Relaxing

Relaxing

This morning we awoke with Patrick’s sister, Polly, and her family having arrived here last night! We are looking forward to spending the week and thanksgiving with them.

Yesterday after swimming, we took the kids out for ice cream. We went to a small ice cream shop that just happened to have a gentleman playing guitar. It was very quiet for a Sunday afternoon and he took requests from everyone in the shop. Once he heard we were from Alaska, he played North to Alaska as well as another Alaska song. The kids took their time eating ice cream as we listened to music. It was a fun Sunday afternoon surprise.

Stuey and Nora have spent lots of time playing in the sand with dump trucks, as well as drawing, and painting. After our (very short) walk in the desert yesterday, they came home and drew pictures of cactus’, mountains and family. Fun to see them draw it all out and learn how to draw new things like cactus’!

There is a Dunkin’ Donuts down the road that has WIFI, so this morning we had breakfast there and Patrick checked all of his sports scores. Dunkin’ Donuts is one of my more favorite establishments and there isn’t one in Alaska. It was a fun treat to enjoy an iced coffee there.

Things are slow, relaxed and warm… a perfect getaway.

Zoya

Pictures:
the picture of the bee was taken by Patrick underwater looking up at the sky.

Day 2 of Vacation

Day 2

Everyone slept well and moods with the kids are even better today. Yesterday Stuey had a rough day…between being exhausted, getting stung by a bee at the pool, then taking a 2 hour nap which left him feeling crummy in the evening. This morning the kids are back to regular programming with playing dump trucks in the dirt outside, drawing /painting and playing Crazy 8’s.

This morning we went on a short-ish walk through a “wash” in the desert…where water runs when it rains. We checked out lots of different cacti, Stuey cried and we walked back to the car.

Its been nice not having WIFI where we’re staying. To post on the blog, we park in front of a friend’s house to download our blog post. Patrick chomps at the bit wondering how his sports teams are doing…..


Kid quotes

“This is Stuey , this is mommy, this is daddy, this is Nora and this is the bringer-out-food person. And this is the pilot.”- Stuey explaining who is in the windows on the paper airplane he made. The “bringer-out-food person translates to flight attendant.

“This water makes us sick?” -Stuey after drinking tap water. He was thinking back to Barcelona when several of had digestive difficulties from the water.

Wickenburg

After an overnight flight from Anchorage to Phoenix we safely arrived to the gentle warmth of of the South West. Stuey had a low moment in the aiport waiting to board and another small one on the airplane, but then quickly fell asleep.

Nora and Stuey were fascinated by freeways, cactus’ and said “are we there yet” about 100 times during the 1 hr drive from the airport to WIcknberg where we are staying. Our kids are very obviously from an island where a “long” drive is 20 minutes.

The house we are staying at is Patrick’s grandparent’s old house-it became part of his family in the 50’s. Its wild to think it has been in his family for 60 years! Its been 5 years since we were here last and I realized how I’ve missed it. The inside décor has a “frozen in time” feeling, with 50’s furnishings and linens. It is very quiet and far away from any main roads. Patrick and I look forward to taking the kids on some desert walks tomorrow on the trails around here. Such different hiking terrain than Alaska!

Zoya

Hard to Leave Snow

Now that we are off to Arizona for Thanksgiving, Kodiak is guaranteed a week of good weather. This always seems to happen. I leave Kodiak and while I am gone it is cold and snowy. In a perfect world I'd leave and it would be warm and rainy, or just unseasonably warm.

At least this time we got some cold and snow before we left. We have had snow for a week now, and for the last few days the highs have been in the 20's. Awesome weather! Hopefully it will still be awesome when we get back.

And never fear, I will enjoy temperatures in the 70's too. I am not a total killjoy. But I must admit the thing I am looking forward to the most is the well-stocked vegetable aisles in lower 48 supermarkets. That and wandering around aimlessly in the desert.

Photos: The harbor at dawn one day on my way to work (Stuey looked at the photo and thought the boat in the foreground was on fire), and Zoya cross country skiing today on the Upper Buskin (my favorite place to ski).

Holiday Travel

Late tonight we head out for Thanksgiving break to go to Arizona for the holiday. We'll be meeting up with Patrick's sister and her husband and two boys. This is the first out of state trip we've taken with the kids since we went to France last year with the Haakansons. Its hard to believe we took a then 3 years old, Stuey to France last year...and had a good time! A year of maturity will make such a difference for travel in general. Nora and Stuey are quite excited about a "big" airplane ride. I"m thrilled with our flight plan, as we are on a direct Anchorage-Phoenix flight-a 5 hour overnighter.

In Arizona we always stay at the same house; its an hour northwest of Phoenix in Wickenberg. This will be Stuey's first time there and Nora hasn't been there since she was a baby so she doesn't really remember it. Looking forward to hiking, sunshine and time with our long distance family.

