OBESITY IS CHRONIC among all American children, not just those in the 49th state, but it still shocks me - 1 in 3 kids begin school overweight. The contributing factors are many - too much screen time, more working parents, lack of urban planning etc. Even our food is less healthy. 

Summer break has arrived in Alaska, depositing thousands of children and their families in the swirling, whirling world of the midnight sun, chock-full of outdoor activities, including those of the food-related kind.

Calypso Farm and Ecology Center, Ester, AK:
Trying a carrot fresh from the soil! 

When our family travels, no matter where we travel, mealtime is often a highlight of the day. Whether we’re exploring a new restaurant or packing a picnic dinner for a mountain trail, it’s fun to share breakfast, lunch or dinner someplace different. But how healthy, really, are our choices? Oh, I try to stick to my guns for the majority of our travel time, insisting upon fruit and/or veggies at every meal, but frankly, after a few days, I become rather lax about this rule. Apple pie for breakfast? Why not. Dr. Pepper with lunch and dinner? Okay. 

I’ve made a promise to myself - this summer will be different. Alaska is flush with healthy food choices, both of the restaurant and farm variety. Maybe, just maybe, if we involve our timid eater (did I mention I am raising the World’s Pickiest?), our mealtime outcomes will be a bit more on the healthy side of things. 

What’s our strategy? Education is a strong factor in enticing our son to pick healthy menu items instead of just being picky. Knowing where a certain food originates is part of the plan. We adore Calypso Farm and Ecology Center near Fairbanks, where the whole family can participate in learning about food, eating, and growing a garden of healthy foods. Milk a goat, pick a carrot, or make a pizza in their wood-fired oven, all while receiving practical advice from an extremely dedicated staff and volunteer force. Find the farm in the town of Ester, a short drive from Fairbanks, and consider attending their annual Open House, July 22.

Shopping for food is important, too. We generally tend to eat breakfast and lunch in our cabin, hotel room, or on the road, noshing on foods we’ve found at local farmers’ markets or the grocery store. Alaska has so many outdoor markets, in just about every community of the state, and we love to wander the grounds, listen to music, and become a temporary part of a town’s fabric. The Alaska Farmers Market Association is a coalition of farmers and markets around the state, offering a big list of those to visit. Buy some local produce, bread, jam, and cheese, then enjoy your own Alaska picnic. Life doesn’t get much simpler, or better, than that. 

Exercising is key to a healthy appetite, too, we’ve found. A brisk walk, bike ride, or kayak paddle before mealtime can be just the thing to make young tummies growl with hunger, resulting in kids who are more inclined to eat the good stuff. If eating out, I usually order an “appetizer” plate of raw veggies and dip before our main course, and with good results, since my kiddo is starving after a full day of Alaska fun. 

Eating together is a precious time of day, one that should provide not only physical sustenance, but emotional nutrition, too. Why not make it a time of discovery and discussion, while on the road this summer? 

Follow the Kirkland family’s adventures at AKontheGO.com.

THE VISITOR SEASON has arrived! Cruise ships now tied up to the docks daily in our downtown area. The skies overhead are often filled with the varied sounds of aircraft taking guests on once-in-a-lifetime adventures in our backyard. It is difficult to be in any area of our town without seeing some effects of the many visitors to our community. My first summer in Alaska and many more were made possible by the strong visitor economy that exists in this state. My partner also spent many years in the guests and hospitality economy that supported our way of life. For these strong connections to our history the summer visitor season is a time of year that we appreciate.

Just hangin' out on Mendenhall Glacier...

Our oldest son has had exposure to cruise ships since the first months of his life and he prefers to call them “rocket ships.” Although we have had many frustrations with many of the visitors that we have experienced over the years we never cast them in a negative "ugh tourists" light to our boys. For the most part we have many reasons to enjoy and celebrate the visitor industry that affects so many Alaskans in various ways.

Here are 4 reasons to appreciate and welcome visitors to our state.

1. Economic boost. Visitors are renewable resources that leave money in our state supporting local businesses, families, and municipality sales tax.

2. Unique seasonal opportunities. There are restaurants, visitor centers, and tours that are only available during the visitor season that our family can enjoy as well. Many of these opportunities would not be possible and/or affordable for our family without the tourism infrastructure.

3. Reminder of privilege. Every guest that I see in our community reminds me how much people seek Alaska’s grandeur, beauty, and uniqueness. I use this as a reminder of how privileged we are to be able to call this state home and truly experience what this state has to offer.

4. Showing our best. There are many misconceptions about Alaskans. I value the exercise and investment that many people undertake to journey to the state. I know their experiences can give them a better perspective of who we are and what we value.

Visiting the hatchery in Juneau

We are a family that prioritizes travel and new experiences. We strive to treat the visitors to our community with the friendliness and respect that we hope to find when we leave the comforts of the 49th state. Perspective and comparisons for us are valuable along with the experience of travel itself.  

Today we set-out for the lower 48 in the quest for warm sunshine and some quality family time together! We hope to be welcomed and appreciated as visitors in another state.

LAST TUESDAY I graduated from high school. I think it's sunk in by now...  

I've had to come into the school in the last few days for AP tests and AP classes, but I feel different about walking those halls now. My friend summed it up the day after our last when he turned to me while frolfing and said, with a humorous indifference while gesturing towards the school, "I used to go there." It was a joke, but it was funnier because it was true. We both knew that we were done with high school, whether we liked it or not.

