First Day of First Grade

So today is Kara's first day of first grade.  It's hard to believe she's starting her second year of school.  It seems like last week that she started kindergarten.  No tears for either one of us today.. Kara was anxious to get the day underway.  She knows a lot of the boys in her class from last year but not many girls.  We saw a little girl in line who was very tearful so I was encouraging Kara to be a good friend to her... I'm hopeful that this year will be smoother sailing on the playground front.  Kara is a loyal and good friend.. she also wants everyone to like her which sets her up as insta-target for the meanies.  Considering girls are mean throughout all stages of life, I guess it's good to thicken her skin early on.. maybe it will make junior high a little less painful :)

Clay-Clay starts preschool in a few weeks. He'll go 3 mornings a week for like 2 hours.  I don't know what I'll do with myself those hours (I can almost hear Clayton telling me "Go to the gym").  We're still on the fence about him starting kindergarten next year.. definitely leaning more towards keeping him home an extra year so he's not so young in K.   The point being, if preschool doesn't work out for either him or me, we can make alternate arrangements since he'll be doing something again next year.

Blogging Slacker

I don't know what my problem is with keeping up the blog lately!! I don't really have a good excuse.. so I'll just go with good, old-fashioned laziness. We've had a ton going on since we got home from AZ.... First and foremost, Clayton came home safe and sound on Sunday. After almost 2 months in Guam, he's back in AK. He has a few days off from work so we're cramming in all kinds of fun stuff (pics to follow). Clayton is having some issues with acclimatization here in AK. He's always crying about how cold it is. I'm trying to cut him some slack.. (but really, these 60 degree days are going to seem downright HOT in a few weeks)

Tonight we met Kara's First Grade teacher.. It's almost impossible for me to believe that my little girl is going into first grade! I have vivid memories of my first grade year and teacher so I pray that this year is as good for her as it was for me (100 years ago). The good news is that her teacher seems really kind. The better news is that neither of the "mean girls" are in her class this year. As Clayton pointed out (WHY!?!), there will always be people who aren't kind in your class. But for me, and for Kara, too, we're glad to have a small break in the drama.. perhaps there will be no mean girls in her class, right?! She starts school next Tuesday:) 

We have been biking and hiking like crazy... it's crazy to see how much the kids' endurance has improved over the summer. Kara and Clay hiked almost to the top of Flat Top Mountain yesterday. It used to seem like a really hard hike but the kids did AWESOME! THEN, today, Clay-Clay and Kara biked about 10 miles at Eklutna Lake. I'm also sticking some pictures of a hike we did with some friends last week to Hatcher's Pass. There's an abandoned mine there as well as a "secret" lake. We'll definitely put Hatcher's Pass on our list of things to do when visitors come to AK. It is BEAUTIFUL!! Our summer is basically over up here and leaves are already starting to turn. I'm thinking our first snow was in early October last year... YIKES! However, I am ready for the snow, Clayton bought me new skis on Sunday!! We'll definitely go skiing if you come visit during snowy season (more shameless plugs for visitors).

Kara, Clay, Ainsley and Chase in the old mine car thing.  It was COLD!

The "secret" lake at Hatcher's Pass. It's on the top of a mountain.. random but pretty,

Almost every night Clayton was gone, the kids and I would either walk or bike to Kara's school.  Kara's big goal was to do the monkey bars down and back on her own.  She has mastered it!

Biking today at Eklutna Lake.  This is Clayton. He's very skinny from Guam.  He decided to go on Atkin's.  He ALWAYS comes back from deployments skinny.  Why?

Clayton teaching the kids to skip rocks.  I think Kara got one to skip twice.  Mission accomplished.

College Roomate

Here are some shots of a day we spent w/my college roommate Tawnya, her girls and her parents.  We swam the day away at her mom and dad's new house.  All 4 of our kids got along famously and it was another memory for the "Tawnya Naylor Book of Memories" for me.  I am so thankful for Tawnya and our friendship over the last 18 (!!!) years.  Now get your butt to Alaska, already :)

Tooth drama.. Kara knocked her loose tooth and Tawnya tried to pull it..didn't go so well but they were both brave.  The tooth came out later that night at my mom's before bed.  AZ tooth fairies are FAR MORE GENEROUS than AK tooth fairies.

Feeding the horses with Big Ray.

Clay and Simone (his cage-fighting little friend).  

Kara and Sydney: stereotypical firstborn girls.  Not that Tawnya and I would know anything about that!

Arizona Craziness Part Deux

I was so ahead of myself posting a blog post while we were in AZ... I THOUGHT I'd keep the blog updated while we were there but I overestimated myself :) So, here we are, home for 2 days and I'm just getting around to the big update (for both readers of this blog).

Our 2 weeks-and-change vacay went by at light speed, not surprisingly. This was one of the all-time best trips to AZ, for sure. Kara and Clay ATE UP their time with their grandparents, cousins and aunts/uncles. They have always been excited for AZ but this trip has changed what they look forward to, I think. Every morning, either Kara or Clay wanted to know when they would see their cousins. It didn't matter if we were playing at a restaurant, swimming, playing at someone's house or picking up dog doo (not really), my kids just wanted to be with their cousins (and sometimes their cousins' friends!!). There was minimal drama amongst the kiddos, they just truly enjoyed being together. I cant' thank Troy & Melissa, Mark & Michelle, and Jake & Jenn enough for carving out 2 weeks to be available to us for hanging out, etc.. Thanks, also, to everyone in AZ for loving on Kara & Clay and making them feel special. We had a wonderful time and I am thankful for how our AZ family and friends go to great lengths to keep our family in front of their own families.. we only get out there a couple times each year and the kids never miss a beat. We miss you all, already!!!!!

**and as a side note to my friends who I failed miserably to see (yet again), please forgive me.. our visits are always so packed and they get away from me.

Clay and Grandma playing Mario Kart (while Kara was sleeping over at Eli's!)..

Summer #3 of swimming lessons w/Miss Janice.  Kara is now officially a swimmer.  She did so great and was diving off Eli's hot tub by day 2.

Clay-Clay also on summer #3 of swim lessons.. he did really well but will need additional refreshers as he prefers having a personal swimming buddy to doing it by himself.

Clay-Clay, Davis, Kara and Parker (Mark & Michelle's older boys)

An UBER FUN night at the fire station w/Uncle Troy (more pictures on my facebook account).  Clay had the time of his life... pictured here: Parker, Kara, Eli, Davis, Clay, TJ and Logan.  Missing from the shot are Hugh, Grayson and Evie.. yes, 10 cousins when we're all together!

Kara and Eli... charter members of the "Cousin Admiration Society".  

Backyard fun at Grammie's (my parents' house)

**and ONE LAST side note, this is but a mere taste of our time in AZ. I forgot my camera in AK so I hijacked my Dad's camera for part of the time.. for more pictures including our trip to Duncan, check out Michelle's blog (link to the left of this blog).

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.