Now that we're home, some statistics...

The ferry ride home was both relaxing and successful. All of us were eager for a day or two away from the car and the Alaska Marine Highway System is a pleasant way to spend a bit of time, so it was a win all the way around.

All along this excursion, we've been asked a whole lot of questions about our road trips; everything from how we maintain our sanity, to how much it costs, to how our kids handle the drive, you name it. Now that we're home, I thought this a perfect time to outline our excursion in a strictly statistical manner (in the spirit of a similar post). Hopefully, this will give everyone a better picture of how we do what we do.

• We left 57 days ago.
• We drove (round-trip) 8,064 miles.
• 365.4 gallons of gas were used.
• $1438.16 was spent on gas at an average rate of $3.94 per gallon. (Note: fuel is significantly more expensive in Canada)
• We averaged 22 miles per gallon in our 2005 Nissan Pathfinder, carrying the equivalent of 6 adult passengers (in weight) both directions.
• In order in maximize our gas mileage, traveling speed was maintained at 65mph or the posted speed limit, whichever was lower.
• An average day on the road was 8.5-9 hours of driving, which is 10-11 hours with stops included.
• The average distance traveled per day was 520 miles. (Note: this average does not include any in-town driving, once we arrived in Cleveland.)
• Car maintenance totaled $515.90. (Note: this total includes a replaced tail light, in addition to oil changes/tire rotations and general safety checks.)
• Tickets for 2 adults, 2 children, 1 pet, and 1 15-foot vehicle (round-trip) from Sitka to Prince Rupert, BC with a state room each way are $982. (Note: enormous gratitude goes out to Cindy for bearing the financial burden of this part of our trip.)
• Pet-friendly hotel rooms for 11 nights were rented at an average rate of $117 per night. (Note: Canadian hotels are significantly more expensive.)
• Coupons, AAA discounts, and hotel search aggregator websites were used to find the most reasonable rates available.
• Meals while en route averaged about $60 per day for 20 days.
• Most breakfasts were provided by hotels.
• Snacks were purchased in advance of departure to deter extra spending.
• Meals varied from fast food to ethnic restaurants, depending on availability and time.
• International transaction fees accrued for using a US credit card in Canada totaled $19.36.
• We had a total of 6 border crossings between the US and Canada.
• Nika failed to bark obnoxiously at the fifth crossing.
• Two veterinary visits were required for border crossing, totaling $245.74 (Note: pet travel papers are valid for only 30 days.)
• Cat-sitting services while we were away totaled $100.
• National Park fees totaled $56
• 2 US National Parks, 2 Canadian National Parks, and 1 Natural Wonder of the World were visited on this trip.

Note: none of these dollar totals include our time in Cleveland, except gas.

• The children amused themselves with books and toys about 20% of the time on the road, sight-seeing about 50% of the time, eating 10% of the time, sleeping 10% of the time, and asking about the next hotel 10% of the time.
• The alphabet game was played daily (sometimes more than once).
• There were no more than 5 sibling disputes in a single day.
• iTunes purchases, including audio books and music for traveling totaled $185.74.
• Raven Radio - KCAW, Sitka was missed at least 57 times on this trip.
• Porter began and completed potty training during this trip. (Note: earlier attempts were made and failed.)
• Nika made 0 messes on this trip.
• Unless you count hair. Ugh.

License Plate Game results:

• Every US state, except Hawaii
• Colville Indian Reservation (WA)
• US State Department
• Canadian Plates
• Alberta
• British Columbia
• Manitoba
• New Brunswick
• Ontario
• Quebec
• Saskatchewan
• Yukon Territory
• Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Overall, it was a good trip. We saw some cool stuff, spent time with family, met some new people, and had plenty of time on the road to hang out with each other and enjoy just being ourselves. Some of the best adventures aren't about the destination, so much as the people you travel with.

Then again, it's always nice to come home to your own bed.

Fall is here...

Fall is a four-letter word. In our house, it means there's a whole lot of work to be done before our schedules sort themselves out and we can settle into our respective roles at home and in the community. From here I'll just go down the list, one by one, so you can get an idea of what we're up to this time of year and how we get ourselves prepared for the next 9 months.

