Laura is having a blast cheering for the ‘Lil Jags. Last Thursday was their third game and their first win. She has a great group of girls that are cheering with her, which we are very grateful for.
It finally arrived! The long awaited first day of school. The girls had a great day and so did Mom and Dad!
We spent a week in July in Alaska, visiting my brother and his family. In my opinion, it’s a vacation of a lifetime – to see Alaska, not as a tourist, but as a true (transplanted) Alaskan does. Layne and Jolene may not have been born in Alaska, but it’s a place that suits them very well. And they were the greatest of tour guides.
Because we are cursed with slow internet out here, I am linking to my sister-in-law’s blog where she has posted pictures of all our adventures. Enjoy your virtual Alasakan Vacation!
Idita-Hike – This was our first full day in Alasaka. We spent most of the day recovering from our flight and getting reacquainted. We visited the Iditarod headquarters and the kids were pulled by real sled dogs – they loved it! After dinner we went on a hike to the Hay Flats below Layne and Jolene’s house. Laura was struck with how beautiful and peaceful the hayflats were. I loved the hike (except for the “moose”quitoes).
Moose Dropping Fesitval – Yes, this is a festival that celebrates Moose droppings. We had a great time sampling the local fair and watching the parade
Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center – We were able to get up close and personal with Alaskan Wildlife. But my favorite picture is the one of Kate and Landon. Landon was an amazing little tour guide and filled Kate in on all the important stuff about the animals we saw.
Portage Glacier – I wish we could have spent more time at the visitor’s center at the Glacier, but we arrived at closing time. We did take in the beautiful scenery and saw some small icebergs.
Bowman’s Bear Creek Lodge and Cafe – What a beautiful place! A pond surrounded by small cabins and a river running behind it. The kids played in the paddle boats and canoe, watched the baby birds in the bird house, panned for gold and made s’mores over the campfire.
Hope, Alaska – Fishing for Salmon.
Russian River – More salmon fishing with bear sightings mixed in.
Ninilchik, AK – The girls enjoyed walking the beach, observing the volcanoe and watching for eagles.
J&J Smart Charters, Ninilchik, AK – while the girls walked the beach the boys and my mom took a charter to catch some halibut. It was a successful trip and they brought back lost of fresh halibut. Jolene fried some up when we got back home. It was so good and a big hit with the kids! They kept saying “….and just think, yesterday at this time this fish was swimming around in the ocean!”
Littlest Guy turns two – The youngest of the grandchildren turned two while we were there and we enjoyed helping him celebrate. He’s such a happy kid!
Well, that’s it! Our summer vacation to Alaska. As you can see it was jam-packed with activities. We enjoyed the cool weather (even though native Alaskans thought it was hot!) The only regret about the trip was all the smoke and haze that clouded our views from the forest fires. But what we could see was phenomenal!
Darren and I stood at the kitchen window watching Kate and her new friends. They were all huddled together in deep discussion and we could tell they were cooking up something. We decided that right now it was cute, but in ten years, it might be trouble. Not 5 minutes later, Kate hits the front door shouting directions. She needs apples. Everyone was going home to get something so they could have a snack stand. “And hurry, Mom!” Two little girls went and got their wagon, a little boy got bananas and someone brought candy. They cleaned out the wagon, created flyers and arranged their snacks. They were set up. They went knocking on doors, dragging their little wagon behind them passing out flyers and asking the neighbors if they wanted to buy something from the snack stand. At some point throughout the afternoon, I think everyone from our little neighborhood went out and bought something from them. And when business was slow, they rode their bikes around the circle and played with the dogs.
Guthrie is going to be a great place for our girls to grow up. I’m looking forward to helping support many more “snack stands” in the future
Darren and I stood at the kitchen window watching Kate and her new friends. They were all huddled together in deep discussion and we could tell they were cooking up something. We decided that right now it was cute, but in ten years, it might be trouble. Not 5 minutes later, Kate hits the front door shouting directions. She needs apples. Everyone was going home to get something so they could have a snack stand. ”And hurry, Mom!”. Two little girls went and got their wagon, a little boy brought bananas and someone brought candy. They cleaned out the wagon, created flyers and arranged their snacks. They were set. They went knocking on doors, dragging their little wagon behind them passing out flyers announcing their snack stand (with dogs in tow). At some point throughout the afternoon, I think everyone from our little neighborhood went out and bought something from them. And when business was slow they rode bikes around the circle and played with the dogs. It could have been a scene from “Little Rascals”.
Guthrie is going to be a great place for our girls to grow up. I’m looking forward to supporting many more “snack stands” in the future!
We arrived in Guthrie on Tuesday night, but were not able to move in until Thursday morning, as they were not finished installing the carpet. Not long after we started unloading the truck, the basketball coach showed up with 5 high school boys to help us unload. Between those 5 boys, my nephew, his girlfriend and the little girls we had the truck unloaded in an hour and a half! The help was much apprecieated.
