A Clammy Memorial Day
For Memorial Day 2009 we decided to take advantage of the tides coinciding with the holiday to go to Clam Gulch and dig us some clams. After all a man has to be the hunter gatherer for his family. After loading up the van, we headed s0uth with a brief stop at Freddy’s for some last minute supplies, including another clam shovel and clam gun. I feared we were running a little late, for tide waits for no man, and tide protects the elusive razor clam. But alas, my fears were unfounded as we showed up to a nearly empty beach void of water and fantastic sunny weather. Now I am a man of few clams, meaning I don’t like cleaning em, but I do like digging em, so I limit me and boys to around 40 clams total. The limit is 60 per person, and we never breach that.
Unpacking, and ready for action
Dad's not starting that fire right is he?
Our camp
For those of you that have not done it, clamming is hard work, especially when you are not good at it like us. In fact the last time we went we clammed for hours and I think we almost had 50. As hard as digging em is, cleaning is even more so, especially on an old man’s back. So I have learned from my past ways and have limited our take. This time I wanted only 40. After about 90 minutes I figured we were there. I was very impressed at the increased clam digging prowess of the boys, they were up to their armpits in the sand battling those little mollusks to the bitter end. Even though the razors were out weighed by well over 200 pounds, they still had home-court advantage, and they knew how to use it. They would tease us, just leaving a little portion of their shell or neck out so that we could feel it with our frozen fingertips, but not enough to grip them and break the bionic suction that their size 13 foot was able to create. But persistence often paid off and we were all able to contribute to the pot.
Heading out to the digging fields
the hunter gatherers in action
going for all the clams
check out those great looking toes
So while the girls sat by the campfire cooking and relaxing, the men battled for every morsel, encrusting sand in every nook of our hands, arms, and even teeth. When we were dripping with sweat, with back spasms and sliced up hands we felt we had enough. As we trudged up to the campsite, I glanced into the buckets and I surmised we had about 60 clams, a little more than I wanted to clean, but they were small so I was happy. At camp we started rinsing out the razors and I began counting, when I stopped I had said 100, yes 100. That is quite a few more than I wanted, and way more than I anticipated. I started to sweat again anticipating the work ahead. Fortunately, when we got home and I started to clean, the boys were eager to join in, and with knives in hand they began to slicing and chopping with the skill of a Samurai, a two year old Samurai. Eventually they got the hang of it and between the four of us and our cleaning chain, we got the task done in about 2 hours. So ultimate victory against the great razor was ours. We came, we dug, we rinsed, we cleaned and we conquered. It was a great day. The only way it could have been better is if 1. You had been there. 2. You had cleaned all the clams for us. But even as it was, it was an awesome family day, with some world class smores on display at the campfire.
Jerms and Alii on the rock
bluff climbing, this is not dangerous at all
Wading in Alaska glacier water... that's our kids
Ben & jake in action
Jake paying Ben back for making him look like a sissy in the last picture
Missing Jo, but the rest of the crew on the rock.
P.S. Although I thought we conquered the raucous razors, as I sit and write this and feel the cuts on my hands, the pain under my finger nails, and the aches throughout my body, I am not sure who had the last laugh. Perhaps I will feel better after some chowder and fritters.
The smaller rock, and the smaller crew
the cleaning crew doing what they do
Our prize trophies. Olivia wanted to keep em as pets, go figure.
Then and Now
By nature I am not much of a worrier, I am a bit of a go- with -the- flow type of guy. Like all personality traits, this can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing. At times it drives people crazy, but I don’t let that worry me. Besides, Matthew 6:34 says not to worry about tomorrow, and I always obey everything in the Bible ( ahem). In all seriousness, I have learned most problems are not worth worrying about, even though circumstances may say otherwise.
But when it comes to my kids I do worry. I don’t worry about now, I worry about then. Now they are in our house, now we can try and mold them in they way I think they should live, now we can fulfill their needs, teach them, comfort them,discipline them and train them. We can fix their owies, tell them it will be alright, confirm that a nightmare is just a dream, and that we will always love them no matter what. Although we talk a lot about the stresses and hardships of every day life now, now is relatively easy.
