downtown

our official last day.
you do know what i'm talking about, right?
i know.
you thought my last post was my last post.
*giggle*

it was saturday.
we weren't allowed to check in at the airport till 9:30 p.m.
what to do... what to do.
we hadn't had an opportunity to really explore anchorage during our stay in alaska,
so this was the perfect time.

unfortunately, it started on a foul note.
as we drove around downtown, looking for a good parking place, we noticed several roads blocked off.  what was going on?

due to the blocked roads and one way streets, we were forced to pull into jcpenny's parking garage.  this was as good a spot as any in our book.

we were told in the elevator that there had been a bad accident outside.  in my mind, i was thinking a lil' fender bender, at best.  keeping in mind that i've just experienced one of my dream vacations.  my head is kinda in the clouds.

as we walked out of jcpennys, and onto the sidewalk, we noticed several police officers scurrying people along.  and then... and then... 

we saw it. 

a body lying in the street.  mostly covered in a white sheet.  we quickly scurried with the others, trying to get past the yellow tape an officer was tying.  needless to say, my heart was heavy for several hours.  for peace of mind, i had to know what in the world happened... and only moments before we walked outside.

turns out... there was a gay pride parade.  really?  who knew?!  the lady driving the car carrying the grand marshal accidentally hit a man walking in front of her car. {read here}  needless to say, the parade was canceled.

we watch csi..
but in person?
it definitely feels different.

times like this, you just have to move on and make the best of it.
*thinking happy thoughts*



from there {trying not to focus on the above mentioned tragedy} we walked down to the annual-summer-saturday-market.  their 19th year.
"outdoors" is what alaskans do during the summer.
there's food, clothing, jewelry, and unique hand-made items by local alaskans.



we were tickled by the guy selling t-shirts
kinda making fun of texas.
he wanted people to know that alaska is bigger.
i get it.
even your mosquitoes are bigger.
i only believe that because i've seen them.



i had to sneak a picture of this big-hand-fed-diapered-puppy.  funny, huh?

it's not unusual to see many people riding bikes, walking dogs, carrying backpacks...
even within downtown.

you won't see that in our downtown.
the heat, alone, would do you in.

you should see alaska's produce.
and various flowers, as well.
huge, i tell you.
huge.
apparently, it's due to the longer daylight hours they get this time of year.
i might even be able to grow something.
*giggle*
i said maybe.



how about a lil' concert via the army?
yes, thank you.
they did quite well, actually.
the guy down front was cuttin' a rug.
or grass.



even though i was trying to blend in like a local...
well, minus the nikon.
we figured we'd better take the city tour via trolley.
it's  a tourist "to-do."
as well as, buying an ulu.

it's always neat to hear narration from a lifetime local.
especially the events of their 1964 earthquake.
it's amazing to see how the impact of this event reshaped the land.



as you can imagine, seeing aircraft is quite common.
during the tour, 
you realize you're not in kansas anymore when you witness parking like this.
car and aircraft together.

after the tour, we...
shopped for souvenirs.
ate at the glacier brewhouse one last time {*wiping tear*}.
cleaned our friends car.
did you know that automatic car washes shut down during the winter?
i mean, what's the point, right?
it would freeze.
then, we turned in the car at million air, waiting to go to the airport.



while waiting for our ride to the airport,
we watched some of batman begins in the theater room at million air.

of which we certainly are not.
hubs simply knows the ins and outs of travel...
that's all i have to say about that.
we almost fell asleep.

looking back, we should have.
sunday was full of flying to seattle, houston, then new orleans.
driving to granny's house to gather the girls and hand out souvenirs.
and driving back to texas.
yes, all on sunday.
we're overachievers.

here's just a lil' peek of our adventure.
when i managed to remember to video anything, that is. 



i admit it.  
there's not a lot of glamor to this fairy tale called life.
hollywood lies.
shocker.  i know.
but our week in alaska was pretty special.
one i will remember...
for the rest of my life.

i'll have to reflect on the memories after cleaning toilets.

i'm curious...
say if your hubs travels a lot and has built up air miles and asks you where you want to go...
which destination would you pick?

the post in which i get all opinionated

Typically, I'm more of a 'go-with-the-flow' kinda gal.  Really.  I don't have strong opinions on many issues.  Unless I do.  Follow? ;)

Things like... What's your favorite flower?  {I like them all.  Even pretty weeds.  My girls make some of the best mommy-bouquets ever.}  Favorite restaurant?  {Same problem.  I can pick something anywhere we go.  I think.  I haven't tried them all.}  Favorite song?  {Same.}  Favorite color? {How can anyone pick just one?}  Noticing a pattern?

