00).

-We had to pick up the salmon and halibut Doug's dad and his brother Greg had processed and frozen from their trip to Homer last Saturday. Lets just say they weren't the first in line.

-Doug's mom was stuck in the VERY back of the suburban, so she had to have Greg take pictures out the window at fast speeds; we did not have time to stop for anything except:

-We stopped at the Alaska Wildlife conservation center and saw a moose on the other side of the fence, but only inches away. We also saw several brown and black bears within feet of the electric fence separating us. We drove through at high speeds and took only a few pictures in order to be done in time. Good thing we had free tickets and did not spend the $25, but we will definitely have to go back and actually SEE the animals instead of flying past them. We left at 3:15 and it is a 50 minute drive to Anchorage. I did not take my camera, so sorry, no pictures today.

-Brenden had an appointment to map his cochlear implant at 4:00. We arrived at 4:02. Whew!

-Doug's family picked us back up at 6:00 and we ate dinner and looked in some souvenir shops. We checked into our hotel (where the room key did not work and they forgot to give me a parking pass) and then went in search of more souvenirs. I hugged Brenden a little too tight and he peed his pants. Looking through our luggage, I realized that somehow the change of underwear had magically disappeared from the bag. We found a Wal-mart (a novelty here in Alaska). In the Wal-mart, the souvenirs we had just bought were about 1/2 the price. Oh well. I also found Brenden some school clothes (which was more like that old tv show "supermarket sweep" than actual back to school shopping). We really only have one option here in Kenai for school clothes - Fred Meyer - and it is not even actually in Kenai, but in Soldotna 45 minutes away from our house.

-At 11:30 we headed to the airport. Doug's family needed to be there at mid-night, so that was the first place we had been on-time to all day. Brenden and Nolan were still awake.

-At 12:25, we finally made it to the hotel and Nolan and Ethan were asleep. I got Nolan into the stroller and had Brenden push him while I carried Ethan. Everyone got into their pajamas and to bed. I think I crawled into bed around 1:15.

Then came marathon Thursday.

-The kids got up and ready and we were out the door by 10:30. We needed to return some of the school clothes to Wal-mart, but I could not remember how we got to Wal-mart the evening before. Finally, we found Wal-mart and the clothes.

-Somehow, it suddenly turned into noon when I needed to be leaving for Ethan's audiologist appointment at 3:15. I needed to go to Pier One and Sportsman's warehouse, so we headed there. Neither one had what I was looking for. It is impossible to find a hiking backpack to stick a baby in here in Alaska - of all "outdoorsy" places...

-We left Anchorage at 2:00. Luckily, we only needed to go to Soldotna (the city that was 45 minutes closer than my house, but if you do the math, that is still not enough time.)

-This is the part where it bothers me that people don't follow the "you must pull over if there are 5 or more cars behind you" law. Admittedly, I was driving a little, or a lot, over the speed limit. Along the way I called Doug and told him that at least one of us should be on-time, so he needed to go and fill out the paperwork.

-We arrived at the appointment at 3:56. Oops. En-route, a cop passed me going the other direction and he turned on his flashing lights as a little warning to me. So kind. There are only 3 highway patrolmen on the entire peninsula, but of course, I had to see one of them.

-At the appointment, I was hoping to get Ethan's hearing aids re-programmed, but this is how the appointment went: "Hi, I am Karen the audiologist. I just wanted to have this first appointment to meet you and Ethan. That will be $65. Make an appointment for 2 weeks from now and we will take a look at Ethan's hearing aids." Ugh! I would have at least understood if the reason had been, "You're a little late and we don't have time to do much today," but nope, she just wanted to meet us. That was an expensive get-to-know-you. Not happy...

-I finally got home at 6:00. I made dinner, paid some bills, and made some phone calls about insurance. Then, being the compulsive internet shopper that I am, I was online until 1:00 and bought NOTHING.

I am a dork. And now, I am tired. Oh the joys of motherhood.

July 20

Here we got all of these boats with our house and Doug has no time to use them.  He is barely home and has no idea where anything in the house is.  So, July 20, I sent him out with the boys to check out the boats.  He took Brenden down to our boat dock and jumped in one of the boats.  About an hour later, they came walking home.  I asked if they had fun and Doug said no, all they had done was rowed from our boat dock to the neighborhood boat dock not all that many feet away.  I guess there is something wrong with the lag bolts or whatever holds the oars on the boat and they kept flying up and about whacking Doug in the head.  They came home for a motor.  So, we loaded up the motor and took it down to the dock, but there was a problem with the motor.  We ended up taking our snowmobile trailer down to the dock to get the boat and bring it back to try to get it all figured out.  Finally, Doug had the motor up and running and I drove them back to the neighborhood dock (3 houses down the road).  

