Day 183: The OTHER National Holiday

 It's a big day today! Another national holiday, the second in a week!

It's my birthday!

Okay so maybe I haven't quite reached National Holiday status, but whatever, birthdays are a big deal in this house and I was going to have a day, dang it!

I got to start the day having coffee on the back porch because it wasn't raining! 

39, baby!

Cam joined me for breakfast 

It wasn't warm either, I had to wrap myself up in a blanket in order to withstand the cold wind of the JULY MORNING (enter eyeroll here). 

But, the best part of my birthday was the fact that Calen came home! Tired, two inches (it felt like) taller and no voice whatsoever, all the markings of having a great week. 

For most of the day, we let Calen recover (i.e. shower, brush his hair for the first time in probably a week, do his laundry, etc), and then we went out to dinner at Powerhouse (aka Hanna), the sushi/teriyaki restaurant down on the water at the marina. The boys ate their ENTIRE plate of teriyaki chicken AND six California rolls each. And I'm pretty sure if I allowed it, they would have eaten more. 

Camden's lego dragon commandeering my soup

All I ever want for my birthday is an adventure, but the weather just hasn't cooperated in the last couple of years. But, it was halfway decent tonight, and even though Calen was exhausted, I dragged the family through a short hike after dinner on the Northside trail of Near Island, which is barely a mile and a half, mostly flat and has beautiful views of the water. 

Laughing at the way this seagull was wiggling his feet in mid flight 

Skipping rocks 

Into the woods!

Honestly, that's about as well rounded as a great birthday as I could get. 

Even if I am only 28. For the last 11 years...

Day 182: PTO For Street Hockey

 Since Calen is still over at Camp Woody, Camden has been accompanying me at work. He's a great little employee, cleaning all the carpets for the houses that I am working on this summer. 

Today was extremely convenient because we were working on a house in the Lake Louise neighborhood down the road, where a few of his hockey friends live. They arranged a "Street Hockey" hangout sesh, complete with lunch and snacks, starting at Noon. 

Cam and I hit the house we were cleaning early, so that he could get the carpets done before heading down the street to play hockey. 

When noon rolled around, he wasn't quite done, but I told him he could go ahead and take off. 

"No, I'm going to finish these rooms first. It's okay if I'm a few minutes late."

Well, that's what I call work ethic. 

So around 12:15 Camden took his well-deserved PTO and skated off up the street to play street hockey with his friends. I followed about an hour later to visit with the moms and take my own PTO. 

They played street roller hockey nonstop for four hours!! I was impressed. 

After the long time off I took Camden home, since he had gotten his part of the work done after all, and grudgingly marched myself back to work to finish my part of it. 

Way to use that PTO smartly, kid. 

Day 181: The Basically Fourth Of July

 Happy 6th of July! It's America's birthday! Yay!

Wait...what? It's the SIXTH. 

Well when you live in a rain infested blah-fest like I have this summer, you take what you can get. 

It was the first nice day in basically a month today, as in it was not raining (in the afternoon), was almost warm and there were times when you could see blue skies. 

Well, I'll take it. 

We had saved our fireworks for a not-so-rainy-day, and today was the day! So what if we are a couple of days late. 

Call it Island Time or something. 

We waited until as late as humanly possible for it to get kind of sort of dark-ER, because honestly this time of year it never actually gets dark. Then we headed to "Sometimes Island" (named as such because when the tide is in it's an island, but when the tide is out there is a tiny little spit of land that allows you to walk to the island), and shot off all sorts of loud blasty fun. Cam was even allowed to be the one that lights the "Dirty Dozen", the twelve HUGE fireworks, which he was over the moon about it. 

And yes, it really is this bright out at 11pm. 

Day 180: A Hard Workin' Man

 It's the heart of working season for me, and we are on our last week of move-out cleans, baby. 

With Calen gone and Camden completely helpless and bored without his brother, I recruited Cam to come to work with me this week and earn a little summer cash. 

Remember that old Brooks and Dunn song?

I'm a hard workin man. 
I wear a steel hard hat
I can ride, rope, hammer and paint...

Anyways...

Cam has certainly been a hard working man this week. He's taken on any and all jobs that come his way. 

He took over Calen's daily newspaper route...

He got hired to mow someone's lawn (a client of mine that is moving out) while I stood on the porch and drank coffee...

And then I hired him to be my subcontractor and to clean all the carpets and cabinets in the house I was cleaning. 

