Party Tonight!

Everyone is talking about the winds we had last night, nothing happened to us, but AG's car door was trashed, my next-door-neighbor's deck fell apart and his bbq was almost in the river! Up the hill Gil and Kristi's shed blew apart and the APL crane fell over too! CRAZY! I hear 120mph gusts were recorded!
A lot of the town are going to the Fireman's Ball tonight and some are working (Sorry Jr!) and happy birthday Juno!
We're having a going away party for one of the guys on the boat tonight. I'm on a kick --I made 2 kinds of nut/dried fruit clusters and 4 kinds of flavored party nuts. I noticed that I have a TON of nuts in my freezer. T is planning this party with the other guys, so they're going to make BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs?? Random for December! It's calm now, but is supposed to blow up to 65 tonight! Should be fun to watch :)

Jr and Juno making Christmas cards

for art class....ignore my eBay piles...they'll HOPEFULLY be listed next week and eventually GONE!!

(that is my dream and my husband's too!)

I could not get Jr to smile normally! Ughhh!

Bella got a new duck-hunting coat, a hand-me-down from Jet.

She's so cute! She was ignoring me for the first 2 days I was back, but we're good now...she's back to following me everywhere and being "Mommy obsessed" as Mandy says...ohh and "An attention-taker"

Jr is an Eagle Scout! He started in scouts in 1st grade, had everything EXCEPT the project done before he was 13. Went to the Jamboree when he was 13, watched 4 leaders get electrocuted, came home, our scoutmaster (Manny) died (He was elderly) He wasn't into it anymore, but he did a great project --helping with the restoration project the Russian Orthodox Church is doing for the Bishop's House, which is right next door to the church. We're so proud and thankful that he's finally done!

Home!

Bella grew!!!!!
Manderzz in the fabulous Cold Bay airport..there is a pic of me...it's not good!! It was a long, crowded flight after 4+ hours in the ANC airport, we were tired!

We made it home after a very long bumpy flight, I still don't feel very well, the bumpy flight didn't help I've felt sort of "off" since Friday! ughhh no time for this!
We stopped in Cold Bay...then had to circle here until there was an opening, but we made it. Today, unpacking. and cleaning of course. I did order Christmas gifts because I'm just weird like that! I'd rather order than stand in line in a store.

Anchorage, STILL!

We're at the airport, we've been here for awhile, tried to sneak on the 9:35am departure, but no room. Our flight just landed...we should be on the way home in a few minutes! I hear the wind is "brisk" and the visibilty is decent. And all 9 of our bags made it safely...whewwwww. That is good.
We had a nice dinner with our friends, even played a game, a different kind of game than we've ever played. It's to facilitate communication. The Ungame. It was good. We need to buy it.

We borrowed clothing for sleeping and washed our outfits :)

Mandy got crafty...and playing the deep game we played

I better get my pics on before it's time to board...will probably be busy for a week once I get home, it seems to be that way after a trip...and I have holiday STUFF to accomplice too.

The Trip That Never Ends (cleaned up a bit)

We had a good day yesterday, even though the 3 of us were getting a bit testy and anxious to go home. We bowled 3 games (quite badly...but it was fun nonetheless) then went to Hethykins and Steve's house for dinner! I try to do this every time I'm in ANC if at all possible. She's been my confidant and has been my bestest buddy for 26 years!
Steve made moose steak, garlic mashed potatoes and salad...it sounds like an average meal, not so! Steve is an amazing cook!!! It'd be dull if I cooked it :) I got hints on making our moose as tender as theirs, thanks guys!!
Steve and T had never met...they talked and talked about killing animals to be eaten...Maybe Steve will come out to fish this summer. Soooo I think they got along :)

Manderzz did Marina's hair

The kids played Scrabble too. I feel a new game obsession coming on! (I know you'll approve Donna!)

Today we were SUPPOSED to fly home. The flight went, T went. Mandy and I decided to PenAir up on their offer of free tickets ANYWHERE Alaska Air flies (MEXICO??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and stay until 12pm tomorrow...Heth will be here any second, we'll be off the internet until tomorrow am.
LOVE free tickets --some of the fares are $1600-$1800 EACH :)

Family Friends and Culture

The sets was gorgeous, but we read in the program to not take pictures after I got these few, being a rule-follower I didn't take any more.



Manderzz shared some with me...yum! My salad was gross.
The whole gang...Wonder if we'll EVER have occasion to include MTM's and K's families too??
C & B were so cute. Silently entertaining themselves while the adults talked and talked.
I think Frederico was Mexican not Japanese, oh well. He was good.



