Pre-TDY Ski Weekend

We ventured south to Girdwood last weekend for one last hurrah before Clayton heads overseas for about a month. They had had a ton of new snow so we had a blast skiing at the top of the mountain over and over and over. We headed down Friday after school and the kids immediately hit the pool.. we wore them out in hopes of a good night's sleep. I don't know why we think that particular tactic will ever work because it never does. I would know... I've been trying it for 7 years!!

Anyway, we had a great time skiing with each other and with the McNeils. Here are the iphone photos to prove it.

Swimming on a Friday afternoon is a real treat.. Not being sarcastic. The pool was relatively empty minus a few Girdwood locals. That made for mommy entertainment while the kids swam.

Kara the shark.

First run of the day.. this is about half-way up the mountain, at the tram. On a clear day like this one, you can see the inlet and the mountains across the water. It really is spectacular. Unfortunately, this big view doesn't come out all that often.

Clay and I waiting for our hot chocolate and nachos. Clayton doesn't really believe in taking a lunch break when we ski. He likes to feed us big breakfasts and then avoid taking any substantial breaks during the course of the day. He doesn't like to A) spend the money or B) take the hour out of the ski day. I now if you know Clayton, this is not shocking news to you.. the only way we get a nice lunch break is if it's -20 or there are a bunch of our friends present!

Me and Kara. Snow gear is not flattering. At. All.

Partial family.

Clay and Bauer, the Feucht's golden doodle. This is the most gentle dog ever. It was funny how he let Clay lay on him while we were watching the Super Bowl.

So this is how we spent our last weekend before the now standard winter TDY. I always dread these stupid things to the point where I just want it to get here so I can get it under way. If you want to pray for us while Clayton's gone, that's great. Pray for him, too, that he can get a lot of good flying while he's away and for everyone to stay safe.

If you feel so moved as to come visit us in Alaska while he's gone, I'll show you a very good time!!!!!

Our Life as Viewed Through the iPhone Camera

February 2nd (practically 3rd!). *sigh* I am neither a good, nor faithful blogger.

I was syncing my iphone tonight and I found a BUNCH of pictures that my kids have been taking. Not surprisingly, it is a good overview of what we've been doing up here lately. Things are good. I think we're a little short on snow this winter but we have faith that things will pick up one day soon :)

So, I take you on a tour of the last few weeks as viewed by (mostly) Kara through the lens of my phone.

Ah, Snacko.. our super good kitty. He's getting old but he's still sweet. He LOVES it when Clayton's gone because he sleeps under the covers of our bed, on Clayton's side. Keep your judgments to yourself ;)

Clay and Ryan.. at 1:00 on a Saturday afternoon.. in full PJ regalia. These two are also known as "tweedle dee and tweedle dum" by both sets of their parents. They sure enjoy playing together (and arguing from time to time).

Later that same day hiking out on the other side of Eagle River, Southfork is what they call it. It was BEAUTIFUL!! And cold.. It's about a 5 mile roundtrip and the kids all did great (as usual). **And by cold, I don't mean the 20s.. I mean below zero.

Ah sushi.. with Mike and Christy (our neighbors).. on a Wednesday night when no one wanted to cook dinner at home. Shine Sushi in Eagle River, Alaska. Try the yaki udon noodles with beef. YUM!

Kara playing with my phone at sushi... there is a series of about 15 pictures that look just like this one. I think with the lips, she might be channeling her inner model..

Yes, friends.. that says -22.. 22 degrees BELOW zero. We were driving to Alyeska where it was -7 when we skied. That is cold folks. Cold. No amount of hot chocolate will warm you up when it's that cold outside.

I think Clay took this picture.. Kara collapsed outside of our room, still in her full ski gear. Poor kid, that was a miserable day skiing on ice and in the arctic air.

Guess who!? If you said tweedle dee and tweedle dum, you are right!!!!

