Now I can start thinking about Christmas. Actually, I am done shopping, thanks to point and click purchasing offered online. I love NOT having to drive around to five different stores looking for some special doo-da (not that I've ever wanted something that badly) or fist fight other shoppers for the last gadget in stock. I just travel virtually from store to store until I find the right thing for the right price. But don't ask about wrapping. I've yet to start that torturous chore. Why don't manufacturers just package kids crap in something that looks like wrapping paper? Then you can just pop on a bow and a nametag and stick it under the tree?! Oh well, I still have a few more late nights in me before I need to see a shrink.

The girls and I are spending Christmas Day here at home with Paul and then jetting off to Ohio for a visit with the family and friends. We'll be setting up camp at Aim's house and staying until January 7th. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at home and having time to relax. Except I may need a reminder as to what that is, exactly?

Vala started kindergarten last month, after many months of anticipation. She adapted quickly to the school environment and has been filling her reward chart from good behavior each week (if only her big sis...). She also seems to be the sweetheart of several older girls (first graders) who've taken her under their wings. She loves school and her biggest disappointment is that she doesn't have homework!

Syri is excelling in first grade. Her favorite subject is geometry and she is showing incredible creativity in her artwork and writing (like her journal titled "the day it rained makeup"). Syri's big news is that she has joined the running club. They practice every Monday and Wednesday after school (at least for the next couple weeks... until it snows). They have small races on Tuesday, which she's been unable to attend because of my teaching. She did run in her first big race last weekend. The Southside Jamboree was a 2k race and she did great. She was in the last quarter of girls in K-2 to come in, but she came out of the woods going strong and gave her best effort coming down the home stretch. She crossed the finish line and proudly shouted "2nd place, I got 2nd place" (I think the coach told them everyone is in second place unless you win). That's ok, she was beaming with pride as she wore her "2nd place" ribbon and medal for the rest of the day. She had been practicing slow and steady and her goal was to take her time and keep moving. She has another big race coming up next week.

We met with our social worker for the final time and should be able to begin finalizing Vala's adoption soon. We're hoping by end of year! Really, that has nothing to do with taxes or PFD... but I won't complain.

Vala has bonded quickly with each of us and adjusted amazingly to our family's on-the-go lifestyle. She loves Alaska and hasn't mentioned once why it's July and she still has to wear a fleece jacket when she goes outside. She has been hiking and rafting and to nearly every play park in the city. She has learned to ride a bike, albeit it took a while for her to surpass the speed of a grannie. And last Sunday, she celebrated her 5th birthday complete with her first ever birthday cake.

Syri is doing well as a big sis. She goes through rough patches every once in a while where she gets envious or feeling down and just wants to spend time with me or Paul alone, sans sister. But heah, I don't blame her. I would love to spend some time alone with Paul as well! I think the summer has probably been a challenge because the girls are spending every day together either with Paul on his day's off or with Isabelle and Tanya or Sopheap and Len when he's working. I thinking school starting will ease some of the tension as they become involved in different school activities and meet new and different people. Even though Syri has her moments, she can be so precious and loving towards Vala. Whenever Vala's upset at me or Paul or if she's hurt herself, Syri is the first one to make sure everything is alright and to give Vala a cuddle.

I've faced my own set of challenges since Vala came home. The biggest being my quest for peace and quiet. Followed closely by my attempt to get the house to the point where there are no dirty dishes, no dirty laundry, and no trash to be taken out... all at the same time! Impossible, for me anyway. So the house is a perpetual mess and the only quiet time I get is between 5:30 and 6:00 AM or when I stay up later than the girls, which is getting difficult to do (they are rather spoiled with their summer schedule). But heah, things like this are to be expected. And I know we'll do ok. Still... if anyone knows the housekeeping fairy, will you put in a good word for me?

In June, we got to visit Paul's family at DisneyWorld. The girls and I flew to Ohio and drove to Florida with my parents. As Paul could only make it down for a couple days and I wasn't feeling particulary confident in my ability to handle the girls alone, my parents graciously accompanied us on the trip. It was really great to spend time with the Southwoulds; we enjoyed every moment with them. Our parents met for the first time and then of course, it was Vala's first time meeting them as well. The girls adored their Nan and Grandad from England as well as their auntie and cousins. Erica and Syri were like peas from the same pod and Joshua totally took Vala under his wing. The girls did really well, probably out of fear that I would take their "Disney privilege" away. But hey, whatever gets them to behave, right? On the way back to Alaska, we stopped at Camp Masala, an Indian heritage camp in St. Paul where many of the attendees are adoptive families.

Next up on our agenda... Syri is turns six years old August 19. The girls start school the following week. And then a certain member of our household is turning 4-0 the week after that. Time to pull out the black napkins and plan a party!!!

Syri received such outfit from Santa for Christmas. I tell you, he is always looking out for us parents with active kids and even more active imaginations! Anyway, Syri got an Incredibles costume. And for anyone who hasn't seen the movie, the parents are superheros and the kids all have super powers and the daughter can make herself invisible. Syri has worn the outfit before, but never when I was really busy trying to get some paperwork done to finalize Vala's adoption. And from past experience, I know that the "mommy is busy" line only works for about 30 seconds. So I tried a more creative angle when she came up to ask me something...

