Leader (un)extraordinaire

I have suddenly become the new Cub Scout leader to Sonny Boy's den and I'm not quite sure how that happened. Our leader had been threatening to move if her husband ever got a transfer back to the lower 48 and I just kept praying that it would never happen because: a. She's one of my best friends here and I really don't want her to go (wasn't all this friends moving away business supposed to stop after we left the military life?), and b. That meant one of us remaining parents had to fill in the leadership gap. Lo and behold he finally did get that new job and three weeks later he's moved to Nebraska and their house is on the market. Loose ends are being tied up and soon the whole family will be gone for good. All signs are now pointing to me.  Honestly, I've been groomed for this all along. Never volunteer to help. It only causes trouble. And this people pleaser has a hard time saying no.

What scares me the most is that I hate going into new situations not knowing every bit of information I could possibly know (and wearing the scouting uniform. Ugh. I thought my uniform days were behind me when I finally hung up my waitressing apron years ago.). I don't like feeling like I don't know what I'm doing and not knowing what the expectations are of me. I like it when things are the same. Change is scary. Good thing I've got DH to push me into new things or everything about me would be the same, same, same, and I would be the most boring person ever. I may still be the most boring person ever. I watch travel shows on PBS and documentaries often find their way into our DVD player. I'm in a book club and I blog in my free time.  Every once in a while we actually have people who are not related to us come over for dinner. This is a big step forward in our attempt at having a social life. I think I'm secretly an 80 year old in a 29 year old body.

However, if I've learned anything from this year of teaching preschool it's that most of the time you just have to wing it. I'm getting used to the idea that I will do this Cub Scout leader thing. I don't have to babysit my nephews come fall so that should open up a day that I can plan (and maybe even do some laundry). I've got plenty of great parents in our group to help me and I'm taking full advantage of that, so consider yourselves warned. This may be a great success as long as no one expects me to actually know what I'm doing. I can wing it with the best of 'em. Lets just see if everyone can survive camp this week first.

Summer

Another season is over.

Spring concerts have been sung.

 Kindergarten programs are complete.

 Awards have been handed out.

 Graduation ceremonies are over.

 End of the year pictures have been taken.

 Goodbyes have been said.

 Young moose appear on a daily basis to eat my garden and trample the new grass that has been planted.

The slip and slide had it's christening while a naked nephew joins in the fun.

Summer is officially here.

Worth it

My nephews are napping. I have a limited amount of time here. There are many things I should be doing instead of writing this.

Like folding the mountian of laundry in my living room.

Sweeping. 

Dusting.

Washing the dishes.

Vacumming. 

Planting my garden. That's a big one.

Mowing the lawn. Another biggie. 

But I just had to share these pictures. Never a dull moment around here.

 

This is my husband. No, he has not learned to walk on water.

He is standing on top of his atv. 

He got halfway across this bit of water when it started to float and then boycotted this particular adventure and quit. Right smack in the middle.

 There he sat swatting away mosquitoes until he was rescued. All those things you hear about the giant, bloodsucking, prehistoric mosquitoes in Alaska? They're all true. 

Can you throw me a line?

 

Hmm....

Maybe I should take my boots off for this.

Luckily, we were on our way home when this happened. Some of his friends winched him out and then I towed him the 10 or so miles back to the truck and trailer. And somehow he managed to stay dry through the whole thing. That in itself is downright miraculous.

So what took us on this treacherous journey to begin with? Forty miles round trip through dust so thick we couldn't see (or breath!), water so deep we drowned a fourwheeler, and terrain so bumpy my muscles were aching. All so we could see this.

The Knik Glacier.

These views are definitly well worth the tired muscles, sunken fourwheeler, and the pound of dust I inhaled.

Feeling feisty

I witnessed my first moose fight the other day. I use the term fight here very loosely because it was mostly just a "go away, you're in my space" kind of a thing and not an all out brawl. It was still pretty freaking amazing though. And it all happened in my front yard.

First DH spotted a moose, a bull I believe, hanging out in the backyard. I got the camera out because he was really close and I wanted some more pictures. Then that bull was really interested in something in the woods and another bull comes out to the yard. They regard each other warily with their ears pinned back like horses do when they're pissed off. The first lets the second pass with a glare. They wander to the front yard to find something to eat since our backyard is nothing but a giant dirt pit now that the mud has finally dried.

I cut through the house and go out to the front porch to spy on them and see a third moose, this one female. One male saunters up to her. "How you doin'?" (imagine my best Joey, from Friends, impersonation here). She was not nearly as nice as the two meeting in the backyard were. It is not mating season and she most definitely was not in the mood. She pinned her ears back, and then I was praising Jesus that I had my camera because she actually charged the bull and tried to kick him. He ran off and eyed her from afar while peeking out from behind a few trees. AND I got it on film. It's one of those moments that I can't believe that I was actually in the right place at the right time. It is my greatest feat to date aside from, you know, giving birth to my children and stuff. It. was. awesome.