Kara channeling her Uncle Mark with all the self-portraits... again, there are about 10 in this series. She is going to kill me someday when she reads this blog. I think it's sweet.. she wont' always do this.

Kara and our jackalope cat, Satan.. I mean Jojo. He's like 20#, no lie. He's a beast and he's incredibly anti-social. He has completely forgotten that we saved his butt when we "adopted" him into the fold last fall.. dumb cat. He really only likes Kara.

Uncle Troy at Moose's Tooth after 3 days of pretending to be 18 with Mark and Clayton. The uncle's visit was ENTIRELY too short but the kids LOVED skiing with them. Kara caught her first serious "air" jumping on her skis with her Uncle Troy. Very fun times.

Ah, Saturday was a very rough day for me.. for more than one reason. My friend (and neighbor) Christy chilled a bottle of champers for after the PTA taco feed on Saturday night. (enter in the old song, "That's What Friends Are For".. So fun and very sweet.

On our way home from church on Sunday, the kids and I were finally able to see the lady in Eagle River who feeds eagles. Apparently you can't feed eagles without a permit (you also cannot posses eagle feathers.. they belong to the AK Natives.. weird) and this lady has one. So she pulls her car up and starts pitching out chunks of salmon. The eagles are HUGE and they swoop down and grab the fish, fly it back to the trees and chow down. It is AMAZING to see. Eagles are huge and powerful and very magnificent when they fly. I LOVED seeing this.

Tuesday is choir day at school.. Kara finally got her choir t-shirt so she wanted me to take a picture of her dressed up in the shirt. I like her little jeans and belt.. also it cracked me up that she made a knot with the t-shirt using a rubber band for her hair. Where does she learn this stuff?!

That about sums it up.. we're good up here. Thinking about possible trips out of Alaska, either before or after Clayton's TDY. I am not looking forward to the 5-6 week deployment.. the winter ones are a lot worse than the ones in other seasons. However, the kids ski well enough that I'm comfortable taking them skiing by myself this year. Small victories!!

Happy 2011!!!!

2011??? For someone born in the early '70s, that feels like "old"... but who has time to be old with such a fabulous life?? Not me!! We rang in 2011 with friends out to eat and at our neighbors'. It was a fun night, in bed before midnight (but not asleep because there are a lot of hillbillies around here who shot off fireworks well into January 1). Goals for 2011?? Nah, I don't really do the resolution thing because I don't enjoy failure :)

What have the Johnsons been up to so far in this new year?? Clayton has been working.. a lot.. sitting alert.. some snow boarding (but not enough).. some snowshoeing.. working.. alert... Kara is loving the heck out of 2nd grade. Sometime during the Christmas break the girl decided she loved reading. YAY!!!!!! I was a voracious reader when I was little so I couldn't figure out why this kid didn't like to read. Well, God was gracious or she just grew into it, but she loves it now. She must have read 5-6 chapter books over the break.. most of them AFTER she was put to bed. I didn't care until after school started back up. Now we have to regulate but not too much :) Clay is Clay. If you know him, you know what I mean. He's a great little skier when we go, he is also a gamer in the making. Not something I prayed for in my son.. he turns into a zombie when he's playing his DS or our Wii.. you can imagine how that goes over with his dad. Right. SO, we work on his sight words and trust that he, too, will one day choose to color a picture, sew a bag or read a book instead of the video games. OR NOT! Anyway, he's his same old nutty self and we wouldn't have it another way for now. I am LOVING my life. I was at a birthday lunch for my friend Jen(ny) last week and I was running to the car to feed the meter. And it was cold (shocker). Anyhow, when I was wogging (jogging/running) back to the restaurant (and the yummiest hamburger EVER.. Sack's in Anchroage), I thought of that crazy '80s song that goes something like "This is not my beautiful house.. This is not my beautiful wife".. and I thought "This is not my awesome life". Awesome friends, beautiful family, cool(ish) husband, STUNNING city to live in, snow to ski on. God has been so gracious. Who knows what 2011 will bring but we trust that God's hand will be on our family and we are excited to see how it goes!!!!

