School Days

Well we got the kids into school, and it wasn't too easy. Apparently Alaska has different immunization requirements than Idaho, so they have all had to get shots. Ayden and Autumn only had to get Hep A, but poor Austin had to get Hep A, MMR, and Tetanus. He had a tetanus shot when he got stitches, but it wasn't in his records. We have been teasing him that he has to get blood work done today.... he got the shots on two separate days.
The kids all did very well on their first day of school. Austin found a fellow Mountain Homie that he has gone to school with since second grade. She was very excited to see him and I guess they got here two weeks ago. They are also waiting for housing. They have requested a housing close to ours...which I guess is the housing that nobody really wants. I really don't care what the housing is like. It's not like its cruddy... it's just smaller. A house is just a structure.... a home is what you make it!!
We are in TLF (temporary housing facility) for now. It feels good to be in something somewhat like a home. It is like a four-plex two bedroom apt. I got to actually cook a meal last night for dinner... I made stroganoff. This is after we went to the commisary. That was an ordeal in itself! We share the commissary and Bx with the army base, and maybe I am just being sensitive right now... but the army people are extremely rude!!! I don't know where things are in the store, and I litter ally got pushed aside twice by people so they could get something. ARGH! But other than the people, they store is very nice. It is HUGE! The aisles are nice and wide, and the store is kept very clean. The prices are comparable to home except for the basics.....milk is more than gas!!$4.50 a gallon!!! I stood there and stared at the price and Austin just laughed at me! But we got some food for the next two weeks, which is nice because eating out is so expensive and it gets old quickly!

WE MADE IT!!

We made it to Anchorage!! We got here a few days ahead of schedule because of circumstances in certain towns along the way. Our last day of driving was the longest one... and one I do not want to repeat. We left Haines Juction around 7:30 am and got into anchorage around 10:30 pm... and we lost an hour in there because of the time changes. That is just way too long in a vehicle!!! The thing is, is that it wasn't planned to be such a long day. After our ordeal in Watson Lake, we were off schedule with our reservations. Then when we got into Alaska (Tok), there wasn't a single room for us! The only options were to stay there and sleep in the car.. or continue driving. Our drive got lengthened because they were blasting... but the wait wasn't too long...just two to three hours!!! We made the most of our wait, we went to a pull off area and looked at a glacier. Adam and the kids did some more berry hunting, they found and ate some salmon berries. We took some pictures and I'll post them tomorrow.
Things went well here today. We should be getting house soon, and we started to enroll the kids into school today. Yes I said started ... Idaho does not require Hep A vaccines....so they had to get shots today. Welcome to Alaska!! :o)We got somewhat familiar with the base. It will take some time to get in all down, it is SO much bigger than Mountain Home. I am happy with the stuff on base....Starbucks, Cinnabon, Baskin Robbins : ) Right off base is a brand new Target... so new I'm not sure if its open yet. We ate at Red Robins tonight!It's nice to have some of the comforts of home in a new place.

This one is for Kenzie

I said I'd do more on the buffalo we saw.. and this is just for my Kenzie!! We wanted to see some and some we saw!! I thought you'd enjoy them.We hope to see some more wildlife as we come into Alaska. The views here are so incredible... words can not express! The country is so vast, it seems like it never ends. Green trees as far as the eye can see, and the river today was a beautiful turquoise color! You can tell along the side of the road where the animals have been, the grass is all matted down. It has been rainy, so most of the animals are hiding. We also kept seeing signs today for Elk... but they must have those confused with downed trees.... there plenty of those along the road.. ha ha! Or they have them mixed up with all the Ravens. They are all over the place. Did you know that they can remove your windshield wipers... and drink through a straw?!! I find this kind of creepy..does anyone else?

What a Difference a Day Makes

So we hit the road aroung 7:30 again this morning, and what a differnt day it was today. The weather was so extreme... it was fair but chilly when we left Fort Nelson. Not far down the road it was so foggy that we couldn't hardly see passed the end of our vehicle. Then it rained and rained, and this isn't rain like back at home...I didn't think it was going to stop. We complained about the lack of wildlife, so we got to see some today. We saw a Moose, but it was far from the road and in a river. We saw some Caribou, Dall Sheep, and Buffalo. More on the Buffalo later. When we got to what was supposed to be our destination for today, we found the hotel we were supposed to staying at. I was not impressed and we even looked for something else but found our choices weren't any better. Even Adam was leery but we went in anyways. We ate a lunch there,which was ridiculously expensive ($65), and went back down the very dark hall to our room. The place stunk so bad, it's like the horrible gas station restroom deoderizer... but stronger! Our feet were sticking to the floor in our hotel,....and I can't even discribe the bathroom to you!!! NASTY is too nice! We left the keys to the room in on the table and left....we drove to where we were supposed to be tomorrow night!! TG they had a room. It is no Ritz, but it seems like it after our other choice!!
So we are in Teslin, B.C. It has two rooms with a queen in each, but there are berries growing everywhere. The hotel is on a lake, and you have to cross this neat long bridge as you come into town. Ayden and Adam have been wanting a berry book, and they had one in the gift shop, so we went out identifying berries. It felt good to get out and walk, we got here around 5:45. That is long enough in the car!!

I Hate Lairs!!

So we got up early and ate, then hit the road again. We had a pretty good drive, still not much in the way of wildlife. We had been told that we would see lots of wildlife....so far we are up to eight deers. We have been joking that the people who put up the signs have deer mixed up with cows, and moose confused with horses!!He He!We have seen plenty of those.. but only eight deer this far into the trip is disappointing.
But here is the thing that has me so upset. I mentioned our experience in Dawson Creek and the laundry mat... we were told in there that it would be a lot more expensive here in Fort Nelson.WRONG!!! Not only is this town a lot cleaner, but they have a laundry room in the hotel. I had to go and find out what it was like:it has clean machines and it would of only been $9 to do all our laundry!Frustrating!! I understand that they want the business, but dishonesty really gets my knickers in a bind!!Arrg!
Anyways, we have to just let things go and enjoy the trip. We haven't been here before and we don't know what we have coming up ahead.You can't really tell anything from websites or put too much into word of mouth. It's all a learning experience!
Our hotel tonight is a newer Super8, and it is pretty nice. The room is bigger with two queens and a sleeper sofa. It also has a nice pool and a water slide that comes down from the second story.....and yes it is indoors, it was a whopping 60degrees today. We just got some snacks from the vending machine and tried some different candy bars.I haven't ever seen them back home...even in places like Powells. One was called "Mr Big", it was a wafer cookie covered with carmel and peanuts and then covered in chocolate. It was pretty good. It is about 9-10 inches long. The next was an "Aero" bar. It says "have you felt the bubbles melt?" on the package. It is a bar kind of like a Hersheys divided into eight peices but thicker and shorter, and once you bite into it, you see all the "bubbles". I didn't try this one, but the family all said it was really good.It is made by Nestle where as the Mr Big is made by Cadbury.. so if you find them somewhere, we recommend them. As a note...we paid $1.35 each for them. Everything in this country is more expensive; I know I have said that before, and I'm sure I'll say it again.: )
Well I could ramble on and on, but the kids want to play Uno. I prefer this to going back to the pool...I think their brains are turning into chlorine!!! More later! :o)

What day is it?

We have now made it to Dawson Creek, Canada; which is mile "0" for the Alaskan Highway. I sat down to start this blog and had to ask if it was really Friday...all the days are starting to blur together. Here was the highlight and big ordeal of the day. We had to do laundry becasue we haven't done it since our first night in Boise...we had a lot to do! We found a laundry-mat, which we have been looking for the last two nights, and ventured inside. It wasn't the nicest or cleanest place I've been to, but we had to get it done, we were running out of clothes! Adam and I went in to scout it out and find out how much it cost...here is the kicker...it was $4 for wash and a quarter for 3 minutes in the dryer!! After all was done we spent $18.75 to wash/dry three loads of laundry!! We then headed to Wal-Mart to find a jacket for me and got one for Autumn as well. It's hard to think aabout jackets when you are packing and it is 100 degrees outside....I packed one for Ayden and Adam-n- Austin has theirs.
We have noticed that the gas prices are relatively the same in all the towns. It's not like in Boise where you can see a huge difference in prices from station to station, or one side of town versus the other. We aren't sure if this is because it's goverment regulated or not, but it does make it easy to know how much it will cost to fill up on your trip.

Canada vs. USA

So far the major differences we have noticed between the US and Canada has been in the highways. Canada's highways are really nice.... well maintained and absolutely no trash on the ground!!! It has mostly been a two lane highway, but there are lots of slow vehicle turnouts. They also have litter deposits every so far.... these are trash cans that are bear proof. It takes a bit to remember the difference between Km and miles when it comes to the street signs. We have to really thing about it when we are looking to see how much farther a town is.......wish I would of paid more attention in math class now!
As for the towns we have stopped in,....they are alright. Cache Creek is older and small, and the motels was not much to desire. Tonight we are in Prince George, and the hotel is better. It is also older but not as old. I think it would be from about the 80's..... C.C. was more form the 50-60's. We have two rooms tonight, so we can all have a little space. It also has room service, but things here are rather pricey!! A kids meal at any restaurant starts at$5.00 and goes up to about $8... so needless to say, we are not ordering room service!
Everything here is more expensive.. it seems weird to see 139.9 for gas, but its for a liter. Now back to math class... there is roughly three and a half liters in a gallon if I remember right (but don't quote me). Now you can finish the math problem...... I have a 33.5 gallon tank!! UUGH! But we have actually been getting pretty good gas mileage so far. It only took around $30 to go from Tacoma to the Canadian border.

Shipping Yard

We had to share our experience with the shipping yard. Not everyone will get the experience of being down in the shipping yards. It is a completely different world compared to the rest of the city. Everywhere you look there are big cranes moving things around. Autumn sat with binoculars and watched while Adam did all the paper work and such with the shipping company. This is also where they store vehicle for people, like military, when they have to be gone for long perionds of time. They have a garage full of cars!! They were telling Adam that once a month they start them for the people... not sure I would want to leave my vehicle somewhere like this. It isn't the friendliest part of town. I would be worried the whole time... but I'm sure that it would be fine, people do it all the time.

Busy, Busy Day

We left Yakima around 7am, and arrived in Tacoma about 9am. I am proud of myself about my driving abilities today. I hate driving in big cities, but I handled myself rather well. It helped to have Adam in front of me, leading the way. I lead the way from Boise to Yakima yesterday. It was a very pretty drive, a little rain and thicker fog in some areas.

Once we got here we had to get the Suzuki to the shipping yard, where we left it to be shipped by boat to Alaska.But before we could drop it off, it had to washed.. per their instuctions. We spent a hour driving around looking for a car wash!! We weren't being picky.. there wasn't a single one around. We even started looking for just a hose somewhere. We finally found one at a Shell gas station, and spent $6 for the basic wash. Then we had to find our way back to the shipping yard area. It was intersting. The kids loved seeing all the big cranes and ships. It took around a half hour to get everything done with them. They really go every nook and cranny of the vehicle, box up anything and everything that was in your vehicle...even the floor mats.

From there we headed to Seattle so that we could see the Space Needle. It was on my list of things to see in my lifetime, so a big "Thank You" to my sweet husband for going out of his way for me!! We didn't go up in it.. I am too chicken of heights!! It was just great to see it! And of course we had to get the photos taken! :o) Just so you know... Adam did all the driving after we dropped the Suzi off. I will not drive here. These people are crazy!! I sit in my seat and hold on to my seatbelt for dear life!!

We made it back to the hotel (in Tacoma) in one peice and headed down to the beach here, the hotel is one its own pier. We look out our window and we are above the water. It's nice!! There are a lot of ships out in the bay... and I mean ships, not little boats. Austin is amazed at their size, and we keep telling him thta they really aren't that big...when you are talking ship sizes. But we wouldn't see "boats" this size in Idaho.:o)

Farewells and Good-byes

Had an emotional day, we had to say good-bye to family and head out of state. It was very hard to say our farewells.The younger two kids didn't understand fully that we wouldn't be coming back for a long time. They knew dad was going to Washington today, but it didn't click that they would be too. They are used to daddy having to go places(TDY), but we don't leave. Our neice Hannah didn't understand until this morning either. I guess it didn't seem real to me either until I had to leave this morning. And it really didn't hit me until I was passing Ontario, Oregon. I was seeing all the places and little towns I grew up in... having memories flashing back and realizing I probably won't be back to see these places for a very long time.

We did have a wonderful last night in Idaho. We went to Ann Morrisin park and fed the ducks, the kids had a blast doing this. We had plenty of hotdog buns left over form Eagle Island! Whle we were in the park, we had to check out the fountain. Great time to break out the camera... :). We went to eat with family at a great resturaunt (Flatbread). Then we went to Powells, a really neat candy store. We were so tired, mostly from the heat I think. While we were eating dinner, Scott checked the weather in Anchorage... 100 in Boise/57 in Anchorage!!! I am looking forward to the cooler temperatures. Lets see if I think the same when I am freezing this winter!! :o)!!

We stopped and ate lunch in Baker City, Oregon. We ate lunch at Dairy Queen, which was very small. The food was alright, but the reason I mentioned it was because of the restrooms. First it was outside...which wasn't too bad. It was right next to the drive up window, so you had to go through the line to get to it.But the real kicker was that there were two doors into it...one from the outside and one from the kitchen!!So as you try to strattle the thrown, you have to try and keep the door to the kitchen shut because it doesn't lock!!
But all was fine and we loaded back up to hit the road. As we headed out of town we came around a corner and saw an old In and Out... which if you know Adam, is his favorite place ever to eat!! All that the kids and I could say was "uh-oh!". But that is the way life goes... how were we to know there was one there!