I ignored her question on the whereabouts of her boots and shouted "Syri, can you come here for a minute?"... "SSSyyyrrriiiiii"... "Hmm, she must be in the other room"... "I thought she was just upstairs playing with her costumes"... "That's really strange"... "Wonder where she went"... and after only a few minutes of talking to myself, Syri caught on. Then began the giggles and the running by me and the jumping up and down and then even more giggle as she realized I couldn't see her.

I did throw out occasional unsuspecting comments to continue the facade, but for the most part I was able to complete my work in peace. She would go off and play for a while and then come back and check in with me, just to make sure she was still invisible. But I kid you not, she stayed in her outfit all afternoon.

So then came the point when I needed for her not to be invisible anymore. I persuaded her to take her suit off and she asked the feared question... "Mom, could you really see me?" I lied (Bad Mommy. But it was sooo nice, I really wanted to do it again sometime). But then she followed with "Tell the truth." Arg. So I told the truth. Arg again, because her disappointing response nearly broke my heart and showed me that I could have gotten away with this one for some time to come...

Then Rachael's mom called and invited us over to make Valentine cards in the afternoon. I thought one of two things could happen. Either the girls will be so beat after the play date that they'll come back to our house and go straight to bed. Or, they will be so sick of each other, they will come back to our house and bicker the rest of the evening.

Well, lucky me, I hadn't thought of option three: the girls will be having so much fun, they would forget to get tired and instead stay up half the night snickering away with one another. I will say, one of the precious angels (mine, believe it or not!) was completely knackered and went to sleep before the bedtime story was even over. But the other two squirts were wound up and ready for an all-nighter. OK, that's not really true. They all fell asleep by 9:30 and I thought, ah what sweethearts, I'm going to get a full night of sleep! And sometime later as I was drifting through dreamland, I heard the faint pitter-patter of little feet moving through the house. And then the bathroom door opened and closed, and I heard water running, and I'm thinking that's ok. Someone has to go toilet and they'll go straight back to bed and fall right back asleep... and then the giggling began. Yep, more than one was awake. Yep, I'm going to have to get out of bed on this one. I'll skip the details, but I later lost count as to how many times I got out of bed to remind the girls that their mom's would kill be if I sent them home grumpy in the morning having had no sleep the night before. The last little angel finally nodded off around 3:00 and as I lay there with wide eyes, all I could think is... Dear Lord, once Vala gets here, please don't let every night be like "sleepover" night!

Syri lost her first tooth tonight. About 4 minutes into the 3rd period of an Aces game. While others were watching hockey, Craig, disgusted by the poor playing of our home team, persuaded Syri into letting him pull her tooth out. Cathy pulled out some dental floss (and her phone camera). Craig wrapped it around Syri's loose tooth and gave it a solid tug. The dental floss popped off her tooth, but not without loosening it to the point of no return. She didn't want Craig to pull on it again, but it was now bending nearly perpendicular to her gumline. After a few minutes of pouting, she decided to pull it out herself. She wrapped a tissue around her tooth and sure enough, tore the teeny little thing clean out of her mouth. And then there was blood, but that was of no bother to Syri. No, she was upset because the hole where the tooth used to be felt funny against her tongue. Then to make matters worse, I offered her a mirror so she could see. That sent her over the edge and into tears because she didn't know the tooth coming out would leave a red hole on her gum. She "thought it would be white". And she felt she no longer looked pretty and she had big crocodile tears streaming down her face. I might add that at no time was she complaining about the pain. How could I, of all people, have a daughter so concerned over her looks? Somewhere after the time this started, the Aces lost their lead and Syri was getting more attention than the game. Everyone nearby had been cheering her through the tooth pulling and they were now giving Craig dirty looks for making her cry. The family behind her was trying to console her and their son showed Syri his new gap from a tooth he lost Friday at school. His younger sister was missing both her bottom teeth as well. And then the dad gave her a dollar. At least with their attention, she had stopped crying (and I stopped feeling guilty for letting Craig talk her into this whole ordeal). Still, we stopped for ice cream on the way home. Now her tooth is placed snugly under her pillow in a baggie, awaiting the Tooth Fairy. She did catch me off guard as she was going to bed when she declared that fairies weren't real. But before I had a chance to respond, she decided aloud that Santa must have turned one of his elves into the Tooth Fairy. Satisfied with her theory, she went to sleep peacefully.

More good news. By the time this goes to print (or gets posted up to the server), we should have a new little Holloway. I spoke to Krista tonight, as she sat in her hospital room, waiting for this stubborn little guy to make his grand entrance. She was given inducing drugs around 8:00 PM and four hours later, was still feeling fine. No serious pain. But then again, no baby yet either. Come on Jacob. Come out and play!