Clay and Clayton making queso.. our blog may be a little short on pictures these days due to one of our Christmas gifts.. you might see the iphone box on the counter.. Clayton got us BOTH iphones!! And we have been taking pictures with them instead of our camera. I would like to figure out how to upload the pics from the phone to the blog.. but haven't just yet....

I had to throw in a picture of Trooper. If you follow this blog at all, you might recognize him. He's my friend Jen(ny)'s dog. When they go on trips out of AK, he sometimes stays with us. We VERY much enjoy having him... He was with us for 2 weeks during Christmas.

IDK what is going on in this picture but it is funny. We're having pancakes, bacon and a movie tonight while Daddy protects us from the Russians.

Kara proving that she can in fact carry Clay. Even if it is only for 2 feet.. :)

Well, we're currently booking trips for the summer...if you've booked one, let me know so I can put it on our calendar!! Our first visitors of 2011 will be here in one week. MY BROTHER (Mark) AND MY BROTHER-IN-LAW (Troy)!! WHAT!?!?!? They're coming as a birthday trip for Troy to ski. Clayton and Melissa schemed and this is the result. My kids are very excited to see their uncles. It's going to be a quick trip and we'll only see them for a day or so before they head to Alyeska with Fokker. We'll miss the cousins this go-round but I know the guys will have a good time.

Oh, speaking of iphones.. Clayton and I both have new phone numbers. And if you have a 907 number on your caller ID that says Hellion Tactical, that'd be one of us ;) And if you don't know what Hellion Tactical is already, you probably don't want to know.

Christmastime

Well, here I am.. end of December, wrapping up our third Christmas in Alaska. We had a white Christmas, no big surprise :) It was a COLD, white Christmas (like -15). We did lots of fun things in the days leading up to Christmas and after.. I'll just give you a pictorial with commentary.

Kara making her stage debut as "Elf #4" in the 2nd grade Christmas play. For some unknown reason, she took her script to the microphone for all her lines.. even though she had them memorized. Another one of life's mysteries..

A few days before Christmas, we headed to Girdwood, Alaska, for two fun-filled days of skiing. We stayed the night at the resort which is always a hit with the kids because they can ski and swim in the same day. They are really amazing to me, how they pick right back up on the skis every season. Kara is our daredevil (Clayton's child) while Clay is our creature of habit (my child). It definitely took Clay longer to get his mojo back trying new runs but they did great. I so wish I had learned to ski before age 36.

The view from our room at Alyeska.

Heading out for day 2 of skiing.. it was only about 2-3 F that day.. warm if you can stay moving, freezing cold if you don't.

The boy loves his momma.. What can I say?

Christmas morning.. seeing the lego ship unwrapped under the tree... we are in Lego purgatory around here. Ever stepped on one barefooted? It hurts.

Kara unwrapping her sewing machine from her Grandma and Grammie. It's NOT a kid's sewing machine, for the record.

Our winter visitor, Trooper, with his chew stocking.

Traditional Christmas morning breakfast on the Christmas dishes.. egg casserole and monkey bread. Yummy, if I may say so.

Post-Christmas hike up Mt Baldy. This is a pretty mild hike in the summer but it is downright treacherous in the snow. Clayton and I have snow-shoes but the kids don't, yet.. I think we'll be getting them. It took us over an hour to get just below the summit.. it was too steep to take the kids up all the way. But it was a BEAUTIFUL day and view from the top that we made that day.

We call this move the "butt sled". This is how they got down. Sledding on the butt. I am so proud that Clay knows the difference in spelling butt and but. He's more than happy to share that with anyone who cares to know. Clayton also taught them how to do a farmer's nose blow or something equally nasty. Awesome.