5th Night in Hotel

Five nights down, and cabin fever is starting to settle in. A room with two queens and an air mattress is very "cozy" for a family of five. Trying to keep things in order is a job in itself, and not a small one at that. I hate the fact that if you need to pee... everyone in the room knows, and God forbid you pass gas! There is no privacy! I can't even shower without someone coming in and needing something. I am trying hard to use humor to get through this trip, and trying even harder to see past other family members selfishness.
It's not all bad, we have had some fun. We spent our last day in Mountain Home going to the museum.It was better than I thought it was going to be. It is all a donation not a set price like most museums. We had a guided tour who was wonderful and knew a lot about the history of the area and all the items in the museum. She was great with the kids and really catered to them, even gave them some packets to take with them and color. Autumn loved the player piano, she hadn't ever seen one before. She thought it as crazy how it plays the music and the keys move by themselves.
Our first day in Boise was busy but really fun. We had a get-together with family and friends at Eagle Island State Park. It was a lot of fun, would have been better if Jacksons wasn't having a company picnis at the same time. It made the line for the water slide long and slow, but we stil had a good time. Austin had refused sun screen at first and is now red and sore. I am not too sympathetic for him, at fifteen he knows how sensitive to the sun he is. :o) We are going to slow it down for the day. Family will show up this afternoon and we'll probably swim in the hotel pool.
** Here's a note of interest... Autumn finally lost the loose tooth she has been hanging onto forever!!! She lost it after she bit into some popcorn at Wingers at dinner. It was a mess, but she was fine two minutes later..... goofing off and putting her gummy snack in the space where her tooth was.**

Hotels, Hotels, Hotels

So we are are night two of hotel stays on this "adventure" we are. The kids are doing pretty good so far... wanting to spent every minute in the pool : ). Trying to limit the time so that it doesn't loose its novelty be the end of this trip, but I think even if they spent 20 hours a day in the pool, they would still want to go back everyday!!! Ayden thinks he could be the next Michael Phelps..... he is loving watching the Olympics with me. Autumn loves the gymnastics part... austin likes the womens beach volleyball...hmmm.. wonder why :o)

We are working on organization really hard... that way I don't go nuts and lose things before we get to Elmendorf. I hate getting to your next destination and find ou left something behind...especially my pillow! I think we have lost one of Aydens sock so far.... We did laundry this morning and of course there is one sock without a match. But hey, it could of been the infamous dryer monster that always eats the left sock!!! :o)

The Movers Are HERE!!!!

So I spent a great day with Kate yesterday in Boise. Had to show her where to but her coffee supplies : )!! All the while the movers were at my house packing up all our belongings. Now this morning ! I sit here as we wait until we can check in to our hotel... the first of many for the next two weeks! I am trying to keep a positive spin on this adventure, and pray that we can make it without coming unglued on each other. Spending this many days in a car and hotel room together can get rather...hmmm... "cozy" and we start to get on each others nerves. We also have three kids that think it is funny to continuously pick on each other with words. Do you think "I could give them all Dramamine for the next two weeks.... JK!!!
As I figure out how to put pic's on this sight I will share some of our adventures with you all!!

Here comes the movers!!

So tomorrow is our last real day here in the house,... and it will be a busy one! My parents are coming out early and loading up the washer and dryer. We are having a big to-do at church and the kids are singing, potluck,jumping houses...tired just thinking about it! Then bright and early the movers will be here Monday. We have hotels from then on out until we get to the great tundra of the north!!! Which sounds kind of exciting, but I am dreading being cooped up in a car and room for the next few weeks. Sound crazy? But that is the sacrfice we all have to make, and hopefully we can all survive!! :o)

Getting all packed up

So they are coming to pack us up for the big move in just a matter of days, and I still can't believe we are leaving. I always joked that it was supposed to be a perk of marrying military is to be able to see the world.... but we have been here forever in military terms.(15years) This is my home... the only place I have really ever known. I am excited to set out on an adventure, but sad becasue I really haven't had to leave my family before. I thought it was hard to move an hour away ten years ago.... now I'll be 3000 miles away! Yikes!
We have spent the last few weeks going through everything we own to decide whether we truely need it becasue we are only allowed a certain weight allowance in our move. It makes you wonder when you accumulated so much "stuff"....You find yourself asking yourself "do I really need this"," how often do I use it", "do I trust it to get moved", because not everything can be replaced.
I haven't ever had someone else pack my stuff and that makes me nervous too. It's a control thing, and I am working on getting over it. I am trying to enjoy it... I really thought this last move was going to be our last for quite a while.( We bought a house a year ago, which thank God..sold)
As we get things packed, I will blog the progress and keep you all up on the adventure!!! : o )