My first week of summer has been pretty mellow. I got the garden put in, and River and I have been busy selling thousands of dollars worth of plants. (Pics attached.) River has been climbing, paddle boarding, skiing, sledding, attending bonfires, and hunting bears and mushrooms. Elias is working on a trail crew in Chugach State Park, and he'll be camping out 4 days a week in the backcountry with his crew every week this summer. They'll be working on the South Fork trail most of the summer.

We ended up canceling our yearly Memorial Day halibut fishing trip due to bad weather, but honestly, I desperately needed a few days to catch up on life, and I'm glad we stuck around this weekend.

I'm currently writing this draft letter on lunch break for my AP Lang training. While I'm not thrilled about being in a classroom at the moment, I'm trying to look at this as a way to be a better "gift" and to show more love to next year's students and you guys in a couple of years. After this training is over, real summer begins.

Salmon fishing, hiking, and gold prospecting are the first items on my list, and we'll see where the summer goes from there!

*My father-in-law and I built our house entirely ourselves when I was in my early twenties, and my in-laws live right across the street. Over the years, we've had chickens, ducks, and milk goats. We live up on a really steep lot on Bear Mountain. The state park is right outside our front door, and wildlife like bears, moose, and lynx often visit.