Arizona Craziness :)

Hola from AZ. It's a cool 106 F, a mere 40F warmer than we're used to in the A-K. Clay-Clay was getting in the car this afternoon and he said "How come it can't be like Alaska when we're in Arizona?" Kara informed me she couldn't get in the car until it was cooled off... I had to tell her that that also isn't an option. However, even as I type, my kids are frolicking in the backyard, playing in the water and they're adapting quite well.

We're looking forward to a super-fun couple weeks down here in the lower 48. It seems like we're already "squeezing" things into the trip..but that would happen even if we were here for a month :)

Fun with Botox

So today is the 2 week mark for this stupid deployment (you might notice that my language becomes more like a first grader as I get more tired during deployments).  Honestly, it doesn't seem possible that Clayton left only 2 weeks ago! (again, probably getting tired of hearing that on this blog..but if you knew the ground we've covered around here!!!!)  Only 5 weeks left.  Yes, I know that "it's not so bad".. and "at least he's not in Iraq".  Just let me whine for a minute.

See, I feel better already.

We have a busy week ahead of us, here at the Johnson Zoo.  We are going to have 2 visitors at once!  One is a friend from Texas who is actually moving to Bethel, AK.  She'll be visiting "the big city" for a few days before she goes NW to Bethel.  If you want to google Bethel, you'll see why Anchorage would be considered a metropolitan city.  Seriously.  

The other visitor is my friend Karen from Denver (yes, this is where the Botox fun comes into play).   We're going to do some serious Alaska-type living while she's here.. hiking, biking, looking semi-homeless, not shaving our legs.  No.  Really :)  I think Karen will love it up here. At least I hope she loves it enough so that she feels compelled to make return (touch-up) visits every 4-6 months :)  

About 4 hours after Karen leaves us, the kids and I will board our now standard red-eye flight to Phoenix!  We are all really excited to see the family (and meet new baby Evie) and hang out in an oven.  It's been like 70's here (which is BOILING for Anchorage..their all-time recorded high temp is only like 83) and my kids are complaining that they're hot.  I am seriously considering turning on the oven and making them stand in front of it for 60 seconds to prepare them for AZ at its finest.  Myself, I'm looking forward to good sales on summer sweaters, a spa day, dinner at a winebar, seeing my friend Jackie (who lives in Anchorage.. we can't seem to hook up in town but we'll see each other in AZ), seeing my other friends who I don't see nearly enough.... and on and on.  There won't be enough time.... 

I'll leave you with a "before Karen's visit" recent photo of myself.. and what I hope she can achieve in a few tiny pokes of a needle and some deadly poison..

Me, after 1 short year with the Raptor as "the other woman"....

Me after Botox... I CAN HOPE!  Besides, we both have blonde hair and brown eyes....

Fantastic Fourth!

Thinking back on the last week, I come up with a lot of words but the only one I'll use for this post is "rare".  Last week was rare... and not in a particularly good way.  Clayton left last Sunday and it seems like he's been gone a month already at least.  It's hard for me to believe that we've traveled as much road in such a short time.  There were some bright spots, however, not the least of which was a very last minute trip to Alaska for my sister Amy.  Since she's been in town, the days haven't seemed quite as long and the kids have someone else to entertain them.  

We had a really fun 4th of July!  We spent the day with Clayton's mom Anne's first cousin's family, Carol and Jim, out at their cabin in Wasilla, AK (no, we couldn't see Russia).  It was a BEAUTIFUL sunny day out on the lake and my kids had a great time swimming, playing with big kids and watching fireworks under full-sun (yes, at 10:00pm, it was still BRIGHT DAYLIGHT).  It was a long day, getting home at 11:00pm, but great fun.  We are grateful to have extended family in Alaska, for sure.

I'll leave you with some photos of our festivities.  Here's hoping this next week is infinitely smoother sailing than the last....

The view of the lake behind Jim and Carol's house... temps in the low 70's.  A regular heatwave for AK.

Clay being lazy.

Amy and Kara

Jim taking Clay on a canoe ride... both the kids LOVED going on the canoe.

Kara swimming (with required life jacket) in the freezing lake.

Clay is shaping up to be a regular pyro... he was all about the fireworks.  Now, before you go saying "Why waste all those fireworks during the daylight".. I say to you: this was about 9:00pm.  Still no official nighttime for us.

Anne's first cousin Carol Fincher.. her dad is brothers with Dr McFadyen.  Carol thought Clay would go to sleep if he sat on her lap.. anyone care to guess if that worked or not?  No, of course it didn't.  This was at 10:00pm, just before we headed home.  It was a great day.