The countdown is on...

I have this app on my iPhone.  The kids love opening it up to see how many days are left.

I'll admit, seeing that little red notification number on my home screen every day stresses me out.  We have done everything we can think of to prep for the move.  We have sold lots of excess stuff, emptied out the smallest bedroom in our house so we have a safe place to stash things that we don't want to movers to pack, and have three to-do lists going with all of the logistical things that have to get finished before we leave.  The main problem is, we really don't want to go!  

This is the first of all of our moves that we would rather just stay put in the wonderful little community we have settled into.  But, we have no choice, so we are making the best of it as always.  I went down to Alameda last month to scope things out.  It helped all of us wrap our heads around our new environment, which will be pretty much opposite of our current one.  The house we rented is even nicer than it looked in the photos we were emailed.  Two blocks away, this is the view from my new running path:

Yup, that's San Francisco!  Ava is most excited about having one of these in our back yard:

The kids will be able to play outside every single day in our private fenced backyard.  Mike will be able to bike to work.  We can walk the kids to school.  And considering that snow is in the forecast here in Alaska this weekend, making it the longest winter snow season on record, I'm ready for some sunshine and warm temperatures myself!  

After the moving truck drives away with all of our possessions that we can't fit in the Pilot, we will be staying in Homer until June 20 in a furnished apartment.  I'm really looking forward to that part--it will be like a mini vacation before our driving/ferry adventure.  In the meantime, are working on the last few items on our Homer bucket list.  Anyone know an affordable way to get across the bay to hike to the Grewingk Glacier Lake?  That's number one on the list!  

I {heart} AK

I opened my window this morning to the sight of no less than 20 boats shooting across the bay, like it's the Memorial Day weekend tourist influx. Only it's the second half of March and 25 degrees outside with snow clouds rolling in.  People have asked me countless times just what it is that we like so much about living in Alaska.  It's hard to put into words, but I think I have finally figured it out.  Seeing all of those people freezing out on the bay at 8:30 on a late winter Saturday morning, participating in the Winter King Salmon Tournament, perfectly depicts the Alaskan spirit that we have come to love so much.

Alaskans aren't afraid of a little weather.  If they were, they'd be one miserable house-bound lot.  Style here revolves around being protected from the elements.  Instead of DKNY and Coach and Calvin Klein, it's Patagonia and Bogs and Xtra-Tuf.  If Alaskans want to add a little flair to their everyday, they do it with the color of their down jacket or embellished back pockets of their Silver jeans.  No one is afraid of getting a little dirty.  In fact, it's pretty impossible to get in and out of your car without transferring some of the road filth from it to your clothing.  It's the same out on the water.  If there's a fishing season going on, you can bet that there are boats out there working in all but the very, very worst kind of weather.  If you've ever watched Deadliest Catch, you've seen it yourself.  That is probably the most realistic of the Alaskan reality shows out there.

Just another day on the USCGC HICKORY

Alaskans drive in pretty much any weather, too.  Here in Homer, we spent the better part of the winter driving around on sheets of ice.  I felt like I was auditioning for an episode of Ice Road Truckers at times.  Since we can't use chemicals on our roads to melt the ice and snow (for the safety of the wildlife), road maintenance in the winter can be pretty sketchy.  But we still take the 220-mile drive from Homer to Anchorage, keeping in the back of our minds that we can always turn around and head home if it gets too difficult.

The appreciation that Alaskans have for their natural resources is just amazing.  Animals are still hunted more for food than for the trophy to hang on the wall (although a new caribou rack for the den is always a nice bonus).  All kinds of plants are consumed and preserved in the summertime.  Did you know that you can, in fact, make pesto from stinging nettles, when they first they sprout in the spring?  Catching big fish is nice, but filling your freezer with salmon and halibut is more important than how much each one weighs.  The farmers' market parking lot runs out of space in the summer, full of people buying locally-grown produce and handmade items.  Protecting natural resources is also very important here.  With the drilling that Shell is hoping to start in the Arctic, and the presence of a jack-up rig right here on the Homer Spit, Alaskans are very vocal about protecting their shorelines and ocean-dwelling creatures from the potential dangers of oil drilling.

