Demolition...

The boys and I had a playdate today at the park at McDonalds, and on our way to run some more errands, we saw a demolition crew demolishing a bunch of buildings. The boys and I decided to park the truck, and walk to where we could get a better look. They had a man spraying the area with a water hose, and a man operating the heavy machinery (I am not sure what it is, but the boys and I are going to get a book from the library so we can find out more about it. :) Mamas aren't boys, even if we do raise them. :) I am learning as much as they are, I think. The boys were so excited to be able to witness the buildings coming down. They were actually SCREAMING with excitement!!! I bet the operator kind of thought we were crazy, because he gets to see things like this all the time. :) But for us, this was our first time. I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures of the day, so my boys will one day be able to look back on them, and remember their fun day dreaming of dirt and big boys toys. :)

Out our front door

This was the view through our front door this evening about 9:30-ish. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets that I have seen in a long time. The weather was glorious, really still and calm, perfect temperature and made you want to stay outside and enjoy the view. The sun is beginning to set earlier now, and we are really enjoying the novelty of having a real night now. Ask me again this winter how nice it is to have dark, and I might have a different answer. :) But, for now it is so wonderful and cozy. It is towards the end of August, and we are already experiencing frosts on some mornings. It is totally different than what we are used to in Arkansas, we would still be running the air most days nonstop. The trees are starting to turn colors, and I have heard that the leaves don't stay on for long once they start changing. In the time that we have spent here we have not had alot of sunsets like this, and we were surprised and delighted to look out our front door and get a view like this. I walked out and down the street looking for glimpses without power lines and street signs, and thought that I would share some of my favorites with you.

Jared on babies. :)

Jared absolutely LOVES babies, but he told me today that his car that he got at McDonalds he was going to keep in my purse until we left, because he didn't want a baby "blobbering" on it. :)

Jathan's newest thing.

Jathan wants a dog. Bad. He has been reading alot of stories about dogs in his reading comprehension, and apparently they are passing on more than just the main idea. :) He keeps talking about how that it would be to have a dog, changes that we would have to make for one, whether he would be able to walk one, ect. He talks about it at least once an hour. We don't want one here where we are at now, because it would have to be an indoor dog, and we don't want that. So he is looking forward to when we might get a home in the country, and be able to get a dog. He is trying to decide which ones are best, and everything. I guess it is true, every boy needs a dog. :)

Jared's Marriage Plans

Jared has been so funny lately. :) He just told me that "he wasn't going to marry anyone. At all. Because he likes me the best. And he always wants to be with me. But when I die, then he will have to get married. But he isn't going to talk about that. Because that would make me sad. When I am gone he would get too lonely without me. But I would never know. Because I would be dead.And don't worry, it won't happen for a long time. Because I am not TOO old."

Crickets

Jared. "What happens if a cricket starts rubbing his legs together faster and faster and faster and they start getting redder and redder and they catch on fire?"

Room with a view.

Jathan and Jared have been asking me for years for a bunk bed. I haven't been brave enough until now to get them one. Jared sometimes sleepwalks, so he was obviously not going to do too well on the top bunk, and with Jathan being the oldest, it seemed to work out well. We are still trying to figure out exactly what to do their new room in here in Alaska, right now we have kind of a smorgasbord of bright colors, and I have let them pick the kind of sheets that they wanted. It was easier than letting them pick their own comforter, because undoubtedly they would have picked two different things. We are leaning towards Peter Pan to decorate. Right now, Jathan has chose pirate sheets and cowboy sheets, and Jared chose Very Hungry Caterpillar sheets, and has been thinking about puppy sheets (he saw some of those at Sears. :) I just bought them bright colored quilts for now.... they match with everything that they have picked out, and will be good to keep their beds warm underneath their comforters later. (I think in Alaska you can probably never have too many layers. :) Here are some of the pictures that I took on Jathan's first night up above. :)

Spiders

Talking about spiders today in school, I asked Jared to tell me what he knew about them. He told me that he knew that they had eight legs, built webs, ate flies' blood, some had hair and some didn't, and he said, "And do you know what else? Some spiders have red spots on their backs, and are poisonous if you eat them." :)

First day of school. :)

Today was our first day of school. :) Jathan has started 2nd grade, and Jared Kindergarten. They both were so excited to be in new grades. Jared wants to learn to read as fluently as Jathan this year. :) I think that that is cute. We have so many fun things to do this year. Jathan is doing Laurel Springs curriculum, and Jared is using Calvert. I can already tell that for Jathan I will be having to get alot of supplements for him. We breezed through the outlined pages, and when we got done I noticed that that was supposed to have been for the first WEEK!!! And that was in the first two hours. That is definetely not going to be enough for him. :) He loves school, and I will have to stay on my toes this year for sure, making sure that he has enough to keep him occupied. I bought 17 file folder sets for both grades, making about 300 file folder games for the both of them, probably about 150 each. :) I am still working on those, and probably will for a long while. :) They are just so much more fun than workbook work, so once they have done the workbook work for the day, they practice on their file folder games. Jathan is a visual learner, he learns so well using charts and visual aids, so they work well for him. Jared learns best when he can DO it, so being able to actually take the things and place them where they belong keeps him interested, and he learns well from them also. :)

