Year in review

Well I am not going to be able to get Christmas cards out so I thought I would use my blog as a way to get it out.
Our year was crazy! We started out the year in Washington and ended it in Alaska. The kids have grown my leaps and bounds. Gabe is in 6th grade this year and is getting ready to go into a Robotics program with his youth group. Along with this he is starting to get into soccer and swimming. Harmon is in 4th grade and and is in the school's computer club. He loves it, the boy loves his technology. Chris is in 2nd grade and is FULL of energy. He is also the family comedian, always trying to get someone to smile. Eve is in kindergarten, she was so excited to get to get to go to school with her brothers finally! They have all managed to keep us busy!
As for Scotty and I, we are both doing well. Scotty has had quite a year with learning a new job while recooping from a small injury. It gave him an opportunity to gain a new respect to all sides of taking care of his soldiers. The move to Alaska has given him the chance to get back into turning wrenches and he took took off at full speed with it. As for me I spent most of the year volunteering with Army Family Team Building and my unit's Family Readiness Group. I loved working in both arenas, but was looking forward to the move to Alaska for the chance to slow down. Well that changed when I was offered an actual paying job, working in the family programs of a unit. I am stoked to get a chance to work with Army families.
We are loving our new home in Alaska. It has been extremely cold but it is beautiful here and feels like home. I hope all of you have a great holiday season and that the new year brings you nothing but good and happiness.

Craziness

Well all I can say about this week is that it has been insanely crazy. Scotty is working from 0730-

Playing with ice?!

One of the things that Alaskans seem to do a lot of is play with ice. They actually have ice scultpure competitions. One that is held every year is done at Christmas time and is call Christmas in Ice. and of course it is done in the North Pole next to Santa Claus's house. So we had to go check it out. The Santa Claus house was awesome, and I swear to all that is holy that the REAL Santa lives there. The ice sculptures themselves were unreal. This angel was one of my favorites, they also had a Santa Claus that had a city etched in the bottom. The kid's favorites were the ice slides. You got on a sled and went down these slides at mach speed, scared the crap out of me! but the kids absolutely loved it. I can't wait to see the world ice scupture competition in March.

Stop over in Juneau

Our ferry ride north had a layover in Juneau. We got into Juneau at 230am and went to a Walmart parking lot and crashed for a couple of hours. Then we went and found a hotel and some tourist information and decided to explore. What we found was amazing. We went and saw the Mendenhall Glacier. It was the most unusual color and you could see it from the water in Juneau. The touristy part of it was closed for the season but we still went and hiked around the area and was graced with the appearance of a little black bear. He was completely unbothered by us and actually passed within about 10-15 feet. He was on his way to get some salmon and I guess we didn't look as appetizing. We also were able to see a pond that held massive amounts of salmon(that kept the males in our family entertained for forever!). At the bottom on the glacier is a beautiful lake, but with all the ice floating around in it I didn't have to worry about the kiddos wanting to swim in it. This was a great introduction to Alaska!

Life in a hotel

Well to say the least, life in a hotel can get very boring for little guys. So I wasn't surprised one night when Chris and Eve came into our bedroom and had creatively found a way to busy themselves. They had taken the wrappers from my butter cookie tin and made claws for themselves and then proceeded to chase each other and their brothers around with them, lol!

Moving to Alaska

Well moving to Alaska was quite an adventure for us. Rather than drive the Alcan highway we decided to take the ferry. The ride was quite interesting and the family took to it like pros, well maybe not all the family I ended up pretty sick for most of the ride but what views we were able to see were breathtaking.

We managed to spot tons of wild life also. If I remember correctly we were up to five pods of grey whales, 2 pods of killer whales, tons of birds and jelly fish and even a couple of seals. The kids had a lot of fun but I must say that I would rather walk than take that ride back to the lower 48!

Moving to Alaska

Well I know I am behind but I am going to try and catch up. First off our move to Alaska went semismoothly. Although I promise you I will walk home before I do the ferry thing again, so am not a seagoer!

Holidays in Alaska

Well we officially kicked off the holidays here in Alaska with a trip to North Pole and a visit with Santa. It is done up quite beautifully and the kids had fun. Santa even gave Eve a birthday present. Then we went next door to Christmas in ice. Here are some of my favorites: