Dolly Varden Lake Cabin...

The summer is coming to a close in Alaska and we wanted to get the most out of it. Kaitlyn starts kindergarten on Monday and we wanted one last family trip before it school starts. We went to the Dolly Varden Lake Cabin last year with the Hansens. We had such a great time that we decided to do it again this year. I have gotten a few comments from some of my friends that the kids always seem so well behaved. As you can see by the pictures they are... Kali, smiling on the boat ride, Kaitlyn driving the boat and having so much fun. Kali gently helping her brother through the forest. Owen standing so reverently and obediently on the boat next to his sister.
The term still shot is very true in our family. For a brief second (usually less than 1/60 of a second) the kids are great. Kali really did have her arm around Owen, this was right before she tried to push him in the Lake. Owen was being obedient, right before he screamed at his sister, climbed on the seat and tried to kamicazi out of the boat into the lake. Kaitlyn was very independent driving the boat, until she almost ran aground.

There is always a tremendous amount of work to get all the stuff packed, the kids loaded and drive to our destination. The trip to the cabin was even more memorable (not a good thing) than normal. The drive to the lake is about 35 minutes on a bumpy dirt road. As luck would have it, it began to rain, not just a sissy rain but a downpour. Angela and I thought, hey maybe it will stop by the time we get to the lake, No. Kaitlyn started going into a panic about the road flooding. She had seen something on the news about China flooding, apparently the images were disturbing. The only thing that calmed her down was the fact that I said we were pulling the boat and we could all jump in if it flooded too much. The whole time Kaitlyn was freaking out Kali was sleeping. We finally made it to the lake, rain still dumping and Kali waking up. She caught the tail end of Kaitlyn's fit and was able to pick up the baton and run with it. She started wigging out about the rain and the fact that we were all going to die.
Usually I have my camera out for tender moments like this but I didn't want to drown my little precious (yes the camera, not Kali). You will have to use your minds eye to picture the scene. I would like to say that I acted compassionately and lovingly like a father should, but I was threatening to beat everyone. It was an ugly event. Don't be judgmental, if you have kids, you have dealt with something like this. Eventually (about 45 minutes later) we made it across the lake and into the dry cabin. Angela will fill you in on the ensuing events tomorrow night. Stay tuned. ~Erik
Here are all the Dolly Varden Cabin Posts... Post 2, Post 3, Post 4