In Transit

So we are gone from Sitka and at Mom's house. Pretty much we're homeless. It all went smoothly. In fact, the weirdest part was how not weird it all was. It just felt like any normal day which, I guess, is good. We had a great last Sunday and just said goodbye to everyone. I made all the ladies come out so I could take a picture of us all. I got to see a bunch of people just randomly the last week, so that was fun saying goodbye. Mostly, I have realized that I like moving and being excited about something new. So once I remembered that and got into the groove, it's all been pretty easy. There are still a couple of times that I think of what a great place Sitka was, but then there is just something else fun to think about. I used to think that if I didn't do the huge teary goodbyes I wouldn't feel it enough, nor would the other people think I cared about them enough. But with the transient life we lead, that is just too exhausting. The simple goodbyes are much nicer and easier. It took me long enough to figure that out. Plus I figure I will see them again, even if it is in the hereafter. So we will be friends and family for eternity-- I can wait that long to see them again if I have too.

So we are gone from Sitka and at Mom's house. Pretty much we're homeless. It all went smoothly. In fact, the weirdest part was how not weird it all was. It just felt like any normal day which, I guess, is good. We had a great last Sunday and just said goodbye to everyone. I made all the ladies come out so I could take a picture of us all. I got to see a bunch of people just randomly the last week, so that was fun saying goodbye. Mostly, I have realized that I like moving and being excited about something new. So once I remembered that and got into the groove, it's all been pretty easy. There are still a couple of times that I think of what a great place Sitka was, but then there is just something else fun to think about. I used to think that if I didn't do the huge teary goodbyes I wouldn't feel it enough, nor would the other people think I cared about them enough. But with the transient life we lead, that is just too exhausting. The simple goodbyes are much nicer and easier. It took me long enough to figure that out. Plus I figure I will see them again, even if it is in the hereafter. So we will be friends and family for eternity-- I can wait that long to see them again if I have too.

Funny Kids

I was cleaning out my planner and found a sticky note that I had put in there during our vacation at Dad's (Roger) last summer. It had some funny things that the kids had said.

We were on the boat and Ryan said in her dramatic little voice: I am as cold as I could ever be!
Later that night in bed, Adam asked if she was still cold and she responded: No, now I am as warm as I could ever be.

Seth and Ryan were making noises with their chins on their life vests and after a loud noise, Seth said to Ryan, "Yeah, that was a good one!"

Ryan was supposed to be looking for something, but like normal, was getting a little distracted. So I said, "Sweetheart, I want you to focus." In her most exasperated voice, she corrected, "Mom, I am focusing!"

What we can learn from them...

We went to watch Seth's puppet show at Fine Arts Camp this morning. Adam and Ryan left for her swim lesson and I stayed to finish off the class. After puppet class, all the kids went to the quad for snacks and I stood and watched them for the 20 minutes. As adults, we could really learn something from them. At first, I saw Seth standing by himself eating his go-gurt. I was sad that he wasn't with any of his friends. He didn't seem to notice or care-- he was focusing on enjoying his snack. Then he would wander to some friends. After being there for a bit, he would wander away or they would. I started watching some of the other kids I knew and they were doing the same. When someone would walk away, the kids didn't seem to notice or care, they just went somewhere else or even stood by themselves for awhile. I wouldn't have felt that way. I would have been embarrased that I was by myself and would have stressed to find someone else to be with. Even standing in the middle of the quad, I was enjoying just watching the kids, but when I thought of someone else seeing me and wondering what I was doing just standing there and why I was all by myself, I laughed at myself for starting to be self-conscious. I realized (as always) that we care too much about what others think. The kids haven't got that yet. They didn't stop to think what they looked like to others, they just enjoyed themselves. One more reason that Christ tells us to become like little children!

Got a new laptop!

I got a new laptop because now that I'm blogging (so 21st century) I hated having to wait to use Adam's laptop at night (because it was his) and I didn't want to go sit at my computer. So I have my own now, so I can sit on the couch, watch Whale Wars and blog. Yeah!!