Well, I hope this post finds you at the end of a great 2010. It has been a great year for us. We had so many visitors this summer and fall/winter. We love showing Alaska off to you.. We also got to Arizona a couple times and those vacations are always too short. We are so blessed.. It was a hard year at Elmendorf with a couple of airplane crashes, one in Clayton's attached squadron. It makes us all the more grateful for safe flights of fast gray airplanes, something we do not take for granted for us nor for our friends flying out of other bases. We are grateful for our families and for our friends. We are grateful for God's continued blessing of safety and health for the Alaska Johnsons. Book a trip out on 2011!!! We'd love to have you :)

Christmas Madness

Mid-December... must be time for a blog update. We have been running up here in Alaska. I didn't know there would be so many Christmas (or "holiday", if you're trying to be PC.. which I'm not. Ever.) activities for Kara and Clay at school!! And, ever observant mother that I am, I have been surprised several times at the last minute with concerts and plays. It will all be over today as the kids are at their last day of school before Christmas break. Whew!!!!

We started out the month with Clayton's birthday. It was a mid-level celebration for us. Neither Clayton nor myself are super big "birthday" people so sometimes we don't really celebrate like we could or should. This year, I made dinner and some of our neighbors came for dinner and cake. The kids and I gave Clayton a "sick" new snowboard (at least that's what the kid at REI assured me). He kept it instead of returning or exchanging it so that is a victory in my book. The thing is, the last new snowboard he had was one I gave him the year before we were married.. that would be 1996. So 14 years ago. He was due. I think he was really surprised and he rode it last weekend at Alyeska and Hillberg. Good times.

In addition to regular downhill skiing, I've been cross-country skiing. Clayton gave me skis last year for Christmas and I was sort of irritated because I felt like he was implying that I wasn't exercising enough. Well, I found a bunch of friends who skied or at least were willing to try and I was hooked. I've been probably 10-12 times already this season and I'm loving it!! If you come visit us in the winter, I will take you out. SO. MUCH. FUN.

So I'm going to post some pictures of the concerts... But I must tell you about Clay's not-so-good day last week. He has been telling us lately that he hates his name because kids have been making fun of him at school. Apparently, it all started with the dreidel song "Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of "CLAY"". Yes, that is his thorn in the flesh right now. We have tried to talk him off the ledge and were met with some moderate success.. UNTIL the kindergarten "Holiday" concert... the kindergartners were singing their dreidel song and when it came to the "clay" part, they all turned around and looked at Clay. If you know him, you know that Clay doesn't deal real well with public humiliation. He did not melt down or start whacking at anyone but he did give me the death glare through the rest of the song. His teacher was mortified. It was actually pretty funny but we can't laugh about it with him yet... And that was also the day that he carried on a fine family tradition of drug trouble. Yes, he was caught with a cough drop at school. Fortunately, he wasn't intentionally smuggling it or trying to sell it, but he did have to go to the nurse's office (because what if someone stole the cough drop and died from the deadly poison it contains!?!??!) where the nurse called me and flogged me over the phone. I have now promised to take all medicines into the nurse myself and not put them in my kids' pockets for prn dosing. Oops.

I'll now leave you with pictures from the above said adventures/activities..

Clayton and his white cake with white frosting birthday cake. I will not be accused of being a cake-lady, in case you're wondering...

Random pic of my xc skis.. do you love the light at 9:30 in the morning??

Kara and her choir on their "tour" of Eagle River.. First stop: Walmart. Awesome.

My stupid camera kept focusing on other kids but there's Kara in the pinky-purple hat.

Clay at his Christmas concert.. before he got all postal about the making-fun...

Clay and his snowman outside his classroom. You can tell the sparkle has left his eyes :(

Kara at her nighttime choir concert.... We learned that if you don't show up to these gigs at least 30 minutes early, you WILL stand in the back.

I will post in the next few days something of a Christmas letter.. I think.