And So It Goes...

How weird is it that January is almost over?? I can hardly believe it myself. And I've only blogged three times so far this month...

First item of business for this blog, I'd like to wish Davis Filleman, my nephew, a happy 5th birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Davis! We sure love you, buddy, and we can't wait to celebrate your birthday with you when we see you next. Kara and Clay love you bunches and we miss seeing you (and the rest of the cousins) on your birthdays. XOXOXOXO!

Next item of business is to wish my friend Susan Miller a happy birthday as well. HBD, Susan! I met Susan while we were living in Enid. Together, Susan and I figured out what being married to a pilot in the USAF looked like.. we had some good times in Enid, read a lot of books together, shopped the state of OK, philosophized about military leadership, and ate some decent Mexican food on Friday nights together. Cheers to good friends and their birthdays. ((hugs))

I guess that about covers the birthday wishes. If I missed yours, HBD to you :) The kids and I are in full TDY mode around here.. what is that, you ask? Well, I have no idea what TDY actually stands for but it means that Daddy is gone for a while. He's at Red Flag in Las Vegas for 2 weeks then he goes to some training in Florida before he comes back to AK. How does that translate out for the Johnsons?? Well, here's a bullet list of ways life changes for us when it's 3 of us instead of 4.

* We eat a lot of cereal. For breakfast and dinner. Clay eats an unusual amount of peanut butter waffles as well (I think PB on an eggo makes an excellent meal substitute, any time of day for Clay). I basically stop cooking regular meals when we're in TDY mode.. Don't ask me why.. it's mostly laziness, I think. And some rebellion.

* My Mountain Of Clean Laundry grows to biblical proportions. I don't mind doing laundry, I just mind folding it. So what do I do? I do the laundry and throw it into a huge pile at the end of my bed. When Clayton is home, I get a little bit of guilt going on when the hill reaches about arm pit height. However, when Clayton is gone, it doesn't bother me a bit. As I type, I hear my dryer signaling me it's time to make another deposit to the clothes landfill at the end of my bed. Laziness and rebellion again.. uh oh, I'm seeing a theme.

* I find myself watching super stupid shows on TV.. For instance, "Locked Up Abroad" on NatGeo. I mean, how many different ways are there to get caught smuggling drugs overseas? Not many. But I think there are many different levels of prison squalor overseas so that's why the show doesn't get old with me.. I also watch a fair amount of HGTV and Food Network. Why? I'm clearly not cooking or improving my domicile.. but whatever.

* Something good is that the kids and I read a lot more books together and play more games when Clayton is gone.. We just bought Jinga and Clay and I are going to become Jinga masters before you know it. Normally our evenings are centered around Clayton coming home, having dinner and family time. When he's not home, dinner is cereal, family time needs to get interesting fast or we have issues.

* I end up reading through the "Links" section on facebook and I invariably get into facebook arguments with my liberal friends. I DON'T KNOW WHY I DO THAT!!! Today's mini-war was in regards to repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. I couldn't keep my mouth shut, I had to point out that this friend has never served in the military so he doesn't know what he's talking about (the TRUTH!)... fortunately, another friend of mine who went to the AF Academy took over the conversation and made the first friend look like a fool before I made a fool of myself. I should say that I'm not always rescued.. and I'm always reminded of what my mom used to say to me as a kid "Fools names and fools faces always appear in public places". Yet another reason to take down that FB profile....

So, that's about it here. You can see that our ever exciting life in AK marches on whether or not Clayton's around to participate. If you'd like to come visit us while Clayton's on TDY, please be sure that I will actually cook and I'll close my bedroom door so you don't have to look at the Mountain Of Laundry.

Reflections on a McDonald's Lunch

I'm going to blame my lack of blogging on the short, dark days we're having here in AK.. actually, I shouldn't complain because we're getting something like 5 minutes of sunlight every day. This will continue until June 21, at which point I'll be whining about no nighttime. Oh well, it's part of the charm of Alaska.

