Here's Jake as we are flying out the door yesterday. Of course, he didn't want to wear one of the nice NEW shirts I had ordered from Lands End and insisted on this ratty, ol' T-shirt he's been wearing all summer!! Sigh....Pick your battles, right? So, I gave in and said "fine!" but made him wear new jeans and new shoes etc...etc.... This is a perfect example, however, of how our kids drive us crazy. That, and asking for a cell phone. Who needs a cell phone in FIFTH GRADE?!? Heck, I survived my ENTIRE childhood and most of my adult life without one!!! Sigh....Anyway, school went great yesterday and Jake is really liking being out at Point Higgins. As soon as he saw his best friend, Alec, I no longer existed. I didn't get to meet his teacher like I'd planned. Sigh....but at least HE was comfortable. I just have to accept that he's growing up. I'm glad he is so independent. It's just hard letting go. *Sniff* More to come.........NanFriday, August 28, 2009
First Day Of 5th Grade
Here's Jake as we are flying out the door yesterday. Of course, he didn't want to wear one of the nice NEW shirts I had ordered from Lands End and insisted on this ratty, ol' T-shirt he's been wearing all summer!! Sigh....Pick your battles, right? So, I gave in and said "fine!" but made him wear new jeans and new shoes etc...etc.... This is a perfect example, however, of how our kids drive us crazy. That, and asking for a cell phone. Who needs a cell phone in FIFTH GRADE?!? Heck, I survived my ENTIRE childhood and most of my adult life without one!!! Sigh....Anyway, school went great yesterday and Jake is really liking being out at Point Higgins. As soon as he saw his best friend, Alec, I no longer existed. I didn't get to meet his teacher like I'd planned. Sigh....but at least HE was comfortable. I just have to accept that he's growing up. I'm glad he is so independent. It's just hard letting go. *Sniff* More to come.........Nan
Thursday, August 27, 2009
The Slideshow
So...I got the slideshow going. For those of you that haven't figured it out, if you click on the pictures on the slideshow you can actually go into the Picasa website and see the pictures blown up etc. They are quite small on the blog and I find myself squinting to see them. You may be able to see my other albums as well but I'm not sure. I'll check it out when I get more time. I'll also try to figure out a way to put a caption under the pics so you kind of have a clue of what's what in each pic. :)
Anyway, hope you are enjoying the updates. I feel my creative juices flowing again and the desire to keep adding and writing. You can expect to hear more from me...especially with the weather starting to turn already.
Bye for now!! Nan XOX
Anyway, hope you are enjoying the updates. I feel my creative juices flowing again and the desire to keep adding and writing. You can expect to hear more from me...especially with the weather starting to turn already.
Bye for now!! Nan XOX
Stay Tuned!
I finally put together a new album of summer pics but there is a bit of a delay getting them from Picasa. As soon as it's "ready" I will be sure to post it. I didn't take as many photos as I thought and now I'm wishing I had! Waaaa!! I want a summer do-over, please!! Sniff! Anyway, I didn't post any of our vacation pics yet b/c I want to do those seperately. I may just post those in a new post instead of an album.
Bye for now! Love, Nan
P.S. School starts tomorrow. I can't believe I'm the mother of a 5th grader!! I've been emotional all night and I'm guessing it has something to do with that. Plus, I miss summer already! I had to pull out my wool sweater this a.m. But wouldn't ya know??? It got NICE this afternoon. Perhaps old man Murphey was playing a trick on me! I'm gonna do that tomorrow too!! Oh!! We had the MOST spectacular sunset tonight. Here's a pic for ya. As my friend Stacy always says..."Jealous?" LOL!!!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Wow! A New Post!
Well...so much for keeping up on the blog. What can I say? We had a wonderful summer and it was too hot to sit in the office spending time on blogging. I have no other excuse (other than being lazy, I suppose!) I have had two people complain about me "abandoning" this so I'd better get on the stick and catch up. I will post pics later. Actually, I may just attach a slide-show with all the latest pics and replace my "snow" pictures. Yeah...I'll do that. It will be much faster and save me a lot of frustration. Plus, it's just "time" to replace those snow pics!! LOL!
So, where did I leave off? I think we were getting ready to go on vacation! Yes...we took off for Portland on July 3rd to spend some time with my family. We stayed at my dad's new house in Portland. He is out in East Portland...kind of close to Gresham for any of you in the PNW that know where I'm referring to. It's kind of "out of the way" but it's not far to I-5 which takes you just about anywhere you want to go. And my dad was very gracious with the use of his car sooo...we were good to go!! Anyway, the 4th of July was spent in Ridgefield where I grew up. It was quite a day!! It was up over 90 degrees...that is VERY hot for us Alaskan folk! The parade was pretty good and I took a lot of pictures. I've never seen SO many tractors, tho! You know you are in farm country when people line up for what seems like miles with their tractors for a parade...yep..."you might be a redneck"...etc...etc....LOL!!! Just kidding!! There were some very impressive machines to say the least! :) We also went to my cousin, Marie's, new house for a BBQ. It was fun seeing her and hearing about all her plans for the "fixer-upper" she and her husband bought. It's going to be cool when it's all done!
