After not much sleep last night, we had a very late morning today. The morning rays of an Alaskan February, or lack thereof, didn’t help much either. We made it out of the hotel at the crack of 12:30. We drove over the hill and through some woods to visit Grandmother’s house. Glenn & I enjoyed a lovely visit with Grandma over a Costco meal (hot dogs and cheap pizza). We took advantage of Grandma’s dining room to soak up the sun—another beautiful day here. Grandma noted how the “snow diamonds” sparkled, ice particles that reflect more light tha [View Full Entry]

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We landed at the Ted Steven's Anchorage International airport this morning at 5:30. It was a long flight, but we we're so excited to arrive we didn't want to go back to sleep. Once we arrived at the hotel, Glenn waited outside with the bags while I checked in. Once I brought the key out to him he admitted that he could see how people would think it's cold here--it was about -7C when we arrived. After a couple of errands, we set off on our first "Alaskan experience," so off to Subway we went. But, not just any Subway, I [View Full Entry]

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So far sooo good! I just spent a great 10 days in Alaska visiting friends from this summer and seeing what it is like without 24 hours of sunshine. I thought it would be mostly dark but actually the sun came out at about 9:30 and set around 5:00 so not too much different from home. I saw 5 moose which I absolutely love. It was WICKED WICKED cold so I didn't really spend too much time outdoors but did get out some and even though it is cold Alaska is still extremely beautiful in the winter. However Carrie told me [View Full Entry]

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Complications Laura has been having some complications with the pregnancy over the last few weeks. It started with a migraine that lasted more than two weeks. It was probably stress related, which makes sense. I was supposed to be going back to Iraq for a few weeks to testify in a murder trial. Thankfully, I was excused by the judge. While the migraine was in full swing, she got an infection that caused her to start having contractions - real contractions. The doctors were very concerned but could not stop the contractions or relieve the headache. We had to go back [View Full Entry]

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Jan 2, 2008: The Girls Move in Together We moved the girls into the same room on New Year's Eve with no intention of staying up late ourselves. (We've been battling a cold for the last week.) As it turned out, we rang in the New Year trying to get the girls to stop waking each other up. Selah, the little one, would wake up and cry because she was in a new room. Then, Jaeden would wake up and cry because there was an interloper in her room crying and waking her up. That would make Selah cry more. We [View Full Entry]

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Hello Friends and Family! We will be leaving on our trip in 3 days (Thursday the 4th of Jan) and today is Heather's last day of work before we leave. We've been saying goodbye to as many friends as possible but it seems that it's now crunch-time and won't get to see everyone we'd like. It's been bitter sweet saying goodbye to our friends at work or elsewhere. At the same time, it's getting exciting as the date comes near. Here's the outline of our trip: Anchorage to San Diego to see Heather's twin sister Heidi (aka, Heizer, Heizerschintzel, or just [View Full Entry]

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Okay, I'm sorry that it has been so long since I have posted. I'm back in Alaska now with my family. I got back on November 30, but before I get into all that, let me catch you up briefly on October and November: October - <Yawn> Nothing happened in October. The new "Concerned Citizen Program," which was started a few months ago, seems to be working very well. We are paying Iraqis, including former insurgents, to work with Coalition Forces against extreme terror groups that are unwilling to negotiate, like Al Queda for example. Sun Tsu said that the best [View Full Entry]

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The grey of the ocean meets the base of the Chugach Mountains as they rise into pillars of ice and snow, almost transparent against the dull, white sheet of a sky. From the city their presence are always felt as they tower over buildings and peak into the city through the open streets running from South to North. The sun rises later each morning from the breast of one peak, simply to fall a little earlier each day between the crevices that lie between two others. Even the Alaskans who have spent their lives in the city watch these ever-transforming giants [View Full Entry]

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The snow made it real hard to land as we descended to correct altitude before landing in Alaska. It took many trails before I could locate the runway and actually calculate the right speed and angle to land, but I did it without a hitch. I was afraid to get out of the plane. On the dashboard, the temperature monitor read 30 degrees Celsius. I hate the cold because I am not use to it. Anything under 60 degrees Celsius is killer to me. Anyways, I rushed out of the plane and went to the closest clothes store, which was [View Full Entry]

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Wow! Here is the home stretch, we are really winding down. I’ve spent some time reflecting on our time here. It seems like we’ve packed a year’s worth of adventure into 6 weeks. When I think all the way back to our first days here, it seems like ages ago and yet I can’t believe that it’s time to go already. We really were fortunate to have received good advice about places to visit. We certainly didn’t hit them all. The other thing that I am amazed by is the people that we met and that welcomed us into their lives. [View Full Entry]

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