We had a surprisingly lovely MLK long weekend. We hung out as a family, with friends and we skied twice: once at Hillberg on base and once at Alyeska. Some friends from the squadron were also at Alyeska so Clayton had someone to go down the really scary runs with him and I was able to sit by the fire and drink hot chocolate with friends while the kids were in ski lessons and Clayton was skiing with Doctor. It was a really good day, the end of a great weekend. It was especially nice because Clayton's going to be out of state for a month starting this week.. ugh. So far, however, the volcanoes are not acting up so we're anticipating a firm return, nothing "indefinite"... however, as I type, I realize that while I don't believe in jinxing myself, I might just have done it anyway. Ah, the air force.

So, on the heels of a really fabulous weekend, it was Tradeoff Tuesday. What is that, you ask? Well, it's a day that two friends(Suzanne and Kamdon) and I trade off watching each others kids so that 2 moms have a whole day to do stuff (get hair done, work, grocery shop, eat bonbons whilst sitting on the couch..screeeeaaaaacccchhh!) done with free child care. It was my day to have the kiddies. I started out all motivated to do fun activities with them but my back was really hurting (stupid back, hurt it last year pulling kids on a sled for exercise..) so I thought if I could work out with Bob on The Biggest Loser yoga DVD, it might feel better. I ended up telling the kids if they'd cooperate (i.e., not break anything major or hurt one another, nothing too exceptional), I'd take them to The Place... McDonald's. The kids were agreeable and I actually cranked out the DVD without having to pause once (this does NOT mean that I didn't have company throughout the workout, however). Sooo, conveniently, it was about 11:00, a perfect time to hit the Eagle River Mc Donald's. Poor little Abbie was the only kid who was dressed in her day-clothes so while I was helping Chase get dressed, I sent Clay upstairs to put his clothes on... this is what he chose:

Nice. Obviously we are proponents of "clothes over the jammies", but this was too much. Much to Clay's chagrin, we had to change....then we were on our way!! Hallelujah.

Here's a shot of the mountains we get to see on our way to the ER McD's. BEAUTIFUL!

This is the Tradeoff Tuesday crew (Clay, Chase and Abbie). Abbie affectionately calls the boys "my boys". They mostly do what she tells them, too, which I try to abuse whenever possible.

So, we get food and the kids eat at McDonald's and I'm torn between watching the kids play, people watching, and reading a book... It has long been a dream of mine to be the mom reading a book while her kids play at the McD/museum/park.

Which did I choose?? I went with people watching. Seriously, there is material for a master's thesis or a dissertation in McD playland. Not even just here, but anywhere... It attracts all types. Let me explain:

First, there are the Moms Who Pretend That This Is Their Only McD Visit This Century: There were two of these moms at McD yesterday. I have to laugh because they come in looking around to make sure none of their friends are there.. they'd be embarrassed to say they feed their kids food made by a clown... These moms were having a loud conversation about how they NEVER come to McDs, how they NEVER let their kids have fried foods (guess their mc nuggets were baked.. and the fries, too)... how their kids don't even really like McD (BTW, their kids totally sold them out by running straight to the secret hiding places in the play area in addition to asking for specific McD flavors of dip). Have some pride, people.. It's Alaska in the winter. We have no other indoor playground options in ER.

Next, there is the Overprotective Dad Who Must Tell His Daughter He Loves Her Ever Time She Comes Down The Slide...Loudly. This poor guy. I'm pretty sure he also had some hand sanitizer in his pocket that he made Princess use every 4 minutes. (I'm all for sanitation, but I'm also one for promoting a healthy immune system. So, for me, I think making Clay wear his shoes to the bathroom and washing his hands before eating is sufficient.) He also hand fed his daughter when it was convenient for her. If it wasn't so weird, it would have been sweet to see a Dad-Daughter date in the afternoon. I think Clay and Chase wanted to hit the guy up for a shake, he seemed so nice...