In one week this kid has made $125. Not bad for a 12 year old. 

We went to Subway for lunch, because he also finished a chapter book this summer and I promised Subway to whoever finished a book!

Now that's a hard working man, right there. 

Day 179: The 4th-Ish Of July

 It's the 4th of July! Bring on the barbecues! The lawn games! The fireworks!

Except it rained today. It's rained every day. It will rain forever. 

And with Calen gone, we weren't really feeling the 4th today. 

But that doesn't mean we didn't try. 

Camden and I started a new really cute Disney cartoon button puzzle while I made angel food cake "firework" cupcakes. 

Angel Food cake fireworks!

We decided, since the weather was complete garbage, to postpone our little firework shooting off session. Instead we introduced Camden to the movie Independence Day, and played "The Ramen Game", and a couple of rounds of Mario Kart. 

Honestly, even though it was a very unorthodox 4th of July, it was still a fun family day. 

I mean, who wants to sit in the cold and shoot off fireworks in the rain anyways. 

Day 178: Off To Camp Woody

 Not two days after the boys got back from a full week camping with the Boy Scouts, Calen is off to a nearby small island to Camp Woody, a five day Christian retreat camp. 

This year, Calen was promoted to the high school camp, as he is an upcoming Freshman. I almost cringed, because he insisted on bringing his extra wooden sword that he had carved. I thought maybe he was too old for such things at a high school camp, afraid that his peers would bully him. But he was insistent, and who am I to crush his spirit and personality anyways?

See you Saturday, buddy!

Day 177: Sundae Sunday

 We've kept a really low profile this weekend, mostly because the boys were exhausted from the prior week and then Calen leaves tomorrow for Camp Woody. 

But, we did have Sundae Sunday, of course, and catch up on a week's worth of our daily calendar, since the boys were gone all last week. 

Not that exciting, but sometimes you need some quiet days. 

Day 176: Ferry Friends and the Long Goodbye

 We knew this day was coming. 

There comes a time amongst military families where either we move away, or our friends do. It's guaranteed, within a 3 or 4 year cycle. 

We met the Ardan's literally the day we moved here on the ferry to Kodiak. They were moving here too, had two twin boys a week older than Calen, and a girl a year younger than Camden. On that ferry, the boys never. stopped. talking, and a four year long close friendship between the kids and adults began. 

We always figured we'd move away the same year, but we extended for an additional 3 year billet, and it's time for them to leave. 

Today we did a short hike on Boy Scout trail with them just minutes before they went to catch the ferry. 

So long, Ferry Friends!

(I wish I had a photo from the day on the ferry 4 years ago!)

Day 175: No Casualties

 Well it's "pick up" day for Scouts and the reports are that they survived the night and are back home already, exhausted, dirty, and full of stories. 

Calen reported that his shelter was very well insulated and although he didn't sleep as well as usual, he was quite warm through the night in his little shelter, and only had an encounter with a "maggot" (probably just a white grub). 

Camden's shelter halfway collapsed through the night, and he forgot his headlamp, so he was cold, exposed, and in the dark, and ended up in Brad's shelter overnight. 

Oh well, live and learn. 

The boys came home and immediately sheltered and BEGGED to go to bed at 7pm. They were done and probably more excited to see their real beds than any boy should be. 

No collapsing or grub visits tonight. 

Day 174: Into The Woods

 It's the last full day of Boy Scout camp, and it's a doozy! 

First, the Scouts were escorted on a WWII history hike through Abercrombie State park, led by one of their own senior scouts who works at the WWII museum there. Kodiak, if you didn't know, was a keystone defense position for the Allies in World War 2, defending against potential (but never happened) attacks against Japan and/or Russia. 

Brad sent them out into the woods at Termination Point with only their daypacks (and, hopefully, their ten essentials). Then, they had to each build their own survival shelter using ONLY what they can find in the wilderness, and what's in their day packs. And they better do a good job, because they're spending the night in these shelters!

Let's hope they paid attention to Wilderness Survival training. 

Cam's shelter

Calen's shelter. 

The idea of this exercise is that yes, you will be uncomfortable, cold, and not get much sleep. But, if you were in an uncontrolled, real survival situation, you could say, "hey, I've done this before, and it was awful, but I know how to do it." to prevent panic and confusion. 

Better them than me, I'll be enjoying my night in my dry, heat-controlled, bug-free house with a mattress and a quilt, thank you.