Stalking Sarah

Admittedly, one of the reasons I wanted to visit Wasilla, Alaska was in the hopes of getting a glimpse of my favorite gal, Sarah Palin.  So it should be no surprise that we happened to stay at a hotel on the very lake that Sarah lives on, Lake Lucille, and it just so happened that the Palin house was just two docks down from the hotel property, and it also just so happened that Sarah was doing a photo shoot on her dock that day we arrived.  Imagine that!  So, I set Jay and the boys up to pretend like I was taking pictures of them, when really I was taking pictures over at the Palin place.  STALKER.  Jay started calling me the paparazzi and wouldn't take part in any bit of my insanity.  However, I managed to talk him into taking us to a park across the lake where I could get a good shot of Palin's house.  Yep, I am a Stalker.  Definitely one of the highlights of my trip to Alaska :)

Here's a pic of the photo people prepping her for the shoot. At this point I didn't know if it was her because Todd's plane was blocking everyone, but I just assumed it was her.

Okay, here she goes....is it her? Is it her?

Yep!  That's Sarah!

HI SARAH!!!  Look over here, I'm totally stalking you!

Palin house from across the lake

So close I could've walked down her driveway and knocked on her door (and then got arrested probably)

Todd's float plane

Wow, she really CAN see Russia from her house!

ALASKA

Look at all the bears we encountered while in Alaska!....at the zoo....

Since we are maintaining our residency in Alaska, we have to spend at least 72 hours in the state every year.  Thus, we took our first family vacation this past week, flying into Anchorage and road tripping it around the Kenai Peninsula and South Central areas.  Jay was anxious to show me these areas, as I'd never seen further than Juneau, hoping that I would desperately fall in love with it and want to move back.  Jay was a giddy little boy the day before our trip, he couldn't wait to get up there.  We arrived Anchorage at around noon and immediately got into our rental van (I love mini vans!!) and headed south to the peninsula. 

First stop, Soldotna.  First of all, the drive down there was beautiful.  It's Alaska, need I say more?  The weather was rainy when we arrived, but as we meandered on down to the Kenai, it got a little better.  Soldotna was a neat town, but we were so exhausted from our trip that we didn't sightsee much other than walk the path along the river near our hotel.  

Day 2: Anchor Point, Homer and Seward.  Jay, assuming we'd never come back to Alaska, bought a little chunk of land a few years ago, about 10 acres, so that he could return year after year and have a place to set up camp while he, a few of his buddies, and eventually the boys hunt and fish.  It is pretty remote property, which was the whole point, but we did see a distant neighbor (his name is Rocky and lets just say we're glad we have 10 acres between ours and his) so it's not totally into the wild which made me feel a little better.  We spotted a moose near the property, the first of only two the whole trip.

It was cloudy while we were there, but I guess on a clear day, there's a beautiful view of Mt. Iliumna.  Scotty said something while we were there that just summed it all up:  "Daddy, why is it so quiet out here?"  Jay's thoughts exactly.  Here's some pics of the boys walking through the property.

We then headed further south to Homer.  It's too bad it was cloudy and drizzly because Homer is right on the water and as you enter the city coming down off of a bluff, I can see how one might be overwhelmed with the view of Kachemak Bay.  But, alas, no view for us.  It was a cute coastal town, though, and I do hope to see it someday when it is sunny in order to appreciate it a little more (hm....that seems to be a recurring thought when I'm in Alaska...'if only it were sunny'....). 

Onward and upward.  We headed to the final destination of the day and that was a blessed little town ALL THE WAY on the other side of the peninsula, back tracking a little, called Seward. 
                                                            
The name doesn't do it justice.  It is a sweet little town surrounded by mountains and water, much like many other towns in Alaska, but there was something about that place that made us say "ahhhhhh".  So much so that I was actually asking some of the town folk their opinion of Seward and what it was like to live there.  What I gathered is that it's Juneau with a road...oh and about 27,000 less people.  It's 126 miles away from Anchorage, about a 3 hour trip.  Hm...in the dead of winter, that drive could be horrendous.  But it was a great town to visit.  We stayed at the military resort with an awesome backdrop and before we left town the following morning, we took the boys to the Sea Life Center downtown near the bay.
 
