Letter to Cami: June 19, 2017
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Hi, Sweetie!
Good morning!!! It's crazy that I'm writing this on Sunday night and you're already up for the day on Monday, since it's a 10-hour time difference from France to Alaska! And it's even weirder that it's 10:30pm here and still bright as day outside here. So, How was life this week? Are you back up and running with an iPad again? I haven't been sharing too many photos this week, because I've been unsure as to whether you can receive them or not.
We are winding down on our trip to Alaska and we leave Monday evening. We've taken a hike almost every day, seen lots of gorgeous scenery, and tonight finally saw a bear in the wild!!!! 🐻
It was across the river from us catching fish (while we were fishing on the other side), so we got to enjoy the view with zero chances of danger. In other words, it was absolutely perfect and I think it capped off an already cool vacation!
Today we went to church in Soldotna and had an interesting experience.
The bishopric member who was conducting and one of the speakers just seemed totally depressed. They spoke emotionlessly and completely without smiling. It was actually very sad. Then the husband of the one speaker got up and talked about how having joy is about choosing the right. I wanted to smack him. His wife was clearly depressed and if she is doing something wrong to cause the depression, being called out on it over the pulpit is completely inappropriate. And if she is depressed for whatever other reason, then being told that all she has to do is "be better" is shallow and stupid. Anyway, it did make me think that although Alaska is amazing to visit, I imagine living here is hard.
Speaking of hard, we went on another cool hike today. It wasn't near as hard as PooPoo point or Mount Marathon, but it was challenging enough to make Spence and Ellie complain. The view at the top was stunning!
We've had a wonderful time in general here in Alaska. Yesterday was a bit of a dud with dad getting a speeding ticket and super seasick on his fishing charter, which cut the day way short, but it ended up being an okay day in the end.
Here's a little update on everyone:
Dad-other than the speeding ticket and extreme seasickness, he's been having a a great time on this trip. He caught a bunch of halibut (on the boat when he got sick), but otherwise hasn't caught anything, so that's a bit of a disappointment.
The halibut is good though!
Me-I've loved it here, but am ready to go home now. I love traveling in general, but start feeling a bit disjointed when I'm not busy. I'm ready to cook dinner again, do some work on the house, and get ready for YW camp! I also need to whip myself back into gear with eating healthier and running. We did lots of hiking, but I missed my running days (usually 2 days a week).
Spence-I think he's really enjoyed this trip overall. He hasn't loved all of our hiking, but he's tolerated it reasonably well. I really, really, really hope that he'll go home and get a job and start getting ready to go back to school.
Emma-Emma has seemed to enjoy the trip too. She's always the first to bed and first to wake up, out front on all the hikes, and has still been sticking with her super healthy eating.
Adam-Alaska is right up Adam's alley. He loves the outdoors, loves hiking, loves fishing, etc. I think that out of all you kids, he thoroughly enjoys it the most. I envision him being a big outdoorsy guy when he's grown up. He also has been teasing Ellie too much and collecting his keychains.
Ellie- Alaska is absolutely NOT up Ellie's alley. All this hiking and outdoors time seems to annoy her and we've had to do more than a bit of dragging and cajoling her on some of our hikes. Spencer's complaining doesn't help matters with her, but seems to give her license to complain more. Her appetite has been ravenous lately and I imagine that she's due for a big growth spurt soon. She's currently reading Divergent and talks about it all the time. Literally.
Well, we love you and can't wait to hear all about your week!
Love,
Mom ❤️
Sent from my iPhone
***********************************
Hi, Sweetie!
Good morning!!! It's crazy that I'm writing this on Sunday night and you're already up for the day on Monday, since it's a 10-hour time difference from France to Alaska! And it's even weirder that it's 10:30pm here and still bright as day outside here. So, How was life this week? Are you back up and running with an iPad again? I haven't been sharing too many photos this week, because I've been unsure as to whether you can receive them or not.
We are winding down on our trip to Alaska and we leave Monday evening. We've taken a hike almost every day, seen lots of gorgeous scenery, and tonight finally saw a bear in the wild!!!! 🐻
It was across the river from us catching fish (while we were fishing on the other side), so we got to enjoy the view with zero chances of danger. In other words, it was absolutely perfect and I think it capped off an already cool vacation!
We've had a wonderful time in general here in Alaska. Yesterday was a bit of a dud with dad getting a speeding ticket and super seasick on his fishing charter, which cut the day way short, but it ended up being an okay day in the end.
Here's a little update on everyone:
Dad-other than the speeding ticket and extreme seasickness, he's been having a a great time on this trip. He caught a bunch of halibut (on the boat when he got sick), but otherwise hasn't caught anything, so that's a bit of a disappointment.
The halibut is good though!
Ellie- Alaska is absolutely NOT up Ellie's alley. All this hiking and outdoors time seems to annoy her and we've had to do more than a bit of dragging and cajoling her on some of our hikes. Spencer's complaining doesn't help matters with her, but seems to give her license to complain more. Her appetite has been ravenous lately and I imagine that she's due for a big growth spurt soon. She's currently reading Divergent and talks about it all the time. Literally.
Well, we love you and can't wait to hear all about your week!
Mom ❤️
Sent from my iPhone
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