Tis the Season...

Katie joined us in bed last night (as has become her habit) about midnight. The only thing is, it's the season of ailments, so we weren't too surprised when she proceeded to throw up in our bed. Our spare set of sheets was being washed, so we had to peel the bottom sheet and mattress pad off, and get back into bed directly on top of the mattress. All of this was after we put together Katie's new bike and Josh's new train set since we had to have Christmas this morning before leaving for Amarillo tomorrow. Needless to say, we didn't really even notice sleeping on the mattress we were so tired!

On a more pleasant note, we took the 2 hour drive down to Palestine tonight and rode the East Texas Railroad over to Rusk. This time of year they decorate it all up and call it the Polar Express. They even serve hot chocolate, cookies, and have dancing servers with the chef costumes. The station at Rusk is decorated up like the North Pole, with a sign and everything. The best part was on the way back when Santa walked into the train car and gave each child a real sleigh bell, just like the movie!

Stars

We were at Wal-Mart tonight getting groceries when Katie said the following: "When Baba gets to our house, he will be a STAR!" I have no idea where that came from nor do I exactly her meaning, but I thought it was cute!

I'm Official!!

I know I haven't posted in awhile. I have another back surgery, started school again, and it's been a CRAZY busy fall. I just wanted to let everyone know that I got my card in the mail today. I carried out grandmother's wish and applied for my Cherokee Indian card in March of 2008, and I was finally approved 11/20/2009. I can now vote in official Cherokee elections, if I actually knew anything about them. :)

Tips for the Alaskan traveler

10. Do not leave home without your motion sickness medication! We both needed it at different times, and the doctor on board the ship has the best working hours I've seen; one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening.
9. Do not hold your breath in anticipation of seeing Mt. McKinley or anyone who is actually from Alaska! Everyone seems to be a transplant from some other state, and all of the staff working at various locations tend to be college students from Eastern European countries.
8. Do take warm clothes and rain gear. Hypothermia may set in for Texas residents used to 100+ temperatures when the daily temperatures in Alaska are in the 50s and 60s.
7. Do not stick to your frugal budget when it comes to excursions and side trips, they are worth every penny! At least the ones we did were, and they also almost added up to the amount we paid for the cruise. (For those that need some help choosing, let us know.)
6. Do make sure to bring several memory cards for your camera. Stan took over 1800 pictures! Of course, if you know him, you know that this is one of his OCD areas...
5. Do make sure you use the "Privacy Please" card on the cruise if you intend to linger in bed past 7:30 am. The cabin stewards get an early start to perfection!
4. Do make sure you attend all of the evening shows on board the ship, especially the ones featuring people the ship brought on just for that day. We felt like we were on late night T.V.!
3. Do leave the kids at home with a trusted college student looking to make some summer cash. However, don't call home too often because the kids tend to get upset and then act terrible.
2. Do pack lightly and then do laundry on board the ship to make traveling easier. But, make sure you choose a day that you are at sea, get started promptly when it opens, and make sure you pick it up on time, or little old ladies will be folding your undies!
1. Do enjoy the perfection and beauty of God's untouched wilderness because there aren't many places like it left on this Earth. (And really think about whether we should destroy it for our own selfishness.)

Vancouver, B.C. Day 13

The best laid plans...

Well, we didn't end up doing any of the things we were planning to do today. We talked to the lady that owned the Bed and Breakfast we were staying at this morning at breakfast. She said not to waste our time going to the Under Sea Gardens. We decided to drive down to it and go through the gift shop instead, which ended up being a good idea. Our other plan was to go to the Observatory, but it is only open fro 1-4, and seems rather pointless to pay to go see stars during the day when you can't see stars...

We ended up taking the ferry back to Vancouver earlier than we thought. We checked into our hotel for the night and then we did something we rarely get to do. We went on a date.

We went to see "The Proposal," which we highly recommend. It was funny and romantic. Then we went down to Gas Town to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory. This restaurant is similar to the Old Spaghetti Warehouse in Dallas, but it is not the same. They have tons of Vancouver antique tables, glass etc. and a trolley car in the dining room. (No, Gas Town is not named for the rude variety, but because of all the old-fashioned gas lights everywhere.) We walked around the Gas Light District when we were here on our honeymoon. It is very romantic, with the old lighting and two hanging fresh flower baskets on every light post. The food was good too.

After that, we walked down to the Chapters Bookstore, which is like Barnes and Noble, only three stories. For those that don't know how Stan and I got together, it was by going out every Thursday evening when we lived in Lubbock with a group of friends to hang-out at Barnes and Noble and read/drink coffee. We are now sure how city people stay in shape, because we walked about 2 miles total from the hotel to the movie, to dinner, to the bookstore, and back to the hotel.

Now we are getting ready to leave for the airport in the morning. The kids made us sugar cookies (Josh's idea) to welcome us home. The babysitter will probably be waiting in the driveway since she has had strep, a related eye infection, and our air conditioner went out all while we were gone. All that on top of normal kids-acting-up stuff. Now on to our summer routine.

Stay tuned for our top tips for the Alaskan traveler after we arrive home...

Victoria, British Columbia Days 11, 12

After docking in Vancouver on Sunday, we picked up our rental car and took the ferry over to Victoria. We are staying in a quaint little bed and breakfast that has wonderful views of the ocean, along with several seals that live on the rock not to far away. We took a walk on the rocky beach below the house and Stan got a lot of great pictures with the sun setting and the double rainbow that was hovering over the ocean.

Today, we took it easy in the morning, and then headed over to Butchart Gardens for the afternoon. We visited this place on our honeymoon back in 2000, and it made such an impression on us that we were determined to come back. It is just as beautiful as we remembered it, although the price is a lot more "beautiful." My favorite part of the garden is the rose garden which has dozens of different varieties and colors all planted in a large circle. Behind the roses are 6-8 ft tall delphiniums, which come in shades of blue, violet, white, and mauve. They are truly gorgeous! We left to go have dinner, and then returned tonight to see the gardens by the thousands of lights that are lit up until 11 pm. It reminded me of a fairy tale, with all the charm and beauty.

Tomorrow is our last day, and we are hoping to go to the Under Sea Gardens and the Observatory before leaving Victoria to head back to Vancouver for the night and our Wed. morning flight home.

Ketchikan, AK Day 9, 10

On Friday, we docked in Ketchikan, AK. We didn't have very long there, but Stan and I took a two hour flight on a float plane over the Misty Fjords. This flight was much different from the small plane we took to the base of Mt. McKinley. Up there we saw the spectacular sights of the glaciers. In Ketchikan, we saw the beautiful sight of the remains after glaciers melted thousands of years ago. There were waterfalls running down cliffs at every turn, little peaceful lakes and ponds, and the trees were some of the biggest we've ever seen. We landed on one of the fjords (an inlet cut by a glacier that later fills with ocean) and watched a brown bear eating for awhile. It was so peaceful and pristine. Stan did loose his cookies on this flight, but we still enjoyed it!

On a side note, the show on board the boat Friday night included Broadway favorites, one of which was "Don't Rock the Boat." To my trained musical ears, the vocals weren't that good, but the dancing was pretty good. Anyway, I ended up getting a bout of seasickness on Sat. as our boat was doing to HEAVY rocking.

Saturday we spent all day at sea traveling down to Vancouver. Actually, we were looking on the virtual map on board the ship, and we had only traveled half of the distance to Vancouver by Friday. The other half was completed Saturday. On Saturday night, we saw the ventriloquist Mike Robinson. He was pretty funny with his "friend" Terrance.

Today, we got off the ship and picked up our rental car. We took the ferry over to Schwartz Bay on our our way over to Victoria, British Columbia. It's just gorgeous right now, including the first extended sunshine we've seen in over a week! We came here on our honeymoon ten years ago and loved it so much we decided to come back this trip.

Juneau, AK Day 8

We had two min highlights for our day yesterday. The first was our whale-watching and wildlife quest in the fiords around Juneau. We saw Stellar Sea-lions, many bald eagles, and the main attraction, the humpback whales. We actually saw around 8 different whales, but the most spectacular was a cow and calf. The calf had a bit of an Elvis personality and was breaching the water right off the front of our boat. For those that don't know, humpbacks are not like Shamu the killer whale. They don't normally breach, but this young fellow of about 8 months was showing off. He jumped completely out of the water 3 times! That quite a feat for a whale that weighs about 16 tons. The naturalist said that they are born weighing 2 tons, which would be the equivalent of a human giving birth to a three-year-old! Mom produces 100-150 gallons of milk per day, without eating! It was a sight to be held, and one we will not forget.

The second attraction was our nightly program on board the ship after we left port. His name was Sideshow Bert, and he sure made us laugh. He juggled 3 machetes, 3 flaming fire sticks, a medieval battle axe with an apple and a 12 pound bowling ball. He also got up on a rolling balance board and juggled, as well as on top of a unicycle. Being from Texas, and speaking some Spanish, we found his jokes humurous. He constantly referred to everything as "the una cycleta del muerte, or the flaming torches del muerte." Most of the crowd was up there in years, and I don't think they got the del muerte joke (it means of death.)