After the 4th, we did a little shopping in Oregon and tried to take advantage of what Portland had to offer. We did the zoo (more pictures ensued) and went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.) The weather wasn't that great so we didn't get to go swimming and such. I was a bit bummed by that. I *DID* get to see a lot of family, tho, including my brother, his wife and my new niece, Abigail. I am in LOVE with Abbie...will post pics later. My other sister, of course, with her brood was ever present. Baby Clara is getting so big already! She'd changed a lot in the 6 weeks between visits (I was down there Memorial Day weekend.) It was fun seeing them again and Jake had fun seeing all his cousins. I spent a little time with my baby sister, Crystal. She's been studying to take the test to get into medical school so I didn't see her as much as I would have liked but I understood.
At the end of the trip we spent a day out at Seaside, Oregon on the Oregon Coast. WHAT A BLAST!!! This was the hightlight of our trip. Tony was in awe of the beach and the sand and all things "beachy". It's completely different down there in comparison to SE Alaska! He and Jake tried the "skim board" that all the kids were using...it seems to be all the rage now. It was a very windy day and body surfing and swimming were out of the question so the skim board it was!! I ended up buying a kite. Great day for kite flying that's for sure!! We are definitely planning to go back there some day and actually stay a night or two. It's a great little touristy town but they also have some outlet stores I'd like to check out. You know me...I have to shop where-ever I go!!
All in all, it was a great visit. My aunt, Lori, and cousin, Emma, came over for dinner the last night we were there. It's always fun when Lori is around! My other cousin, Ryan, came by and it was great seeing him. He lives not far from my dad so I will be able to see him a little more often (I hope.) We are planning a trip down for Christmas so hopefully I'll get to spend even more time with everyone. Jake and I will be there for two weeks over Christmas break. I am excited about that!! Tony will more than likely come down for a few days to spend the holiday with us (unless he wants to save miles for Hawaii...hint...hint!!).
Since our return, we have enjoyed probably one of the best summers in Ketchikan that I can remember. It rained for about a week when we got home but then got gloriously hot again. It was marvelous!! Jake spent countless hours on the beach with Damion from next door. We enjoyed sitting on our deck watching the water. We didn't get out and do much other than the beach once in a while but it was still fantastic seeing the sun and getting a reprieve from the gloom and rain. We just simply enjoyed it as much as we could. Other than that, we really haven't been up to much. (One downside to the heat, however, is it killed the fish I've been fish-sitting. The parrot fish that I pictured on this blog and the silver dollars are gone. I was just SICK about it. It happened while we were gone b/c our house was all closed up and it just got too warm for them. Thank goodness Buffy hasn't disowned me for killing her fish!!!!)
Anyway, work has been extremely busy for us both so there's nothing new to report there. Soccer has begun and Tony is coaching this year. Jake wasn't too thrilled about playing but he has sucked it up and just dealt with it. I wish he'd be a little more excited but "whatchya gonna do" right? He's doing OK with it....and I am the "assistant" coach so....I'm helping keep him in line. :) Our first game was Saturday. It was a lovely day and even tho we lost 3-1 we still had fun (I think!) LOL!
School starts in 2 days. My boy will be a 5th grader. I can hardly believe it! Pics to follow for sure! Oh...and he's still hanging in there with the flute. He is taking a weekly lesson and will start band at school as well. He is excited about getting to his new school and seeing all his new/old friends. He'll be at Point Higgins this year. Mrs. Troina is his teacher. I hear she's very nice! Can't wait to meet her!
OMGoodness!! I almost forgot....I turned the big 4-0 this year!!!!!!! I knew there was something I was forgetting!! LOL!! It was pretty painless. It's hard to beleive I'm in the "40 and older" category. Yeesh!!!
Well, that's all I can think of for right now. I better get going. I promise (I always say that!) to put pics on here asap. I also have video of some whale action from earlier in the summer. We are back to our gloomy, rainy weather so I'm sure you'll be hearing more from me. Hope you all have had a wonderful summer!
