A Day, What A Day...

Ever have one of those? A day where from start to finish, everything seems to go as planned, with no one getting lost, or hurt, or cranky? Yep, had one.

Granted, the appearance of our summer intern greatly influenced Bear into behaving at his tour guide best; he showed Miss E., from their shared backseat, everything from the snowplow train at Potter Section House to the myriad waterfalls along the road to Girdwood.

Our surprise for our mechanically-minded child was a trip up the Tram at Alyeska Resort. The best way to reach the top of the mountain any time of year, the Tram ride is a two-minute, 30 second view of the world. At least as it exists from Glacier Valley.

Miss E. was glued to her window, taking photos from every direction. At the top we had about a half-hour to walk around in the snow and see the newly renovated Roundhouse Museum, which features outstanding exhibits of Girdwood history and a very friendly host to answer our questions. E. was particularly intrigued by the ash left on the snowy slopes due to Mt. Redoubt; it ended the summer ski camps because there is no way to get rid of it.

Yukon and I treated our charges to lunch at Chair 5 Restaurant in Girdwood, a funky, deliciously-ambiant place with super halibut tacos. I guess the rest of the menu is outstanding as well, but I have never ordered a single other item, I like my tacos so much.

Miss E. had to be home for a meeting, so we made it home in time for a short nap while E. and Bear watched Bolt together. A nap, whod've thunk I could take a NAP?!

Yukon and Bear are outside at 8:45 enjoying a perfectly tranquil evening game of soccer in the back yard while the dog chases swallows. I am sitting with all the windows wide open, and can smell the cottonwood trees over at the park, their sweet spicy fragrance reminding me of a long, long time ago.

A perfect ending.

Memorial Weekend Packed With Action

You know it is a good weekend when you are too busy to sit down to the computer for more than five minutes.

Fam has been on the go with events and people this weekend. We have an intern staying with us until August, Miss E. She is from Arizona, a senior in college, and will be living and learning the Alaskan life with us (oh poor thing) while working at our church in the youth and young adult programs.

Today we are taking her to Girdwood for a little taste of funky. We'll investigate this little ski town, have some lunch, and take a trip on the tram, a popular tourist site that takes visitors to the top of the ski run.

I love showing people Alaska; the only trouble is finding enough hours in the day.

More later with some pics. For now, the road is calling!

Free-Form Beards On Parade

Gee, I think Yukon has a ways to go before he can claim such status as this competitor in the World Beard and Moustache Championships, going on this weekend in Anchorage.

Fortunate enough to be welcomed by the South Central Beard and Moustache Club as author of the Participant Guide, Yukon, Bear, and I attended the kick off event at Kincaid Park Wednesday evening.

Foreign languages floated around us as we stood in line for free beer and food (a guaranteed success in my book), gazing upon moustaches and beards the likes of which we had never seen before. With competitors coming from as far away as Australia, folks were certainly in an adventurous spirit, willing to chat with everybody. We were no different. I talked with some folks from our hometown of Port Angeles, WA, a nice gentleman from South Carolina, which made me eternally glad I do not live in that scorching state anymore, and a group from Berlin, Germany, who were surprised that I had visited the city in 1986 while part of a bicycle trip in High School.

Small world got even smaller...

Yukon and I are attending the big bruhaha tonight downtown as the Australian band, The Beards (of course) plays for hundreds of competitors and guests. I have a feeling we'll be exhausted tomorrow. Beer and Europeans and music are a recipe for extreme fun.

Hirsute Happenings This Weekend

No plans this Memorial Weekend? Try heading to downtown Anchorage for the World Beard and Moustache Championships. AKontheGO fam will be there; with competitors from Germany, Sweden, Australia, and our own United States, this ought to be quite the sight. And a good party...

Update From the Wolf Den: It's a New Normal

Wolf and I decided to take it easy today, spending our last day together doing "things that are fun".

In the tradition of my father, who if given a map would explore every inch of a new city, Wolf and I drove east towards the suburb of Sandy, in search of the Living Planet Aquarium.

Small, but surprisingly full of fascinating information, the aquarium suited Wolf perfectly. Not too terribly busy or chaotic (important to an already anxious kid), staffed by kind folks who enjoyed talking sea creatures and crawling things with my teenager, the Aquarium was a nice respite from our emotional weekend.

If you look carefully at the photo of Wolf and the Electric Eel, you can see his face, smiling a genuinely happy smile. It is a glimpse of the kid we know to be there.

We wound up the day at the hotel pool, watching the movie Bolt, and snacking on sour candy. Wolf was exhausted by the time I dropped him off with an armload of stuff and a hug. He just wanted to go to bed. Mission accomplished, I believe.

AKontheGO Sets Sail!

A big shout out to AKontheGO's family trip down South this summer! We've been selected to blog our way from Seward to Vancouver in August; big fun for a group whose closest thing to a cruise has been the Washington State Ferry system.

Stay tuned to AKontheGO
for ongoing updates. There is a lot more to cruising than I ever thought...

Update From the Wolf Den: The Greatest Burden

Asperger's hurts from the inside out. Like most parents raising a kid with AS, I know Wolf has been treated unkindly by others. I have tried with only minimal success to keep him from such torment, but as he grew and demanded his own independence, Wolf entered the bitterly cruel world of social networking in the most real sense. And I only knew the half of it.

What I will share tonight is a broad brush description of incidents that have occurred over the course of Wolf's school years. I won't go into details; what actually happened isn't nearly as important as the pain embedded into my son's very soul, and thus, mine.

Therapist B. and I have long suspected Wolf endured experiences that have lodged themselves into his mind. Kids, as we all know, can be cruel. I think I've heard that phrase at least a thousand times since Wolf started Kindergarten, but never before has its meaning seared itself so sharply into my consciousness.

In a session this morning that took my breath away with its poignancy and nearly knocked me to my knees with guilt, our son breathed but a whisper of the reality of being different.

We as parents like to think we are our children's best advocates; Asperger's provides a cruel irony to childhood bullying in that we sometimes need to over-advocate in order to get teachers and parents to understand without a doubt what disorder we are dealing with and how to manage it successfully in a school setting. Clearly, based upon Wolf's experiences, somebody failed. Miserably.

Kicked in the head "accidentally" during soccer games, snapped with wet towels in the locker room while being teased insufferably for a skinny body, chased with icy snowballs, humiliated by peers who led my son to believe they were his "friends". And ignored, as if he did not exist at all, merely a shadow in the hallway.

B. asked Wolf to think of his worst day at school and describe it. Without missing a beat, my son raised his head, looked directly at the therapist, and broke both of our hearts with his definitive response.

"Every day."

To the boy who I used to tease in grade school, the one who used to try to win friends by bringing stickers from his dad's vacuum shop, who we used to tease until his face was red and tears made his glasses fog up:

I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry. In the name of my own son who now holds these memories so tightly against his heart, forgive me.

Forgive all of us.