National Honor Society

Tess was inducted into the National Honor Society this evening. We are proud of all of her accomplishments. (Of course that doesn't mean we don't continue to prod her to accomplish more...) But she seems to be on the right track.

Alicia May had dance class at the same time as the induction ceremony. So Daddy brought her to that while Mommy attended Sissy's event.

Stephen actually tries to get to all of Alicia's dance classes if he is able to leave work in time. He's often the only Daddy in the waiting lobby. But I don't think he cares...

Some pics from Akiak...

Plane from Bethel to Akiak... and back.

Village of Akiak... I think.

Arlicaq School in Akiak. K-12

Lots of mushing puppies...

The chicks.

4-wheeling with the Jacksons.

Ice fishing...

Springtime in the village...

Waiting for Sissy...

Sissy comes home today!

Tess has been able to call us a couple times from Akiak. They don't have cell phone reception... So I'm sure she's missing her 2000 text messages per day. But she has had internet access and a phone card provided by the program to call home.

She seems to be enjoying herself. I'd say it might be a good weight loss program, because she claims to have a hard time eating some of their normal fare. But she made up for it in oreos, skittles, and pizza consumption. She did, however, try some caribou soup and dried fish yesterday and liked that pretty well.

She's been taking lots of photos. So we'll post some after she returns home. She flies in this evening just before 10pm AST.

Eight Inches

We were down to muddy patches of snow. The end was in our grasp. Folks had already laundered their long underwear for the last time and folded it up for summer storage.

Those of us who tend to put things off, were pretty proud of ourselves for having waited so long to remove our studded tires. We were sitting pretty during the random snow event earlier in April.

I swapped my tires over last Saturday. Who'd have guessed I still might need them?

I did decide to leave work an hour early yesterday afternoon to avoid being caught on the road to the daycare and not being able to pick up Alicia in time. Even so, the roads were slow going, but not super slick. So that worked out well enough.

I got to the daycare thinking they might have been cooped up inside all day due to the storm. Nope! The playground was dotted with little bundled preschoolers having a great time! The favorite game seemed to be yanking on low hung tree branches to douse yourself with clumps of wet snow.


Several of the classes had already sent their snowsuits home for the season. But not the Eagles! Boots, hats, gloves, and snowpants for everyone! That's Alicia May in the pink hat.





On the home front, we probably won't be playing on our swingset for a little while yet.

Another Day in the Life of... Us!

Finally! A cheaper commute!






On the other hand... if I have to look at too many more bathrooms, kitchens, or crawl spaces, I might just lose my mind! The house hunt has diminished in stature from a fun adventure, to a drudgerous chore. We looked at 3 houses last night. Each had its fine qualities. But each also had its drawbacks which have been thrown into the mix of other house pros & cons being weighed by us. Suffice to say, our house purchase decision is taking on the dimensions of a calculus equation.



In Food News, I whipped up some yummy PB&J muffins yesterday for a work potluck. The recipe is from the Sneaky Chef and includes sweet potatoes, carrots, and wheat germ. They're really very good...

On her way...

Sweet little Tess is on her way to the Eskimo village this morning. She'll be gone for 5 days... Waaaaah!!!

I guess it's good preparation for when she departs for over a month this summer!

She flies from Anchorage to Bethel at around mid-day and then takes a short small plane hop to the village of Akiak (which has an airstrip) later this afternoon.

Performing

Alicia May's dance class had their pictures taken the other day. There's our little star... front and center... She's enjoying her Wednesday evening hip hop/jazz class. They'll be having a recital in May.

There was a great article in the Anchorage Daily News yesterday about the Sports Dome. You can read it at: http://www.adn.com/sports/story/382010.html.


Tess has been running track this spring to keep in shape for her other sports seasons. The Dome allows teams and athletes to play traditionally outdoor sports during the "spring" season here in Alaska when the outdoor temps and ground cover aren't conducive to running, soccer, softball, etc... It's pretty new and very popular.

