Thank you Grandma Mary... When she found out that Sven was going to Hawaii to deliver a keynote speech at the Western Museums Conference she said, "Why don't you take your wife?" Smart woman. And then when I found out that MY mom was going to be visiting in Kodiak I immediately took up the grandmas on their idea (why didn't WE think of that?!). So it was short (3 nights, 4 days) but it was worth it- and the direct Anchorage- Honolulu flight of 6 1/2 hours made it a breeze. Honolulu was lovely- Aloha day parade, great beaches, fantastic food, but the people were the thing that surprised us the most. So wonderful, down to earth and 'island style'.
Morning Swim
Fish's good friend Tracy from Grad. school who now lives in Honolulu with her lovely family!
Climbing Diamond Head early in the morning- trying not to get trampled by the 200 Japanese tourists in fancy shoes.
Freckles!
Ummmm..... so long story.... All was well until I decided to stick a lava rock in my backpack (which apparently is very bad juju). Sven and I, and our poor friend Ed who rented the car, decided to do one last swim trip before we headed to the airport, and of course the backpack locked itself in the trunk with the keys. An hour of waiting in the dusk for the road side service people to come left us feeling very hopeless, until a lovely friendly guy drove up with all of the right tools and got us in (and would accept no $). We were all very relieved, as this left us exactly enough time to get to the airport.
But alas, the keys were not in the trunk, and it rapidly dawned on us that in fact the keys must be in the ocean where Ed had been taking some huge waves. Darkness descended and we sat in our beach clothes on a curb and started talking about how we would reschedule our flights when the service guy pulled in, looked at our faces and said, "Hey, I drive fast- I'll get you to the airport!". Sure enough, we ran into Honolulu Airport, sand flying off our toes, water bottles clanging to the ground, Sven's wood knocking over not-so-friendly tourists, with literally 5 minutes to spare before our flight was closed. After cutting to the front of the security line we arrived to a packed, annoyed looking plane. But we were happy, in all of our dishevelment and salt-encrustation. All was well, and all was redeemed by people's kindness....
And there go the keys....
Morning Swim 
Ummmm..... so long story.... All was well until I decided to stick a lava rock in my backpack (which apparently is very bad juju). Sven and I, and our poor friend Ed who rented the car, decided to do one last swim trip before we headed to the airport, and of course the backpack locked itself in the trunk with the keys. An hour of waiting in the dusk for the road side service people to come left us feeling very hopeless, until a lovely friendly guy drove up with all of the right tools and got us in (and would accept no $). We were all very relieved, as this left us exactly enough time to get to the airport. 
Oh my goodness- our little one is in elementary school! And boy, was she ready... Bella was so excited to be able to have the same wonderful kindergarten teacher that her sister had, the amazingly sweet and patient Anne Oliver, whom I went to school with and whose son I teach this year. It's a very special year....
The first week of August brings the annual Alitak family camp. The girls have skipped a couple of years, but Sven has gone faithfully for I think 11 years! The camp is a different sort- people bring activities for the kids, but the kids aren't forced to participate and there is a lot of unstructured time for kids to play, carve, do art and connect to the beautiful place. The Alitak petroglyphs lie in a couple different locations on a long, skinny strip of land jutting out into the Shelikof straits. On one side the petroglyphs face the open sea and feature sea animals and whales, on the other side they face the bay and feature faces. There are various theories about why this is, but the theories evolve constantly as we find out more. Every year that Sven has gone he has learned something new, refined his map of the area, or found new petroglyphs!
Cecile doing a rubbing
