Wise Family: Skating on Beluga Lake

Yesterday we saw the sun for the first time in over 3 weeks. It was miraculous. I don't mean that it's been dark for 3 weeks like above the artic circle. I mean it wasn't hiding behind a thick veil of clouds. I can't believe that people live in places where they literally do not see the sun for 3 months. I remember the first time I heard the announcement on the radio the first year I was in Alaska. "And the sun rose in Barrow today for the first time in 112 days" (or something like that). It also literally doesn't set in the summer time for the same amount of time. I don't know exactly how many days. You'll have to google it.

But in Homer, Alaska, it was beautiful, sunny and cold. Chris got the urge to go skating on Beluga Lake. So we rushed home after school to grab our gear and headed to the lake. The boys had a great time skating. Maya had a great time chasing after the hockey puck with Chris' hockey stick. The moon was rising on one side of the lake while the sun was going down on the other side, or over the bay to be exact.

She has such a large vocabulary now that she hardly ever growls anymore. The other day she called me "bad girl" when I wouldn't take her to Grandma's house. It was Grandma's day off. Her vocabulary includes words like "hockey stick" and money. Unfortunately, she has figured out that when you put money in the vending machine, candy, chips or cookies come out. Not that my kids ever get those things (hee-hee), just because they spend a lot of them at the hockey rink. The little ones sometimes need a little bribe to keep them from revolting. Maya doesn't seem to mind it as much as Chris. Sometimes I get lucky and there are other little girls there willing to run around with her.

I told the hockey manager she went from orphanage rat to rink rat. I wasn't sure she was moving up. He assured me that all his kids were raised in hockey rinks and it's a very healthy environment to raise children in. Alana and I go back and forth about which is worse, being a stage mom or a hockey mom. She contends that it's better to be a stage mom. Of course, we end up doing whatever makes our kids happy. And that makes us happy.