June in Alaska

The saying midnight sun has a whole new meaning to us. WOW! We celebrated the Summer Solstice which is the longest day of the year and truly felt it with the 22 hours of sunlight. We have been observing the days growing longer but have become use to it. It seems like nothing to be sitting around at 11:30pm and it still looks like 7pm. The sun sets just after midnight now, but there’s still enough light to see across the street to the park when it finally does set. We have hit the hottest temps so far (79 degrees) and we were sweating like pigs. We got a pleasant surprise that Ashley and Michele’s first flight to AK would be covered by the PCS move paid for by the military. Their trip left much to be desired by the airline company. They were to have a non-stop flight from Phoenix to Anchorage. Julie agreed to drive them to Phoenix from Tucson to ensure a straight flight. When they arrived at the airport they were greeted by extremely rude staff as they tried checking in Ashley’s Yorkshire terrier. The dog got checked in but the girls were not seated together on the plane. Then they board the non-stop flight to Anchorage. Well I guess the flight had a change of plans as they stopped over in Vegas. The girls were asked to exit the plane and were told by the staff they were not sure if there would be seating available for them. WHAT???? Two teenagers, in Las Vegas, tickets paid for straight flight to Anchorage, Mom in Arizona, and Dad in Alaska. Yes, we have begun the grievance with the airline company. We are just ecstatic the girls made it safely and can now experience Alaska with us.

They made it just in time for Fathers day. Brad could not have asked for a better gift than to have all 5 kids with him. He also received some wanted CD’s and a new bottle of cologne. Before we even arrived in AK we were told we HAD to eat at the Moose’s tooth pizza restaurant. They also have a brewery so for father’s day we headed to the Moose’s Tooth and dined on some delicious pizza and Brad sampled some of the most popular brews.

The base has many activities for families. We are getting familiar with the Artic oasis which is a huge indoor activity area. Inside there is a miniature golf, a climbing wall, a skate park, a teen center, a game room to include pool table, air hockey and fooze ball, a computer lab, TV area, park equipment, and full gym with teenager equipment too. They offer many different classes for families too. I can see we will be spending a lot of time here in the winter. We attended a base picnic with live entertainment, free food, games and a bald eagle release. A local bird rehabilitation center worked to rehabilitate a bald eagle that had an abscess on its wing. We have been taught by a Lakota tribesman that eagles carry prayers on the wings to the creator. The kids and I took a minute to share our prayers with the eagle to ask that he carry them away. It was amazing to see a wild animal that had been unable to fly for a year and a half gracefully fly into the horizon.

I have been visiting the local scrapbooking stores in the area. I have been asked to teach so I will begin teaching at the arts and crafts center on base and also a local scrapbooking store in Wasilla. I am super excited! I miss working at Archivers. That has defiantly been my most favorite job. I learned SOOO much that I hope I will be able to inspire scrappers here.

We got to attend a fun family show. The Severy Iditarod dog show is a slap stick hour long skit that teaches the history, hard work and dedication needed for the Famous Iditarod race. When even meet a famous star from the movie 8 below.

The girls have started an Irish dance class. They love it and caught on really quick. We have even borrowed River Dance from the local library and have watched it A LOT.

We got to participate in another homeschool event. This time it was an out of this world fair. Men in Black, Harry Potter, Gilligan’s Island, The Hobbit, Star Wars and Legend of Zelda were some of the favorite booths.

We have been biking about 25 miles a night. We like to ride our bikes to the base movie theater (very cheap) to see current releases. We also were recommended to a Chinese restaurant called China Town just out side one of the gates so we ride to that for dinner.

We love to go for drives. No matter where you are going the views are drop dead gorgeous. There are mountains in the distance and the ocean on the edge of town with lakes scattered everywhere. The wildflowers are crowding the curbs and sidewalks. I mean the Fireweed is eye popping magenta and the Lupines are a deep blue. On our many drives we have seen hillsides that are overtaken by daisies. We even were able to find a patch of wild Iris growing, my moms fav flower. The trees are very beautiful but also very sappy. Every morning you can see the sticky coating across the trucks. While talking to other RVers you can literally see the honey drops falling from the trees.

We were asked to volunteer as assistant host. This is an awesome opportunity to us. This is our dream once Brad retires so getting some experience under our belt is nice. We also get to stay free which is my favorite stay. Roy is the camp host and has been doing it for many years. He retired from the Air Force during the Vietnam War. He also heads to the lower 48 for the winter. We just do as he tells us too and help people when needed. Some funny stories and some really stupid Girl Scout leaders keep us entertained. The leaders decided to ignore the NO OPEN FIRE base wide ban and started a fire on the ground. They didn’t even clear the 1” of dead leaves from last year before setting the logs a blaze on the ground. Seeing how I am a Natural Resources student, Girl Scout leader, Boy Scout leader and common sense camp host, I about lost it when they got attitude that we asked them to extinguish the fire

Brad has many opportunities to volunteer here. He signed us up for a cancer relay for life event. The kids helped sell candy and glow sticks to the runner/walkers. Then they decorated several paper bags to place a candle inside to remember our family members who have lost their lives to cancer. My maternal grandmother died of breast cancer, my godfather and paternal uncle to pancreatic cancer, Brad’s maternal grandfather to cancer and Zac and Kenzie’s paternal uncle to childhood leukemia. They were also hosting a midnight crop to scrapbook too. Anyone who knows me knows my truck is a storage unit for my scrapbooking supplies, so of course I had to go and play too.