Then there's the Angry Mom Who Doesn't Watch Her Kids Because She's Texting The Entire Time.. but she tries to fake the rest of us out that she's paying attention by randomly screaming at her kids every few minutes "COME EAT YOUR HAMBURGER, TEDDY"... "WE'RE LEAVING IN 15 MINUTES" (which she repeats every 2 minutes for 30 minutes) "WATCH OUT FOR THE LITTLE KIDS".. oh, because I forgot to mention that her kid is 12.. and it's Tuesday at 11:00. Hmmm.

Finally, there's the I Have No Shame Mom. That'd be me. I own the fact that McD food isn't that nutritious.. but it's not that bad (I'm a nutrition professional people, I can and will rationalize pretty much anything related to food so don't even try to go there about the horrible-ness of McD food or I'll take you to task on your juices and fruit snacks). I am not ashamed of taking my kids to McD so I can have an adult conversation with a friend (Kamdon, if I'm going down, I'm taking you with me). I'll spring for a happy meal or a $0.50 vanilla cone simply so my kids can burn some energy running around a filthy dirty playground. I'm over trying to put on airs that I'm a better mom than the one who abuses the McD playground!!

... on second thought, I should have read the book and not bored everyone to tears. Thanks anyway for reading. While I'm on the subject, however.. if anyone feels burdened to open a different restaurant with an indoor play area in the Eagle River area, let me know.. I bet I can get the capital from my mom friends :)

Happy New Year!!! (9 days in)

SO, I had good intentions of blogging often through Christmas but it didn't work out that way... We had a great Christmas here in AK! The weather was lovely, no new snow (both good and bad) but we got out skiing and snowshoeing and tubing while the Grandparents and Karen were here. The first ski trip to Alyeska on the 23rd was the most interesting.. I thought we had skied Griswold-style before but I was wrong. This trip took the cake. To start, it was raining at the ski mountain. Yes, folks, raining. And in case you were under the impression that ski jackets, gloves and pants are waterproof, you were wrong. I definitely thought they were. However, everytime we went inside, we were able to wring puddles of water out of our hats, gloves and pants. Fortunately, it was in the 40s that day so we weren't freezing. However, it didn't make for the most ideal ski conditions. Add to that Clayton's snowboard binding shattering 1/4 way down the mountain (he had to hike back up to the tram in heavy snow.. yes, it was snowing up top, raining at the bottom) and Michael's snowmachine tour cancellation, you can see how tempers might have been running a little thin by the end of the day :) :) :) Nonetheless, it was a really fun day. Christmas Eve found us snowshoeing at home, getting Karen from the airport and enjoying a yummy dinner together before we did the Christmas Eve tradition of the Christmas Story complete with puppet theatre courtesy of Kara and Clay. Christmas morning was really nice, lots of gifts, yummy breakfast. About the time the afternoon rolled in, though, Kara was running a 104+ fever. (insert screeching brake noise) Had to cancel the Sutterfields coming over 3 nights in a row because Kara stayed sick through New Year's Eve (she had a major infection in her mouth while cutting 3 of her 6yr molars. I highly recommend avoiding this illness at all costs). Still, we had a fun New Year's playing the Wii with the Sutterfields and Karen. Good times. We had a great 2009 with far more blessings than we deserve: health, good friends, job(s), safe landings of fast gray airplanes, safe landings of 2-wheel drive Tahoes, and on and on. Blessings on you, dear reader(s) for 2010. I will try to be more blog-entertaining this year...

Making gingerbread houses with Ainsley and Chase...

Clay enjoying his Reeses' tree off the roof... good call! Those are delicious.

Opening gifts from eachother.. coincidentally, they gave each other the exact same gifts. A guaranteed way to avoid arguing!!!!!!

Before skiing in the rain at Alyeska on the 23rd...

Everyone's happy......

Clayton coming in after hiking up and down the mountain.. then walking 1 mile in the rain from the resort to the day lodge. He was soooo happy, in case you can't tell.

Christmas morning.

Bunkbeds for the American Girls made by Granddad Buzz, quilts by Amy.

Karen and April on Christmas morning.. FYI this picture was taken about 10:00AM, yes it was still that dark outside.

Christmas aftermath...

Hooking up the Wii to the downstairs TV.. another cause for happiness from Clayton. Not.