Hi!

Monday it rained. It was kind of dreary. I think I'm getting used to it, but I prefer seeing the sun!

We went and signed our lease on Monday, then went over to the apartment to do the walk through. There was some damage and the place never got cleaned. It looked like there were boogers on one of the walls... EWWWWW. The Property Manager saw stuff and when his handyman came he said "let's get the cleaning lady in here". We'll pick up our keys today (they worked in the unit yesterday) and our stuff will be delivered on Saturday! YEAH!!!

Yesterday was a base-wide clam bake. The morning started out crummy, but it was an absolutely beautiful afternoon. I talked with my neighbors and met some other people from dh's office. The food was good. :) It was a cool beach! I'm looking forward to going down there and doing school one of these days.

Speaking of school... The boys are enrolled in PACE. We sat with the teacher for Ketchikan on Monday and placed the order for our school books. They have something they offer called "Kid Crates". It has everything you need for the Core subjects in a handy little crate for each grade. We went and chose what books we wanted to use. We are also going to take Spanish this year, work on PE, and the boys both want music lessons. DS#1 wants to learn how to play the guitar and DS#2 wants to learn how to sing. Hmmm, Rock Band much? Maybe a bit too much! They're also going to take technology classes.

I'm not sure what adventures we're going to go on today. Dh is at work. We'll probably go shopping. I have a laundry list of things that we need to buy for the new house. Tomorrow we will spend the morning in an empty house waiting for the TV/Phone company to come hook us up. YEAH!

Have a great day! I will work on posting pictures tonight! :)

~barb

Today was another beautiful day!

We left our vacation home about 1pm and drove into town. Our first stop was our new house so that we could peek in the windows and get an idea of the layout. We were surprised to find out the door was unlocked, so we walked right in. We're pretty sure it will meet all of our needs for the time while we're here!

After we left the house we went down to the cruise dock. There was only 1 ship in port today. We got some warm drinks and wandered around looking at the stores. We found a clothing store and an outdoors store. We also found the movie theater and the candy store. :)

Then we decided to drive north. We drove as far north as we could on the main road. We took one of the side roads first and found a lake and a few other outdoor areas. We also played in the snow a little bit today. Let me tell ya, it was odd being in the snow wearing capri's and crocs. :) Yes, I do have pictures. I don't know when I'll get them loaded.

On the way "home" we spotted some whales. :) That was pretty cool!

Have a good evening!

~barb

Quickie update...

We got a phone call this morning, the house is ours! We'll pick up our keys on Monday!! Our household goods are already in Ketchikan, so it's entirely possible that we'll be able to be completely moved in by Wednesday!!! YEEE HAAWWWW!!!

Yo ho!

Ketchikan, Alaska is home to the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show. It is a huge hit with all the tourists and the cruise ships. In fact, when my mom stopped here on her cruise in '06 she saw the show and raved about it.

Tonight was the 9th annual free community show. For a donation of canned goods you got in free. I figured what a better way to get to know about our community then to see one of the hottest shows around. It was a gorgeous day today, and a really nice evening. The community raised over $17,000 for one of the community outreach groups.

I took about 80 (well, maybe not 80, but it was a lot!) pictures. It was a hoot and a half. The men who preformed for us tonight are quite talented. I will post pictures, I just don't know when. :)

We had a nice afternoon yesterday also. The boys went for a hike up a trail near our apartment. They came home with quite a few pictures of that event. Yes, eventually those will go up too. :)

We're still house hunting. I *think* we got a place to live, but I haven't heard from the real estate agent since Wednesday. Dh did tell me yesterday that the couple who gave us the tip on the house got a call on Wednesday night thanking them for referring us. If we get this place we can move in as early as Monday. Our stuff is already here in Ketchikan, it's just sitting in a warehouse somewhere. It's entirely possible that this time next week I could be finding a place for all my stuff.

Have a great night! :)

~barb

Today was a gorgeous day!

It was sunny with a high of 52. It's 7:15 pm and the sun is still shining! The boys just came back inside from playing! It was a nice break from the rain. The rain is expected back tonight and for the next 2 days. Oh. Joy.