Springtime Sunshine & Stardom

Sunrise this morning was at 6:19am and the sun will set at 9:40pm tonight. That's 5 minutes and 40 seconds more daylight than yesterday. So, every 10-11 days we have another hour of daylight.

I still need to add darker curtains to some of our main windows. But Alicia's bedroom and our bedroom are dark at the appropriate times. It's tricky to try and put her to bed when it's broad daylight outdoors.

In other news, Stephen was finally able to hack a trail through the ice in the driveway wide enough to get the Harley out to the street. He took a 3 hour ride yesterday afternoon, going most of the way to Talkeetna before turning around at the Sheep Creek Lodge. There were many, many motorcycles out there as the temperatures creeped up towards 50 degrees. The high today should be 51. Wahoo!

Stephen said when he had a bike in South Carolina, he'd never have considered riding it if the temps dropped to 48 degrees. Now he can't WAIT to get out there for that balmy temperature!

In still other news... We delivered our antique "vampire" sofa to its new home yesterday after the church potluck. I've had that sofa since the mid-1980s when we bought it at a barn auction in Vermont. It had black horsehair upholstery. My dad recovered it with tan velvet. And while it is lovely, it has never fit in with our decor. Not to mention, it's in no way comfortable to sit upon.

So we decided to launch its career in the theatre. We donated it to the Cyrano's Playhouse in downtown Anchorage. They were very pleased to receive it and promised it was on its way to stardom! So if you seen a lovely sofa in a production at Cyrano's, you'll know where it came from.

Sea Otters and Hobo Jim

Tess had an interview yesterday afternoon with the US Fish & Wildlife Service. She'll be volunteering with them this summer in the Sea Otter Program of the Marine Mammal Management team. You can learn more about the program here: http://alaska.fws.gov/fisheries/mmm/seaotters/otters.htm.

She'll be doing a little traveling this summer as well. But the Sea Otter folks are willing to work with her availability. This will be a great opportunity for her to test the waters of the marine zoology arena. She's interested in pursuing something along those lines in college.

The Alaska office of the USFWS is the only one with marine mammal facilities. They deal not only with sea otters, but also with polar bears, walruses, whales, and seals. The sea otter is the only marine mammal without blubber. Their complex, dense, fur system is what keeps them warm and buoyant.

The Sea Otter program Tess will be working with is sort of an animal forensics lab. They're trying to figure out why so many otters are dying around Kachemak Bay and the Aleutians.

In other news, Stephen and I went out on a date last night to Eddie's Sports Bar in Anchorage to see Hobo Jim perform as well as the Ken Peltier Band. Hobo Jim sings a lot of songs about Alaska including a popular song about the Iditarod. We enjoyed the show a lot. Both performances were very good.

There was a good mix of Alaskans there to see the show. You had everyone from young folks prone to getting drunk and heckling the performers, to older patrons who enjoy hearing good music. At around 10pm, a couple in their late-70s showed up. The man reminded me of my dad, right down to the bushy eyebrows. When the Ken Peltier Band kicked into full swing, that couple went to town just tearing up the dance floor. They were swinging and twirling so that you were on the edge of your seat hoping they didn't miss a catch! It was great to watch.

Lots of folks got up to dance. Some knew what they were doing and others less so. But everyone seemed to have a great time. So that's what it's all about.

Hobo Jim plays all around Alaska during the summer season. So if you're coming to visit, you might try to catch his act. I know for a fact he's playing at the Alaska State Fair at the end of August.

April Snow Report

Stephen's in a bad mood. See if you can guess why from this photo.The snow started coming down yesterday afternoon. We had around 4-6 inches on the driveway by this morning. It's starting to border on the ludicrous around here.

With gas prices soaring, Stephen is salivating to stop driving his giant truck and start riding the bike. But we've yet to clear the driveway of ice sufficiently for him to get it from the garage to the road.

