Heat Wave!

Some people say there are two seasons in Alaska: winter and construction. I beg to differ. I say that we have 4 seasons: depression from October through February, agitated depression in March, hypomania in April and full blown mania from May through September. This past weekend we skipped spring and went straight to summer with a heat wave. It hit 70 degrees in Homer and Fairbanks and 80 degrees in Palmer/Wasilla. You have to realize that 70 degrees in Homer is equivalent to 90 degrees in the rest of the world. The boys were sweltering! Maya refuses to wear clothes and runs around naked when we are home.


We have been so busy with school. Riley's class has about 8 field trips between April and May. Chris' class has 4. Since our spring is so short and school gets out on May 20th, the teachers cram all the field trips in during the last 6 weeks. Tomorrow I am driving on two field trips, then finishing preparations so we can drive to Anchorage tomorrow night. We fly out Wednesday morning to Arizona for Sarah's graduation from college.


Aunt Kristin and Aunt Jill came down to Homer for a 125 mile bike ride on Saturday. They brought their friend Tony. We went down to Bishop's Beach at 8am to see them off on their ride. It was not a race but they were timed because it's one of those rides that qualifies you for real races. We have had beautiful weather for a week and the only reason it did not rain on Saturday was because Matt was on call in the ER.


After the bikers took off, the boys, my mom and I picked up garbage for 2 hours. They had been picking up garbage earlier in the week hoping to win first prize for most bags of garbage collected by a family. First prize was $150 that they planned to split 3 ways. They collected 15 bags on Tuesday and Wednesday. We picked up another 7 bags Saturday morning. Two of the bags were just cans and glass so they counted double. We turned in the equivalent of 24 bags at 11am. We found out on Sunday that they came in 3rd place and will receive $50 plus prizes. The boys were disappointed but for me the real prize is living in a beautiful place relatively free of litter.


After the Earth Day Picnic we went to a birthday party for Falcom, who turned 10 today. It was a swimming party at the high school pool. Maya had a blast on this inflatable orca. After the birthday party we met up with the cyclists for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants: Fat Olives, for pizza, salad and seafood pasta. Then Falcom and Marina both spent the night. Sunday morning I taught Sunday school. After lunch the boys went to a matinee: Monsters v. Aliens.


While Maya was napping the boys were hot and bored so I filled up the kiddie pool with water balloons. They had a blast with the first water balloon fight of the year. After the matinee we headed to Nanna's house for dinner. Do you see what I mean about the mania? All this and the trees have not even budded out yet. That doesn't usually happen until late May. This past week has been warmer than our entire summer last year. We are hoping for an early spring and a long hot summer!

Maya's ready for hockey anytime.

And they're off!

Chris, Riley and Grandma picking up garbage.

This yearling just got chased off by it's mother, because she is about to have a new baby. They always look lost and pathetic for the first few days.

Maya loving the orca at Falcom's birthday party.

Her other favorite part of the party was being chased around by Vince holding a broom. I told Vince he should hire himself out to chase kids at birthday parties. He doesn't even need a clown suit!

Tony was one of the cyclist who stayed at our house. He was so wonderful with Maya, I begged him to stay on as our au pair. Check out the sunburn on his face!

The first water ballon fight of the summer. We hope it won't be the last.