Polar Plunge 2012

On December 15, 2012, Neal and I participated in the Special Olympics' Polar Plunge.  The ladies group was called the Diving Divas.  At 10:00 am and at 7 F degrees outside, we donned our tutus and tiaras to jump into a hole cut out of the frozen Goose Lake in AK.  The shock of the cold water took my breath away and it was hard to wait to get to the ladder to climb out.  We ran immediately to the hot tub tent.  But the workers only allowed us to stay in for what felt like a nanosecond.  After changing clothes, everyone was surprised how great we felt.  It was a great experience and there has even been talk of doing it again next year.

Holiday Train Ride

In early December, we took the Alaskan holiday train ride down to Indian, AK.  The kids participated in coloring contests, met Santa and Mrs. Claus, and sang along with carolers.  It was a fun morning ride.

Scarlett's 4th Birthday

Scarlett turned 4 years old on Sept 22nd.  She went to Build-a-Bear, had cake with the neighbors, and dinner at Red Robin.  She loved getting the free ice cream sundae but could have done without the staff singing to her.

Quinn First Day of 1st Grade

Quinn started attending Northwood ABC Elementary school (This is the school I am working at this year). His teacher is Mrs. Powell.

Happy Birthday Quinn!

Quinn turned 7 years old in August... wow 7!  He had a small Ninjago themed party with some friends at Bouncing Bears, an indoor play area.

Easter 2012

Well I've had some techical difficulties lately, as my computer's screen burnt out on me and I had to send my laptop to the Apple store for some repairs and we've had to move a few times, and life is in general crazy around here.

On the Saturday before Easter we had a snow storm, it is Alaska right?  So many egg hunts were scheduled to be outside but we opted for a few indoor ones.  First we headed to the Museum of Natural History.  This is a small but great museum in Anchorage.  They sponsored a different kind of egg hunt.  Throughout the museum the workers hid numbered eggs 1-26 and each family had a clip board and had to find all eggs and cross them off their list.  Once you found all 26 eggs you brought it back up to the front desk and you received a bag of candy and a shark's tooth (way, cool).  Some of the eggs were part of the dinosaur display or birds nests on display.  They even had activities for the kids to stop and try themselves.  Quinn tried his hand at being a king penguin and walked around while keeping his baby egg on his feet.  The kids even got to sit on a woolly mammoth wearing bunny ears.  It was so great to be able to touch all of the real stuffed animals.  We were amazed at how soft the fur was on the bears and wolves.

Next we stopped at the shoppette on base for an egg hunt.  Luck for us only one other family with 2 kids showed up.  So all 4 kiddos made out like crazy.... each got to find a basketful of eggs filled with candy and won prizes including stuffed animals and magic wands.  After this we headed home for lunch.  About an hour later, we got a call and Quinn had won a coloring contest and we needed to pick up an Easter basket filled with more goodies.

Lastly we went to a local vendors sale at the local convention center.  We bought some yummy homemade apple butter.

Easter day was a quiet one spent at home.   

Our First True Alaskan Adventure

On Saturday, Neal's work had a function, put on by the squadron's "Honorary Commander".   The gathering took place at his lake-side cabin outside of Willow, Alaska.  You can only reach the cabin by float plane or snow-mobile. 

Waiting for our ride.

So we got up early and packed up all of our layers (not having all of our stuff; the kids thought it was so funny that they had to wear pajamas as a thermal underwear layer) and drove one and half hours north to Willow.  Then we had to wait for snow mobiles to pick us up from the parking lot of the Nancy Lake state park.  From there, it was a 11 miles snow mobile ride through beautiful wooded trails and over 2 frozen lakes to arrive at the cabin.

Still waiting...

Finally our chariot arrived and the kids were so excited to ride in the "family pod".  Quinn thought it looked like something out of Star Wars.  They said it was "super fun but super bumpy" and "hot, hot".

The day was spent eating, sledding and playing in the snow.  I don't think Quinn stepped out of the snow for more than 5 minutes to have a quick snack and drink.  He was soaked to the bone by the time we got back to the car.  Good thing we had a change of clothes for everyone.  

View across the lake

View of the lake from behind the cabin

Out House...rustic, right?