Clothing update

Now that my full-time job is done until Labor Day and we are almost in June, the trip is becoming even more of a reality.   I received the new camera lens and I am happy with it.  It seems sharper than the 50-200mm zoom I've been using for years, and I've been having fun photographing Earnest and his Little League teammates.

I started purchasing "Alaska clothing" in October, but took a fairly long hiatus once the initial rush had passed.  Over Memorial Day weekend, we (all five of us) made a concerted effort to shop together.  This is what I am planning for each of us as special "Alaska clothing" that we wouldn't normally take on a vacation.

• Hiking boots--Only Chretien had these.  We purchased mine in October from Timberland during a Columbus Day sale, and I finally took them out to start breaking them in on our marathon shopping expedition this past weekend.  We got Earnest a pair from REI on clearance, and we ordered Trust and Imp theirs from Backcountry.  (And we learned that Trust and Imp, 4.5 years apart, have the same size 5 foot, which amused me.  The boys are catching up!)

• Binoculars--the kids each received a pair for Christmas from my sister. I have my new lens, so I will probably view a lot of the wildlife and glaciers through that.  My parents have given us two pairs of binoculars that they no longer have a need for, so Chretien may use one of those.

• Rain coat--Trust and I each have a Columbia rain jacket which I bought on deep clearance last Labor Day (right before we bought the tickets to Alaska), since we needed rain jackets anyway.  I bought the two boys Marmot PreCip rain jackets on Ebay in October.  Chretien bought a rain jacket at Columbia on Monday.  

• Rain pants--None of us had these.  Chretien and I found ours on Amazon.  I got the three kids theirs on Ebay (including one seller from Alaska!)  My parents gave us these for Christmas.

• Heavy wool socks--Chretien and the kids have some from skiing.  I bought a bunch of pairs for me and the kids at Target on deep discount on Good Friday.  I think we will each have about 2-3 pairs.  I figure, we won't need them every day, so we should be OK.

• Base layers--Chretien has many sets of Hot Chillys he uses for skiing.  Earnest has two sets of kids Cuddl Duds tops and bottoms (Climatesmart) for skiing, which I didn't realize until I started pulling things out last week.  Imp has one set of kids Cuddl Duds, so I got him another from Ebay.   I bought Trust a "Thermal" set of Cuddl Duds on Ebay and a black pair of pants from REI.  I am still looking for one more base layer shirt for her.  For myself, I bought a Cuddl Duds Climatesmart shirt on Amazon and some pants at REI.  I also bought myself a set of 32 Degrees Heat base layer on Ebay.  

•  Hiking pants--Chretien bought two pairs of convertible hiking pants at Columbia.  Trust and I each scored one pair of convertible pants and another slightly heavier pair which are not convertible but will probably be fine when we do something near glaciers on one of the day trips on the boats.  I want us each to have one more pair, so I am stalking Ebay right now.  For Earnest, I have one pair I won on Ebay and am looking for another, and Imp still needs two pair.

• Tights--Before I thought it through regarding base layers, I bought Trust and I some heavy tights.  Turns out that they run small, so they are sort of useless anyway.  Thankfully, I only spent $10 for the three pairs on Ebay.  

Although I am doing fairly well at not spending a ton on these items, because there are five of us, the costs are going to add up.  Still, though, we want to be warm and comfortable, because we aren't the type who normally stop for rainy days.