We began our celebrations last night. Paul took an extra part of a shift to help someone out and worked until 5:00. Syri and I got dressed up and took Paul out to our favorite restaurant for sushi. The owner, Chong, met us with hugs and gifts. She was hoping we would come in, she said. We dined (stuffing our bellies) and drank sake and headed back home to prepare for Santa's arrival.

First on our list was baking cookies and organizing treats for Santa. Syri picked a peanut butter and an oatmeal cookie. We made hot chocolate and also left carrots and sugar-cinammon water for the reindeer. Next was opening a couple Christmas Eve gifts. Syri got to open her nutcracker, something she's wanted since seeing the ballet a couple weeks ago. I was "made" to open my special gift - a new camera. Paul thought it would be great to charge the batteries overnight and test it out in the morning. Except for one itsy, bitsy oversight. The camera did not come with a memory stick and don't you know, of all the unused cards we have around the house, none were the type we needed! It looks like a great camera. Can't wait to use it (I won't rub it in too much as Paul felt really bad that there was no stick)! That's ok, I'm taking it to Ohio and buying a card for it there. Finally, we had a little cuddle time before sending Syri off to bed around 11:00.

A few minutes after Syri went to bed, the doorbell rang and we heard jingling bells. When Paul answered the door, there was no one there?! Syri came bolting out of her bedroom adamant that she also heard the commotion and full of theories as to who it could have been. (Confession time... it was me)

Keeping Syri up late worked like a charm and we got to sleep in until 7:45. I don't ever recall being that generous to my parents. We woke up to a very white Christmas. Fresh snow everywhere, except for a marking on Paul's truck that believe it or not, was in the rough shape of an elf (not me this time, pinky promise). So Syri sees what looks almost like a small snow angel on the hood of Paul's truck and comes up with the most elaborate story... of how it must have been Santa's helping elf who comes and checks to see if families are in bed or not. He was checking to see if it was safe for Santa to come to our house but he saw we were still awake and called Santa on the cell phone to say not to come to our house yet. Whilst doing this, he fell off our roof and landed on Paul's truck leaving the mark and smashing his face on the windshield. Knowing Paul was a paramedic, he came to our door to ask for help. After ringing the doorbell, he realized that no one was supposed to see him and ran off so that when we answered the door, there was nobody there. And he was ok, he just banged his nose a little. Man, and I thought my imagination ran wild!

Things I'm thankful for... Well, I've got a lot to be thankful for this year. As always, family and friends top my list. But this year, that has a very special meaning. Our family is full of new life this year. We have brought a new child into our hearts and she is waiting for us to bring her home and give her a family. When we decided to begin the adoption process, I felt with all my heart "now is the time" (my second favorite CAMP theme after, "Have I made a difference?") and in July, we found out why. Only two months after having our homestudy approved (instead of the typical 6+ month wait), we were matched with the beautiful Vastravalam. She had just become available for international adoption and needed a family. I feel so blessed that we are that chosen family.

But Vastravalam is not the only new addition to our family. In a couple weeks, Megan and Rocky will be welcoming Grace into the world. And in January, Krista and Tony will be welcoming Jacob (or Cole, they've got plenty of time to choose). New life abounds!

Of course, I can't talk about being thankful for family without mentioning my parents as well. I have become so much of who I am today because they are incredible role models. They didn't tell us what to do (well, yes they did and probably more frequently that I can recall), but more often, they showed us how we should live. Their everyday patience and love remind me constantly of ways I can improve and become a better parent myself.

I am thankful for Steve and Aimee and our ever growing relationships. Steve came up and visited us for a month and it was really nice to reconnect with him and get to know him again. We probably haven't spent that much time together since I left for college. I really enjoyed his visit and am thankful for the extra time together.

On September 23, Mom and Dad celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Steve, Aimee, and I organized a surprise party for them. Aimee was able to get the Groveport Town Hall and the plan was that she and Russ were taking them "out to dinner" (which wasn't exactly a lie). They would drive by Aimee's house to get Russ, who wouldn't be home from work yet, and then just happen to pass by town hall, where all of Mom and Dad's family and friends would be waiting to greet them. We had fun executing the surprise. At one point when we were decorating the hall earlier in the morning, Mom called Aimee on her cell phone. While she was talking, I ran in the other room and called Mom, interrupting their call... "I was just talking to your sister."... "Oh, really???". They really had no clue! Mom was even a bit sad because I would flying right through Cincy the next day on my way to Atlanta for a course (again, not really a lie). And I only had an hour layover; not enough time to step outside security for a visit. She was telling Steve on Saturday morning how bummed she was that she wouldn't get to see me. It was cute. Anyway, the party turned out really well. Along with friends from school and church and close family, several of Mom and Dad's friends from high school made it. Many of their original wedding party made it to the party as well. It was a great celebration of 40 years of love and marriage!

Big news for Paul... he was hired by TransCare, a private ambulance company, as an EMT. Paul has been considering work as a medic for a long time and received his Alaska EMT license last December. At the beginning of October, he was selected for one of three open positions among several hundred qualified EMT and paramedic applicants. He's working 24-hour shifts in 9 day-rotations; he works 24 and has 24 off, works 24 and has 24 off, works 24 and has 24 off and then has three days off. While much of their work is stable transfers, he's had an unusual amount of serious emergencies since joining the team. He's finding the work extremely rewarding and is greatly enjoying and appreciating this new experience.