People here aren't afraid of a little hard work, and the fact that you have a job at all far outweighs the prestige of your position.  No one really cares whether you are a coffee barista or deckhand, or bank manager or real estate agent.  Own your own business?  Fantastic.  And thanks for creating jobs for more Alaskans.  Females are viewed for the most part capable of doing any job that men can do.  I know several female fishing boat captains, North Slope workers, and bush pilots.  Alaskan women are tough, and Alaskan men seem to appreciate that.

Perhaps the best thing about Alaskans is their sense of community and helping each other out all the time.  I can't tell you how many times just in the past two years we have lived in Homer that a family has had a house fire or medical emergency, and the community has stepped up to organize fundraisers and household goods drives to help out their neighbors.  There is always an auction or yard sale going on to benefit one local organization or another, and opportunities abound for volunteers looking to help out.  Local businesses consistently support all of these efforts with donations of goods and services.

While I could live here my whole life and never tire of the view of the mountains and the bay, the eagles soaring overhead and moose wandering the neighborhood, it's the Alaskan community that I will miss most when we leave.  And that's what will, hopefully, one day bring us back.

The Move: Arranged!

Wow!  We must be getting really good at this moving thing.  And I have decided that maybe I should become a travel agent or a realtor once the kids are a bit older, because I have quite a bit of experience with both areas.  This move has come together really quickly.

We found a house!  The first one we considered, actually.  And more importantly, we have lease paperwork signed and a deposit made.  You may remember the trouble we had the last time around, when we thought we had our housing set up but the homeowners backed out.  So this time, we knew not to count on anything until the paperwork was in our possession. We are really excited about our new place in Alameda.  It's three blocks from San Francisco Bay, in a fabulous neighborhood, and within biking distance to Coast Guard Island.  We have already talked about buying a Laser and teaching the kids to sail!

We also have most of our trip planned from here to there.  We are taking the ferry part of the way this time, for a change of pace.  We will drive three days to Haines, AK (but have to pass through Canada to get there!), take the ferry to Bellingham, WA (a 3-day journey), and then drive the rest of the way to Alameda.  We plan to stop in Seattle, the Oregon wine country, and some other fun destination yet to be determined.

We head out of Homer on June 20.  I'm afraid to count the days between now and then, because I know it's not all that many.  We plan to have our household goods sent ahead at the end of May, and have booked a little furnished vacation rental apartment in town for June.  The time is going to go by way too quickly, so now it's time to make the most of the days we have left here.

February skiing...one of the things we will miss most about Homer

Moving News

How it already got to be this time again, I have no idea.  Our tour in Homer has just flown by.  We dove right in and got involved in the community, and it's going to be really hard to leave it behind.  But since staying is not a choice, we have been (im)patiently awaiting the dreaded call from the detailer for the past two months.

The call came the Tuesday before we left for San Diego.  The job wasn't even one from our list, but the location was.  Since I have spent hours and hours over the past few months familiarizing myself with housing and schooling options in each of the areas on our list, it wasn't difficult to hit the ground running with organizing our move to...Washington, D.C.!  The commute times from pretty much any area with semi-affordable housing and decent schools were just terrible, especially coming from a place where our top speed is 45mph and the road is one lane in each direction.  The job was in Coast Guard Headquarters, which is moving this summer to a new location known to be not in the safest of areas.

Notice that all of that is in past tense?  That's because two days later, we got a very surprising call.  We were offered a choice: keep the D.C. job as a guy in an office, or take a newly-created job as the guy running an office.  On the opposite coast.  In a location nowhere on our list. And for only 2 years instead of 4.  Oh, and we had a day to decide.  We are so fortunate to have lots of great friends who have lived all over the country.  Within fifteen minutes, I was able to call four different people to try and find out everything I needed to know.  I also made some great connections online with people who had been stationed in both locations.  After getting over the initial shock (and sadness that we may not be as close to family as we originally thought), the decision was pretty clear.  The new job itself was a huge step up, and the area was much more our style.  And all of my folders of bookmarks in Safari were instantly irrelevant.