Jared is using a really great phonics program that we used with Jathan (Scholastic Home Readers) in addition to the phonics program offered with his boxed curriculum. He enjoys listening to the c.d's with his blanket while he is learning to read the words. :)

We are going to have a great year... I can tell. :)

Toothless. :)

Jathan lost his two front teeth today within seconds of each other. With a little help from me (and his bed. :) They were having their "quiet" time in their rooms (playing games, reading, playing their Leapsters.. quiet stuff. :), and I hear this loud and strangled sounding voice yelling, "Mama!!!" I ran in the room, and Jathan was holding his mouth, with blood dripping down out from beneath his fingers. Ewwww!!! Jared told me that Jathan was on his bed, and rolled over, and bumped his teeth on the rail of his bed. (His teeth were just hanging there as it was, they literally have been loose since around Christmas time. REALLY. :) They were showing the roots, and just BARELY hanging in there.) Jathan was in the top bunk, and somehow, managed to drip blood down to the underneath, and splatter some on Jared and on his bedding, but his own clothes, and bedding were fine. Weird. Anyway, I made him up some salt water, and had him hold that in his mouth for a while, while we cleaned up his face and hands. When he spit it out, I knew that they had to come out, or he would probably end up swallowing them. Another Ewwwww. :) So, I just barely had to tug to get them out. He was SOOO happy to have the one out, he had been waiting for a long time, he said. I went ahead and pulled the other one out... and he looked so cute, I laughed. :) He looked at himself in the mirror, and said, "I don't like it!!!" I told him that I only laughed because he was so cute. :) We took these pictures because after he found that out, he wanted EVERYONE to see. :) Tonight, he will put the teeth under his pillow and get a double surprise. I don't tell them the tooth fairy story... I want the boys to always believe me when I tell them things. But at the same time, I don't want them to feel like they are missing out of anything either. So, they know that when they go to sleep with the tooth under their pillows, when they are asleep, I will tiptoe in and hide a surprise under their pillow in exchange for the tooth that they know I want to save. :) Jared can't wait to start gathering prizes for his teeth. :) I had bought Jathan a new leapster game back in April, that I carried with me ever since. :) That will be for one, and I bought a Clue-like game that I bought at that wonderful toy store in town. You have to find clues, and I know that he will love it!!! He has been playing a clue kind of game P.B.S. Kids.com that you have to guess whodoneit. :) I think he will have fun with the games. I always keep surprises on hand for times like these, where unexpected things come up. That way, if I see a good buy or something that they would really enjoy, I buy it, but don't give them a bunch of things all at once. :) I know he will be happy to go to sleep tonight, get his surprises from underneath his pillow, and start his first day of second grade tomorrow. :)

Meet me at the Fair. :)

We took the boys to the fair this past Friday night. We had such a good time. This was the first Alaskan fair that we went to. Everyone told us that it wasn't like what we were used to in the lower 48, but we came from such a small town that it really was very similar to the one we had back home in our town. The boys rode rides, and I took pictures (of course ;). Jared didn't like the kiddie roller coaster at all. He said "That made me SICK!!! I thought I was going to die!!!" (I am kind of like that with rides myself. I love the idea of them, but get motion sickness. Besides, on some of them I really think it might be possible to die. I think life is full of enough worries as it is. :) Jathan didn't like the tea cup ride, because he rode on the other side of James and Jared, and got scared. Their favorites were... Jathan (the roller coaster. :) Jared (the cotton candy. :) They both said that it was the most fun they had ever had. :)

So good to be back on here....

These are pictures that I took after we got off the plane, and were getting settled into the hotel. :)

Hey... I finally got a computer and internet here... and I am so ready to get caught up on all that has happened since I posted last. We are settled into our house now.... still finding things to make it more like "home", but we are pretty comfortable. It has been fun finding new things that fit the house, since we sold pretty much everything to make the move up here more easily. I will have to post more on that later. ;)



Everyone has asked me what my impressions on Alaska were, so I thought that I would list some of the differences that I noticed right away. Soooo... here it goes!!!!



