It was a very busy day today.
I mean, most days are busy, when you're in my house. I like being busy. I also like being lazy, but after several days of lounging around, I get restless.
Especially if the sun comes out. Since that's rare in the winter around here.
Today is Saturday and that means all. The. Sports.
We started the morning off with hockey. It was a balmy 23 degrees at our outdoor rink and that means cold, people. So, I wore my battery powered socks, leggings under my pants, three layers under my knee-length parka, a hat, battery powered gloves and boots so stiff (to keep you warm) that I can barely drive. To the rink we go.
But first!
We had to drop Calen and Brad off at the city pool (across the street at the high school) on the way to the ice rink, because Calen's swim meet started exactly at the same time as puck drop for the hockey game. Of course it does.
Faceoff meeting. Cam is 2nd from left 
In the sin bin for tripping
Cam's game goes well, he had about 8 breakaways (on defense) and one assist. But the best part was the team comraderie, talking to each other, figuring out faceoff strategies, that sort of thing. And in true Bam Bam fashion, he had a tripping penalty in the last 30 seconds of the game. They lost, but they worked hard and had fun.
Immediately following the game, Camden and I race off to the pool to see the better part of Calen's swim meet. Cam is frantically taking off skates and the top half of his hockey gear (leaving his shin guards, socks and breezers on) in the car as we are driving. We pull in and have to park all the way in the back building's parking lot. I'm peeling off gloves, hats and parkas in the trunk, trying to at least get half of the layers off me before we go into the sauna. I mean the pool.
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| Calen on the bottom, backstroke 100M |
We walk in and it's like entering some sort of port hole from the base at Antarctica to the actual magma core of the earth. It's hot. Melting, miserable, stuffy hot. It's almost bearable in the lobby, and Camden announces: "I am not going in there.", indicating to the pool deck. That's fine, I don't want to go in there either. So Camden's sets up camp on the bench in the lobby with snacks and the Nintendo Switch, and he's set for the rest of the meet, really. Food and video games. Perfect. I head to the magma core of despair, already peeling the light jacket and sweatshirt that I still had on.
Calen's swim meet went well, he didn't quite get personal bests in his events but he worked hard and had fun. Brad volunteered to keep time, since every family requires 10 volunteer hours per season. To add to the hours, we stayed behind and helped clean up the pool deck.
We hadn't had enough fun today, and as we drove home the sun was shining brilliantly with the skies blue and the snow capped mountains glistening. Adventure was calling. I needed to get outside. I mean it's quite possibly the last sunny for the next foreseeable future. I mean that's not that far fetched, it is Alaska and it is winter.
Brad took advantage of the sunny day by reorganizing the garage, so the kids and I had a quick lunch and marched up Old Woman. It was cold, but since that hike is pretty steep, we were down to our sweatshirts and not at all chilled. Once we hit the flag pole (the summit), we continued on our favorite part of the hike, the back mountain trail to the high lake. This is our favorite because it's FLAT, and the views of Barometer, the back mountains and the bay are spectacular.
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| Rebel came with and wanted snacks |
Because I'm a sneaky little teacher, I snuck in some school in this. Part of our science projects this year is to explore and observe two different ecosystems at two different locations (see the blog post from a few days ago). One location is down at the local river, and the other location is this high lake up Old Woman. I had the boys bring their notepads and mark down any observations of living or non living parts of this ecosystem. Being that the snow wasn't super fresh, there were TONS of animal tracks. Sitka deer, Mountain goats, snowshoe hares, fox, ermine, even one trail of a bear that decided not to hibernate.
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| Mountain goat print |
The lake of course was frozen over with a thick layer of snow on top, and we didn't bother hiking down the ridge to it's shore, just observing from the outcrop above.
Work harder not smarter, you know.
One of the perks of being at a higher elevation is that we could watch the weather coming in, and it was coming in. The storm front was pouring over the back mountains and looming towards us, so we basically almost ran (but not really) down the mountain back home. We logged 5 miles today, and even though we were all exhausted after sports, it was well worth the work to enjoy the views.
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