Grandma was Painting the Heaven's Again

This morning, as Cali and I left the driveway, we noticed the skies were painted with vibrant pinks and oranges. I said to Cali, "Grandma is painting again, should we go to the beach and have a look?" Of course, if we did, it would make her a little late for school but you know what, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

We didn't stay for long but we captured a few photos for our memory's canvas. Some moments one just shouldn't pass up!

Ninilchik Beach- My new FAVE!

I have been a beach bum for a l-o-n-g time.  I grew up a great part of my life in Florida. I moved away for a short while but made my way back before finishing high school.  I didn't move to Alaska until I was about 24.

Even once I moved here I immediately feel in love with the beaches. I visit them throughout the year, even in the winter as long as the snow build-up will allow.

There are a few on the Kenai that I especially love as do my girls. Recently however we have decided we have a new favorite. At least I do. There is the drive factor to consider but given that I love to drive as well, it's a win-win! We can walk for what seems like forever. It's really that beautiful.

Ninilchik beach is fairly quiet. I like to go down to the village to access it and there have never been more than a couple people there at any given time.

There are some really odd light weight orange rocks there too. I hear there is a name for them but I am uncertain what it is. I have been collecting them for a while and would love to have a whole load of them but it will take some time.

We also seem to find lots of sea glass there. We have challenges to see who can find the most. My girls have become quite the rulers of the sea glass and have found some beautiful pieces there!

The girls  love to climb the rocks. And I love all the cool things I can find there.

And, an added bonus, Booger loves it there too.  Mostly because the girls tote him around when ever he wishes.

But I think even he likes the drive; I hear it's the view!  :)

2010-05-08

Fire and Ice

We are on another stick kick. Ever since I made this little piece, we are looking for containers to recycle and cover.

I took two of the girls out the other night to gather sticks. We are currently attempting to cover a tall container (I am hoping it will balance ) so we needed long sticks.


It was a good little walk down by the creek and we had fun. It was a beautiful night and there was a great moon. We left a little late so photos were hard to capture, but we tried.


On the way home we notice a fire filled sky towards the beach. Again, we were far too late to capture great photos but I enjoyed trying.



While I was snapping away, Cassi was sliding on the ice covered sand and gathering smaller pieces of ice she found interesting.


She decided to bring one home. Once we got back to the car she found a mini led flashlight in the car. It had a red light and she played the rest of the way home, shining the light through the ice.
Obviously it too was hard to take good pictures of but you get the idea.


I think we may have to gather buckets of the smaller pieces one weekend soon and play with some light. We'll let you know how it goes.




*I'm linking up to The Magic Onions- Friday's Nature Table. It's a naturally beautiful list of people sharing there. It's worth a look.

Missing Color

It's that time of year when we all start looking for a little color in this town.
The sun is shining often but it is still very cold, very frozen and still very much void of color.


Today Cali and I took a drive around town and decided to take some pictures of ice. A lot of what you see on our beaches right now looks prehistoric. I thought I glimpsed ice that looked like Dino teeth a time or two.


Cali didn't like the cold; we weren't really dressed for it. She stayed in the car most of the time.

I am pleased with the pictures but wish there was some glimpses of spring and summer to be found.


It got us out of the house for a while but I'd rather be photographing some green growing things. It can't be that much longer 'til we see some right?

Getting the Jump on Spring

A few weeks ago the girls were getting very antsy for Spring to arrive. On a warm day we wrapped up, threw Booger in the car and headed for the beach. I was sure there would be little snow and the beach would be a playground. Ours alone since I expected few people there.
Well, I was right that there were few people but wrong in that there was TONS of snow.
It made little difference to the girls. Instead of heading to the water's edge which was plagued with ice dams, they decided to climb the snow covered dunes. Wacky kids!

I adore this picture above. It isn't the quality of the photo (in fact it is rather out of focus) it is the mind's eye view of their future I see when I look at it. I know there will be times in their lives they will depend heavily on each other and I believe if they trust in their companionship and love for each other they will conquer every mountainous obstacle they face. It is one of the many dreams I have for them. I remind them often that no matter how frustrated or annoying they seem to each other at times, there will come a day or days when they are all each other has. I pray they recall my reminders to love and support each other when that day comes.



Cali and I stayed in the car as did Boogs (it was a bit windy) to watch their eventual triumph. It was nice to watch from afar and imagine the kind words they were sharing and the memories they were making. I also think it was a nice example for Cali to see. We talked a bit about it and giggled with them from our warm places in the car.


The girls were there just long enough to get a work out. Finally, being a bit chilled we headed home for hot chocolate.

It may not have been Spring but it was in our sights and that was good enough!

Charter School Learning-Getting Unplugged Again

Did you know Cori and Cassi attend a charter school? Its curriculum is based on art and science. Everything they do is interconnected with art especially, as well as science.

It is a wonderful place and I believe it is the right place for my girls. Several times a year an 'Artist in Residence' comes to visit. Two years ago the school did a study on creating art from all things natural that can be washed away back into nature safely.

I loved the lessons and they obviously made a huge difference in the girls' lives.

As I mentioned before, we have just this summer, joined the unplugged train. It has been really fun and has really given me reason to think about things and the kids too. I tell them the theme of the week and ideas generally flow like a geyser. In fact there is not a chance we could ever do all they think of.