So...we are moving to Alameda, California!
Quite appropriately, we came across this street sign while in San Diego the day that we got official orders:

That's across the bay from San Francisco.  Four hours from Lake Tahoe (yay, skiing!) and Yosemite National Park (yay, nature!).  We already have a tentative ferry date booked and are scouring the web for rental homes.  I learned today that the rental market is so tight there that we need to write a pet resume.  Yes, as in a resume for our dog.  He needs to sell himself to potential landlords, because he will be our biggest hurdle in finding a home to rent.  I have always told him he needs to get a job...guess I was right.  So, if you or anyone you know has a home for rent this summer in Alameda, I've got just the friendly, outgoing, non-barking, floor-cleaning, house-trained for nearly 10 years, 80-pound lapdog tenant for you.

Winter Escape

We survived a month in Homer with the ship away, so we enjoyed a little escape from winter in the form of a family trip to San Diego last week.  It was a much-needed break from our not-so-great weather.  Mother Nature can't seem to make up her mind whether it's winter or spring.  This winter's pattern seems to be single digit temperatures, then some snow, and then a quick warm-up followed by rain.  We are now in the the fourth iteration of this cycle, and I feel like I am training to be on Ice Road Truckers.  We have even paid a man with a truck three times to dump sand on our driveway, which looks just like an ice rink. If only the city would keep up with our street as well as we try to do with the driveway...

San Diego wasn't as warm as we had hoped, but there wasn't any ice to contend with.  And there was plenty of sunshine.  We ate tons of good food and exhausted the whole family with trips to both Legoland and the San Diego Zoo, as well as hitting San Diego highlights like Old Town, Children's Pool at La Jolla, and even squeaked in a date night in Banker's Hill and the Gaslamp District (thanks to my mother-in-law meeting us for part of the trip).

We stayed at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, at a fabulous beach cottage.  The ocean was right out our back door.  And the runway was out the front door, along with fighter jets and helicopters coming and going.  It was actually fun to watch...and very loud!  But you can't beat a two-bedroom condo at military prices, with easy access to the commissary (and bowling alley!) nearby.

What a difference a year makes, as far as traveling with the kids is concerned!  Somehow they are now seven and almost five, and for the first time we were much more free to explore without worrying about if it was too close to nap time or whether the restaurant we wanted to eat lunch at had a kids menu.  We survived miles of walking at the zoo without any meltdowns.  They even carried their own backpacks through the airports (all 8 of them that it took us to get there and back!).

I have some very serious little drivers...

 The beach behind our cottage.  Note the jeans and sweatshirts.

Year-End Update

Wow!  How is it already the final day of 2012?! This year has just flown by, mostly because we have really settled in and become a part of the Homer community.  Thought I'd better catch up on posts, since I am way behind as usual.  How about this...my New Year's resolution is to get back to writing more often.

We spent much of the year, especially the latter half, as a family of 3.  The HICKORY was busy.  Much busier than the average buoy tender.  They were gone all summer to the Arctic to supervise Shell's oil drilling that never actually happened, back for 3 weeks, and then gone for 7 more.  After arriving home just in time for Halloween, they had to turn around and head out yet again for a couple more weeks of work.  We were able to spend Thanksgiving together (and even managed to squeeze in a trip to visit friends in Juneau), before they left yet again.  You know it's not normal when they have to request a waiver from the higher-ups for the number of days they have been away from homeport this year.  We were lucky enough to also be together for Christmas (we haven't missed one yet, surprisingly) and even set out on a post-holiday ski vacation at Alyeska Resort.  The ship was on standby, so of course it was recalled about 12 hours after we arrived.  Back four hours through the mountain passes and icy roads we went (curing me of ever wanting to drive to Anchorage again in the winter!) so the ship could go assist with a rogue oil drilling rig that came free from the tug towing it.  Across the Gulf of Alaska.  In the winter.  In a typhoon.  Thanks yet again to Shell for their lack of knowledge of operating safely in Alaskan waters.  They have been the main drain of our family time this year, not to mention what they have cost the Coast Guard.  More on the latest, holiday-interrupting incident here.  I have grown to really despise Shell, if you couldn't tell.