Easter

Easter has come and gone already. It comes faster and faster each year. Maybe one of these years I'll actually remember to give something up for lent, but I have to say, I feel like I'm setting myself up for failure with that one. Unless I give up lima beans. In that, I could be a great success. But I suppose that is sort of missing the point of it.

We started off Easter Sunday at church, and between the kids not having Sunday school and all the extra folks that come on Easter, the place was pretty packed. Sonny Boy was none too excited to have to sit through the adult service. It's just a warm up for summer when the kids will have to sit with us all the time when Sunday school is out until fall. It is not a great time for a very fidgety eight year old. Nothing makes the kids love Sunday school quite like sitting in the adult service all summer!

After church we had a great dinner with friends and my sister and her family. It was really nice finally having people over, but I've got to brush up on my hostessing skills. I have none. People who come over here pretty much need to learn to fend for themselves since the only ones who are ever here are family, and well, they just fend for themselves the way that families do. You want a drink, well, start hunting around, you'll find something, because I surely won't remember to offer one to you. I think maybe I'll just call myself laid back instead of terrible hostess. It has a better ring to it. 

After lunch another friend and her kids came over for an Easter egg hunt. The kids were chomping at the bit to get after the eggs. My friend and I were warned to stop chit chatting when we were supposed to be hiding the eggs. The youngin's were getting a bit hard to contain inside.

 We finished hiding the eggs. DH opened the front door and there was a mad dash for the treats.

 This was my nephews first egg hunt, but it didn't take him long to figure out what he needed to do. To say the kid loves candy is a bit of an understatement. 

It took all of about 3 minutes for the kids to find all of the eggs and to start mowing down on the candy. Notice Sonny Boy's already stuffed cheeks and Princess Blondie's protective posture. Bob won't be getting that candy, although he did try to steal a few of his own eggs during the hunt, of course. I would expect nothing less from Bob.

And then my favorite shot of the day. I can't lay claim to either of these two little cuties, but I wish I could. How sweet are they? Watch out for that little guy on the right. He's already a little ladies man. He'll have his game perfected by the time that he's a teenager. I know I'll be locking my daughter up. 

All in all, this was the best Easter I've had in a long time. I'm feeling thankful for friends and family to share it with. 

Breakup

I have a bit of a love hate relationship with spring in Alaska. It is also called breakup, presumably because the ice finally starts to break up. I'm smart like that and I can put two and two together. I didn't even bother to google it this time. I'm sure someone will tell me if I'm wrong.

So while I love the fact that the snow is finally going away and warmer weather is here, I hate the mud. I am so tired of muddy yards, muddy dogs, muddy boots, muddy children and the subsequent vacuuming, sweeping, and mopping. Because we all know how much I love housework to begin with. 

The mud hangs around for a while up here while the melting snow tries to find a place to go. Permafrost creates a nice barrier and it just kind of sits on top for a bit while the water tries to find a place to drain. We learned this last spring when we buried the truck in the yard, not once, but twice while trying to do some yard work. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, well, let's just not go there. The first time a kind neighbor pulled us out, the second time involved a tow truck and a lot of shame. At least it was in the back yard so the neighbors couldn't see our truck stuck in mud up to the wheel wells. I'm pretty sure they saw the fleet of tow trucks that came to haul us out though. You know it's bad when more than one shows up.

Not everything about the mud is bad though. The boys have been having a great time on their four wheelers. Heck, I've been having a great time on the four wheelers too. 

This is the backyard. This is what happens when you let a little boy with a new toy go riding around back there. Then DH decided to plow the yard because he wants to level it so we can finally plant some grass come June. It's much easier to move earth around when it's all soupy and muddy. I guess I get that, but all I know is that it has become one colossal mess of a mud pit.

 Don't even get me started on the amount of dog hair that is piling behind bookcases and under chairs because of the warmer weather. Why does one more dog equal ten times more hair? Something is wrong with that equation.

Sheesh, Bob

You can add bar of soap to the list of things that Bob has eaten. I found him chewing on a little lump of soap the other night at bedtime and I had to pry it from his jaws. He just doesn't want to give his little treasures up. He must have stashed the rest of the bar somewhere because last night DH found half a bar of soap under his pillow. Bob likes to sneak up to our room and sleep on our bed when I forget to shut the door. So one half plus a little lump saved means about 1/3 of a bar of soap is in Bob's digestive system. 

Maybe that explains the belching. I never knew dogs could burp, but Bob can.