We made travel plans for Christmas. Paul is staying here this year, with the new job, and taking on some extra shifts to relieve others over the holidays. He was scheduled to work Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve and didn't want to fly to Ohio for only a couple days. So Syri and I are spending Christmas with Paul (he gets off work at 9:00 AM Christmas morning) and then flying to Ohio Christmas night. We're staying into the New Year.

On the adoption front, our paperwork was sent to India on September 28. Our paperwork first goes the national government organization, CARA, which controls international adoption out of India. Another family has recently received the CARA approval, called NOC, in five weeks. So we're hoping to follow suit and receive that notice very soon! We should also be receiving an updated report, and most importantly, new photo soon. Vastravalam's past reports were completed on the 20th of the month, every quarter. VCT should have made a visit to her on October 20. I'll give them a couple weeks before I start inquiring. We also sent our first "care package" to Vastravalam last week. We are allowed to send small, flat packages. Syri and I made her a couple books: "My Family", "My Sister", "My Family Likes...", and "My School". I wanted to share with her information about her new family in a fun and kid-friendly format with lots of photos. They were relatively easy to create and much more fun for her than receiving letters (I hope). We also sent some colored pencils and a couple other little early reader books to help her with English vocabulary.

Syri is especially excited to have a new sister nearly the same age. They will be sharing a room and Syri is already talking about how they can play games and dolls together. (She is also talking about the toys which are "hers only" and which Vastravalam is not allowed to touch without asking!)

Syri started school Tuesday. She seemed pretty excited, especially when we entered the classroom and observed the chaos. We arrive a few minutes before the 8:15 bell and made our way down to an already full Kindergarten classroom. Syri's teacher is Ms. Cam. And as she welcomed each of the students, she was very relaxed which helped put them at ease. Students were to find their nametags and then could engage in any of the 101 activities she had made available. Syri quickly found the playdoh and went to work making shapes and cutouts. My intention was to drop her off and head into work, but with all the other parents loitering around, I thought I'd stay as well. Around 9:00, Ms. Cam had the students sit on carpet squares and she introduced each child to the rest of the class. Shocked as I was, Syri was quite attentive and raised her hand to speak, unlike most of the other kiddies. There were some tears, although not by me (I'm just too happy about not paying daycare bills) and certainly not by my child (who told us we could leave at about 8:18).

She returned home from her day full of beans and happy with the lunch I packed (miso soup, rice, tofu was the main dish). And don't think I'm torturing her, she requested this and on Friday even said with a giggle, "Can you believe some kids have to eat sandwiches EVERY DAY?" Yes, mission accomplished! My goal is to pack interesting and fun lunches (stop snickering) so that she has no desire what-so-ever to eat the disturbing sounding lunches they feed those children. By the way, exactly what is a teriyaki beef nugget? Not to mention the sugar-laden french toast sticks or waffles with greasy sausage they serve once a week. So I'm getting up 30 minutes earlier every day to pack these fantastic lunches (and also packing one for myself while I'm at it). Also my plan for saving money and eating more healthy. We'll see how long that stamina lasts, but I'm hoping to do it for the duration.

Brooks Camp is somewhat famous for the bears that frequent the area. The camp is surrounded by a lake on two sides with a river running through the middle. Last week was a "one bear paw" week, which is supposed to mean poor bear viewing. Still there were ten bears around camp and they gave us plenty to view! I can't imagine being there in a couple weeks when the bears all return and there are 40-80 running around this small area.

For the most part, the week was uneventful. We did have one adrenalin boost the last evening, about 30 minutes before our departure. Stacy and I finished up a few hours earlier and decided to relax on the beach. We were enjoying the sun and fresh air and I personally was a bit worn out from bear viewing. But there were some bears off in the distance: sow with two cubs and another male bear playing apart at the mouth of the river probably 250+ yards away from where we were sitting. There was a ranger and some tourists watching them from the corner, where the river meets the lake. They were between us and the bears, but we still had a view of them swimming and fishing.

The mom and one cub were moving out into the water and the other cub was playing with a piece of fish or something along the spit. The male bear began swimming towards the lone cub and the cub began moving towards land in our direction. The ranger and his group backed up and as the cub reached the end of the beach, still over 150 yards away, we stood up and began backing off the beach. Suddenly, the cub spooked and began to sprint towards us. We were still moving slowly, but the cub nearly caught up to us within a couple seconds, thus breaking cardinal rule #1: stay at least 50 yards away from a bear. When the cub began running, the male bear ran after it. And when the mom saw the male chasing her cub, she and the other cub quickly followed as well. I was not so worried about meeting up with the cub, but rather the train of bears coming full speed behind it. Stacy and I quickly ducked up a small trail running between the beach and lodge, thinking we were moving out of the way. But the cub turned and followed us! Then we broke cardinal rule #2: never run away from a bear. Well, I'm not sure Stacy ran, as I left her in my dust. As it turns out, she stepped off the trail and the cub ran right past her. And I wouldn't say I ran, exactly. Really, it was more like two giant leaps up onto the lodge porch. Everyone on the porch saw us and probably the fear stricken look on our faces and went scrambling for the door. One old guy in particular, knocked over four or so people to get in quickly. Luckily, he made a path for me to follow. As it turned out, the other bears passed the trail and continued running up the beach. They ended up entering camp, but from a different side trail. All was well in the end. Mom met up with her cub and the male bear sat on the beach pouting. Whew! They say bears can sprint, but until I saw a bear close a distance of 200 yards within a couple seconds (especially since I was at the end of that 200 yards), I would never have comprehended what that really means!