Zoya

Photos are from prior trips to Arizona over the years.

Doula Bits

In the past several weeks I have had doula meetings with several new clients due in early 2012. My first meetings are very relaxed, just a chance for me to get to know the couple, and them me. Often the dads have questions about exactly what does a doula do? And it gives me a chance to learn about them and their lives together.


-A couple had returned from a trip where they had taken a "pets and pacifiers" class~how to safely introduce baby to your pet and make your home a safe atmosphere for the baby and dog. They bought a CD of a baby crying that they play during the day occasionally to help get the dog used to the noise! Evidently the dog starts sniffing around the speakers, looking for the baby! Pretty cool what modern inventions there are for helping ease the transition for our four legged friends...

-I always remind couples what an honor it is to be with a couple at birth. I don't want them to ever think that its just "another day on the job" for me. They always look relieved when I remind them that it is such an honor to be part of the preparation and birth process. I am emotionally invested into their experience and I want them to know this. I consider it an invite of the highest honor: to be invited to the birth of someones child!

-Sometimes my doula clients are often my physical therapy clients as well. This is great, as we have lots of time to talk about labor and birth (if they want) as I am working on their backs/neck pain (most commonly).
Recently I had a physical therapy client who met with me about hiring me as her doula; she said she felt so calm and relaxed at physical therapy when talking about labor and birth with me. She felt like this calmness about birth would transfer well to the labor and delivery room. Her husband was in full support of a doula presence because of this. I was really honored to hear her articulate this-as I definitely try to give women positive, helpful information about labor and birth during physcial therapy. It can be such a great time for trust building and learning about eachother.

-Several weeks ago Winona and I were at a birth together and we just recently received this invite from the new parents. As I read it, I got goosebumps on my arm. I've never been to such a christening ceremony using a coast guard ships bell! (The SPAR is a Coast Guard Ship).
I am sad to miss it but will get the details from Winona as she'll be going.

Zoya, Winona,

You are cordially invited to a Christening Ceremony for (name) on Wednesday, November XX at 1030 onboard USCGC SPAR. We will be doing a traditional christening ceremony using the ship's bell and hosting a reception on-board afterwards.

ODU's or civilian clothing can be worn



Very cool!

Zoya

Venturing out Independently

Before I had kids, I had the certain moments in my head about what it would be like. My picture-perfect idea of how to kids would behave, do at certain ages, etc. One of them was playing outside in the snow. I always had visions of kids getting in their snowsuits (without help) and running out the door to play endlessly in the snow.
6+ years later, that moment has finally arrived at the Saltonstalls. Little to no help is needed for the kids to get themselves dressed to go play in the snow.

Yesterday morning as I cooked pancakes for breakfast, the kids got geared up and did some pre-breakfast sledding on our hill. I was in heaven and looked at Patrick and said, "Isn't this lovely?". We had 20 minutes of quiet in which I could enjoy my coffee and cook and Patrick could catch up on sports news on-line. Parenting has lots of "more challenging" moments, so the moments where the kids are independent and happy, playing outside AND they initiated it all? Priceless!

Yesterday after school Nora and Stuey asked to go cross country skiing. Patrick was thrilled with this request and responded with an immediate YES and helped gear them up! (He secretly dreams of Nora and Stuey being on the first Kodiak Cross Country ski team....who will beat the kids from Los Anchorage!!)
The kids do a big ski loop around our lawn and are getting more adept at going up and down the little hills, too.

Zoya

Changing Seasons

Nora is right on the cusp of reading. She has been breaking apart words that we say, sounding out the beginning and ends. Her speech therapist has also noticed it, that she is hooked on breaking apart the sounds of words.

Tonight after I put Nora to bed, she came straggling out with her eyes half closed and declared to us, "Mom, reading is the important-est thing in my life". She really wants to read. The other day she said, "It would be so nice if I could read because then I could just read books to go to sleep." She is very ready and I think she may be reading easy word books by christmas with her current motivation!

Stuey's speech impediment as of late is to say "gills" for "girls". Its quite funny. One day he told me he was "Scared of the gills at preschool". There is a HUGE batch of girls there!!

Today we took the kids to the golf course for a quick sled. We were the only ones out there on the thin layer of snow, but Patrick and the kids got several fun runs in.

Zoya

Pictures: Today at the golf course.
Note the day-old skate skiing tracks~ those are Patrick's! It made me smile to see them.

Various Definitons of "First Snow"

Today we woke up to snow on the ground. It got us thinking about 'first snow' and what it means to each of us in the family. For Zoya, the "first snow" was stepping in a patch of it on the top of pyramid. For Patrick, the first snow really counts when he can walk in it. For the kids, it means there has to be enough snow here at sea level to play in it.

-Kids first snow: This morning there was enough snow falling before school that the kids put on their snowsuits and went sledding before they went off to school -in the dark.

