Nice mini-vacation

November 22 was a special day here in St. Michael. Ryan turned 4!


Ryan playing with his new helicopter. He got a lot of cars and trucks... you know that boy stuff! He loved his new truck from Patty and Mark. He also got some clothes of course but they aren't near as much fun! By the way Mark, he misses you.

What birthday is complete without cake and ice cream??? It was a fun day for all of us!

Another weekend Flies By...

Yikes... why is it that no other days go as quickly as Saturday and Sunday??? I know they each have 24 hours in them, however, those hours just tick away like nothing! Saturday evening Patty and I had a birthday dinner for our school counselor and friend, Betty. We made a Chinese dinner for our guests. It was great having social time and enjoyed the conversations girls... right down to the one on bears...LOL


Jill, Cynthia, Patty, and Betty getting some chow.
Sunday - day of rest... we are taking that fairly literal these days! Sunday evening the community put on a fantastic feast for the teachers. They served us turkey and all the trimmings. It was awesome!
It's now Monday and the week is going to fly by!!! (here's hoping)
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!!!!

It's Opening Day...

Good luck to all the Yooper deer hunters!!! Thousands of miles away but November 15th will always be opening day for me! (A bit depressed that even though we are yoopers, we don't get the day off...lol)
Things here in St. Michael continue to go well. We are now deep into the cold and windy winter! We've had some sort of snow 4 out of the last 5 days, and our temps have been below freezing for over a week now.

The other night poor little Paco, Patty's dog, froze his tiny feet while outside doing his business. He came back in and was walking really funny. I asked Patty what she thought was wrong with him. I was sure he was having some sort of convulsions... but she assured me it was just that the pads of his feet were frozen. She rubbed his feet some and sure enough, he was back to his regular ornery self! I'll have to take some pictures of the little darlings one of these days. I came to Alaska loving Paco... however... Tiqa has really become my favorite... minus the garbage digging!

Here are some pictures taken from my hotel window in Anchorage.


I like Anchorage but wouldn't want to live there... just a perfect place to go shopping! (for Alaska anyway...) Thanksgiving is just flying up on us here. No major plans as of yet... Hard to believe but... one month from today we leave for Christmas break!!! I now have my room and plane reservations... extremely excited!!! ALOHA!!!!!!

Back from the city...

I flew out to Anchorage Monday for the Alternate Assessment conference. Of course, I also was able to get in a bit of shopping. Living on an island in the middle of nowhere is pretty great, but being able to get to the "city" at times... it's wonderful! I returned to the island Wednesday night. While in Anchorage I was able to visit my favorite St. Michael 3 yr. old. Recovering from surgery, Ryan is doing fairly well.

I don't think spending Halloween in a hospital was Ryan's idea of a perfect night, but he was a real trooper. As of last night, he is out of the hospital but still in Anchorage. Hoping he is healthy enough to return soon!!!!!
Patty and I are still enjoying our Elementary basketball experience. The kids are so excited to be a part of the team and we are really loving that enthusiasm! We have about two weeks of practice with them left and then on to the high school season.
The snow is starting to fall again here in St. Michael. We have gotten a few flakes here and there but nothing is really sticking, which I am thankful for! The temps have been fairly low and I believe winter is settling in here in our little corner of the world.
To the Panther football team - great season. To Roger - thanks for all the updates!