Please note that this is July and I am wearing a hoodie.

On they way we saw a bull moose and twin calves and we had to stop and take pictures for a while.  So, then, the boys were headed out.  This time Doug decided to take Nolan and Brenden.  I waited to make sure they had the motor up and running and they were off.  

I drove back home and got Ethan bathed and in bed.  Several hours passed.  I was mad because the boys were very late for bed.  Then I was worried.  Then I was mad and worried.  Finally, Doug called me on his cell phone around 11:00 and told me I better come get the boys at the boat dock because they were tired and he was too and he was not about to carry them home.  Somewhere out on the lake, they stopped to fish and Doug turned off the motor.  When he went to restart it, he didn't know his own strength and he yanked a little too hard and pulled the starter right out of the motor.  He had been rowing for hours with the oars that would not stay in place and kept coming unattached from the boat.  So much for all the great free stuff that came with the house.  

Doug just spent a large wad of money on a new motor (although I still contest the last one was fine and there was something wrong with the operator).

New House, First Birthday

I am a terrible mother.  July 14 we moved into our new house.  We got up early so Doug could drop us off at our new house on his way to work since my car was in the shop.  The movers arrived at 8:45 and took most of the day to bring all of our stuff in the house.  I suppose they got tired of carrying things to the basement because in the end, it all got piled in my garage.  I walked the guy in charge through the house and said, "If it says laundry, it goes here and if it says bathroom it goes here.  This is the master...blah blah blah."  Well, they are ALL in the garage except the ones that say living room and they are in the basement.  Ridiculous.  We are still unpacking, but are to a point where we can comfortably live and I am wondering why I need anything that is still in the garage.  Except the hair clippers.  They boys desperately need their hair cut and they look like the Beatles.  Before we left Idaho, we spent over $1000 on food.  I am tired of seeing boxes that say "food" on them.  I am out of places to put it all.

So, about 10:00, my phone rang.  It was Doug's sister Marinda.  She said to tell Ethan happy birthday.  I had totally forgotten it was his FIRST BIRTHDAY EVER.  What kind of mom am I?  The other kids all had big fancy parties with themes and homemade invitations and special cakes and it was a big deal.  So then Brenden got all excited and sang "Happy Birthday" to Ethan at the top of his lungs about a half a dozen times.  We spent most of the day unpacking, with the help of 3 children.  Brenden is quite fond of the cupboards in the kitchen and EVERYTHING ended up in them.  I can't even count how many times he has re-arranged them.

Later in the day, our Bishop called (he happens to be the mechanic that was working on our car) and said he would just drive the car home from work and drop it by our house.  He and his wife and 4 kids stopped by and brought 3 different kinds of ice cream, including birthday cake flavored ice cream.  Doug also picked up an angel food cake at work.  As the movers were unpacking, they brought in a wrapped present and said, "Why didn't you just open this before you moved?"  I said, "Because TODAY is his birthday!"  Thanks to Grandma Boehme, Ethan had one present to open that day.  He was happy with that.  I am still a terrible mother because I have STILL not bought the kid a birthday present.  He will always look back on his first birthday and wondering why he was the child we never loved - although it is totally untrue, he will likely perceive it that way.

The next day, a very nice woman we had barely met named Berenice from church made Ethan a fantastic dinosaur cake.  She went WAY above and beyond, especially for a kid she did not even know.  She didn't use a cake pan, she cut this cake into this shape and decorated it.  It was SO cute.  I couldn't get over her kindness.  Brenden also decided that since we had a real cake, we needed to decorate, so we had to go through boxes until we found a few little birthday items.  I think Ethan had an ok birthday after all.

We weren't allowed to move anything flammable, so there is no fire.

My funny friend

I hope my friend Amy will not mind I am doing this, but, for all of you parents out there that enjoy the hilarious things that happen to other parents (I would say mostly mothers), you HAVE to check out my friend Amy's blog.  Even though you probably don't know her, she has a great, very funny way of telling about her day and I always go to her site when I need to laugh.  Her daughter Kaelin (who I have never met) is entertaining, or at least Amy makes Kaelin very entertaining.  I read her blog out loud to Doug at least once a week so he can hear that we aren't the only ones.  Doug has never even met Amy and he asks for updates.  Anyway, I think you will enjoy it.  www.jensandamy.com

*Amy - sorry I misspelled her name.  Is it right now?  I can spell Koren at least (I know you don't want to hear this, but that is my mom's name).  Mom, her Koren is a boy.