I'll start with an update of our busy summer. I kicked off the season with a multi-leg business trip. Greg B and I both attended a GIS conference in Portland. We met up with Dan and Philip for lunch one day and had a mini GeoNorth ex-pat reunion. Dan and Bev were expecting at the time and Bev later gave birth to a baby boy on May 26. I was able to follow up Portland with a training class in Gahanna. I stayed with Mom and Dad and had some nice visit time with the family, although it felt pretty strange to be there without Syri.

In June, we took a mini-vacation to Minneapolis to attend an India culture camp (more on that later). We were gone for a long weekend, but it was a nice relief from the day-to-day humdrum. Steve met up with us there and came back to Anchorage for a month. We had a really nice visit with him. We often don't get to visit with him much on our whirlwind trips through Ohio and so I loved having lots of relaxing down time with him. Paul worked him hard and taught Steve some of his trimming and pruning secrets. Syri, of course, loved having Uncle Steve around (one more person to hug and bug)!

Jen popped up for a long weekend over 4th of July and we made it out on a rafting adventure. Paul took me, Steve, Jen, and a friend from work, Mark, down the first two canyons of Six Mile. Paul has been training Mark up for guiding, so he's pretty well experienced. Jen and I have some rafting under our belt, but Steve was the rafting virgin. All went well through the first canyon. Paul was playing mind games and talking about carnage, but Steve was deflecting Paul's attempt to frighten him and enjoying his seat as lead paddler. We entered the second canyon with confidence and almost made it out flawlessly. And then only about a mile from the takeout, the shit hit the fan, or to be more accurate I should say, "the raft hit the wall"! I believe the rapid was Anvil. And as we rapidly approached a large flat wall above a small drop, those of us rafting familiarity knew it was not going to be pretty. Jen and Mark, on the left side of the raft, hit the wall first. The force of the water against us pushed them up and sucked the right side of the raft down. We flipped and no on survived without a swim. The folks at COC (a company we were tagging along behind for safety) were kind enough to rescue our boat while we rescued ourselves. Mark and I made it ashore above the towering boulder and Paul, Steve, and Jen ended up below. Mark and I slogged up to the highway. Apparently, there was a trail that went up the hillside some and then back down to the next eddy, where our raft was waiting, but we missed that. Paul, Steve, and Jen trudged that trail and went back to the boat. By the time we connected up via yelling, whistling, and banging our paddles on the guardrail, the canyon was too steep for me and Mark to get back down. So we walked down the mosquito infested road to the takeout. The other part of our team boated out without incident. I've never unintentionally swam before, so I thought it was a great experience as did Mark and Jen. Steve was definitely thrown into the deep end, but when asked if he would do it again, he just smiled and said "sure!"

Kelle and Dagny arrived last week for a two week visit. She's staying with Greg and Sopheap and it feels like old times having her around (Greg and I really miss her). Greg gave Sopheap a semi-surprise birthday party on Thursday. Sopheap turned 35. This was her first birthday party and Greg didn't miss a detail down to the blinking, lighted tiara for the birthday girl. The party was great and we were the first ones to leave around 10:00 pm.

Steve left Friday night and was kind enough to escort Syri back to Ohio for a three week visit with Nanny and Papaw. This may the only time he offers that service, but I am grateful that we didn't have to make two trips back there in such a short period of time. Syri is very excited to see Spence and Oliver and have a sleepover at their house. She wanted to call Spence one morning after planning this trip and ask if she could come to Toledo for a visit. Due to the time difference, we decided to email and she dictated her letter to me. She was ecstatic when Spence wrote back the next day. She carried the printed copy around for a couple weeks until it was in shreds, asking us to read it to her several times a day. What a simple thrill! Syri is also excited that she will be in Ohio for DJ's birthday next week.