What I worry about is then. Then they must make their own decisions, then they will be own their own, then they will most likely do some seriously stupid stuff that now we told them not to do then. They must choose their lifelong mate and they must choose wisely, they must provide for themselves, and hopefully for others. The then possibilities are endless and often exciting to ponder, but truth is there is a lot out there, and not all of it good. As much as I would love to protect them from the bad parts of then, I know I cannot, and that worries me. I often wonder, am I doing the right thing? Was I too harsh, too soft, too mushy, too manly, what in the world am I doing?
Pastor Brown praying before the baptism
sweet Kassie was a little nervous in front of everyone
But I take comfort from now, now when one decision is made and one act is publicly displayed, because after that all else pales in comparison. As long as they are true to that act and believe, then no matter what, they will eventually be more perfect than I can ever imagine. That act is their own personal salvation decision followed by a public act of baptism. As the astute of you have already ascertained, we just had another baptism in the family. This past Sunday Kassie decided it was time and she got baptised. That makes eight of the ten of us, and as with each one, it is the proudest, most satisfying and emotional now moment. There is no bigger decision they can make now that will have more of an impact on then. Besides if they really loved me they will want me to be able to live out my mantra of “no worries”, not just now but then.
Just before taking the big plunge
Kassie post Baptism
When it’s spring time in alaska it’s 40 below…. NOT!!
As a child, I can recall long drives from Tok to Anchorage. I remember laying all the seats down in the back of the station wagon, a tassle of blankets and pillows with all of us kids strewn about in them (long before the seatbelt law of course, perhaps prior to seatbelts period). But most of all I remember the music, music from the 8-Track, and mom and dad, well mostly dad singing their heads off. One of the many songs I remember was “When It’s Spring Time in Alaska it’s Forty Below”, by Johnny Horton. Well Johnny…Not this year!
Miss Chloe tending to her crying baby. She was probably too hot
all eyes on the one opening the presents
I've never seen so many smiles.
I have blogged about how spring time here several times, Kudos to the Kiddos and What\’ Up Homey, and probably mentioned it several other times. However this year has been truly phenomenal. We always try to take advantage of any sunny spring day, and this year have almost all been warm and sunny. In fact I am sure we have spent more time laying in the sun this spring than all of last summer combined.
guess who?
Let Auntie get your bathing suit on you.
Because of the long dark winters, most Alaskans feel guilty wasting sunshine, especially unexpected sunshine, such as spring sunshine. So we do as much as we can outside for as long as we can. We eat, we sleep, we party, we play, we clean, and then we clean again,we try to blog but you can’t see the screen in the sun. You see we do not want to waste a precious minute of that liquid gold, even more so when it is 70 degrees out.
He had the best sunbathing outfit of us all
Jake, a true Alaskan hanging in the shade.
We have enjoyed a birthday party that involved sitting in the sun for four hours, we have played basketball and cleaned out the van, the garage and much more. We have been loving it and trying to take advantage of the 16 hour days, and I must tell you, it can be very exhausting trying to have all that fun. And all this before the kings or red salmon even show up!
- what is he looking at? Hey he’s not looking he’s……..
So this blog is dedicated to the best spring that I can remember, and I hope and pray the summer is the same. If so, then we will be so exhausted we may hibernate through the winter.
Happy Mother’s Day
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you moms out there. I know of no one that worries more, loves more, works more, prays more, cries more, stresses more, or is more proud of their kids. I know in my house growing up and in my house now, mom is the glue, nay the concrete that keeps the family together. I know as the kids in our house grow older they navigate closer to mom, they trust mom and mom is their comforter. I really don’t know what the heck I am even doing here? Blogging? Maybe that’s my role.
We always try to make Mother’s Day special for Tra, but it seems to me that special to her is spending time with her family, driving, dining and just chilling. So one of our traditions is to drive to Homer, walk the beach, play in the park and eat of course. It is usually a relaxing and enjoyable day for mom, no dishes no mess. Unfortunately today we could not because today is the day we have to drop Jo off for her visit, a terrible Mother’s Day event. However Tra did not let that dampen her day, except for maybe a few moments.
We love ya mommy!
Mommy's favorite Mother's Day activity.
I know we have a lot of moms that read this blog, perhaps wondering about a family of ten and how they do it. But perhaps being a mother of one can be just as difficult if not more than being a mother of eight. Remember the rules of percentage! Rules of Percentage Although we may be a somewhat unique family in America, we are just a family much like all of you doing the very best we can by putting God as the center of our life and by trusting him to guide us in the raising of our kids. It is truly enjoyable to share our life experiences with all of you and to all you mothers out there, my hat is off to you and I truly do not know how you do it. May God Bless you on this your day, oh and maybe the kids can clean the house for you today, ours did. (with a little prodding from dad… hey that’s another role for me!)
