Updates and Notes...

We've been in our new house for about a month and a half now. Like any new place, the surrounding area and the house itself is taking a little time for us to get adjusted to.

Here's the lowdown:

• The restaurants around here are mostly non-chain. Our favorites so far are The Base Camp, The Cookie Jar, Mambo Grill, Sunday brunch at The Pump House; all have something unique that make it a special place. There are many more restaurants in the area, these are just a few of our favs.
• We got a new kitten! The guy who owns the house that we're living in, found some strays. We've chosen a female creme colored kitten with Balinese markings. Her eyes are the most beautiful blue! And she's soooo tiny. I'm guessing that she's about 8 weeks old at the most. I truly believe that she is an angel in disguise; she's playful, cuddly, and she purrs! (our old cat, Pandora, did not)
  
• I think I've mentioned before that things happen around here at a much slower pace. I'm still waiting on some service people to give me a call back...
  
• If one more person says "Welcome to Alaska!" (if there is a problem with something, like waiting for service) or "Have you been salmon fishing yet?", I'm gonna scream at them.
• Gabe participated in Cub Scout camp a couple of weeks ago at Birch Hill recreation area. It was a cowboy themed camp and I think he loved every minute of it. Camp gave him the perfect opportunity to make new friends.
• I put Gabe in another camp this week; a non-denominational Bible camp with a high reputation for fun. We pick him up tomorrow after having dropped him off on Monday. He said that he'd sleep over on the first night to see how it goes...so far, we've not heard from him...I think he's having way too much fun to miss us or his new kitten!
  
• Sarah had her first Alaskan ear infection in both ears a couple of weeks ago.
• Both of the kids' allergies have gotten 100% better since we left Texas! No more allergy meds!!!
  
• I'm ready to get back to work. I think it will be the best way for me to adjust to being here, and it will be nice to get out of the house. Fortunately, one of the little scouts from BSA Camp has a mom that is the recruiter for one of the local hospitals, and after we got to talking....well, you know.
• Living here after being in Texas is like going from 90 mph to nothing...it is a whole new lifestyle that can really be lonely and isolating. We are all trying to get used to it, yet glad that we will be able to tell stories in years to come about living here. As the days go on, it gets easier to adjust to the slower pace, but I admit that in the beginning, it was a shock to my system.
• The weather has been a bit dreary and rainy...the locals are calling for a harsh winter.
• We still need to winterize our cars and were told that we need to "jump on it".
• On Tuesdays, we go swimming with Ruthanne and Katie (her grand-daughter)...Ruthanne is a total sweetheart and really energetic...we look forward to spending time with her. If I haven't mentioned her already, she and her husband, both retirees from Pennsylvania, spend the summers here with her daughter...then they go back to PA for a couple of months and then winter in Florida. I met her while she was watching Katie take soccer practice in the schoolyard...and now, when Katie has practice, Ruthanne will walk on over to the house to visit, and drop off homemade cookies.
• Gabe will be able to walk to school from our house in about 30 seconds.
  
• I've posted some new pics in the "Alaska Bound" album to the right of this page...look for the link and click on it.
• We've been doing some exploring when we get the chance; last weekend, we went to the World Eskimo Olympics hosted every year in Fairbanks.
• I have been asked to post pictures of the inside of our house, and I will do that as soon as I get a chance to take the requested pictures...I'd like to clean up a bit first. We were lucky enough to find a nice two-story to rent out here in North Pole, AK.
• Berry picking seems to be a huge thing out here.
• So far, we've only seen 2 moose...one in the schoolyard and another bathing in a creek on the way to Chena Hot Springs.
• I've already warned Gabe on what to do if he sees a moose while going to or from school. Encountering one who is protecting her babies would not be a good thing...at all.
  
• Haven't seen any bears yet, and that's fine with me!
  

Our new edition

Meet Pichou; pronounced PeeShu, which is french for Bobcat. We got her this afternoon from the guy who owns the house we're renting.

We've got two really happy kids over here!

I'm BACK!

We just got hooked up to the internet yesterday. Over here in Alaska, things can take a while; it's kinda like "island time". AND, it's taking a bit of time to get our boxes unpacked etc...it would have really helped if the house we're currently renting was actually cleaned for us BEFORE we got the keys.

I will post as soon as I can to fill you in on what's going on with us.

Right now, I'm just posting to tell you that I'm back in business.

In a few minutes, I'm going to take the kiddos for a swim with a new friend(s) that we've made (a retiree and her husband from Pennsylvania who spend the summers here with their grandchildren)...she's quite a fun character and I consider her an Angel, because on the day that I met her, I really needed to make a new friend...

For me, adjustments can be a challenge.

Later Ya'll!

Hurry up and wait!

I'm writing to tell you that I have not much to tell you.

Right now, we're waiting on housing. We've just closed on the house in Texas, and are both hesitant to buy over here for many different reasons. We are really low down on the waiting list for Post housing, and the benefits to living on-Post FAR outnumber the cons of living off-Post. Finding a house to rent out here is like looking for a needle in a haystack! And by the time a decision is made on what we'll do about buying or renting, if the "perfect" alternative to living on Post comes up, then you can bet that they'll be calling to tell us that something has come open on Fort Wainwright.

I'm about to go crazy after living in hotels for at least a month now...

The kids and I are doing a bit of exploring and getting to know the area while Phillip is at work.

And that's about all I have to say about that.

(But...however glum this post may sound to you, things will get better after the dust settles...they always do. And I really like Alaska!)

How to Pan for Gold!

We went to the El Dorado Gold Mine just north of Fairbanks this past weekend.

If you look to the right of this post, you can find pictures from our trip to the Mine in the collection of "trip to Alaska" pictures.

I'm really glad that we took the tour, because it was quite informative and just plain fun. We spent some money (it wasn't cheap) to tour the Mine, but got it all back when we panned for our own gold. Phillip and I had so much fun during the panning process, that we used our pans to scrape the bottom of the panning troughs to get more residue to look through, and sure enough, we found more gold!

Enjoy the video below!

A work in progress...

I've just put all of the pictures in the "Alaska Bound" photo album to your right, in order of which they took place...

I still have to work more on captions.

For now...Enjoy!

Old Faithful

Here she is...

(5/17/2010 at about 12:30'ish pm)

Now, how cool is that?

Photo Collection

I've added a link to the right of this page titled "Pictures from our trip to Alaska" that will bring you to a Shutterfly page that contains pictures and info. about our recent trip.

It is a work in progress; I need to add captions to pictures so that you will know what is where, etc. So far, I only have about 25 captions posted (but we're about to go do some more sightseeing, so I'll have to come back to the project later).

But for now, please enjoy...