Touch Tank

Ryan and I went with Seth's class on another field trip to the touch tanks. Sitka it such a great place when it comes to hands on stuff. There are just fewer rules here than there would be anywhere else. The kids could touch and pick up anything-- just keep it close to the water. We got to see anemones, crabs, sea cucumbers, sea stars, urchins... I'm so glad that Adam works hard (like my dad) so I can stay home and do all this with the kids. I love being able to be there with them and their friends.

At the end of the year, his class went to Totem Park to the seashore and we went beach combing. Two Coasties also went diving and brought some bigger creatures up into two small swimming pools for the kids to touch. Along the shore we found so much stuff- worms, tiny fish and lots of crabs (those are probably the kids favorites-- they can collect crabs for hours). The kids are adorably excited finding stuff, calling each other over to show them stuff, running to the next discovery. It is a great place to be excited about learning.

Ryan's ballet recital

Ryan just loves to dance. She is actually pretty good too. She is getting quite good with her turns and leaps, but mostly she loves to spin and leap with arms so gracefully out in the air. She just has so much fun being silly to music. She also loves to dance with us in the kitchen when we are making dinner twith he music on or dance with us like the princesses do (spinning around in a waltz). This was her second year of dance and her second recital. I love the tiaras and little skirts. Seth and I decided to give her pretend flowers so they wouldn't die. She thought it was a great idea too. He still finds them around the house now and gives them back to her. She also got the movie "Ballet Shoes" (which I know now is actually a little old for her, but I've really enjoyed walking on the treadmill to it) as a performance gift. During the recital, she was the only one to do her spin inside the circle and give us all a curtsy with her hands so delicate.

Exploding FHE and Johnny Cash

We had a third round of an exploding FHE. The first one was a cup of vinegar and in went a spoonful of baking soda-- bubbles, bubbles everywhere! It was about having a good attitude and making the best (bubbles) of things. The second was Seth's volcano kid kit and it was a dud-- red bubbles came blobbing out. So our third was on getting as much education as possible and what we all wanted to learn about. Adam said more helicopter stuff, I said info on Islam (Adam and I read Nine Parts of Desire: Islamic Women and it was so interesting), Seth said science and Ryan said dancing, ballet, being a mom, cheerleading... She wants to learn lots of things. But last time Adam and Seth decided to make it more exciting by zip-tying a balloon to the topof the bottle so it would shoot off. But we hypothesized that it was the dish soap that make it thick. So we took it all outside and it still didn't work great because the balloon leaked. Next time we are going to seal the balloon around the bottle. But it was still fun just trying to do it all fast enough not to make a disaster. We love working as a team. The kids get so excited to help and love doing stuff with us.

Before we started I asked what we wanted to sing-- maybe an explosive song, or fire song. Seth has been at Fine Arts camp this week (music, theater, art, puppets) and said let's sing "Ring of Fire". I told him we didn't know that song, so let's choose a Primary song. We kept thinking and he repeated a couple of time "Ring of Fire". I asked if he could teach us. He said he couldn't sing it, but he remembered the words... I fell into a burning ring of fire... at which point, Adam, Drew and I in hysterics joined in singing "I went down, down, down...". So Johnny Cash was our opening song for FHE.

Last night, I was baking a bunch of homemade bread for Enrichment (which I was very proud of myself for doing-- three homemade breads, wow! Yes, I know nobody else thinks it's that cool, but I was proud none-the-less) The kids were in the art room and I ran upstairs. As I was coming down, Seth was repeating something which I realized was "mud on your face". I asked him if that was what he was saying and he comfirmed with a little embarrased smile. So I sang with a big knowing smile back "Buddy, you're a young man, odd man, playin' in the street, gonna be a big man someday, ya' got mud on your face, a big disgrace, kickin' your can all over this place, singin', we will, we will rock you..." They thought it was very cool that he had learned a song that I already knew. Ryan reminded me that at her old preschool that she had come home repeating "We will, we will rock you". It was fun being the cool, knowing mom. I loved it when my mom always seemed to know everything already and just knew the cool stuff! Seth and Ryan, I don't know everything, but I do know a bit from living longer. It's just like my mom usually knew more than I did before I did! Gotta love time and wisdom. How will we be with a few extra millenia. What a great plan the Lord has for us!