Today we are docked in Ketchikan, and are supposed to take a float plane up to the Misty Fiords National Park and land on a glacier-fed lake up there. It should be a show, as long as Stan doens't loose his cookies on the trip!

Tomorrow will be at sea, so we will probably not be able to post until we dock in Vancouver on Sunday.

Haines/Skagway, AK Day 7

We pulled into the dock at picturesque Haines yesterday. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the town that carries my maiden name is not much of a town. We took the White Pass/Yukon Narrow Gauge Railroad up the mountain into British Columbia. There were several beautiful waterfalls, glaciers, and alpine flowers. We went over a wooden bridge and through two pitch-black tunnels to get there. That was the darkest we have seen since we left Texas. Alaska currently has about 20-22 hours of daylight, with the longest day of the year coming up on June 21.

Today we are in the capital of Alaska, Juneau. We are taking a whale-watching tour this afternoon and hope to see some Humpbacks. (Actually, we've already seen quite a few on our ship, they just have white hair on their heads.)

Anchorage, Seward, Glacier Bay, AK Days 4-6

We have not had Internet access for the last few days. Actually, we have, but as frugal teachers, we weren't willing to pay .75 for one minute of access on the ship...

We left Denali by motor coach and it took all day. The scenery on the way to Anchorage and Seward was the most beautiful I have ever seen! I would love to come back up here and stay in a cabin for awhile. We boarded the ship in Seward and didn't get a chance to look around.

The next day we spent on board the ship cruising the coast. We saw lots of glaciers and snow, as well as some humpback whales from a distance.

The following day, yesterday, was spent in Glacier Bay. We got to see an enormous piece of ice fall into the ocean. The park ranger said it was the size of a residential house, about 250 ft long. It was spectacular! The water was a beautiful turqouise blue and it was very peacful. After dinner, we saw an amazing violin/fiddle player on the ship. He danced while he played every song, and even went out into the audience and balcony! He told jokes, and even played the violin upside down on his head! We stayed up late to try out the midnight German buffet, but alas, no sauerkraut (not that I would eat it anyway.)

Today we have docked at our first port, Haines. I'll try to update again tomorrow in port at Juneau.

Denali National Park, AK Days 3 and 4

Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My! Not really, but caribou, moose, and bears anyway.

We took the McKinley Explorer train down to Denali. It is a dome-topped train car and the view were pretty awesome. That night, we took a covered wagon tour into the woods and had dinner with local history provided by a Serbian college student of all people. He was very knowledgeable, but how strange to hear about Alaska from someone that's not from here! Almost everyone that is here working in Alaska is not from Alaska. I guess that tells you something about how people feel when they visit...they don't want to leave!

We had a great tour of the park yesterday. We got to see two big bull moose cross the road right in front of us. Then we saw a mother grizzly bear and her cub playing on the hillside and cross the road right in front of us. We were also extra lucky and got to see several Dahl sheep cross the road in front of us, so we got some great pictures! Last night we took a last minute flight-seeing trip to Mt. McKinley. It was really cloudy all day yesterday until early evening, so we were able to take the last flight. We didn't get to see the mountain, for it makes it's own weather and was cloudy, but we got more great pictures of glaciers and the Alaskan mountain range.

Today, we are on a full-day trip down to Seward to board our ship for the cruise.

Fairbanks, AK Day 2

I'm sure all 2 people who might be following this blog are at least slightly curious about how we did at the gold mine yesterday, but not so fast. I'll give you a hint and tell you that our total involves the sixth digit! We started the day on a sternwheeler riverboat tour that took us past a dog sled kennel, where we got a brief lesson on how the dogs are trained for the iditorod race. We also stopped and got off the ship for about an hour at a recreated series of Athabascan villages. One was set before the Eurpoean influence, one was set after, and one was a little more recent. Fun fact: reindeer and caribou are genetically identical. The only difference is that reindeer have been domesticated.

We had a very long day of geology, natural history, archeology, and just plain fun.