JoElle

I've quit my summer job at Mountain Miss/Work & Rugged Gear and I'm settling into a new job, serving and training to tend bar at Bayview Restaurant & Pub. It's true that working at the clothing stores was just a summer job, but the main reason I left was because they weren't able to work around my schedule, since having Stephen back at work means that I am only available nights and weekends. Truth be told, it's not necessary for me to work, however much our bank accounts are helped by me doing so. I just like having a reason to get out of the house and interacting with different people.

Speaking of getting out of the house, I'm also enrolled full time at University of Alaska Southeast, studying to complete my Associate's degree in Health Education. I'm taking 15 credits this semester, including Introduction to Psychology (on-site), American Sign Language I (on-site),  Weight Training for Women (on-site), Intermediate Algebra (distance), and Music Appreciation (distance). It's notable that this is the first time I've taken any live, on-site college courses, so I am experiencing a little bit of a learning curve in getting everything going, but I've started all but one of my courses (my first ASL class meets today) and I'm really enjoying everything so far.

Between work and school, I'm kept pretty busy running around, but they just fill the time when I'm not at home with Porter during the day and taking care of our household.

Stephen

Stephen is back to work after a long and somewhat relaxing summer. He is working on exciting things for the MEHS music program this year. Besides his regular music, rock band, and choir classes, he is also gearing up for Southeast Music Festival, hosted in Sitka this year, and working on a radio club that will take students to our local Public Radio station and teach them to run soundboards and dj, create radio programs, conduct interviews and share stories, and collaborate with their community for content. This, of course, is in addition to the fortnightly College Radio show he co-hosts with our good friend, Cassidy Patnoe.

If that wasn't enough, Stephen has also involved himself pretty heavily in a community playground project that will hopefully erect a family-friendly, ADA-compliant, and endowment-maintained community-built playground in 2013.

Seren

Seren might be the busiest of us all this school year. She has started full-day Kindergarten at the SEER School, a private elementary school near our house. The theme for learning this year is World History, so she will learn about different cultures and adventurers, get plenty of physical activity while discovering the cultural and natural aspects of our own community, and learn some Spanish from guest instructor, Maite Lorente, who is also the children's librarian at Kettleson Memorial Library.

Additionally, I am going to be working closely with her participation in a brand new 4H program that has been started in Sitka and she is slated to start Pee Wee Wrestling in January, which is coached by MEHS's own Japanese teacher and Wrestling coach, Mike Kimber.

Porter

Somehow, even with all the craziness that the rest of us have going on, Porter only spends ~8 hours per week at daycare. The rest of the time, he and I pal around the house while Seren and Stephen are at school. Porter is still too young to have too much going on outside the home, but he is still in speech therapy and doing well. So well, in fact, that he has been reduced from visiting his speech therapist down from once a week to once every other week. If his ability keeps improving in the way it has been for the last few moths, his visits will drop down to once a month. He now has a vocabulary of around 60 words and uses 2- and 3-word phrases occasionally. Now that he has a vocabulary strong enough to make requests and identify his surroundings, we are working on verbs, spacial awareness, and abstract concepts like feelings and memories.

He is also very close to being completely potty-trained, which means more freedom for him to do the things he likes to do and less hassle for his parents (us), which is always a high priority. Along with the transition from diapers to jockeys, we have replaced his toddler bed (actually his sister's toddler bed, which is now a frame for her full-size mattress) with a real "big-boy" twin-size bed. He loves his new bed and all the extra room it gives him. He also likes that we can sit in bed with him to cuddle, read, or whatever.

...And that's about it. *Whew!* If all that isn't enough to keep us out of trouble, I'm certain nothing will.

We hope all of you are settling into your own cool-weather schedules with ease. As always, we appreciate all the questions and comments everyone leaves on our blog. We enjoy hearing from you and it gives us a reason to write updates more frequently.

Sitka Farmer's Market July 16, 2011

Watch for a picture of our Seren & Porter eating pickled asparagus and then keep watching to see all the fresh produce and cool stuff grown and made in our own community!

Special thanks to Emily Bender and Raven Radio KCAW - Sitka for taking these awesome pictures and releasing this great slideshow!