Mom's House
General Hospital
Another thing that others do not think about regarding those with a covey of kids is the hospital. Yes the hospital. You see the hospital gets to know your family very well. Lest you think it is just my maniacal wild family, well I guess it could be, but I doubt it, let it be known we know others who spend a lot of time at the hospital. Over the years we have had countless fevers, copious amounts of vomit, diarrhea ( just wanted to use that word in my blog) sore throats and more. We have also had several surgeries, stitches and more sprained ankles and knees than I care to recall ( hence my early retirement from the NBA the No-game basketball association). We have also had many more serious things such as broken bones, emergency surgery and more. Thus the hospital gets visited by the Godfrey ten almost as much as Walmart. We almost have paid for our own wing by now. Thus We are very thankful to have great insurance and a great hospital close by.
So Mr. Glenn, why are you writing about hospitals? Well this past winter Dorian went snowboarding and hurt his toe. He didn’t talk about it much for a month or so, and then it really started hurting. It turns out he had an ingrown toenail and he aggravated it by wearing too small of boots. That was at least six Dr. Visits, due to infection, and one small procedure, removing a portion of the nail. The following pictures are not of the toe nail, but of his 2006 snow machine accident.
2006 Dorian in the hospital right after arm and femur surgery
Jake and Dorian, best buds
Even with a broken wrist and femur he wouldn't miss fishing
Two days ago as I was waiting outside Ms. Vergine’s Dance Studio, where they have a parking spot named after me, one of my Ballerina Girl’s friends came out with her bag. She politely informed me that Alli had been injured, so I rushed in to her aid. Well maybe rush is too strong of word. Maybe I grunted and mumbled something rotten under my breath, but I did actually go in the building for the first time in eons. There she was helpless, moist eyes and limping. Being the super daddy I am I opened the door for her as she hobbled to the car. I did however carry her up the stairs at home.
Ballerina on crutches
Two days later another trip to the Doc. Dr. Innes informs us that surgery is imminent and necessary because her ACL, MTl, PTL, LOL, and AOL are all torn and need replacement. Needless to say Dr. Innes, who fixed Dorian’s broken bones, has worked his way onto our Christmas Card list once again. Perhaps he will be joining us for Thanksgiving Dinner as that is about when Alli will be done with her visits to his office.
Do not look at the below picture unless you like disgusting nasty jello looking stuff. You have been warned.
Please do not look at this if you have a weak stomach, or if you are a normal person.
Piano Performance and Recital 2009
For the regular readers of this blog, you know that I did a post on piano recitals not too long ago. If you need a refresher, you can read it here http://akgodfreys.com/2008/10/25/piano-recital2/
All smiles pre-recital
However, last night we had the real recital, the once of year gathering of proud paying parents from the peninsula, and we were the proudest. Okay, maybe not the proudest, there were a couple of parents there that brought the camera crew from NBC Nightly News, must be their first recital. Sad part is, when it is your first recital, it lasts about as long as it takes to take one picture.
Concentrating Kassie
Bee-bopping Ben
As I have mentioned before, recitals would be great if it were just your kids doing the reciting. But even for a family our size, we were only 10% of the act. To say it was torturous to sit through everyone else playing would definitely be an exaggeration, to say it was like being waterboarded, that would be more accurate. Don’t get me wrong, there were some great moments, like the little girl singing a solo and messing up and grunting in frustration; classic. Or the very mature lady, very mature, taking 6 minutes to play a one minute song. Now you may think I am being a little harsh, but let me ask you this, who was she playing for? Her parents? Remember, she is very very mature, much more so than me. ” That is not hard” I know I can hear you all screaming at the computer right now.
Jamming Jeremy
Octave Olivia
None-the-less, I enjoyed seeing my kids perform, nary a smile between the four of them. They have performed before, but not in front of a crowd of this magnitude. I estimate 3,000 to 4,000 people, oops added a couple zeros there, maybe 40 (including the performers) in attendance. Our kids were concentrating so hard, that they forgot to smile. But immediately, once they were done and their nerves relaxed, they could not help but smile. So at the request of our friends and relatives unable to attend (those poor souls) I have posted a video of all four kids. They were awesome, the best, and the video is only a few minutes long. Please enjoy.