I head to Ohio the second week of August to bring Syri back and she starts Kindergarten August 27!!! I cannot believe that Syri is turning five soon and starting school. I am so excited for her to begin this new phase. She was in the same daycare class for well over a year and she is so ready for a new environment and new challenges. And I am elated at having paid my final daycare bill last month! Syri is going to a school called Aquarian Charter. I fell in love with this school during my tour there. They've added an extra hour to their school day which allows for some of their special emphases. The school has two full-time Spanish teachers and offers 30 minutes of Spanish every day throughout all grade levels. They have a rigorous 90 minute a day math block (Saxon program) where the entire school stops and has math. Even the non-classroom teachers teach the math block and so students can attend the class specific to their exact math level. I personally think 90 minutes is a bit overkill for elementary students, but I will absolutely not complain about too much math being taught! I believe students attend a reading class specific to their level as well, although it is not as formal as the math portion of their day. Aquarian offers a full hour weekly of music, physical education, art, and technology. The neighborhood schools offer only 30-60 minutes of these classes every other week. Friday is field trip day and I hear they go on field trips nearly every Friday. Many of their trips involve the students in community service opportunities and allow them to volunteer and take part in Anchorage activities.

So yes, I'm excited about Syri attending Aquarian and she is as well. In the spring, she was able to attend for a day and sit for a while in all three Kindergarten classes. Her first statement was a disappointing, "where are all the toys?" A formerly enthusiastic pre-K child lost a lot of her enthusiasm that day when she found out that school is not all play like daycare. I guess in all of our discussions of school, we never explicitly mentioned that point. Apparently, she thought all the learning took place during playtime? In the end, she was excited to visit the final Kindergarten room, which is full of animals and lots of love from the teacher. She liked that room best, as did I and we signed her up for Ms Cam's class for this fall.

Paul took her up last week to enroll and she was very excited to see the ski lift. She's been anxiously waiting for today to come around and has mentioned more than once that she can't wait to ride the ski lift. Not wanting her to be disappointed, I kept saying that she probably wouldn't get to ride the ski lift this week (and perhaps not at all, but I kept this to myself).

We arrived on Jan 1 and find that our plane is delayed because "the crew needed more rest". They didn't elaborate, but the desk attendants did not seem very happy about the situation and at one point updated us with the comments "the crew has finally left their hotel". Perhaps a little too much celebration the night before? So they finally arrive and we board the plane and then an announcment is made that there is a "biological spill" in the back of the plane and due to airline security, it must be checked out by TSA before we can continue which would be another hour. At this point, we realized that we missed our connection to Anchorage from MSP, so Paul jumped off the plane to rebook us. There was one seat left on an Alaska Air flight through Chicago later that day, but two of us wouldnt' be able to get out until Thursday. Paul took the seat and by the time they rebooked him, the airline couldn't fly me and Syri out until Saturday. Not the end of the world, as it would only be two extra vacation days for me. So we called mom and dad and had them come back and get us.

We took Paul back later that afternoon and saw him off. It turns out that Paul got stranded in the air in Chicago after a confirmed UFO sighting which shut down the airport for a while. By the time he landed after activity resumed, he missed his flight to Anchorage and was stuck there for an extra day until there was an empty seat to fly him home.

On Saturday, Jan 6, Syri and I headed out on a flight. I had bad vibes to begin with because we had a short 45 minute layover and we were delayed 20 minutes. When we got on the plane, the pilot said we were facing 100 mph head winds and I asked if we could get off because I knew we were going to miss our connection. Several people at Continental said no problem, we'd have plenty of time. Well guess what? We arrived 20 minutes after our flight to Anchorage left. Oh, and the next available flight was on Thursday, Jan 11! I remained calm, but firmly told the desk attendant that I would not be spending a week in the Houston airport and that I wanted them to fly us back to Ohio. She said they could do it, but then that would count as the second portion of our flight and they wouldn't fly us to Alaska. I immediately called for a manager. By the time we got things squared away, we got back on a plane to Ohio with only 5 minutes to spare before take off!

I spoke with her a few days ago and she relayed her excitement at seeing our Christmas tree when she returns home. Shit, now we have to put up a tree? Maybe she'll forget? Yeah right. Or maybe she'll be so excited by Santa delivering a couple gifts to our house that she'll forget all about the tree. There isn't enough room in Santa's sleigh (NW844 Boeing-757) for Santa's helpers (shhhh...mummy and daddy) to fill Santa's bag (EagleCreek luggage) with these gifts.

Syri and I went to Ohio at the end of July for the wedding tour and CAMP. A few weeks after we returned, we packed our bags again and headed off to Thailand and Cambodia. We met up with Kelle in Bangkok and then traveled with Kelle and Dagny to Cambodia for Greg and Sopheap's wedding. It was great to catch up with Kelle, although perhaps next time we can work out a girl's getaway for adults only! The little ones kept us busy. But I really enjoyed myself. Well, duh, I was traveling!

We made the mistake of making a really big deal out of Syri-the-beautiful-flower-girl in Aimee's wedding. I didn't think anything of it at the time. But apparently it has led her to believe that she would be flower girl in all subsequent weddings. When I asked what she wanted to wear to the wedding, she responded matter-of-factly that she would wear her flower girl dress. It took a bit of effort to sooth her feelings after I explained that she had to be INVITED to be a flower girl. That she couldn't just show up wearing her flower girl dress. It helped that her dress is in Ohio. But she still shed a few tears, wondering why someone wouldn't want her as the flower girl. Although some of her friends at school were in the wedding, her closest friends were not. Luckily, we were able to sit with them during the ceremony.