I hope you all don't get discouraged by my many beach pictures however I had to share these.
It was an unusually warm day on Thursday so I packed up the kids and took the long trek out to the end of the road for an evening at the beach.

It was evident how warm (I mean hot) it was because it was actually crowded. I should have though to take a wide angle shot of all the folks milling about but...well, next time. And for those of you who haven't a clue what the weather is like here in Alaska, it's often cold. Ha. Actually summers can be wonderful but this summer has been a cold one. The weather has been cool and wet so, on hot days we are out of here!

I packed a bit of firewood, some hot dogs, grapes and chips, told the kids to grab their own drink and away we went. Grandpa met us out there for our lazy dinner. It was very relaxing and the kids all spread out to do their own thing. At times they were collecting, then working on "Big Momma's House' and then to my delight, I noticed Cori quietly off away from the other working diligently on something,

I snuck up on her and this is what I found. I want to make a photo collage out of these photos. Maybe she will find a career in her creativity. (OK, maybe my dream for her.) I know the image is simple but her process was wonderful.

She explained that she first made her canvas with the mud. She was certain it had to be smooth.

When I started taking closer photos she quickly urged me to be careful so as not to break her "tools".

Being the best friend that she is, Alli came over and gave her the grape stems and told her she was contributing to her 'masterpiece'.



Lastly, Cori explained that she hadn't forgotten to sign her work.

So, our contribution to getting unplugged was to get away, way away (The end of the road is a good 30 miles out for us) for a quick jaunt that turned into an art filled evening.

Now the other two were unplugged too, lest you be worried. Cassi had Grandpa feeding her grapes like she was a Queen



and Cali, well she stays unplugged most of the time.

A Better View of the Bears

So it has been a few days since I've last posted. Things here are gearing up for school to begin and are a little unnerving with so much I still want to do this summer.

I do want to share a little bit of your time and tell you of a few things we did while Nana was here although she has since left; about a week ago. I'm going to spend the day catching up.

If you've been watching the blog than you know all about my birthday bear siting. What I didn't mention in that post is that we took a trip back out to the beach the next day with Jim and Bill (Scott's hunting buddies from Montana). We wanted to see if the cubs were still there and Scott thought the guys might enjoy seeing them if they were.

We were there quite some time without seeing them. In fact, the kids set off straight away to tempt themselves with the water.


Cali started collecting things and soon thereafter all of them went about decorating "Big Momma's house" for the umpteenth time in their lives.


For those of you not in the know, "Big Momma's house" is a large piece of driftwood/tree root that never moves and has been made into numerous things like restaurants and shops. There are other large driftwood trees and boulders in the area that are magically transformed into shops and things as well.

Then, add to that all the junk found along the beach and a whole village can be created in one afternoon.


I love this photo of Cori and the rock cell phone she is using.

Anyway, They headed that direction and Scott and the boys starting throwing rocks to see who could go the distance.


I was wondering off collecting rocks like I usually do. After a bit I headed over to Nana who was watching the boys.

She was grinning and telling me that Scott was beating the boys at their rock throwing contest. If you enlarge this photo you can see the quirky smile; doesn't it just make you grin too. :-) That is a very proud mama. I thought, Nana was bragging about her son and I wasn't really sure he was out distancing those younger, stronger guys. Low and behold as I rambled over to watch, he was.


It became rather apparent that this annoyed the one that was having the contest with him. (I can't remember which one it was-Cori says it was Bill) I took lots of pictures of the moment. Scott's grins tell just how much he was gloating at his obvious skill.


As this all started to wear thin, and the boys realized they were never going to get Scott into the ocean, or throw farther than he, things settled down. About that time a couple of gals coming down the hill from the parking lot and asked if we knew there were bears in the area. We mentioned that we were there to see them however they weren't around, to which they snickered at our ignorance. There they were, right behind us and we hadn't realized it.

I think Nana got quite a giggle about the whole situation too. I took this photo of her right about that time and absolutely love it.

She looks so healthy and happy. She seems joyful here; I was so excited about this photo.

Scott and the boys quickly broke out all of the camera's and started clicking away. I won't bore you with the many photos but I can show a few of the closest shots. The 3 of them slowly worked their way to a nearby dark boulder that would serve as a barrier between them and the cubs.


As you see here, a barrier isn't such a bad thing to have. Even though they are young, they can still be quite aggressive. In the end the boys were barely a rocks throw away.



It was still quite a thrill the second day, seeing these creatures of Alaskan nature. It simply doesn't happen often.

We managed to get Nana to sneak in a little closer but not so close as to make them or her uncomfortable.

The bears spent most of their time digging up salmon carcasses and running back and forth between the beach and their apparent den.

Unfortunately, these little guys will likely perish this winter. We know fish and game has been called but these kinds of things happen too often and they simply can not save them all. It makes me sad because they have provided much pleasure to us. I know the likelyhood that they make it just slightly north into a more wooded area are slim and none. I am not sure they would know what to do when they got there. Do bears naturally know to hibernate and eat like crazy before they do? I am not sure. I have hope that somehow they will get the help they need and they survive. What do you think, would you want to take one home?