Day 3 and 4: Anchorage, Eagle River, Palmer, Wasilla.  If ever we were to move back to Alaska, it would be more like me to live in the south central area because we could still have the experience of living in the great Alaska wilderness but yet have the convenience of being close to civilization.  And by "close", I don't mean a three hour drive, a ferry, bus, train or plane ride.  I mean, 45 minutes-ish commute by car at the most.  There are two military bases and their amenities in Anchorage, as well as many other perks of a big city...but a lot of people live in the outlying areas like Eagle River, Palmer, Wasilla.  Thus, I was anxious to get up to these areas and check them out.  As much as I complained about Juneau, I have been open to the idea that we may move back to Alaska someday.  I just gotta find that place.  I have to say, I really liked Wasilla.  I don't know if it's because Sarah Palin lives there (I'll leave that subject for a blog of it's own...) and I'm of the mentality that if it's good enough for Palin, it's good enough for us, or if it's the many other things that make Alaska towns so great.  But Jay and I actually chalked up this entire area as potential, believe it or not.  We spent the remainder of our trip in Wasilla, driving around the area and just hanging out.  Our hotel was beautiful property right on Lake Lucille so that was a nice experience in itself.                          
These last two pics are on Lake Lucille

We went to the Iditarod headquarters which was quite interesting and walked the loop trail that they use in the winters for actual sled-dog rides.  The boys had fun playing in the dog houses. 
   
Day 5: Anchorage and Juneau:  Because of the way we booked our flights, using miles for some tickets and paying for others, we had to split the tickets up for the return leg of our trip, so Jay and Scotty were on one flight and Zac and I were on another.  Jay and Scotty's flight didn't depart until 7 PM, so they were able to hang around in Anchorage all day eating at the well known Moose's Tooth Pizzeria and going to the Alaska Zoo.  Zac and I took an earlier flight and had a layover in Juneau for a few hours, so my friend Suzanne picked us up and we were able to hang out.  I wish I had more time to get in contact with other friends while we were there, but the time as it was went so fast!  Thanks Suz for feeding and entertaining us while we were there!  All in all, it was a fantastic trip, a great family getaway and we look forward to going again next year.

This is the Alaska Mountain Range and Susitna is one of the mountains, aka "The Sleeping Lady". Can you see her?

Mommy & Me Fridays

Scotty's preschool offers a class for kids under three on Fridays, so since I am already there, I decided to enroll Zac and me.  Basically, it's a two hour playgroup. Unlike his brother, it doesn't take long for Zac to warm up to people so I knew he would be fine when he entered a class full of strangers.  It was a great opportunity to meet other moms and let Zac socialize with other kids....finally Zac has his own little outlet!

First Day of Pre-K

Scotty's beloved teacher, Mrs. Spear (and the rose he brought her)

Holding up his "Eager Reader" award from last May when he finished 30 books in 15 days

Being greeted by friend, Avah

EEEK! Girls....

Scotty is now officially a Four-Year-Old-Pre-K'er (....huh?).  Basically, he's separate from the 3 year olds and now goes three days a week instead of two.  He has the same teacher as last year but the class is bigger for a total of 12 kids.  I've been a bit apprehensive about this day because he came to me about two days ago with tears in his eyes saying he didn't want to go to school.  So, to appease him, I offered to stay at the school with him instead of my normal drop and go.  Of course, he joyfully accepted that offer.  I feared for the can of worms I was opening, but I wanted to do whatever it took to get him back into the swing of preschool, even if it meant holding his hand for a few weeks.  Turns out, I lost sleep for nothing because he entered the classroom this morning and never looked back.  In fact, it took me a few minutes to finally grab his attention to say goodbye.  SHEESH!  I left the classroom, but stayed in the building as I said I would and wound up doing many things for the head teacher that she hadn't had time to do, like laminating, die-cutting and passing out flyers for the student folders.  Fun stuff!  They put me to work and it was great.  I have always wanted to volunteer, but thought it best that I stay out of sight, out of mind for Scotty's sake.  I guess I finally can now, he's growing up....