Ryan is back home in Akiak. We took a group photo the morning he was headed out. His stay was brief and frenzied. He seemed to enjoy it, and wasn't looking forward to returning to his village. He managed to wash his ipod in the laundry the night before he left. So I hope it still worked okay after it dried out!

Tess and the 4 other Chugiak exchange kids will be traveling to Akiak next Wednesday. So she can find out the fate of the clean ipod.

Still Hunting

So... we did not get the house. Sigh.

At least not during the first attempt. Our offer was submitted simulataneously with a 2nd offer which allowed for an earlier closing. They were both full price offers (I think).

We're the backup offer at this point. So if the sale falls through... we still have a slight chance. But we don't hold out much hope.

To be honest, we were crushed to get that news.

But that's the way it goes...

House Hunt Update

Last night, we stumbled upon a house we both really love. It had just gone on the market earlier that evening. We just happened to be driving by on our way to meet our realtor at a different property. We stopped to see if we could look at it. We were thus the first to actually see the property. It was all very coincidental.

The house meets all of our needs. It's been completely remodeled and looks beautiful. We submitted an offer today. We're waiting to hear back...

We're trying not to get our hopes up. But we'll keep you posted!

Here are a few pics...

Mother Nature says, "Psych!"

What happened? One day we're basking in sunshine, the next we're battling a winter weather advisory during a nightmare commute!

I thought we were surely going to have an accident this morning, Alicia May and I. The conditions were just right to have tires heat up the snow on the road just enough to melt it and then have it refreeze causing super slick conditions.

There were around 62 accidents reported in Anchorage during this morning's commute. I'm not quite sure how we avoided making it 63. The minivan was fishtailing all over the place and I had to fight hard to keep it from spinning out or leaving the roadway! White-knuckle driving at its best!

If nothing else, life in Alaska is just one big adventure after another...

Announcing...

Our 4th child has arrived! Okay, I'm talking about our exchange student...

We had a welcome party at one of the other host family's houses. All the 5 students from Akiak were able to meet their exchange partners and their families all at once. So that was fun.

Tomorrow, it will be a challenge for Ryan to wake up and depart for school by 6:30am. School starts here at 7:30am, but in Akiak I think school starts after 9am.

He's a friendly, fun kind of guy. I think we'll have a good visit...

Happy Belated Birthday to Me

Stephen bought me a remote starter for my minivan for my birthday. That was, of course, back in November. It has not been installed yet. And in the meantime, he's hinted at wanting just such a thing installed on his truck...

It turns out, I don't have as much need for the remote starter given my current parking situation at work. So I told him he could use it for his truck. He offered to get me a replacement present.

This week I figured out what a good replacement present might be. I had him buy me a membership to the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. It's 2 blocks down from my office building and I can pop over there on my lunch hour all year long to browse the exhibits. It's awesome!

I have a 1/2 hour lunch, and it takes me 5 minutes each way. So that gives me 20 minutes to look at the exhibits. Today I got a little further through the Yup'ik Science exhibit. The Yup'ik people are the Alaska Natives who live mostly in southwestern Alaska. I think there are around 25,000 Yup'ik people in Alaska today. Most of them live in 56 villages around the lower Kuskokwim and Yukon Rivers.

One of those villages is Akiak. That's where Tess will be visiting for a week later this month. In the meantime, one of the students from Akiak will be staying with us next week! It should be an interesting visit. He arrives Tuesday evening along with his classmates.

More on that later... For now, let's get back to the museum. Today, at lunch, I learned how the Yup'ik make and use kayaks. I learned about seal hunting and the uses of seals, including using the seal guts to make a waterproof parka as seen in the photo. I also tried my hand at sewing a waterproof seam at one of the hands-on exhibits. This is done by stitching a reed of grass along each side of the seam.

The bentwood hats are used to camouflage the hunter to resemble floating ice. They also have the effect of enhancing the hunter's hearing by funneling the sound waves directly into the ear... Neat stuff! Happy Birthday to me! This is definitely a gift that keeps on giving...