We ended our bus tour at Gold Dredge #8, where we saw the true meaning of "work." After that we went over to the El Dorado Gold Mine and tried our hand at panning for gold, also much work. We sat on the bench and worked steadily at sloshing out the rocks and sand as we bent over a large trough of water. It sure is hard on the knees and lower back!! After about 30 minutes-that-seemed-like-30-hours, we finally had some help finishing up sloshing the pans. (For those that have never done this before, you have a very strong urge to be VERY careful because you don't want to slosh out your gold!) We took our little flakes out of the pan and took them into the store to be weighed. I thought I might actually make some money because mine flakes had weight to them and they rattled in the canister. I heard people ahead of us getting totals of $40-$60 worth. Eventually, we ended up getting mine weighed, and the total was....

$6 for 2 grams of gold. Stan wasn't so lucky, as his little flakes didn't even register on the scale. Then, true to the American dream, we spent $40 to buy a locket-type necklace to show off the $6 worth of flakes!

We ended the day at the Museum of the North, which is on the campus of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. It was very interesting and we took several pictures, and completed our knowledge of the Alaskan interior, but to our bodies it was 12 am Central when we left the museum, so we were exhausted.

Today, we are taking the dome-car train down to Denali National Park. There should be lots of wild animal viewing...

Fairbanks, AK Day 1

We arrived in Fairbanks at 8 PM Central time (5 PM local time). We decided to try out some local cuisine at the Thai House. It was really good! Afterward, we decided to head over to a local ice cream shop we heard about (Hot Licks), but we had to take the bus. On the way, one of the stops was at the local Wal-Mart. I believe we witnessed something slightly unusual...
As we pulled up to the bus stop, I looked over and saw a military truck complete with the canvas roll-up roof. There were several soldiers that were loaded metal folding chairs into the back that they had just purchased at Wal-Mart! We thought it was a little unusual just to see the vehicle. We are now sitting in the hotel lobby making use of the wireless and it is 11:30 PM Central time and broad daylight. They say the official sunset is 12:30ish and sunup is abou 3:30, but the hours in between are more like twilight, not dark.

Check back tomorrow to see if we strike it rich on our Gold Dredge Tour!

Science part II

This week, in order to celebrate Nurse's Day, we were allowed to wear scrubs and tennis shoes to work. I don't own any, so I went over to my sister Amy's house to borrow some from her since she is a nurse. I picked out a cute polka-dot top that has a modern look to it. It is brown with turquoise, pink, lime, and pale yellow dots that sometimes overlap. When I walked out to the dining table where the kids were having breakfast that morning, Joshua pointed to my top and said "Momma, your shirt has molecules on it." It's a good thing I teach Science...

Science Lessons from a 3 year old

Katie decided she wanted to talk about spiders on the way home today. She told me that they are on webs. I told her that webs were where spiders lived, like a house. Then she told me that spiders don't eat candycanes. The next thing out of her mouth was that Santa is coming soon. I wonder if the daycare workers were using the Santa Claus and/or candycane bribery tricks to get the kids to behave at school today????

As for what's going on with Josh, I check out several books each week from our school library and he reads them at night to us and takes tests on the computer at school. The kids get points based on how many tests they pass, and the principal gives rewards for reaching certain point goals. Anyway, Josh has been reading first grade books by himself without much help, and can read second grade books with a little help. Last week I checked out a Frog and Toad book that was rated a 1.4 (that means fourth month of first grade). Today he took the test for it and the librarian emailed me to tell me that he made a 100 and that the book has been re-evaluated and it now considered a 2.9 (ninth month of second grade). She was so proud, and so are we!

Toilet Training and Wedding Progress

For all those parents out there, toilet training is a frustrating and time-consuming experience. I guess we have crossed a major hurdle in this area after last night. Stan went to get Katie up this morning only to find that after we put her to bed last night, she apparently took off her pull-up and nightgown. He found her asleep wearing panties, jean shorts, her Easter dress, and black dress shoes. This is somewhat of a feat considering the dress was hanging in the closet, the shoes were put up in the shoe holder, and she can't reach the light switches... Here's the biggest news: She was DRY (she has been dry most of the time lately, but not wearing panties)!!!

On another front, wedding plans are continuing for Josh. Every few days he gives us a new update on what they want to do. His latest idea is that parents shouldn't spank, they should just buy their kids toys to make them mind. This seems to be the philosophy of many of the parents we see in the school system, but it is particularly funny considering that Josh has told us that they will be having 10 kids.

Wedding Bells!!?!

