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