1. There are bicycle racks EVERYWHERE!!! It is so not uncommon to pass 10-15 bicyclists on your way to town here. I think it is funny to go into McDonalds or places like that, and pass a big bicycle rack. There are so many people that bicycle during the summer that they needed to have a place to put them, I guess. I just never remember seeing any bicycle racks in Arkansas unless it was a school yard. I think thats cute. :)



2. Earthquakes!!! I never remember hearing about Alaska getting any earthquakes before, but the first night I got here, I woke up in the early morning to the bed shaking. I remember thinking that it had been too long since I had shared a bed, and the usual tossing and turning was waking me up, but then I thought that when someone turns over, the bed shakes up and down, not SIDE TO SIDE!!! I was so surprised, but sleepy, so when it was over, I just went back to sleep. When I walked down into the lobby of the hotel the next morning, all the visitors were stopping me in the hall, grabbing my arm, and saying, "Did you feel that!?!". I guess they were just as surprised as I was. Over the next two weeks, we felt two more. I didn't realize that Alaska had so many. I was later told that the state has hundreds every day, but most are so minor that they aren't felt, and it is such a big state that it usually doesn't cause any damage. I guess that it is something to look forward to. :)



3.The amount of sunlight in the summers. I did know about that when I got here, but I wasn't really prepared for the long nights. It was so hard to settle down, and get the kids asleep, because you couldn't mark time by the amount of daylight. I never really realized how much I relied on the light to tell the time, but I guess I did. Now I just look at the clock all the time, and try and make sure and have the kids in bed a decent hour. They would just lay there too, to wound up to settle down. We finally hung quilts on the windows, (I did buy black-out curtains that guaranteed to block out 90 something percent of the light, but they didn't do too good of a job. :) Quilts are much better. :)



4. Prices!!! I am still not used to paying $1.75 for a double cheeseburger at McDonalds.... some things are not as bad as others, but some are worse. :) We have found that for grocery shopping Sam's is the way to go... I wish I had had one nearby all my life. :) It is just mostly the restaurants that are high. The morning after I arrived here in Alaska, I walked down the lobby to bring back breakfast for everyone because I got up early. I ended up at the coffee shop to get James a cup, and got 4 muffins for the four of us for breakfast. It ended up being $22 dollars!!! Wow. I was so not used to that. :) I did find them later at the grocery store for about a dollar a piece... (and they told me at the coffee shop that they were fresh baked.. they must have put them in the oven to warm them up. I wonder if my family would buy that one?)

5. The amount of places to shop. I can't tell you how many people in Arkansas I had grab me by the shoulders and shake me and say, "Alaska!!! Don't you know that they will have to fly a helicopter over your house to drop a fruit basket in your yard!?! Are you crazy?" I guess it may be like that in some of the more remote areas, but the Fairbanks area is nothing like that at all. There are actually a whole lot more shopping possibilities here than we had back home. Don't get me wrong... I still REALLY miss Catos, Olive Garden, Cracker Barrel, and Sonic... still hoping they get those here. I just have found alot of other places to shop. I really love the Fred Meyer store (kinda like a Wal-Mart, but I actually like it a whole lot better. They have some really neat home decor things, and an excellent grocery store... and if you drink coffee, they have Starbucks for the weary shopper. :) I have found Hallmark, an excellent toy store, an antique store that I love, a really great thrift store where I was able to find almost the whole collection of Janette Oke, Beverly Lewis and Anne of Green Gables books. :) I also found a great book store... it has been so much fun shopping for things to fill up our house. :)

6. No fireworks for Fourth of July. I guess they do set them off (but I think that most of them must have started wildfires, so to me it was not worth it. :) Besides, you can't really see them anyway it is so light out that time of year. Everyone has told me that they more than make up for it at New Year's, so I am looking forward to that. :) We did go to a parade, and a kind of carnival thing, so it was alot of fun despite the lack of our normal firework routine. :)

7. Hard Bread. I guess the altitude is different here so it rises different and that plays with the taste, maybe it is froze before it got here, or something. It just TASTES different... I miss soft sandwich bread. :)

8.The amount of people that walk places. Back home, you really didn't do that unless you didn't HAVE a vehicle, or it was broke down. Here, people walk to enjoy the sunshine and mild temperatures after being cooped up all winter long. I have enjoyed getting out and walking myself, trying to store up sunshine and colors like Frederick the mouse. :)

9. That everyone is a die hard hunter here, and bullets and guns are SOOOO hard to get a hold of. Of course, that doesn't really matter to me that much, but I have spent alot of time in sporting goods stores waiting for James. :) I guess that they are hard to ship here, so everyone just buys them out as soon as they arrive, or something.

10. Lack of sweet tea. :) I guess we are southerners, huh? The very first thing that we bought for the house was a tea maker. You can get tea here at restaurants, but it is usually fruit flavored and sugarless. Another thing about being southern, having people notice my "accent". I didn't realize I even had one, but apparently being up here it is noticable to people. James has a much stronger accent than I have, and all the waitresses love that. For which, I don't usually tip too well. Haha. :)

All in all, I have really enjoyed the experience of being up here. I do miss our friends and family, and the things that were familiar to me, but it is exciting to discover new things together just the four of us. I am looking forward to discovering more and more things as we make this our new home.