3 Years of Trekking Together!

If I had only thought to bring a camera on our first Trek! I would love to see this photo side by side with that one!

Yesterday was the Taiga Trekkers 3rd Anniversary Trek, and a great reason to celebrate the miles, the stories and the bonds we have shared over the years. Above is a picture of me and Casey. Casey was the only other mama who showed up to that very first Trek, with her little girl. We walked along the Coastal Trail and immediately bonded. Lots of "My kid does that too!" moments. The ones you need, as a parent, to know you are not alone in this journey... and maybe you might actually be doing something right. Casey wasn't at our anniversary hike in person last year. She was in our thoughts, though physically she was in Texas receiving treatment for Lymphoma. Just this past week she was again in Texas to check the progress of her treatment - and all tests indicated her body is CANCER FREE! Despite having only a few hours of sleep yesterday (she flew back to Anchorage the night before), she packed up both her kids to come celebrate with us. During the past year Casey bravely, honestly & humbly blogged about her experiences and revelations through the "adventure" of cancer and life. Her unrelenting positive attitude and fierce ambition to live life to the fullest really spurred me on and gave me perspective as I was battling postpartum depression. Today was a truly a day to honor life and friendships!

We only did about a mile on the Chester Creek Trail from Goose Lake today. The "big boys" agenda was more of the off-roading, path less taken variety. Most of the time was spent playing at the playground and sharing treats we all brought for the potlatch after. A momma and yearling moose paid us a closer than comfortable visit on the playground, we kept the kids corralled on the equipment while they sauntered by. Many RSVPed, but I suspect didn't show because of the 18 inches of snow we've received in the week since our last Trek. The 0 degrees F when waking this morning was rather depressing. My 4 year keeps saying "When it is really Spring out, can we...?"

An enormous thank you also goes out to Amanda & Lia for keeping Trekkers going while my family and I were adventuring around Kodiak for many months this past year!

Thank you again to all the families who have joined us over the years! We plan to keep on Trekking! You might notice though, that I'm not as in to following up Treks on the blog these days. Keeping up with these two little guys, and being present while doing it is taking #1 priority in my life right now. I'll continue to post when the moment moves me.

Here are some favorite photos from Treks over the past 3 years! Oh the memories!