Our weather has been completely different than last year's. After the early October snow, we didn't get any more until Christmas Eve.  We spent all of November in the single digits, with plenty of ice to contend with.  It warmed up in December, but that led to rain.  After the nearly two feet of Christmas snow, the rain returned in a big way.  The snow is all but gone and the roads, yards, parking lots...everything... are all coated in ice again.  We are actually looking forward to school starting back up so we have something to do again, other than watching movies and playing with play dough.  

I know it may not sound like it, but we do still really love living in Homer.  I'm actually a bit appreciative that the weather and ship schedule have not been very cooperative lately, as it helps make thinking about leaving not quite as terrible.  For now anyway.  I'll leave you with a few pics of our November and December adventures. The ship has just pulled back into the bay, so we are going to dress up and treat the LT to a fancy New Year's Eve family dinner out at our favorite restaurant, the Mermaid Cafe, since he has been out in 20-foot seas and 60-knot winds for the past 72 hours.  I can't think of a better way to ring in 2013 and all the new adventures it will be bringing us.

Homer in Early November:

My very favorite people:

Thanksgiving in Juneau!  Mendenhall Glacier, which is open year-round.  We had such a great time hiking there in the snow.  We had less fun trying to fly out of Juneau in a surprise snowstorm.  Similar to living in Kodiak, the only way out is plane or ferry.  The city itself is really fun...good thing, since it's on our list of possible places to move.

Winter Solstice, December 21, 10:40am.  A balmy 5 degrees.

Early Winter

Just a quick update for those who like to stay in the know and aren't on Facebook!  I have several posts outlined in my head...but finding the time to get down to writing them just hasn't happened lately.

The LT has been gone for nearly 6 weeks.  By the time he gets back from this unexpectedly long trip, he will have been away longer than he was over the summer.  He actually missed the entire fall season in Homer.  He was able to come back home for two quick weekend trips last month (and we had some professional pics taken, below) while the ship was drydocked in Seward for emergency repairs, but when he returns he will find all of the mountains covered in snow and most of the trees bare.  Here's a great article about a rescue they helped with while on their way west.

We got our first real snowfall on October 16, over two weeks earlier than last year.  Most of it has melted away in the sunshine, but there is still enough left for the kids to find ice chunks to throw to the dog (and at each other).

Along with the early snowfall, we were treated to an early display of the Northern Lights last Friday.  I pulled into my driveway after a late evening at broom ball (at which I think I have improved since last year--thanks to some pretty intense circuit training classes) and found a spectacular display of green and red right from my own yard.  Last year, we didn't get our first peek at the lights until December, and we had to drive away from the lights of town and up the mountain to see them clearly.  I took these pics from my front porch.

Our time left in Homer is now numbered in months.  I don't even want to think about leaving.  But we have our list turned in to the detailer, so the waiting game is on until spring.  The LT got word that he made the list to be promoted to Lieutenant Commander.  It takes awhile for them to work down the list, so he will see the actual promotion sometime next year.  But at least it's guaranteed!

I have been sewing right along since he's been gone so much.  I have started doing more things for myself rather than to sell in my shop, and I've entered some of them in contests.  One of them, a laptop sleeve for Art Gallery Fabrics, even won!  I have 10 yards of fabric heading my way for that win.  I'm also up for another right now.  I'm in the top ten, and you can vote to help me win more free stuff to support my habit, em, hobby.