Josh announced to me on the way home today that one of his friends that he has been friends with for a long time told him today that she wants to marry him. He added that she says she wants to have 10 kids. 5 that are girls and 5 that are boys. The whole conversation was very matter-of-fact. However, he does seem much more preoccupied with who will be attending his birthday party in May and what we will have at it. :)

Soft Spot

Each morning, I drop of Katie at daycare on the way to school. Since Josh is in Kindergarten at my school, he is in the car with me. The kids usually eat breakfast before we leave home, and sometimes finish in the car (pop-tarts or dry cereal). Katie gets her milk at school when I drop her off, so I always bring a cup of milk in the car for Josh. He drinks it while I take Katie inside. This morning, I was in a hurry with it being the first day back after spring break, and I forgot to get his cup of milk. He grumpily asked me where his milk was before I shut the door to take Katie inside the daycare. I told him that I forgot and I was sorry. He was quiet when I came back and I asked him if he was mad at me. He said "No. It's okay. Sometimes I forget too, mama." I don't know why, but that made me feel bad. It sorta hit me in the soft spot that parents have for their kids.

Our Son the Theologian

On the way home from school today, out of the blue Josh asked me "Was God the first person to be born?" Not knowing exactly how to respond to this, I told him that God wasn't born, he has always been alive. He wanted to know how that could be, and I just said that there are some things that we can't explain as humans and that is one of them. He seemed okay with that answer, but then asked, "Why is God so powerful?" I told him that that's just the way God is and that we couldn't explain that either. He seemed to understand...

Fun at Fry's

We have been thinking about buying a Wii for awhile. Stan saw an ad in the Fry's circular for Wii at the regular price (the key is that they actually had some in stock), so we decided to go and get one for us and the kids for their birthdays. We were standing in the checkout line and Katie gets sick multiple times. Everyone was staring and some people were coughing etc. because of the smell. The two young asian female employees seemed helpless and just stood there staring. I asked if they had the powder that you sprinkle on body fluids, but alas they didn't understand what I was asking for. I ended up wiping it into a smaller area and covering it up with paper towels, holding the wet and sobbing Katie, while the other customers watched. What fun times!

2009 Vacation

Well, it's official. Or at least partially official. We booked our Alaskan cruise/tour last week to celebrate our "official" 10th anniversary a few months early. We leave Dallas on Wednesday, June 10 and will be touring Fairbanks and Denali National Park on the land part and then taking a cruise from Seward down to Vancouver with several stops along the way. We plan to spend a couple days in Vancouver (since we went there on our honeymoon.) We should be home on or around Friday, June 26th.

For those who might be interested, the cruise lines are offering some terrific deals right now due to the slow economy. Our package cost of half of what it was listed at back in November when we first started investigating prices.

Jay Bird

We spent most of the day yesterday in the front yard getting rid of the bushes that had overtaken our front flowerbeds. As we were beginning to clean up, I walked around to the backyard to get the kids to come clean up their toys. I found Katie laying on top of the picnic table naked as a jay bird! Apparently, she needed to go #2 and didn't want to have to come into the house, so she took care of her business outside and then was enjoying her new freedom without clothes! I sure hope none of the neighbors saw that!!

Friction

Josh stays after school with me a couple days each week. He loves to watch these children's videos called "The Magic School Bus." They are about an elementary class that takes field trips with their Science teacher and learn all kinds of things first-hand. I guess he has been learning things from watching them because after watching one on movement the other day, he applied his new understanding. Today as we left the building to go home, he was carrying a package of cheese crackers on top of his library book (with the slick plastic library cover). After the crackers fell on the floor twice, he asked me if they fell because there was no friction.

Manners

As we were getting ready to leave for church this morning, Katie asked Josh to help her buckle her seatbelt. His reply was "Yes Ma'am." I guess he realized that he didn't have to call his sister Ma'am, so he quickly said, "Yes, Katie."

Ice Day

After six different phone calls this morning, we ended up sleeping in due to the cancellation of school for an ice storm last night. Stan checked outside to find that the street was dry around 9:30. We got the kids dressed and decided to go get donuts. As we left the second donut store that was closed, Katie says, "Where is the donut store?" After we tell her it is closed, she says "Waaait a minute!" We then ended up at McDonalds, but breakfast time was over so the kids had chicken nuggets. As we were leaving, Josh asked his sister, "Katie did you like our breakfast at McDonalds?" She said, "Yeah," to which he replied, "I enjoyed our breakfast," sounding just like an adult trying to be polite.

Nowhere and Cute

Earlier this week Joshua asked me "where are you if you are nowhere?" I was really surprised by his question, and it took me a second to think of how to answer him. I told him that you can't be nowhere if you are alive. He seemed to be okay with that answer.

Katie's new thing is to get on her pajamas each night, which happen to have frog princesses on them. Then she asks to go show the mirror and when she sees it, she points at herself in the mirror and says "I'm cute."