Anchorage

July 10-12 we went to Anchorage for Doug's pharmacy exams.  He did AWESOME on them and is now a REAL pharmacist.  It is a gorgeous drive to Anchorage through mountains and along rivers and lakes.  The water is a beautiful turquoise color from the silt as it runs off of the glaciers.  I wish I could find a picture because it is almost unreal.  Something I found very interesting along the way was that in Alaska, it is illegal to have a line of 5 cars behind you.  You have to pull off and let them pass.  We paid $5.05 for gas on the way there.  Yikes!  This is the best picture I could find on Doug's camera.  He needs a better zoom lens to make the pictures of the wildlife worth posting, but the landscapes turn out pretty well.

We stayed at the Millennium Hotel.  It is on a float plane lake and close to the airport, so the kids had a great time watching the planes.  Their lobby is amazing with a stuffed polar bear and bison and hundreds of Alaskan animals on the walls.  There is a fantastic fireplace and it is the home of the iditarod.  

We got to bed fairly late and I was tired after driving.  I slept in one bed with Brenden, Nolan slept on the floor, Ethan had a portable crib, and Doug had the other bed.  We were trying to give him a good night's sleep before his big law tests the next morning - he took the Idaho and the Alaska Law.  He set the alarm and we all fell asleep.  Around 7:00 a.m., Doug had to get ready for his test.  Ethan woke up and Doug laid him down on the bed and asked me to switch beds to be with Ethan so he did not fall off the bed.  I fell back asleep and Doug headed out the door.  About an hour later I was thinking how nice it was that all of the kids were still asleep.  I took a look around the room and saw Nolan's little pile on the floor, Brenden's bundle in his bed, and of course Ethan was next to me.  A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door.  Seeing as how I was not fully dressed and Ethan was asleep beside me, I chose not to answer it.  There was another knock.  Then the door opened and a man said, "Hotel management."  I covered myself with the sheet and asked if I could help him.  He said there was a little boy wandering the halls and he said this was his room.  I said, "No, all of my kids are here, sorry."  He said, "Are you sure?"  I told him I was.  He said he was going to close the door so I could dress and take a look around.  He also told me the little boy said his name was Ron.  I told him I did not have any children named Ron, but that I would look.  I got up and got dressed and went over to where Nolan was sleeping.  There was his blanket and his puppy he sleeps with along with all of his covers, but there was no Nolan.  I ran to open the door and there was a desk clerk holding my Nolan.  The man looked me up and down as if I was an unfit mother and asked it this was my child.  I reached out my arms for Nolan and said, "Noley, what are you doing?  Come here..."  He told me, "No!  I don't want to go in there with you."  So now, of course, these nice hotel people are thinking I am some sort of late-sleeping, hung-over, maniac of a mother (for those of you who do not know me well, I am none of those things, okay, maybe late sleeping).  The man told me the authorities had been contacted and would be coming to speak with me.  I guess Nolan had been wandering the lobby and halls in his pajamas and bare feet for an hour.  I had not heard him leave.  At that point I panicked and started thinking of all of the things that COULD have happened to him.  He could have left the building, he could have been kidnapped, and far worse.  Finally, he came to me and gave me a hug.  The man walked away and the woman continued to stand there looking very judgemental.  She said she was glad we were reunited and to lock the door in the future.  Finally, just as she was walking away, Nolan admitted he had gone to find Daddy.  Whew, I didn't look like I beat my child!  The cops were called off, but the next morning when Doug left, I was wide awake to lock the door behind him.

On the way home, we saw eagles, mountain goats, and moose.  The boys also enjoyed seeing the Alaskan Railroad train.  It was a lovely drive.  I am so glad I don't live in Anchorage.  I can easily compare it to downtown Salt Lake.  I guess in the end, I am a small town girl.

Well, that is part of my update.  I better work harder to get caught up.  Doug and his dad and brother are going halibut fishing in the morning and have to leave at 4:00 a.m., so everyone is in bed and I better get to bed so I don't wake up Doug when I go to bed.  He hates that and can never fall back asleep.  I will try to continue the update tomorrow.

Finally Reconnected!

No, I have not abandoned my blog already. We just got internet today. I have so much to say! It will have to wait though because I have WAY too much to do before our first guests arrive Wednesday. I am burning daylight...and there is A LOT of it.

A few sneek peeks (and a reminder for me):
-Our trip to Anchorage and Nolan's big adventure
-Doug's pharmacy exams
-Two little bears
-Ethan's 1st birthday
-New callings
I am sure there are more...I have been thinking about what to say on my blog every night and then I forget the next day. I have had so many posts all planned out and now they have been replaced by adventures in wallpaper and such.