I want to say a big "HI!" to our Madrone 4H families who are visiting! Pull up a seat and make yourself at home!

We are in the process of house hunting. There haven't been too many leads. If you're the praying type, please pray that we find something that we can live with (3 bedrooms isn't too much to ask for, right?).

Today after looking at the outside of one house and searching for a second one we went downtown and wandered around a bit. I got to go into the quilt store today. Oh my. I was in heaven! There was a ton of fabric! Well, at least it seemed like a ton! It's a really small store so all you see is row after row of fabric! Today there were 3 cruise ships at the docks today. I'm sure with time I'll get used to seeing the cruise ships, but right now it is so odd!

At this moment I am sitting at the dining room table. Looking out the window I see the bay, and just beyond the bay are mountains with snowy peaks. WOW! I did take some pictures today. I'll get them uploaded and online tomorrow.

While we were out we went to the Yacht Club and walked along the pier. The boys found 6 or 7 little jelly fish in the water. Dh took that opportunity to talk about fish and other sea critters and what they eat. DS#1 loved the opportunity to "school" outside!

Speaking of school... While walking through our "mall" yesterday I found the charter school that we had planned on enrolling with for the next school year. I got to ask some questions of the teacher and the tech guy. I was very impressed. So impressed that I came home and immediately pre-enrolled the boys after dinner. Next step is an interview. I explained to the teacher that DS#1 would probably be re-doing the 4th grade next year, but that I wasn't sure. She said that we could start out with 4th grade and always change to the 5th mid-year if that is better. I'm hoping that with the cool workbooks we got him to work on this summer he'll catch up and get to where he needs to be!

Have a great night! :) I'll be back tomorrow with pictures!

~barb

Some pictures of the trip - sorry for those of you on dial up!

Ok, here's the trip. :) Well, some of the highlights.

We met my MIL and niece for breakfast 60 miles north of our starting point. She wanted a picture of the 4 of us before we left.

We stopped at a place called "Trees of Mystery" and the boys got their picture taken on Paul Bunyan's boot.

DS#2 on the ferry to Seattle.

DS#1 on the ferry.

Me on the ferry doing what I do best, knitting...

Passing another ferry as we pull in to Seattle.

Our chariot to Alaska.

Our room.

The tent city on the helo deck.

Our Coast Guard escorts.

The view from the ferry.

Ketchikan.

The boys checking out their new home.

They're not fabulous pictures, but there's some pictures. :) Dh is off to work and I'm going to take more pictures for today's 12 of 12. So you'll get 2 posts from me. Aren't you lucky?

~barb

We made it to Alaska!!!

Despite being really rainy, it's beautiful out here! Yes, I have some pictures. No, they're not loaded yet. All the batteries in the camera died and we didn't have the charger in the ferry cabin with us.

The trip was relatively uneventful. Both boys and myself were sick this trip. DS#2 always gets sick when we travel, so we expected it. I woke up feeling crummy Friday morning and I was hardly able to eat anything. I think I ate a sleeve of saltines. When it takes 45 minutes to eat a single serving of applesauce you know something is wrong.

I spent the majority of time on Friday laying down or trying to nap.

We met lots of Coasties on our trip. Dh would frequently leave the cabin and inevetabley come back an hour later saying "whoops, I started talking to a Coastie".

Thankfully I was able to eat yesterday. I did nap for some of the day, but I was also able to sit up without feeling queasy for the majority of the day.

I finished my Fawkes socks, and cast on another pair of socks.

We are currently staying in a vacation rental. After we got settled this morning we drove around a bit and found the base and then we drove to the cruise dock. We parked and walked around a bit. I found the yarn store and the quilt store. :) We saw several Sea Socks '08 cruisers, but no sign of Queen or Prince. Bummer. While wandering we also found a store called Christmas in Alaska!!! I know where I'm going for all the ornament exchanges that I do! :) YEAH!!

Well, I think I'm going to log off for now. Have a great Mother's Day!!! Oh, speaking of Mother's Day, 3 of 4 recipients gushed over the dishcloths. YEAH!

~barb