We’ve been working hard to make our new house a home for our family and unpacked the last box this morning – Thank Goodness! We aren’t as young as we used to be.
We are excited to be in Guthrie and to start this new adventure. I wish I had pictures to post, just haven’t had a chance to take any yet.
Darren warned me.
He even stated that on whatever day I chose to go to the DMV to have my license renewed, we would eat out for dinner that evening. I hugged him and told him we wouldn’t need to do that. I was fully prepared for a bad experience.
However, I wasn’t prepared for an experience that would rival an episode of the Twilight Zone
It all started out well. I was basking in the knowledge that Laura had gotten commended on the reading and math TAKS test.
The front desk lady was nice, the line was short, life was good.
The lady behind the counter said “I can help the next person”.
That was me – Wow this was going fast!
Everything was moving along quite nicely – I passed the visiosn test, stated my height and weight, and confirmed that yes, my license needs to be mailed to a separate address than the one stated on the license.
And then she said, with a perfectly straight face, “Are you an American citizen?”
Shocked and confused, I answered “yes” but it came out as more of a question than a statement.
She said “Well, in 1985 when you first applied for a license, you failed to answer that question so I need to see your birth certificate.”
(note to the reader: in 1985 when I first applied for a driver’s license, the woman who took my application and put into the system was a lifelong resident of the same town of which I was a lifelong resident. She knew my whole family – my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She didn’t need to ask if I was and American Citizen. She knew I was!)
Back to the story - She looked at me, as if expecting to me to say “Oh, let me get the notarized copy that I always keep with me in my wallet”
But I didn’t.
And so she said “Do you have one?”
I replied, “I don’t have it with me”
She said, “Well, I need to see it”
I replied, “Ok, I’ll go home and get it”
She said “Ok – when you get back, you don’t have to stand in line, I’ll give you a line pass”, which I thought was kind of her. But then she grabbed a pass from the huge stack on her desk and handed it to me.
Hmmm, I thought to myself. This must happen often.
So I drive home, very confused about what had just transpired. Do I look like I’m not an American citizen? There have been times that my Texan Twang slips out, but that’s the only accent with which I speak!
Once home, I dig up my birth certificate from the file in the back of the filing cabinet that holds all the “important” documents (very grateful that it was a notarized copy!)
I drive back and when I arrive at the DMV for the second time, the lady who had helped me was on break. Doesn’t that figure!
I had to stand in line again.
Take the vision test again.
And answer all the questions again.
I half expected there to be some other strange random question that this lady would ask with a perfectly straight face. Perhaps “what devices in your kitchen do you currently have that can be used to create an explosive?” or “Mrs. Wilson, we see that you recently ordered The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas from Video on Demand. Please explain how this movie aligns with your political views.”
However, the strange Twilight Zone episode moment passed and somehow this second trip to the DMV ended with me having my license renewed.
I’m quite sure that when it arrives, it will have a computer chip imbedded in it that will track my every move.
The only thing that makes this experience worthwhile was the material it gave me for this blog post. 
We parted ways with Betty Blue, or as Kate calls her, Betty ol’ Blue, this morning. Betty is our Dodge Caravan that has served our family faithfully (and safely) for 9 1/2 years. She’s the only family car the girls remember and a few years ago they named her Betty Blue. They would give the dashboard a fond pat everytime we returned from a trip safely and tell Betty what a good job she did bringing us home.
We knew that Betty probably wasn’t up to the long distance driving that we would be doing in Guthrie. We also knew that if we were going to live in a place as remote as Guthrie, a truck might come in handy – you know, for hauling a month’s worth of groceries at a time
Because the girls are so fond of Betty (us too!), we couldn’t just take her to Carmax and leave with a check. I didn’t seem like to right thing to do. But figuring out what the right thing was, wasn’t very hard. Louise, the wonderful Angel who kept Kate for 5 years, needed a van. She had had one, but it was totaled in an accident about a year ago. She has missed her “Nana Van” greatly and our “Betty” seemed like just the perfect fit.
So today, we traded the title for the obligatory $1 and handed Louise the keys to Betty – just in time for her to take her 6 friends to the theater this evening.
We will think of Betty Blue fondly knowing that she will enjoy her “retirement” shuttling Louise and her kids to all the fun places they go and resting each evening under the shade of the oak tree in Jim and Louise’s front yard.
These are pictures of Honey’s newest litter of kittens. The girls have loved playing with them this weekend. Too cute for words!
Kate has been busy this spring loosing teeth. She’s trying her best to keep up with her cousin Landon, but he’s loosing them faster than she is. I think this is my favorite part of childhood. Kids without their two front teeth are precious!
Laura participated in solo and ensemble contest this spring. She played a solo and a duet, and she earned first division’s on both. We found out a few days later that she was named as an Outstanding Soloist at the competition, which is a pretty big deal. We are so proud of all her hard work. And I have to say that it hasn’t been hard on the ears, which is an accomplishment considering she is a first year flute player.