Love and Hugs~ Nan XOX
So, where did I leave off? I think we were getting ready to go on vacation! Yes...we took off for Portland on July 3rd to spend some time with my family. We stayed at my dad's new house in Portland. He is out in East Portland...kind of close to Gresham for any of you in the PNW that know where I'm referring to. It's kind of "out of the way" but it's not far to I-5 which takes you just about anywhere you want to go. And my dad was very gracious with the use of his car sooo...we were good to go!! Anyway, the 4th of July was spent in Ridgefield where I grew up. It was quite a day!! It was up over 90 degrees...that is VERY hot for us Alaskan folk! The parade was pretty good and I took a lot of pictures. I've never seen SO many tractors, tho! You know you are in farm country when people line up for what seems like miles with their tractors for a parade...yep..."you might be a redneck"...etc...etc....LOL!!! Just kidding!! There were some very impressive machines to say the least! :) We also went to my cousin, Marie's, new house for a BBQ. It was fun seeing her and hearing about all her plans for the "fixer-upper" she and her husband bought. It's going to be cool when it's all done!
After the 4th, we did a little shopping in Oregon and tried to take advantage of what Portland had to offer. We did the zoo (more pictures ensued) and went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.) The weather wasn't that great so we didn't get to go swimming and such. I was a bit bummed by that. I *DID* get to see a lot of family, tho, including my brother, his wife and my new niece, Abigail. I am in LOVE with Abbie...will post pics later. My other sister, of course, with her brood was ever present. Baby Clara is getting so big already! She'd changed a lot in the 6 weeks between visits (I was down there Memorial Day weekend.) It was fun seeing them again and Jake had fun seeing all his cousins. I spent a little time with my baby sister, Crystal. She's been studying to take the test to get into medical school so I didn't see her as much as I would have liked but I understood.
At the end of the trip we spent a day out at Seaside, Oregon on the Oregon Coast. WHAT A BLAST!!! This was the hightlight of our trip. Tony was in awe of the beach and the sand and all things "beachy". It's completely different down there in comparison to SE Alaska! He and Jake tried the "skim board" that all the kids were using...it seems to be all the rage now. It was a very windy day and body surfing and swimming were out of the question so the skim board it was!! I ended up buying a kite. Great day for kite flying that's for sure!! We are definitely planning to go back there some day and actually stay a night or two. It's a great little touristy town but they also have some outlet stores I'd like to check out. You know me...I have to shop where-ever I go!!
All in all, it was a great visit. My aunt, Lori, and cousin, Emma, came over for dinner the last night we were there. It's always fun when Lori is around! My other cousin, Ryan, came by and it was great seeing him. He lives not far from my dad so I will be able to see him a little more often (I hope.) We are planning a trip down for Christmas so hopefully I'll get to spend even more time with everyone. Jake and I will be there for two weeks over Christmas break. I am excited about that!! Tony will more than likely come down for a few days to spend the holiday with us (unless he wants to save miles for Hawaii...hint...hint!!).
Since our return, we have enjoyed probably one of the best summers in Ketchikan that I can remember. It rained for about a week when we got home but then got gloriously hot again. It was marvelous!! Jake spent countless hours on the beach with Damion from next door. We enjoyed sitting on our deck watching the water. We didn't get out and do much other than the beach once in a while but it was still fantastic seeing the sun and getting a reprieve from the gloom and rain. We just simply enjoyed it as much as we could. Other than that, we really haven't been up to much. (One downside to the heat, however, is it killed the fish I've been fish-sitting. The parrot fish that I pictured on this blog and the silver dollars are gone. I was just SICK about it. It happened while we were gone b/c our house was all closed up and it just got too warm for them. Thank goodness Buffy hasn't disowned me for killing her fish!!!!)
Anyway, work has been extremely busy for us both so there's nothing new to report there. Soccer has begun and Tony is coaching this year. Jake wasn't too thrilled about playing but he has sucked it up and just dealt with it. I wish he'd be a little more excited but "whatchya gonna do" right? He's doing OK with it....and I am the "assistant" coach so....I'm helping keep him in line. :) Our first game was Saturday. It was a lovely day and even tho we lost 3-1 we still had fun (I think!) LOL!
School starts in 2 days. My boy will be a 5th grader. I can hardly believe it! Pics to follow for sure! Oh...and he's still hanging in there with the flute. He is taking a weekly lesson and will start band at school as well. He is excited about getting to his new school and seeing all his new/old friends. He'll be at Point Higgins this year. Mrs. Troina is his teacher. I hear she's very nice! Can't wait to meet her!
OMGoodness!! I almost forgot....I turned the big 4-0 this year!!!!!!! I knew there was something I was forgetting!! LOL!! It was pretty painless. It's hard to beleive I'm in the "40 and older" category. Yeesh!!!
Well, that's all I can think of for right now. I better get going. I promise (I always say that!) to put pics on here asap. I also have video of some whale action from earlier in the summer. We are back to our gloomy, rainy weather so I'm sure you'll be hearing more from me. Hope you all have had a wonderful summer!
Love and Hugs~ Nan XOX
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