Beautiful Sitka

So it is getting really close now. The movers come on Tuesday. The weather has been so beautiful the last two weeks. It makes me so grateful that we have gotten to live here. I will never be able to capture the peace and beauty that surrounds us here. Just driving around, the same street I've driven a million times, I looked over and saw the most gorgeous view... I stopped and took a picture. But what is even cooler is to know that this is just our simple life. The tourists come here because it is so great and we get to be here for just life- school, church, family life.

This is the stuff that stresses me is that the kids are going to grow up and I won't be able to recapture these amazing places and moments. I take comfort in knowing that we will somehow be able to "remember" it all when we get to heaven together.

Yeah, our friends!

Drew and Travi are here and we are reminiscing about the college days. Lots of laughs-- Scott's Fung, gross boys dorm pranks, hacky sack, spotlighting... I can't focus because everyone keeps talking about funny things. Ha ha ha ha!

Ryan loves Grandma

I took the kids to see "Up" last night after we decorated Adam's office for his birthday. Close to the end I was explaining how we can have adventures no matter where we are or what we are living in. I told them that they were my adventure. And Ryan said, "Grandma is my adventure. I love going to Grandma's house."

Hidden Falls

We just had the greatest vacation with Ben and Jacquie at Hidden Falls on the other side of the island. They moved over there to run the hatchery. There are only thirteen people over there, so it's a little small but beautiful. We wanted to all go to visit, but then we weren't going to all fit on the float plane, so the kids couldn't come. BUT... last minute, we realized we could pay to use the bigger plane and YEAH!!! the kids got to come and it was a great family vacation. We flew over the island in a float plane. It was gorgeous! I would have done the whole trip just for those views. No wonder Adam loves flying up here. The mountains, snow, lakes, glacier ice... it was just breathtaking. The pilot even flew us around to find some mountain goats. I took about a million pictures. I always think how much Christ must have enjoyed creating the earth and what a great job he did.

We landed at the dock and it was great seeing our friends again. We really love Ben and Jacquie. We haven't had double friends since Paula and Travi, so we were so blessed to live next to them the last few years. The kids love them too. Seth couldn't wait to see Mr. Ben and play X-box together. Ryan was too excited to see "Emmy" (Ryan started calling Emma that last time they came over).

Well, besides having a great time with our friends playing and visiting, we got to see so many cool things. A humpback whale has learned to come to the hatchery when they release the salmon to eat them-- bad for Ben, good for us! It was better than Sea World. Standing on the dock, he surfaced five feet away. He hung around for all four days. It was amazing! He blows bubbles in a circle to trap the fish and then eat them, Wow! There were also two seals just swimming around next to the lagoon across the the bearcub the first evening. We saw a mink and otters. The next night, we were all in the hottub overlooking the seals in the lagoon and watching the whale when one of the guys yelled that there was a bear on the trail. I finally got out to check. As I stood at the top of the dock, looking for the bear and watching the whale, here he comes walking out the woods about thirty yards away. I quickly skipped back to the hot tub and of course, everyone scrambled out, but before the kids made it out, Ben had run up the stairs to yell at the bear that was standing outside his house. It was all incredible. Sitting in the hot tub surrounded by nature, I was simply awe-struck. I am really grateful that we got to be there as a family with such wonderful friends.

The kids got to help feed the baby salmon flinging the food into the pools. They loved it. Just like the first time we helped Ben feed them and Seth dropped the scooper, this time he dropped his sunglasses to the bottom. As always, they were great about taking turns and helping each other carry the buckets. After we finished "working", Seth, Adam and Ben did some fishing off the dock. Seth loved it. He spent hours our there with the boys fishing and catching baby salmon. But Ben did get one huge King even though they weren't quite running yet.

One day, we all boated to a white sandy beach where we collected shells, ate snacks, but most importantly, Seth and Ryan both shot their first gun, a little .22 rifle. Now they really can't wait until they're 8- yes, unfortunately they think of 8 as getting their first gun instead of getting baptized. I've still got some time to change that or at least have them thinking of both of them!

