Alaska Adventure

Sunday afternoon Dave and I flew out of Tucson.  Everything went smoothly and on time.  Due to long layovers I had plenty of time to roam the various airports I was in.  I actually loved the Sea-Tac  airport-I had some amazing chicken basil pesto pizza there and ate it in front of their huge picture window facing the runway.   We got into our hotel in Anchorage around 2 in the morning and it was still light outside- weird!  

On Monday we went back to the airport to catch our bus to Whittier.  It was cold and rainy, as was much of our trip.  We made a couple of scenic stops and also stopped at the Wildlife center.  My favorite thing there was the baby moose- if you are ever sad look at a you-tube video of baby moose running around and it will make you feel better.   They were so cute!  When we got to the cruise ship terminal there was an icy downpour going on.  Dave quickly unloaded our luggage into a huge bin with hundreds of other suitcases, then we raced into the building to wait in line to get checked in.  When we finally got to the front of the line, we were informed that we needed to show our passports or they would not let us on the ship.  Sadly, Dave’s passport was in his luggage and his luggage was…?  I ran outside to see if I could find his bag but it had already been taken away.  The baggage handlers had just gone to dinner so we were out of luck for a while.  We sat on the side and waited and waited.  Dave felt bad but who would have known that we needed our passport in the US!  Finally we got word that they had found two of our three bags.  Since I was checked in I could go on the ship and look for Dave’s passport so I ran through  the downpour to the ship, but of course  the one missing bag was the one with the passport.  They couldn’t find the third bag anywhere.  Luckily, my sister Anona who was already on board found the missing bag in the hall outside our room, found the passport, and was able to bring it to me.  Phew!

That night we were out in the open sea and it was wild!  The waves were so bad that our closet door kept slamming open, stuff was rolling around, and Dave almost got rolled out of bed.  No one slept well and all the men were queasy in the morning.  The women didn’t have much sympathy.  After a nice breakfast we went to watch a cooking demo by some of the specialist chefs.  We spent a nice lazy day at sea, dressed up for dinner and got a nice group picture.

Wednesday we were at Icy Point Strait.  They had a little Salmon Packing Museum and a forest trail which was really cool.  I couldn't believe how lush and green the forest was and how big the plants were!  Their growing season must be short but intense!  We saw several bald eagles there.  That night we decided to pretend we were extroverts.  We went to a Family Feud game show activity and I got called up to participate.  After that we needed food since it had been at least two hours since we had last eaten so we hit up the crepe bar- yum!  Anona wanted to do karaoke so we went to the karaoke lounge and sang a few songs pretty terribly.  I dragged Dave up and we sang "If I had a Million Dollars"  together;  Dave's first time karaokeing in public!  For the rest of the trip whenever he saw Dave around the ship the karaoke manager pestered Dave to come back and compete in the Karaoke contest.  Anona and I noticed that he didn't ask us :)

Thursday we were in Juneau for just a couple hours.  We planned on going to the Mendenhall glacier visitor center, but our taxi driver gave us some sketchy directions on how to hike to the glacial ice caves, so on a whim we decided to try that instead.  It was an intense 4 mile hike each way.  the last half of the trail was a lot of sheer rock faces, some rock climbing, and near the glacier, mud-covered slick ice.  We all got a little battered and bruised and my dad seriously twisted his foot- it was black and blue for the rest of the week. We finally made it to the ice cave, but we had literally only minutes to look around because we were worried about getting back to the ship in time.  On the way back we were all dying from the intensity of the hike but getting left behind is a powerful motivator so we booked it back down the trail and made it back to the ship with 15 minutes to spare!

Sasquatch sighting!

Waterfall coming down the inside of the ice cave

On Friday we were in Skagway.  Dave and I did an all-day excursion, riding a bus all the way up to the Yukon, then taking the White Pass train back down to Skagway.  In the Yukon we stopped at a little place called Carcross where we had lunch and got to see sled dogs and puppies.  The dogs are surprisingly small!  The train ride back was nice with a ton of beautiful scenery.  It follows the pass the miners going to the Yukon would use but the terrain was so rugged that it was hard to imagine people and pack animals struggling up and down before the train was built.

