Playing Out

When I got here last year in January, the weather was nasty. Unbelievable, really.  Thirty below, sideways snow and dark. So dark.  Dark from just after school let out in the afternoons until just before lunch the next day.  

Then came spring. 

Which, really, is just warmer winter here in rural Alaska.

{Our housing on the right}

Oh, but it was glorious.

And we began playing out.  

I grew up in the Northwest, where we said we were playing outside.

I struggled for nearly six months last year, to accept that the way it's said here is different.

Oh, yeah, Jack found that stick while we were playing out.

Logan fell pretty good while he was playing out.

Wyatt cheered up once he got to play out.

I have changed.  I can't believe it. But I have. 

To say playing outside feels odd now. Foreign in my mouth.

My point in all this?

Spring is here, 

and we have been playing out!

It's been sunny with highs in the low forties.

Perfect weather for a family walk.

---

Another thing that's different about playing outside in Alaska?

You have to bring a gun.

You know, in case of bears (who are waking up HUNGRY right now)

or moose (who have been known to charge unprovoked).

I have gotten used to playing out... but that gun? 

That gun might take me a while to wrap my mind around!

---

I am so grateful for the sunny weather this last week.

For our outside adventures, and for our life here in Alaska.

In three and a half weeks, we will be heading home.

To Vancouver, which will always have a piece of my heart.

But this place, this amazing, beautiful, awe inspiring place that has made me a stay-at-home momma, it's home, too.