Monday, April 26, 2010

Spring-y Time in AK

Hello faithful blog follower(s).. I know, I've been away awhile. No excuses from me, no judgement from you! Deal?!

OK. Good. Now for the fun stuff... what we've been up to? Well, first and foremost, the skis are officially retired for the season. Most of our snow is gone! FINALLY! There's still a patch here and there, but it's pretty much gone. What we're left with is a lot of dust (an improvement on the mud) and a million little rocks (leftover from sanding the roads during the winter). It is truly the ugliest season of the year.. BUT, we know that the grass will start growing and shortly thereafter, the flowers. Another hallmark of spring in Alaska is the ever-increasing daylight. Yes, kids, we're gaining about 6 minutes per day. That's 42 minutes per week. Sounds minor to you, does it? Well, it adds up. It's dark about 10:00pm and getting light by 5:30am. By the time June 21 rolls around, we'll have no significant darkness, just duskiness for a few hours. I digress... this post isn't about random Alaska irritations.. it's about the Johnsons (who are possibly considered random Alaska irritations by some!). So here we go..

Clayton: Working. Sitting alert. Building shelves in the garage (yay!). Buying April a new mountain bike (YAY!). Looking for a road bike for himself (huh?). Working. Sitting alert. Traveling. Working. Being a good dad and husband in between the above :)

Kara: Finishing up first grade. Completing AWANA book #2 in Sparkies. Winning art and "good example" awards in school. Riding 15+ miles out of 24 when we ride to Target as a family. Sadly saying good-bye to 3 fun friends from school this summer. Missing her family in Phoenix, Arizona. Reading, drawing, writing and playing lots. Making her mom and dad PROUD!

Clay-Clay: Random weirdness as usual :) Bike riding FOOL! Traded the painted-black-Kara's-old-Princess-bike for his new mountain bike. Possibly finishing his AWANA's Cubbie's book. Thoroughly enjoying neighbor Ryan at every possible moment. Wrapping up pre-school (learning LOTS!). Driving mommy nuts. Negotiating a Star Wars birthday party that will NOT take place until TJ is in Alaska (how sweet is that?!).

April: Making lame attempts at humor on the blog. Riding 20 miles to Target with girlfriends three days/wk (trying to fit as much in as possible before school gets out). Bible study. Breakfasting/lunching with friends. Loving her life these days for sure (SERIOUSLY!).

Cats: Hating the new kitty Jojo (Snackie and Abby, that is). Being cranky and old (Abby). Trying to act young by chasing new Jojo but really just wanting to eat, sleep and be fat (Snackie). Plotting his escape daily.. figuring that bears and moose are more desirable than two old fart cats (Jojo).

So as you can see, we're alive and thriving in the 49th state. Life is good. All that's missing is you.. Wish you were here :)

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Skating Show, No Mustache and a Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!! We are teaching the kids about the early church and saying "He is risen!" Then responding "He is risen indeed".. Clay can be found randomly saying "Hey!! MOMMY!! He is risen". It seemed like a good idea at the time... Anyway, we've had a good day. Lots of (too much) yummy food, easter eggs and church. I'm still not used to Easter morning being 30 degrees...but the snow is almost gone and green grass is not far behind.

Kara just finished up a short series of ice skating lessons and, how awesome, the ice skating rink decided that the beginners should skate in their end-of-the-season show.. SO, Kara and Ainsley were disco ducks in their 60 second on-ice debut. I'm happy to report that neither one of them crashed so it was deemed successful. Kara is dying to take ice skating lessons again so I guess she'll go again later in the summer when Clay goes to his "learn to play hockey" lessons. I still kind of have a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that we live in Alaska and my kids are most interested in the winter sports :) Obviously, I secretly love it!! Life really is like a box of chocolates...

I'll finish up this post with some pictures of Clayton, freshly shorn. He lost the mustache on 4/1...before the stupid contest or whatever it was even took place. But he held onto it through the entire month of March so I guess that was his goal. In the words of my friend Corby.. "I'm glad mustache March is over. Now I can be attracted to my husband again". IDK, the mustache was more than just a little creepy.. and it made Clayton look even older than he is.

March 31, 2010
April 1, 2010
As I close this post, I am listening to the sounds of an Easter hangover.. two kids short on sleep, heavy on sugar and dueling with a broom handle and a snow shoe. This one is going to leave a mark....