Syri and I are packing up and heading to Ohio this week. During our stay, we get to celebrate the marriage of three more couples. As soon as we arrive, we're driving down to Tennesse for Megan and Rocky's wedding. Jim and Emily are getting married here in Alaska on the same day. Tony and Krista are getting married a couple weeks later and Mandy and Franny are getting married the week after that. I just hope I don't have to go through the flower girl trauma with Syri for each of the rest of these weddings!

We've all come down with this nasty bug that's floating around town. Paul and Syri have been sick for a week. I managed to hold it at just a scratchy throat until Friday, when it suddenly felt a lot worse. I tried to kick it by climbing Flat Top but really just managed to wear myself out for the rest of the weekend. I did get some great photo shots from the top. It was really misty the whole way up and then the sky opened up just as we reached the top. Kind of spooky in some places though, where all we could see was mist over the cliffs. It felt like a completely different climb being closed in as it was.

Today is Independence Day. We continued our family tradition of hitting the 4th of July Pancake Breakfast on the park strip followed by the parade. The strip was a solid mob of people. Maybe with the holiday being mid-week? We didn't stick around too long after the parade as we were all feeling a bit claustrophobic in the major crowd.

Since Syri's return, we've been spending lots of family time together. Paul got us some family pottery lessons. Our teacher, Joyce, happens to be the same woman I took lessons from years ago. She remembers me, but has either forgotten about or has been kind enough not to mention my poor skills back then. I always bugged the two teachers because I wanted to throw left-handed. This time, I didn't mention my south-paw and just thought I'd take on the challenge of learning wrong-handed. So far, I can't say the items I've thrown in the last two weeks are any worse than those I did before. We'll see when I try to make something larger than a soapdish! Syri has been playing with the clay, but is more in the play-doh mode of making something then squishing it up rather than keeping it. Dad did help her make a unicorn the first week. This week, we caught her tasting a touch of dry clay on her hand. Ironically (something that Paul and I couldn't help but take advantage of), she had a stomach ache the next day. Hmm...don't think we have to worry about her putting her hands in her mouth for a while.

With Paul injuring himself last week, I made last minute flight changes to bring Syri directly from Anchorage. Due to major thunderstorms in Minneapolis and the fact we didn't have enough gas to circle the city waiting for them to pass, we landed in Duluth for a fill-up. Well, we tried to land. About fifty feet about the runway, our plane suddenly pulls up. Of course everyone in the plan is searching frantically out the windows for sign of another plane nearby. After we level out, our pilot tells us that a deer ran out onto the runway just as we were landing. And since he doesn't really care for venison...he thought it better to miss. The thought going through my mind was, "if we didn't have enough gas to circle MSP...". Then I thought it better not to answer that. While we're stopped at the gas station, we get news that lightening struck the control tower in MSP and the airport had been closed. We sat for 3 hours on the ground waiting patiently. When we finally arrived in MSP, my flight to Columbus (which was supposed to leave 3 hours earlier) had been cancelled. They rebooked us for a flight the following evening. After running while carrying Syri and three bags across 4 terminals, then standing in line for a seat on a completely full flight, I pulled the "my sister's getting married and I need to be there" sob story. It worked (or it could have been Syri getting teary eyed) and they got us out the next morning. We ate dinner at the airport McDonald's at 1:00 AM (gross), along with about 500 other people. Then I decided to get a hotel so we could at least shower. We slept for a couple hours then got up and went back to the airport. Nice flight. I was feeling good. And then our luggage didn't show up. Oh, and my bridesmaid dress was inside that luggage. Aimee and I woke up the morning of the wedding preparing to get our hair done and then quickly rush across town to buy me a new dress. Luckily the luggage arrived with no time to spare! I was feeling pretty run down and got a little nasty flu. And just when I thought things couldn't get much worse, I almost missed my flight home because I still had bobby pins in my hair which set off the metal detector and caused me to wait 10 minutes for a female TSA person to give me the full body cavity search. And all I could think of was Megan's "terrorist alert" story.

Whether working or playing, most everyone knows (and has been tortured by) the great measures Paul takes to be safe (exception - kayak sledding). Last Thursday afternoon, Paul fell out of a tree from about 30 feet up. He can't trace exactly how the fall occurred except that his main line failed and his safety line slipped. All the docs and nurses in ER agreed that the safetly line saved his life. He survived the fall with multiple fractures to his pelvis and some pretty good bruises through his midsection. We are very thankful that he didn't injure his head, neck, or spine or anything that required surgery. Paul spent a couple days recovering in the hospital. During that time, he progressed from not being able to sit up to "walking" with his crutches (yes, we still have them from last time). The orthopedic doc's initial estimate was that Paul would be laid up for 4-6 weeks. He's hoping for a quick recovery.

Paul bought a snow blower this weekend and has it half paid off already. He's been out clearing drives and walkways. Between this new toy and his 200 MPH handheld blower, he can work a house in no time!