Ben and Adam set pots and returned the next day with shrimp and crab to complete our cheese and chocolate fondue dinner. Yum! I, of course, brought our cream cheese coffee cakes for Jacquie and I, even though we have to share with the kids now. Why did we ever let them try them in the first place? OK, if I hadn't made Jacquie try it, I wouldn't have to buy her one either. But I like having a friend sharing in my great tradition. (Ben loves that I finished an entire coffee cake by myself one night while we were playing Mexican train-- He definitely egged me on and has continued to do so... I'm not sure if Adam is proud or just a little embarassed.) So after fondue and putting the kids upstairs with a movie, we played mexican train with the yellow train mexican (yes, Ben, I know that everytime you see the yellow, you think of me-- the Mexican!). I killed them this time. We didn't give Ben a chance to whip us in hearts this trip, but maybe now that he has a job and isn't "practicing" it on the computer all the time, we'll stand a chance. As always, Jacquie took the place of Wendy, keeping Adam and Ben in line with their messy trains. We miss Jeff and Wendy, too, on our train nights, but someday we'll all live in Lewiston (yes, Ben, Idaho, not Texas) and resume our pizza/Mexican train nights.

Well, back to Hidden Falls. It was a just a wonderful time and a great way to say goodbye to Alaska-- great places and great friends!

Skate Park

We had Subway at the skate park tonight. The kids and I went the other night and just watched the boys skateboard and bike, but tonight WE PARTICIPATED! The kids brought their scooters. While I was busy having multiple mini heart attacks that Seth was going to fall into the "swimming pool", the kids scootered up and down the small concrete hills. OK, so Ryan didn't make it too far up each one, but each attempt was done with a "woohoo" to herself and a lot of encouragement to her scooter- "come on you can do it". Seth wrecked five times, but no tears. He got really good going up and down and even learned to do a wheely so the scooter didn't get stuck in the middle. We all did some running down in the "pool". Adam was running around so fast that he was sideways. When I was getting out, Ryan said, "Hey Mama, do you need a hand?" It was just a great evening- the sun was shining, the weather was warm and nobody broke any bones... yet!

Moving Time

We've known that we would be transferring to DC for eight months now and it has been hard to be in between- not being too excited to move because we weren't going anywhere for awhile and not becoming too attached to staying because we would be leaving. But with that said this weekend finally felt like we are really close to moving. We have five weeks left and it is kinda weird that in a month this will no longer be our house, or our schools, or are car (OK, I'm excited about that one)...

(Adam just got made fun of for being a closet-facebooker again. He uses my facebook account, but everyone knows its him and not me.)

I have to remember how exciting moving is. We have been here for a long time, four years. But it is going to be great in DC to have lots of sunshine (despite the psycho heat) and especially to be near family- Dad is 2 hours away and Misty is in NY about 6 hours and $100 but it will be great!

Wow, I am looking outside at the beautiful trees in our backyard and just being happy that we got to experience this gorgeous place. It has been so fun being here. I love the small community and am really going to miss that. I think between here and Astoria, Adam and I have decided that we are truly small town people. We love going anywhere and being able to wave to people we know. Although it may be nice to run into the grocery store without having to stop to talk to everyone or having ward council because the entire ward is there. The schools here are amazing and all the parents too. I am hoping that staying involved can make a big city feel like a small community though. Even if it doesn't there are going to be different wonderful things in our next home. Yeah for change!!

Cute Seth

We were driving today and I said how beautiful and green everything looked in the sunshine. Seth said, "It looks like its St. Patrick's Day for the earth."

Seth at gymanstics

He loves it and he is actually quite good. He loves the bouncy platform where he runs and jumps onto the tall mat. He can finally do a backbend this year, even if he barely gets his head off the ground. In fact, Adam did one the other day, while we were having lunch outside the hideout (see Mother's Day). It inspired me to do it too... And I did it! I was really pretty surprised I still could.

This is so he keeps his legs together while doing a sommersault.