The ceremony itself felt like a dream. I sat on the front corner, due to luck and my nerd status (summa cum laude). Because of this, I led half of the graduates out. 

Even though we were now adults in the eyes of society, we were still kids. During a stunning farewell performance of "We are the World," one of my friends stood up, looked at the camera, and said "Hi Mom!" Four months ago, I probably wouldn't have found that funny. But now I laughed – no need to act more mature than I feel. I know that I have a limited time left to be a kid, so I'm going to embrace that.

In my opinion, the best part of graduations is the aftermath - all the graduates on the floor celebrating together. I gave hugs to practically everyone I knew, because that might have been the last time I'd ever see them. That's the saddest part of graduation - to get to where you're going next, you have to leave everything else behind. But I'm not sad enough to try to stay in high school, along with the rest of my class.  

If these last four years were fun, I can't wait to see what I do with the next four.

MY HIGH SCHOOL graduation gifts consisted of a Eurail Pass and padded bicycle shorts. One week after receiving my diploma, I began a two-month, two-wheeled journey across Europe, courtesy of my parents. Accompanied by two German teachers and 18 peers, I saw Holland, France, East and West Germany and Czechoslovakia from the vantage points of dusty country lanes, designated bike paths, and busy city streets. 

Each morning, our chaperones would check our physical condition, feed us the local breakfast and establish an estimated arrival time at the next destination. Riding in groups of three or so, we were then released to the whims of the road in a not-so-subtle introduction to the speed of Life. Over the course of 60 days, my cohorts and I learned how to convert miles to kilometres, fix flat tires, and dance the polka. I fell in love, and then out again, discovered beer, and began a mental wrestling match about my subsequent success or failure of an upcoming college soccer career as I pedaled along the lonely backroads. 

The more I travel, the more I recall this trip in 1986 and my parents’ decision to allow their sheltered 17-year old daughter to traipse in and out of Communist Europe, often in the company of other, equally sheltered, teenagers. How wise they were, as I look back and wonder at these defining moments of my transition to young adulthood, as fresh in my memory now as they were 26 years ago. 

If I was speaking to the Class of 2012, I’d tell them to travel somewhere this summer. Exactly where doesn’t matter as much as how. Ride the Alaska Marine Highway, taking note of who shares the ride, and why. Sketch, write, or record a journal of the adventure, including the misadventures, for these are the snapshots worth viewing much later as pinnacles of growth. Get in the car and drive north to Denali National Park and camp, taking advantage of an opportunity to witness this landscape, gazed an entire lifetime, perhaps, but never taken as an intimate partner in this deft dance toward adulthood.

The Alaska ferry: hosting recent grads for decades...

From this moment on, the journey is what offers the most joy, with a wide open world ready to accept this youthful, boundless acceptance for new experiences and new people. For at the moment when a tassel is moved from right to left, children sprout wings of independence and sink roots of values, and this is where parents hope and pray the two shall forever be intertwined. 

I remember my father’s face as I looked back before entering the jetway back in June of 1986. We had spent an hour discussing international phone calls, money exchanges, and navigation, sitting there in the gate area. I was anxious, he was apprehensive. But as I turned my head and caught one last look at the people who had gently pushed me out of my secure nest, there was nothing but pride, there. 

Just look where it took me. 

Follow Erin’s Alaska adventures at AKontheGO.com

I AM MAXED or stressed in almost every aspect of my life! Deadlines are arriving and staring me down only to be followed with another deadline. My workload is heavy and my volunteerism commitments are expanding and demanding more attention. My partner’s workload is just as heavy as mine which only adds to the intensity of our lives. Our weekend activities are robust and provide no reprieve although they do provide some good family time.  Our family vacation is just two weeks away and I know it will come soon because I have lists of things to do every day between now and then.

A weekend stroll to manage some stress

Added to the mix of controlled madness we have had two visits by good friends. We made time in the schedule of our lives because these are friendships with longevity that have remained strong throughout the different stages of our lives. No matter how busy and spent I am prioritizing friendships is a close second to prioritizing my family. The brief moments together also provided perspective, escape and a short reprieve from our lists and Must-Dos.

A visiting friend lends a hand with the bedtime routine

Our family routine is what is keeping me grounded in these frantic days before we have the gift of 2 ½ weeks of time together. Our boys thrive and often demand adherence to a routine.  Yes we are flexible and make changes, additions, and exceptions to the routine but maintain a framework that they are accustomed to. Our youngest son, now almost 9-months, seems to be the most sensitive to the routine and he is still painfully teething.

The push to make the most out of good weather has thankfully excused itself with the return of Southeast moisture. I always prefer sunshine but this change in weather has made me less frantic to accomplish a list of things to do outside.

If it's raining in Juneau, get wet inside!

It is now humorous and ironic that in my first years of fatherhood I felt like the family demand and schedule were a hindrance and now it is my haven. A normal night at home with dog walk, dinner, some play time, and bathing is providing a necessary buffer between my alarm demanding attention and the wheels of the day rolling the moments my feet touch the floor. And always in the forefront of my brain is the thought to whether or not our sons are getting the attention that they need and deserve.  If they are not in this brief period of heightened demands I know they will on our time OUT as a family. 

I think I can. I think I can. I think I can!