It's our last night in ANC --we're sooooo ready to be home. I know that Jr, Dylls and Bella are very ready for us to be home too. Friday we met up with my brother Rick, Brenda and their boys at Benihana. What a meal! It was delicious! We had a great time visiting too. We were exhausted and I was in bed by 9pm.
I'd been up since 5am to hit Sportsman's Warehouse for guns, ammo, hunting/sledding clothes and who knows what else, A LOT of stuff. People thought we were sooo rural Alaska that we chose THAT store and THAT stuff to buy on Black Friday. Whatever --all the other electronics can be purchased on line and shipped to us, why bother with the crowds and lines? (plus we're not doing the crazed electronic thing this Christmas, our "indulged" kids have more than enough already!)

Yesterday we ran a few errands, Target and Old Navy for Mrs. Beard's class. T went to REI for some gifts while Manderzz and I ate at the Middle Way Cafe -
http://www.yelp.com/biz/middle-way-cafe-anchorage
I want to eat that sort of food all the time! I think Jeff needs to open a place like that?!! Or Alena?? Come on guys! Someone...
Last night was the big night, The Nutcracker! We met Patty, Dave and DJ. It was lovely, Manderzz liked it a lot. Patty gave Manderzz a sweet little ballerina ornament as a keepsake (she's so thoughful that way!) T survived and didn't fall asleep, but there will be no more ballets for him.

Today, just a quick trip to Fred Meyers I haven't gotten 2 items for Mrs. Beard's class and T has a few more things to get (don't know where we'll put this stuff. We literally have 9 pieces of luggage and 2 carry-ons each and CB thought we were slackers in the shopping department!! WE acquire huge amounts of crap without even trying.

Thanksgiving..

The youngest kids played the piano together (like 100 years ago??)
AS found T's ginormous flashlight..
We played Apples to Apples...Juno won, if I remember correctly. I got only one card :(
Some of us wrestled.
Others arm wrestled.
AG beat both of us --duhhh.... I'm a treadmill-elliptical sort of gal. I make teens do my heavy lifting or T when he's in town!
Holy cow...we are due for a new video game to entertain us!
They were having some deep conversation about how much line is released when the reel is turned or something ridiculous like that.
We didn't invite the dads to the table.
The spread, I meant to make it all, as I'm the one that is home, but I only had time for half of it. T, Jr and Juno ended up making a couple items each --THANKS GUYS! I was not doing well at about 3pm.
I am going to move on to cookies and more kinds of fudge :) OK maybe after cookies and cream bark (white bark with Oreos --yum!

Our actual Thanksgiving was mellow...we didn't want to crash anyone's dinner here, so sort of snuck to a not-too-fancy restaurant. Ughhh I've been sick ever since! (Or maybe it was the coffee at 5am on an empty stomach on Friday morning)
BUT we had a delicious and fun Thanksgiving with all of our kids and our buddies AG and family (minus MS...we all hope Dyls and MS be OK with being in the same space soon --someday! LMAO...teens!)
I hear it's deep fried turkey @ their house on Christmas and a New Year's Eve party at ours.

T bought some new game (the one that if you buy the REALLY fancy version like Jr's grandmother pre-ordered for him comes with real night-vision goggles!) I'm sure some Modern Warfare 2 parties will be happening this month too. The boat is in town and I HOPE we're done traveling for awhile!!!

Opps AG's Halloween Madness That I Forgot to Share

I know it's totally late, but I went to bed super-early last night and it's quiet this morning (I even did laundry, to me that means we've been gone too long...all my workout clothes have been throughly used) My one complaint about this hotel --it's HOT!! Like 73 or 74 degrees...even in the exercise room!

Cute little Melina...

AG and neighbors (Ray and T's co-workers) put on the best Halloween ever! Full-grown Somans were too frightened to go up the stairs! Mothers were angry that it was so scary and tween and teens had to dare each other to go up the stairs...
They had "dead" bodies with axes in them already in body bags with evidence tags in the yard...fog everywhere and the creepiest 6'7" (or something like that) Jason (or maybe just some scary guy?? I don't want horror movies) at the top of the stairs with a REAL chainsaw yelling at everyone. (the chain was removed) the sound and the smell was very scary then add the huge creepy guy and the fog ughhhh....

RS is a Ghostbuster  T was very scary!  Neil-Boresting.
Dorks in their costumes 

and a SCARED teen!

Wonder Woman and ohhh it's Sugar too.J& E stopped by too!