But those are superficial issues.

I can't bring myself to watch the news because it makes my blood pressure go up... or too terrified to leave the house.  So, instead, I read my news via iPhone apps.  Different, yes?

{denial much?}

And as you may have guessed... I get the sudden urge to 'hunker down' my girls, secure them in bubble wrap, and plug their ears from any evil lurking out there.  But, unfortunately, that's not an option in our house.  Have you seen the mom-taxi vlogs??

So, instead, I form opinions.

A few articles that caught my attention today {yes, there were more}:

*  Homeschooling.  Yay! for attention being brought to the forefront that many are choosing this journey of education.  Boo! for the fact that 'socializing' has to be brought into the article.  Can't we just. get. past. the myth that homeschoolers are anti-social recluses??  And what excuse would they use for some of America's non-homeschooled children?  Ouch.  Moving on.

*  An Austin, TX man was charged with bringing a 14 year old girl, and her older sister, to the Superbowl for prostitution.  I simply can.not. wrap my brain around this.   At. all.

*  If you missed the first performance of our national anthem {as I did},  sung by Christina Aguilera at the Superbowl, you will get another chance.  She'll be singing it again for the Brooklyn Cyclones.  A minor league baseball team.  Just a little fyi.  This is important news, you know.  Who's ready for baseball?? :)

*  Canadian dog sled slaughter.  This should be illegal.  There is an investigation... but, oh my furry-friend-heart.  To think that the inhumane actions of someone on the Mush for PRIDE {Providing Responsible Information on Dogs} board had anything to do with this inhumane act is deplorable.  *sigh*  He is {now} no longer on the board.  But still.

*  War widows forced to marry to collect full insurance benefits??  Crazy!!!!!

*  What do you think of atheists forming a club at school?   My take?  There have been a number of 'religious' clubs at schools over the years and, frankly, I'd rather the government only exercise censorship if it were indeed harming someone.  The more control we give the government, the less say we will have regarding our own beliefs.
This is why I don't advocate tax help where homeschool is concerned.  I'd like to keep all of my homeschool freedoms.  Thank you.

*  Glee.  No link needed here.  Seems everyone knows or has at least heard of the Glee-craziness.  If you watched the Superbowl, you were bombarded with many advertisements.  I admit it... I've caved and watched a few episodes.  In my opinion, the moral bar on this show is subzero.  The music is great.  I'll give you that.  But the storyline??  *wrapping my girls in bubble wrap*

Don't even get me started on some of the recent photo shoots some of the Glee cast has had.  Have we forgotten they're representing high-school-aged girls on their show?!  The word 'inappropriate' comes to mind.  Oi.

Bella has opinions, too.  She thinks Jasmine has had far too much camera time.

She hopes you enjoyed her photo-shoot.  If not, she has been known to bite.  But she's getting better about that.

I'm off to avoid any other news stories today.  Unless it's about snow. Of which we've had none.

Wow.  Did you make it to the end of this one??

Hello?

Results

Yesterday, after an afternoon of homeschool events and evening dance classes canceled, we had a lot of this...

"Is it snowing yet??!"

Times 83.

The anticipation when we tucked the girls in was the same as Christmas eve.  We had high hopes for morning.

However, this was our result...



A thin sheet of ice.



Our outdoor thermometer threw itself down in a tantrum of absent snow.

The weather person failed to mention that it would lightly snow in our surrounding city... and skip our lil' town.  Boo.  Apparently, global warming has happened.

Hubs is working from home.  Several spots in the road leading to his office have been closed.  People in our neck of the woods don't know how to drive in this kind of weather.  From what we've heard, the roads that were operating, were speeding along at 5 mph.  Ummm... Safety first.  Right?

Schools are closed.  Ours isn't.  These girlies are excited about that.  I'm full of all kinds of sarcasm today.  Well, that's what we get when we take a day off, while others are 'in' school.  Love the beauty of a flexible schedule.  And wardrobe.  {you'll catch a peek of our school uniform -pj's- in the video below.  gotta love nator's pink/orange pants, blue/purple socks, and red snoopy shirt combo. ha!}

Okay... for the real reason you came.  The giveaway results.  Unless you really came here to see if it snowed, that is.  ;)



Congratulations, Amy!  Send me your email and I'll send you the code! 

I'm off to discuss the pancreas, ancient China, spelling and vocabulary.  The party never stops around here. 