Gone Golfing

Jay is always up to something with one or both boys and this past Monday he ventured out and brought Scotty along with him for 18 holes of golf.  Scotty did well for being four years old on a golf course, as I was afraid he'd be inclined to go running off into the big wide open greenness chasing birds and being obnoxious to the other golfers, but he stayed right near Jay the whole time.  He has his own set of golf clubs and he was finally able to use them.  Aside from having to wear rain boots, they did all 18 holes and they had a good time.

College Game Day

Husker Pride

Matt, Jay and Josh

Post-game campfire

College football, a sure sign Fall is upon us.  Saturday was Nebraska's season opener and it was available Pay-Per-View, so die-hard-fan Jay invited his "neighborhood posse" over to enjoy the game with some beer & BBQ.  Thought their little party was cute, so had to take some pics. 

Seahawks 31, Raiders 21

Neighbor Nicole and Me

Seattle's fans, loudest in the NFL, became known as the 12th man

Football fan or not, it's hard not to appreciate this stadium on a gameday

Blue Thunder, the Seahawk drummers

Would it be NFL without the hot cheerleaders?

So those of you who know me are maybe saying "What the hell was she doing at a football game? Does she even know what football is?"....oh wait, that would just be my HUSBAND that said that. I think he was secretly jealous that our neighbor, Nicole, invited me to attend a Seattle Seahawks pre-season game against Oakland Raiders.  Her accounting firm has season tickets and the games that the partners don't want (namely pre-season), they put into an office pool. Nicole's name was drawn and she asked me. I don't think she realized then that I am not much of a football fan. She assumed that when Jay hangs his Nebraska Huskers flag out in front of our house on college gameday that we are ALL fans over here. No, I am more familiar with the smaller white ball with red stitching. But who am I to be rude and decline such a generous invitation?!?! HELLYA I wanna go!!! After enjoying happy hour at a restaurant in downtown Seattle with two others that won tickets in the office, we headed to the game. Qwest Field is amazing and the fans are CRAZY!  I thought Mariners fans were spirited, but baseball fans have nothing on boisterous football fans. And maybe that is common knowledge and I am only now just figuring that fact out. I spent most of my time people watching. All the seats have signs warning spectators to "Keep It PG". That was my first clue. Then, I guess it wouldn't be a football game if a few fans from either team didn't get into some sort of "banter" (yeah, that's a good word for it) over who was the better team.  Needless to say, won't be bringing my young boys and their innocent eyes and ears to a football game anytime soon. The game itself was exciting. I clapped when they clapped and stood up when everyone else stood up...but really had NO CLUE what the heck I was watching (OKAY, I am not completely ignorant, I know what a touch down is!)  Maybe it was the two margaritas I had during Happy Hour or maybe I skipped the day they taught football in PE, but I couldn't even find the ball most of the time, much less figure out what was happening with it.  And what's with all the freakin' yellow flags?  OY!  I guess most could argue the same for baseball....we all have our thing, right?  I can respect the game and I am determined to get it figured out so that I don't have to have Jay narrate (or Nicole in this case) the entire game for me.  It's not rocket science, it's FOOTBALL and if I ever plan to accompany Jay to a Husker game someday, where they are nutty over their football team or stand on the sidelines when my boys are playing, I better learn alittle something about it.  This experience might've been just what I needed to push me in that direction.  Thanks Nicole for a fabulous girls night out!