-Zoya's first snow: At the end of October we hiked up Pyramid to go ptarmigan hunting. We did not find any ptarmigan, but Zoya did get to hike in the snow.

-Patrick's first time on snow was during the Goat hunt (3 weeks ago). It started to snow and while wandering around in the whiteout they ran into a sow and cubs. The bottom photo is of one of the bears footprints taken after they were charged by the bear.

Today Patrick went for his first ski of the new season. He skate skiied for 45 minutes around the golf course, and was amazed at how tired he got. Snow season is here! yeah!

Zoya and Patrick

Saltonstall Uncle Dinner

A recent turn in family dynamics precipitated Patrick's younger brother, Andrew's visit to Kodiak this past week. Prior to this visit, Andrew had only been to Kodiak 1 time and it was during our wedding 8 years ago. Bless Andrew's heart for coming all the way from DC for an unspecified amount of time to help in Kodiak. It has been fun to see the 3 brothers all together enjoying eachother's company!

Tonight we enjoyed a dinner of sheep roast, roasted broccoli and mashed potatoes. The kids all played on our bed, more or less ransacked the house and had a good time. I was thrilled to enjoy a dinner in the company of 3 brothers who have time to reconnect in Kodiak of all places.

Zoya

My Workout View

Here on Kodiak there is still not enough snow to ski - so for my daily workout I've continued to do my climb of the North Sister. It's a quick workout and has a GREAT view. Today as I turned around to head back to the car I thought how lucky I am to have this view while I get in my workout. I know it beats the view from every single gym in the world. That's the city of Kodiak spread out in the distance, and the Gulf of Alaska all around. Patrick

Four Paws Off the Ice

We finally got ice! Now we need some snow to cover it so we can start cross country skiing. Only the smallest and shallowest ponds have ice that is thick enough for skating, but pretty soon all the lakes will have ice. Winter is here.

It is always good to check ice before the snow falls on it because once covered the dangerous areas are hard to see. I have a few ponds where I like to ski and I get to know them very well. Even when the ice is really thick in the middle of winter some areas always stay open due to springs, running water etc. It is important to remember that no ice is ever totally safe. That said - I LOVE my ice!

Photos: Brother out skim batting on the new ice.

Anchorage

Yesterday I returned from Anchorage for a short trip for to take Powerflex classes, go shopping, to see my older sister and to get a haircut. For the haircut, I decided to go significantly shorter at the last minute. I think I got 4 inches or so cut off, which felt great. Now when people ask how to tell my twin sister and I apart, I can confidently say "My hair is shorter". Until now, when people ask I stagger and say, "I"m not really sure...". That's not terribly helpful.

The most important reason for my Anchorage trip was to attend powerflex classes, which I attended 2 of. The first one was with an instructor (Dena) who was a hoot! She had her hair in side pony tails, sang along to lyrics and had her eyes closed singing along lots of the time. Lots of fun and made us laugh. The second class was with Becky, who was excellent with form. There were over 30 focused people in that group and she was big on giving various cues on how to hold our bodies during the moves. After both classes, I took tons of notes in the car and am ready on Monday with some new moves in my Kodiak powerflex class!!

Zoya

Looking up old Schoolmates

When I was in 8th grade I used to borrow a friend's 10 speed bike; she is the middle one in the photo above. I borrowed it so frequently that when I got her to sign her yearbook page she left me a note to the effect that I was always welcome to borrow her bike. She graduated and I remember that she went on into the movie business. But after a few years I totally forgot about her. Until the other night when I was bored and roaming around on the internet.

I think we've all done it - who can we look up that we went to school with? I found Alexandra - and she was on 'Baywatch'! What bums me out just a bit is that I did not know this when the show was still on the air. I would have had a valid excuse to watch the show. Patrick

Re-kindling the Butter Boat Love

From the day I met Patrick, he has always been a good cook; for this I have been so blessed. On our our second date he invited me over for deer stew-and it was delicious...slow cooked in a dutch oven. One of other new recipes he introduced me to 12 years ago was a recipe we started to call butter boats.

To make butter boats, you bake potatoes in the oven until they are super crispy, no aluminum foil. Once done, you cut them in half and carve the inside potatoe out into a pile on your plate. Then to each half of the potato and the pile of potato, you add a big dallop of butter and salt. The "boats" are the potato halves which have a pool of butter in them. They squish down for fun hands-on eating!

Tonight we re-discovered the butter boat, as it has been at least 4 or 5 years since we have made these. So along with our Grilled Elk flank steak and sauteed peppers, Patrick made butter boats. We formally introduced them to the kids and they loved them as well. It was fun to re-visit a recipe and time before we had kids. Butter boats always made me laugh-they were such a new concept to me, interactive and a fun spin on your basic potato. Welcome back, Butter boats!!

Zoya