An Alaskan 4th of July

Hi all,

Time to blog!  Time allows for only snippets that do no justice to our time here, but something is better than nothing...

David was off of work now for a week (a week!!) so we've had time for lots of adventures.  Yesterday we went to the main 4th of July celebration in Anchorage, starting with their parade.  There were a greater percentage of military-related floats than the standard MN parade, and lots of motorcycles revving engines and spinning their wheels for the crowd.  Dogs are THE pet to have here, and were also well represented in the parade.  This included an "imaginary dog training" section of the parade, with people holding leashes with imaginary dogs and doing commands with said imaginary dogs.  People bring their dogs (imaginary or not) everywhere here.  The guy (Jerami) whose house we're renting brought his dog (Isla) along to pick us up from the airport.  And Isla rode shot gun in the van whenever she came with us, which was whenever Jerami went anywhere.  So dogs are a big deal.  Even anqique cars in the parade appeal to the storied history of sled dogs here in Alaska:

After the parade we made our way through the crowds at this festival and enjoyed watching this awesome elderly Native American lady dance with the jazz band music.

And we enjoyed some reindeer hot dogs...

This was notable for us because we recently listened to the audio book of "The Impossible Rescue" by Martin Sandler where in the winter of 1897/1898 some brave people (and sled dogs) drove reindeer herds across northern Alaska as a food source to help rescue some whalers who were stranded for the winter at Point Barrow in northern Alaska.  Good read if you like the survival-against-the-odds books.

We came home and the two loaves of sourdough bread I made were ready to bake.  The house we're living in has all kinds of sustainable living projects going on, which inspired me to learn to make bread from a real sourdough starter with wild yeast, instead of commercial store bought yeast.  I honestly didn't even know this was a thing that people did, only to put it together that this is how bread was made for thousands of years until about 100 years ago when commercial yeasts became an option.

Jerami also bought some more fish and plants for the fish tank in our house, so we pulled up a bench to study the new additions.  We've enjoyed having fish without the commitment and cost of it.  The boys have learned that this fish tank is part of the bigger sustainability system here...the nutrients (fish poo) in the water make it great for watering the lime trees in our living room.  So the boys have enjoyed helping with that "chore".

Ele (an awesome young lady doing a Workaway stint here) and the kiddos enjoying the new fish.

While I was making the bread yesterday afternoon I let the kids play in the yard.  When Jerami returned home later he saw the yard and asked (seriously) if a bear had been on the property.  There were flower pots all over.  The recycle bins were disheveled, and logs and boards strewn around.  But no bear.  Just my kids.  So it was time for clean-up-the-yard fun.

While there are technically fireworks at 11pm in Anchorage, they were poo-poohed by a number of people we spoke to.  Still too much light outside at 11pm to really enjoy fireworks.  Anchorage does their serious firework shows on New Year's Eve, when it's nice and dark outside:-)

Instead of fireworks, our 4th wrapped up with dinner...salmon that Jerami had caught (last year, and then froze it), then cooked it for us on the fire this evening.  The boys loved it.  I don't enjoy fish, but this was edible (a raving review in my book...)  That, along with a watermelon (which each cost $7 here in Alaska, so this was our first watermelon of the season here), and the bread I made earlier (dirt cheap!) made for a perfect meal.  We ate outside and finished up in the broad daylight at 10:40pm.  Joshua threw a fit when I took him out of his highchair to be done eating.  But at 10:40pm...it's just time for bed no matter how light it is outside.  Joshua has been up as late as midnight here.  Hard to convince him (and myself) to sleep when it's light outside.

Our 4th of July meal, starring Alaskan salmon

The 5 of us, plus Jerami

Immediately preceding the tantrum...

I'm hoping to blog more...not sure if anyone other than my Mother will read this but feel free to ask questions in the comments section if there's something you're curious about...

Love to all,

Ann, for all of us