We have been taking advantage of the 2 pools on the Air Force base and Army post. Both of them are free and a lot of fun. Again, this is another activity that will be great in the winter.

We are still seeing alot of wildlife. We have a little black bear that stays in the RV park. Photo was taken about 11:30pm and you can still see the sun peeking through the trees. Also a few moose that visit daily too.

May in Alaska

Our dream has come true. We have only lived in Alaska for one month and we’re SOLD!! When we got here the ground was still frozen and trees were bare. The grass was dead and the mountains were brown. In the short time we have been here there has been an explosion of color. Slowly we saw the Birch trees sprout green buds and by the end of the month they began to unfold and fill the bare trees. We observed the grass piercing up through the soil in little sporadic clumps to say hello to the sky which has been stunning blue with white fluffy clouds. Dandelions are bursting up in groves and adding bright yellow patches on the ground. The mountains are now velvety green with the contrast of the lime green Birch leaves and the deep forest green of the Spruce and Black Spruce. The days are getting longer so for a night owl like me it allows me to stay outside longer than normal. The downside to that is nothing stays open longer even though it is light out until 11pm now.

We picked up Bullwinkle, my truck, from the shippers just after we arrived in Anchorage. The grill was damaged but everything else looked good. I am relived. I was told some gruesome stories about broken windshields and excessive body damage. I have a sentimental attachment to vehicles so it is nice to have him home :)

We are now in the market for a home (without wheels under it) so the search is on. We have been driving around looking at land and houses and we have come to a conclusion. Alaska is not like any other state we have lived in. You’ll be driving along looking at $500,000 homes with a meth lab trailer right next door that has been collecting trash (no lie) for YEARS!! We are looking outside of Anchorage in Wasilla, which is about 45 miles away. We knew it was our kind of town because you can ride 4 wheelers and snow machines to the store. Ya can’t get any better than that!

We have been getting together with our friends Kari and Lawrence and catching up while doing some barbequing. They have introduced us to some food joints they have found and fun activities to do. Lawrence is in the Army and just made Sgt. He asked Brad to pin him at the ceremony. This is a great honor and Brad was more than willing to do this.

We even got to go on a vacation 3 weeks after arriving in AK. The base gives out free tickets to ride the local train so we got 5 round trip tickets to Seward, AK. We made reservations at the Army resort down there for the evening. The ride was really awesome and we all enjoyed it. None of the kids had ever been on a train before so this was huge ordeal. The train cut between the mountains and followed the coast for about 120 miles. We passed a glacier and miles and miles of untouched land. Seward is a beautiful little town where LOTS of fishing takes place. It is nestled in between snow-capped mountains that are sterling grey. The weekend was 65 degrees and clear blue skies. We hiked all around after getting a Starbuck’s coffee. We practiced skipping rocks and all improved our skills. We hiked back to our room and Barbequed dinner. The next day we hiked down to the Aquatic sea life center. The kids had a blast touching the star fish and they finally got to see the puffins. The ride home was just a beautiful and relaxing as the ride there.

For Mother’s day we met up with Kari and Lawrence again and ate at Garcia’s. We used to go to one in Tucson so we were familiar with the restaurant. The food was delicious and the margaritas were great. So was the company.

About a week after we got here I picked up Brad from work to run some errands and I got pulled over on base. Not for speeding either. Guess I spent too much time in California as I was told I stopped like they do. The SP was really nice and just gave me a warning.

Late one night after leaving our friends about 1:30am I was driving back to the RV and noticed a weird glare on the windshield. I asked Brad what it was and we soon figured out we were experiencing the Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights. The show was only about 5 minutes but the unexpected change of colors and the gliding movement through the sky was breath taking. The pictures and postcards do not do it justice.

Our wildlife viewing has been exciting. There are moose every where to include just outside our RV door. Thor was out on his run frozen in fear when the moose came looking for the down trees in the site next to ours. Brad saw the first black bear across the street from FamCamp at one of the lakes on base. The next day the kids and I saw a mama and her cub playing in a grassy area. Bald eagles, porcupines and fox are sighted daily.

I love when Brad is on vacation as he can let his beard grow out. He looks like a mountain man as Kari calls it. I am saddened cuz I know it is going bye –bye because he starts work soon.

We found a homeschool group and attended their World Fair event. It was pretty cool. You got a passport and traveled to different booths that represented different countries and learned about the culture, language, yadda, yadda and for ten cents you could sample the food. Jeovaun and Diego (Kari’s homeschooled sons) went with us so the kids had a blast. The only downer was when Kaela and Diego popped whole chunks of brie into their mouths. They were not expecting such a unique flavor.

We have been riding our bikes all over base. No hills and low elevation compared to CO makes us feel like athletes.

We will be staying at FamCamp and volunteering as the assistant host for now. We are more than excited and hope we can stay here until we find our home. Brad is able to ride his bike to work as it is literally across the street. It takes him longer to drive and park than to ride his bike.