Saturday we were in Ketchikan.  The weather was rainy as it was for much of our trip.  We had a float plane excursion planned but I wondered if the weather would affect our plans.  Well, apparently pilots in Alaska don't stop flying for much of anything. We got on the float plane and had an aerial tour of Misty Fjords.  It was cool to see our cruise ship from the air, and Misty Fjords was beautiful with the clouds, lakes, and mountains.  Our pilot flew up around a huge waterfall, and landed us on a mountain lake.  On the way back we even spotted a mama black bear with three cubs in one of the mountain meadows!  See if you can spot the tiny black specks in one of the pictures.

As soon as we got back to Ketchikan we raced over to the lumberjack show since we were running late.  It was actually a pretty impressive demonstration of lumberjack skills and very entertaining.  I especially loved the log-rolling competition -they have amazing balance!

Sunday was our last day at sea, and it was pretty choppy again with 15 foot swells.  We had some fun looking at all of our pictures together and decided that we had had a pretty great Alaska experience!

Spring in two minutes flat

We have had a great spring but it has gone by so fast!  We started with  Spring Break in California.  We are lucky enough to have two family members live in the San Diego area so we not only get to enjoy Southern CA fun but also spend time with them.  My sister was gracious enough to host us and we had such a fun visit with them and my brother and his family.  We took the kids to Legoland while we were there and had a great time although I thought it was funny- their favorite part of the park was a huge playground structure.  Next time we will save the money and just take them to the neighborhood park :) .

The kids decided while we were there that they needed a pet snail.  Do you remember when hermit crabs were the big thing in pets?  I think snails should be the next big thing.  They make great pets, are easy to feed and take care of, and if they wander off or die they are easy to replace (at least if you live in Southern CA!).

We celebrated Leah's birthday- see what her favorite present was?

Ellie had a great year of school, loved her teacher, got accepted into the gifted program, and won a bike for being the 3rd grade girl with the most reading points.  We are very proud of her!

 Dave's parents- moved in with us this spring.  They are living with us for a while as they go through the process to sell their Utah home and look for a home out here.    It has bee so nice to have them with us!  The kids love having Grandma and Grandpa around so much, and with Dave travelling so much and the other busyness going on it has been wonderful to have extra helping hands.

Not only has Dave been travelling all over the US for work, but he also got to go over to Israel for a week!  It sounds like it was a neat experience- Israel is one of those places that is just soaked in ancient history. I would love to go with him some time! 

NOw that the kids are out of school we are keeping busy doing fun things! 

We went to Tubac Presidio State Park, the oldest state park in AZ

We've been to the Children's museum, 

we've spent a lot of time in the pool , and  celebrated a few more birthdays!

Phew!  Two minutes!

Are we having fun yet!?

My little baby girl- my miracle baby- turned four at the beginning of the month.  I can't even believe how big all my kids are getting.  I have started to come to grips with the fact that my kiddos are growing up but it makes me a little sad.   I have had to resort to stealing other people's babies (ok, just borrowing)  when I need my baby fix, but it's not the same.  Most of the time I remember why I am super happy to have kids that can dress, feed, and wipe themselves and generally sleep through the night, but once in a while...  I bet most of you mommas know what I'm talking about.

I was amused by this conversation with Leah and Joseph:
J: I need a baby brother.  I will name him "Flying Horse".
L:  If I have a baby sister I will name her "Crystal Snowflake Sparkle".

Jury Duty

I survived three days of jury duty- the whole experience was very interesting and I learned a lot.  The case was against a man who was found with a baggie of drugs in his pocket during a traffic stop.  When clearing out his vehicle after it got impounded, police found glass pipes, a scale, and other evidence of drug abuse in the truck.  The problem was all across the board, the police work was pretty shoddy.  Some minor things were mis-reported on the police files, one of the officers was fired later for shoddy work although not necessarily on this case, no pictures were taken or description given of the distinctive patterned baggie the substance was in, and most problematically, the meth in the baggie was weighed at 1.4grams at the station, but only weighed  .6 grams when weighed by the chemist testing the drug.  There was “reasonable doubt” about whether the bag tested was the same one seized so although the decision was hotly contested, in the end we declared the man not guilty.   