Ohio was a good visit. We got to meet and spend time with Russ, Aimee Jo's new love. Syri just loves him! And I think he's pretty okay. I mean, anyone who can put up with Aim can't be all that bad?! Aimee and I left the luxury of air conditioning to spend a week at CAMP (50th anniversary this year). It was in the mid-90's and the amount of exertion spent running between shady spots was almost unbearable. It was great to visit with some friends who haven't been in quite a while; even though they were disappointed that I didn't have their Alaskan Hooter collectibles in hand (let me clarify - from the restaurant). Syri spent the week hanging out with Nanny and Papaw in her new swimming pool. After CAMP, Syri celebrated her birthday early with a pirate party at Auntie Aimee's house. We got to visit with the Barrows' gang (including Syri's favorite person, Spencer), Uncle Chuck and Aunt Sandy, and some other close family friends. The following day, we met Aunt Carol, Megan, and Spencer up at Cedar Point for a day full of rides and greasy food. We returned home a couple days later.

School started for me last week, so I've been scurrying around to jump start that. I've got smaller classes this semester, which should lead to more one-on-one time with the students. Seems more intimate, plus all the students seem pretty switched on and eager to learn the materials.

I took Syri to the Alaska State Fair yesterday. She had such a good time, she slept the entire way back to Anchorage. The fair usually makes for some good people watching. It wasn't too crowded until later in the afternoon. She got to spend time collecting germs in the petting zoo, riding some rides, and of course eating that fantastically healthy fair food.

Jen takes off to her big trip this week! I'll have a link to her travel journal and photos soon.

So I'll recap the gap since I've last written. Paul spent the month of June working across the inlet. I spent the month of June in somewhat of a frazzled state as Syri's energy grew exponentially with the amount of daylight. Yep, that about sums it up.

The holiday weekend was Paul's first weekend back in town and we hit the pancake breakfast at the park strip before heading over to watch the ever popular 4th of July parade. To kill a little time before the parade began, I took Syri on a walk to her new favorite slidepark, ""the one by the ocean"". There was a couple getting married there. When we walked up, Syri said, ""wow mum, what's that beautiful princess doing here?"" There were only two other people celebrating with the couple, so I couldn't resist passing on Syri's comment to the bride. She was extremely flattered and the groom just beamed with pride. Syri and I congratulated them and spoke with them for a while and they just loved her. The groom said he hoped their first daughter was just like Syri. I offered to lend her to them for a while, but apparently they had better plans for that evening. As we left, they offered Syri a [huge] slice from their wedding cake. How could I refuse? Although as we walked away, all I could think of was explaining to Paul why our child was bouncing ten feet high after mean, old mum would hardly let her have any syrup on the pancakes that morning. I convinced her to same some for daddy's sweet tooth. That worked.

Last weekend, my girlfriend Jen moved in. She recently decided to quit her job and spend some time traveling. I talked her into to kicking off her adventures with a visit to Alaska. She's up here through August and is then heading down to South America for four months. And then onto Australia and New Zealand. She's going to have a web link off our site to post pics and stories, so keep your eyes open for that. And yes, I am extremely envious!

So envious in fact, they we're planning a little adventure of our own. We're going to India for a few weeks around Christmas. I haven't gotten too far in the planning, but we want to visit a couple of the girls we sponsor in India. I've also discovered that a couple of our Nepali girls live within an hour or so of the Indian border, so we want to try and visit them as well. We aiming to spend half of our time there visiting villages and then the other half visiting jungles, rivers, and maybe a city or two.

Shortly after that challenge began, the hurricanes hit Florida and Paul decided to head down and volunteer his rescue and arborist skills. I decided that without Paul here, I could not give Syri all the time and energy she deserved while still keeping up with my class material preparations. So mom and dad graciously took on the task of spoiling Syri in Ohio for a couple months. I spent Thanksgiving with the family and Syri returned home with me. We were all able to meet up in Ohio in October and again at Christmas.

Paul returned to Anchorage in February just in time for Fur Rondy, a well-celebrated winter festival. After some persuasion, I coaxed Paul into entering the Ky-boggan Races with me (that's sledding down a steep hill on an inflatable kayak). On our practice run, and only moments after Paul exclaimed that someone was going to break a leg, we experienced a kayak+tree collision. The tree won. And someone did in fact break a leg.

Paul spent the next few days in the hospital, recovering from a newly installed hardware fixture; a stainless steel rod running from his knee to his ankle. I'll leave the gory details for Paul to describe, but we pretty much had a week from hell. The broken tibia was shortly followed by shingles, which was then followed by kidney stones. Oh, and Syri swallowed a marble somewhere in the mix, as well.

Fast forward a couple months. That is one winter we do not care to repeat! Paul's leg is healing really well. He wears a boot when he goes out, but walks mostly without it when he's at home. He has a big job coming up in June and he feels his leg will be ready for it! We're looking forward to a fun, family-oriented summer outdoors. We've been having summer weather already which makes it that much more exciting to start planning outings. We just bought a bike trailer for Syri and we're hoping to buy a raft this summer as well!

MARCH 28, 2010
Hiatus.
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