Home again and other good news

After a long morning of travel and a completely uneventful flight, Seren and I are home and in our own beds. Porter and Stephen were very happy to see us, but since Stephen is working today (in-service before school starts), we weren't able to spend much time together. Good thing there's an entire weekend ahead of us!

Seren's eye looks great. There's no bruising or redness of any kind. She's unhappy about having to use antibiotic drops for the next 5 days, but it's better than getting an infection. When it's all over, she'll be grateful we put in the extra effort to do everything correctly.

....…….……..................................

I didn't mention it before, because I didn't want the news to be overshadowed by Seren's surgery, but while we were in Anchorage, I received a pretty important phone call. Right after we all returned from our cross-country excursion, Porter and I both had our annual doctor visits scheduled. Porter had some blood work done and the results are in...

You may recall that Porter has had a struggle with some food allergies during the last year. At one point, we had removed milk, soy, wheat, eggs, and peanuts from his diet entirely. To make matters worse, he would break out in head-to-toe eczema when exposed to these foods, in addition to the gastro-intestinal problems they caused. We did our best to make sure he was able to eat "real" food that tasted good, despite all of those missing ingredients from his diet.

Well, the call I received was from our family doctor. She said that his allergy screen came back 100% negative! That's right, he can eat ANYTHING he wants again... with one concession: although he is no longer allergic to these foods, he may still have a sensitive stomach when exposed to them. So, we have to watch for signs of discomfort, but aside from that, he is entirely in the clear! We are very happy about this and extremely proud of Porter for doing so well in situations when foods he was not allowed to have were present. In fact, when he was given his first egg this week, he had to be convinced it was okay to eat it!

Thank you all (again) for the love and support while we dealt with this. This last year was a struggle, but we're on the other side now and truly grateful for all of the tips and advice that were sent our way. We wouldn't have been able to find some of the wonderful foods we discovered on this journey or cope with the dramatic change to our dinner table without your help.

taking in some scenery

I've been taking pictures all over town of pretty areas, broad seascapes, and scenic views from unlikely places. I wanted to share some of these with you so that you can get an idea of what we see all around us every day. I hope you enjoy these sights as much as I do. :)

One of my favorite spots to look out into the ocean is from the parking lot of the grocery store, located about ¼ of a mile down the hill from our house.

Shore and islands viewable from the Seamart parking lot.

More view from Seamart.

Same parking lot.

Obligatory sun-shining-on-the-water picture, taken at the Seamart parking lot.

The shoreline on a different day.

View of MEHS from Seamart's parking lot.

If we paid enough attention, we'd see dozens of float planes like this one every day.

Even McDonald's has a fantastic view of the marina from their main dining room!

McDonald's tabletop overlooking the marina.

I've talked about the view from our living room before, but here are better pictures:

View of Japonski Island (MEHS on the left), taken from our front porch.

MEHS and lots of sky.

And the view from Mt. Edgecumbe High School's parking lot is just as spectacular.

Marina and mountains viewable from MEHS Parking lot. (Look familiar at all? --Stephen)

Boat heading into the marina.

Same boat, different perspective.

O'Connell Bridge, as seen from MEHS.

Downtown Sitka.

More of the marina.

We spent an afternoon at the Old Sitka State Historical Park, just checking out plants and mussels that had washed up on the shore and skipping stones. These pictures were taken there:

A little bit of shoreline.

A dead tree on the pebbly beach.

More beach.

Sparkling water.

Just a beautiful day to be near the water.

Mountains and placid pools.

Seren trying to decide if the water is too cold to try out. (Hint: It is!)

Kind of reminds me of "One Morning In Maine."

Clear pools and water trickling down the rocks.

Driftwood.

More driftwood.

A small island nearby.

Throwing rocks.

Pretty little flowers in the grass.

Finally, here are just a few pictures taken from the downtown area:

O'Connell Bridge as seen from Baranof Castle.

Different perspective.

Totem Square.

sometimes it's good to just be around the people you care about

I wanted to come straight home and write this post tonight because I wanted whatever remnants of this day to find their way into what you are now reading. Today was a dreadfully long day for all four of us and, at the same time, it was one of the best days I've had in a very long time.

We started out this afternoon at my sister's house for my niece's birthday party. It was nothing fancy, just a backyard barbecue and a whole lot of family. I've never been hugely motivated to go to family functions, but I was definitely reminded today of how important it is to see everyone whenever you can.

Our next venue was all the way on the other side of the Valley, at McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale, AZ. This was where we held our farewell party for those who could be there to see us off. I have to recognize those who shared this day with us: Dad & Gail, Jimmy & Claire, Kristin & Dave, Jaime & Dave, Veronika & Viktor, Gordon, Glory & Jack, Doug, Julie & Todd, Heather & Tim, Roger & Becky, Amber, Don & Sarah, and ALL of their children who spent the evening making Seren feel special. I wish I had the words to express to you just how much tonight has meant to me, that my heart is somewhere between breaking from the loss I already feel from knowing that it will be some time before I see any of you again and bursting with the love and support I received from each and every one of you. My only regret is that we did not have more opportunity to see everyone more frequently before this enormous change came into our lives.

The most difficult part of today is knowing that we do not have any more opportunities to visit with any of you who did not make it out tonight. We wish there was more time, but we just can't manage another trip down to the Valley. The movers will arrive on Thursday and we will be on the road Friday morning.

But all is not sad. You will be able to follow our adventures here and continue talking to us by phone or Internet. We hope you will do these things and leave your comments on this blog so we can better share this Alaskan Adventure with you. This is not goodbye, only a heartfelt farewell until we see you next.