 In no particular order here are a few things I learned. 

1.        The right to a speedy trial does not extend to jurors.  We waited...a lot.

2.        You learn who your friends are when you ask for people who are willing to watch your kids for an entire day on last-minute notice.  Thanks everyone for helping out.

3.       Being a working mom is exhausting.  How do people do it?  After three days I feel like my house has fallen apart and it will probably take me all weekend to feel caught up.

4.        If you want to be excused from jury duty on a meth possession case have a great story about how your cop wife got attacked by a meth head on a traffic stop, killed the assailant, and had to move out of state due to harassment from his gang.

5.        Real trials are not like tv but sometimes are. I tried valiantly to suppress smiles when defense made a motion to dismiss almost every piece of evidence submitted by the prosecutor.   Motions denied. 

6.       Justice can be served without justice being done.  The justice process was followed perfectly by our jury but although we knew "most likely" that this man was guilty, the police work was so shoddy that there was enough "reasonable doubt" that we couldn't convict him. 

7.       People are like squirrels.  It was so hard to keep the jury focused on the pertinent issues of the case.  There was one count of possession of drug paraphernalia that got dropped during trial since it quickly became obvious to the prosecutor and the jury that there was no way to make it stick, but members of the jury kept going back to that even though it was off the table by the time we deliberated.  I wanted  to pull my hair out.

8.       The judge read 14 pages of standard preliminary instructions and 16 pages of instructions for the jury prior to deliberations.  The court stenographer had to type them word for word.  I wonder if she will ever forget them since she has undoubtedly typed them hundreds of times.  I feel her pain- I too in the course of doing my job have to repeat the same things hundreds of times.  It's not fun.

9.       If you are a lawyer do not re-read three pages of the instructions the judge just read to us.  We are not stupid, and we will not like you. 

10.   Crime doesn’t pay.  This man was found not guilty, but he will pay for his drug abuse.  A good lawyer and poor police work may have helped him evade legal consequences, but the hard life he has lived showed all over his face.  There are some consequences that no one can avoid. 

I am proud to be an American where every citizen has the right to a fair trial.  Serving as a juror made me realize how seriously we take justice in this country no matter who is on trial.  Very neat experience but not one I am in a hurry to repeat anytime soon.  

Gilbert Temple Open House

 We had a great opportunity to take the family to the Gilbert Temple Open House a couple weeks ago.    Temples are special buildings (learn more here) where we worship and perform sacred ordinances.  Because we consider them Houses of the Lord, only the best materials are used in their construction and they are beautiful structures inside and out.  Before they are dedicated, the temple is open to anyone who wants a tour so we took the family up to have that experience.

The Gilbert Temple is the largest that the church has built in the last 17 years.  It is decorated with an agave plant motif (a kind of cactus)- according to their handout "The agave plant is used throughout the temple to signify the influence of one generation on another.  The agave's lower, older leaves create impressions on the upper leaves, just as ancestors' legacies leave an impression on the generations that follow."

I loved that idea- that the things we do, the choices we make, the kind of people we are has an influence greater than we think sometimes.

After the tour we took the kids to a sit down restaurant for dinner- the first time we have ever attempted this 

with all the kids.  It went surprisingly well- the kids were a little wiggly but all in all pretty well behaved.  After we got the check I realized why we don't eat out with our family of 6 often, but it was fun to try and know that we can actually take our kids out in public.   

I love my family!

Zincke 2013 Year in Review

2013 has been a pretty quiet year….not that I’m complaining!  We are loving life in southern AZ, enjoying time together as a family, and making fun memories together.

One of the big advantages to living here is that we get to see our family a lot more often!  We enjoyed several visits to and from family this year.   We also got to participate in my youngest sister Rachel’s wedding in the San Diego Temple in the spring.  After the wedding Dave and I left our kids with my other sister Anna and had a great weeklong adventure driving up the coast, visiting Big Sur, San Francisco, and Yosemite.  It was some amazing America!   