How many snow days have you had this year?  *sigh*

Baby It's Cold Outside

It's chilly here.  For the first time, in a long time, we had to leave Jasmine at home, while running errands, due to the frigid temps.  Poor Jazzy.

The weather forecasters have been predicting snow in our area today.  Can you see it?

How about now?

Maybe if you squint really hard?



I don't see it either.

Oh, wait. We did manage to get this for a few minutes.



Lil'-bitty ice pellets.  That melted within 1 minute.  Nator says it's shredded hail.

All of my northern friends can feel sorry for us now.  We, too, have been touched by the frozen tundra. 

I know.  I know.  It's nothing like DK's experience last week in NY...

He was kind enough to send us his adventures.  Here are a couple...

But still.  We had SHREDDED HAIL.  ;)

With crazy wind gusts, it was fr-fr-fr-frEEzing in NY.  Honestly, I wouldn't be a fan of having to navigate the logistics of getting around in the snow {or "snirt" = snow + dirt} on a daily basis, especially with kids.  For an entire season.

Vacationing?  Absolutely.  Well, minus the dirt in 'snirt' part.  ha.

So far, we'll just have to live our big-snow-adventures through hubs.  He's experienced more than enough for all 4 of us.  Seriously.

Who knows?  We may get an inch of snow tonight.  Nator is hoping for a late white-Christmas-wish-come-true.

Our girls will keep you posted.  They have been checking the window every 3 to 5 minutes.

Yes.  Seriously.

Do you believe in the Loch Ness Monster?

I had a really cute post in mind for this morning about something fresh off the press... aka, my sewing machine.  Don't be afraid, I only had to help the machine a little.  I guess that will have to wait till tomorrow.

Why?

Since DK has been working alongside BP with this oil disaster, he will send me pictures, videos, etc... to update me on anything deemed interesting.   I can keep a secret... No, really.  I can.  But this?  I just have to share!  Of course, I asked permission to post first. ;)

Guess who was hitching a ride on a deep sea ROV?  

I just can't say with certainty that this 'creature' is from our current oil disaster.  But does that really matter?

Are you ready for this??!!

I read that it was over 2 1/2 feet long!
Cajuns are gettin' recipe happy 'bout now.

I have another angle on this bad boy, but you might want to brace yourself.  It made my girls jump and cover their eyes.  I try not to stare at it too long either.  Scrolling through quickly might be a good thing.

Are you braced?

I know, right?  You can't stare at it too long.

Yes, I believe God created all creatures...
but some species shouldn't be allowed to cross.

This creature, specifically, looks like a cross between a shrimp and something out of the movie, Independence Day.  Just sayin'.

You never know what's lurking in those waters.  It's one of the many reasons I won't swim in water I can't see through... and am hesitant in water I can.

My next post should have much cuter pix. 
Promise!

Don't test Mama Bear

Roger Stephens would have pulled back a nub if he had tried to slap one of my girls in the aisles of Wal-Mart.  I'm not a violent person; however, you never know how long or sharp a mama bear’s claws are… till you mess with her cubs.   I don't believe you want to test those waters with a mama bear. 

We had our own Wal-Mart experience when A-Nator was a baby.  It was with a special needs adult while his guardian was not paying attention.  Bless his heart.  He walked right up to us with the biggest smile on his face.  He wanted to hug A-Nator, but had her more in a tight headlock in which DK had to pry his arm off of her head!  That story could have had a number of different outcomes, but thankfully it ended well.

I love this familiar quote…

“In this life I’m a woman. In my next life, I’d like to come back as a bear.  When you’re a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.  Before you hibernate, you’re supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too.
 When you’re a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you’re sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.  If you’re a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.
 If you’re a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.   Yup… I’m gonna be a bear.”

I remember times when our girls had their own… shall we say… ‘moments’.  They were few and far between, I’m sure. ;)  We tried to be respectful of those around us, but as much as we searched for one, those lil’ angels didn’t come with remote controls.

Every weekend, we used to eat out with a group from church.  There was one issue we stood our ground on.  The highchair.   It was our opinion that the girls had to learn to sit in it… no getting in and out, in and out, acting like an uncivilized child.  As hard as it was, they wouldn’t get their way by showing us that cute lil’ pouty lip.  Thankfully, it only took one ‘stand-off’ for each of them.  No worries... there was no swatting involved.  It paid off.

One restaurant may or may not have shut down shortly after one such episode.  I’m sure our crying child had nothing to do with it.  I only have a permanent twitch as a souvenir.  No harm done.  ;)

(I'm not a fan of Family Guy... Just thought it was fitting)