Some other highlights for the family were several camping trips which the kids thoroughly enjoyed, and several trips to the beach in Mexico, which we ALL thoroughly enjoyed!  If you’ve never eaten a ripe mango with a squeeze of lime and a dash of salt while sitting in the sun on the beach then you've never really lived! 

Ellie (9)  is having a great year at school.  She is in the advanced 3^rd grade class and is finally getting pushed outside her comfort zone a little. She has a wonderful teacher who has been teaching for 17 years and does a great job helping kids reach their potential.  Earlier this year Ellie’s class along with several other classes did an Olympics after studying about the ancient Greek Olympics.  Ellie was the fastest girl and the second fastest kid among all the kids competing in the sprint.  She challenged Dave to a race the other day when we were taking a walk.  Dave beat her even with Leah riding on his shoulders, so I guess she still needs to grow a bit before we enter her in the real Olympics J .  Ellie is taking piano lessons and is doing quite well.   She had her first recital several weeks ago and impressed us all with her arrangement of Jingle Bells.   Several months  ago her teacher had her play primary prelude music for church and she did great.  She has started babysitting other kids here at our home so I can supervise and is enjoying work that she actually gets paid for.

Amari is getting big!  She turned five last month and is starting to read a little and loves to ride her bike and swim.   She is a daredevil on her bike with Ellie egging her on.  She especially likes to put both legs on one side of her bike and zoom down our driveway and around the corner “look Mom, no feet!”  She is a little quieter personality-wise, but loves to step out of her shell when Ellie is at school and take charge of the younger kids.  She has been doing dance class for a while but we switched her out of dance class and put her in gymnastics at her request.  She has a great time and is picking it up very quickly.  Her back bends and cartwheels are already impressive for just a month of class. 

    
  

 Joseph (4) is a busy boy!  He is slightly obsessed with horses and also loves to do puzzles and harass his sisters.   He is very particular about his routine and is the most homebody of all our kids.  He in many ways is a pretty typical little boy.  He has managed to hurt himself twice this last year, occasioning my first trip to Urgent Care and my first emergency dental visit.  Urgent care happened when he was running around our pool this summer and slipped and split his eyebrow open on the edge of the pool.  That needed three stitches which he picked out the first evening he had them.  We are now well stocked with butterfly bandages.   The emergency dental visit happened a month ago when he fell off Amari’s scooter and knocked his front teeth in and busted up his lips pretty badly.  They are still loose because he keeps hitting them on things like his sister’s leg (“let’s play Karate!”) and the stairs.  I suppose that is not unusual for a busy boy, but I really hope he can keep those teeth.

Leah (3) is our little diva.  She is stubborn and determined on all issues (“Mommy, I need to TELL you something!” ) and heaven forbid you try to tell her what to wear.  She once spent two weeks straight wearing the same pink dress-up dress everywhere, I’m sure people wondered if the child had any real clothing.  She is really perceptive and picks up new information very quickly.  She took swimming lessons this fall and after two weeks of being shy with her teacher, decided as soon as lessons were over that she could swim no problem.   She loves to read books, wear dresses, cut stuff up, write alphabet letters, and boss people around. Much like an unruly camel she is also known to occasionally spit.   She has such a cute personality that it is hard to be angry with her though.  She has mastered the art of flattery (“Mommy, you are SO beautiful”) and pretty much has Dave and I twisted around her little finger.

Dave had a great year at work- he works with the Israelis on a joint missile defense program and loves what he does.  He’s gotten a lot of positive feedback for his work which is always nice.   He is still working with the Young Men/ Boy Scouts at church and had the chance to go on High Adventure this year- hiking, kayaking, and camping around Catalina Island off the coast of California.

I turned the big three-zero this year!  So far, so good!  I am enjoying life and manage to stay pretty busy although I still squeeze in a nap here and there.  I have been teaching in two co-op preschools for the three younger kids- a lot of fun and a lot of work!  I have really enjoyed gardening this summer- Dave and I had a very successful garden and actually got some produce out of it- a first for us!   One tough thing for me this summer was having both my parents diagnosed with fairly serious health problems.  Thankfully they are holding up well and I am so grateful for the reminder to treasure the time we get to share with those 
we love.   

Here’s to a wonderful 2014!   Love, The Zinckes