Missing in action

Because well... I was in Jamaica having a blast and celebrating my thirtieth!

Family time part two

Isn't this the sweetest picture?

Gram Janice, the orchestrator of this fine event.

Spence and Pa pre-nap

Laura came and had dinner with the family.

Brady loves this little hat, so he put it on his little brother Jack.

Kollin is a good cousin.

Andrew fell asleep on Frank's lap.  Too sweet!

Pa and Spencer during nap time.

Family time part one

For Christmas this year we all went up to Gram Janice's and pigged out.  We've done it once before and it's definitely my favorite thing to do on Christmas Eve.  Janice and Bob and their family have really adopted us into their family and I'm so thankful that they've done so.  There were five energetic boys running around, two little boys getting snuggled by everyone that could get a hold of them, and one precocious girl running to and fro with cupcakes in her hands.

It was hard to catch the boys at a still moment.  Here's Raine and Andrew chugging some juice.

Frank trying to get Andrew to sit still for just a moment.

I have no idea how Heather could look so relaxed with all the chaos surrounding her. I guess with 3 boys she's used to it. :)

I had to practically hold this guy down to get a picture with him.  Loves my nephew.

Pa made some juice, well I guess it's called punch during the holiday season and the kids went after it like I go after champagne!  They were trucking back and forth from the living room to the kitchen about every other minute.  I think Pa had to fill up the punch jug at least twice and even then the jug ran dry.  Running around and playing hide and go seek must be exhausting and dehydrating work.

Brady looks so mischievous!

How to get Andrew to sit still.  Hehehe

Emily was just the sweetest and cutest.  She ran around all over with cupcakes and cookies and chocolate covered hands.  Gram Janice and Pa had just gotten a new chair for the their living room so they were running around after her with a wet washcloth.  As soon as they cleaned her up and her little finger print marks she was back in the kitchen going after another cupcake.  It was hilarious!  And then of course she came to crawl on my lap and I ended up with chocolatey finger prints all over my almost clean jeans.  I guess that's karma for laughing and Gram Janice and Pa.

Every little girl needs a pretty purple dress and a light saber.

Squiggles being his little squiggly self.  Lookit that smile!  Makes me melt.

Pa watching the chaos with a smile on his face.

This here is my lovely mother, who has been putting up with me for 29 years.  I think I'm most annoying around Christmas because I'm constantly asking if I can open a present.  It never fails, she always caves in.  Persistent annoyance always wins out.  She also puts up with me and my insane need to puzzle around Christmas time.  I think this year we did two 1000 piece puzzles and four 500 piece puzzles.  I still haven't gotten her to do a 2000 piece puzzle.  Someday I shall wear her down.

My mother dearest smirking at me.

Chemtrack Christmas Party

Lawrence invited me to the Chemtrack Christmas party so I could catch up with everyone and meet his wife.  Of course I had to go.  I impulsively hopped a plane into Anchorage after I okayed it with the prez.  The forecasted weather was iffy in both Unalakleet and Anchorage.  So I ended up here in Anchorage Tuesday night.  I haven't been able to do much (I've been getting a lot of work done though, which I guess was part of the deal with myself.)  Then Thursday rolled around aaaaand so did the Christmas party.  Meet Margie, Lawrence's wife.  She was super duper nice.

She's from St. Michael

And of course the boss and lead operator.  It was really good to kick back and visit with these two.  Dale and Lawrence both had nothing but good and encouraging things to say about me from this past summer.  We told fun stories to Dale's wife Nancy and to Margie about the summer and the silly things that ended up happening on the job site.  And there was free beer.  So basically it was fantastic.  Also, Dale looks crazy different without his beard!  I almost didn't recognize him, but I absolutely recognized his mannerisms when he was chatting with people.

Dale, me and Lawrence

James - the most steadfast guy on the project

Byron stopped by after working a 12 hour shift! Harmony stopped by too, but I didn't get a picture with her. Boo

Lawerance, me and Margie - hahaha... this was the blurry portion of the evening

Definitely worth the miles and $40 fee from Alaska Airlines. Seriously, it's only 10,000 miles to fly round trip from Unalakleet to Anchorage. Awesome. Pure awesome. So awesome, in fact, I'll probably go back to Anchorage for New year's.

Monumental.

Such a Capitol idea.  Wakka wakka.

There's a big crack in this right now.  So you can't go all up in it.  Damn earthquakes.

Proof.  I was there.

I didn't even know this existed.

Alaska even has it's own column-y thingy.  A guy gave me a funny look for taking this picture.  Really, dude?

This blew me away.  It was the busiest monument.  :(  But it was so incredible.

Chilling with my homie, Lincoln.  He's the man.

Reflection, yo.  I totally wanted to be Jenny and run through the reflection pool.  Ha.

Outside of the Lincoln Memorial.  There were a lot of steps.   Not enough to deter me though.

Thanks for the shades Jason.  :)  I love it when you leave stuff at my house.

Another monument I didn't know existed.

What up Obama, I ate dinner across the street from your casa.

National Zoo!

This was the first critter I saw when I got to the zoo.

A young man came up and started talking to me as soon as I stopped to look.  Eventually the conversation led to Yukon Men on Discovery.  Damn reality television.

Reality television needs to get prey upon by vultures.  As in be dead.

I don't remember what animal this was.  But I bet it's delicious.

This is a wolf.  It's description is a red fox on stilts.

What?!?!

A red fox on stilts.  You heard me.  I think it's incredibly accurate.

Sleepy little darling red panda.  A precursor to....

THE PANDA!!!

I sat and stared at this fellow for an inordinately long amount of time.  He was so cute.  Waddling around.  Sitting down and munching out.  Staring at the sky.

Seeing a panda was better than I imagined.

This was the male panda.  The female was inside looking very sad.  She'd recently lost her cub.  :(

This otter be good.  Bwah!  These guys were super cute and active.

This guy was not.

I walk the path of the elephant.

I was to sew with him.

I want to cuddle him.  He had such a cute nose.

The amazon building was crazy.  There were monkeys loose!  I'm happy they didn't fling poo at me.

I love fish.  They had a huuuuuge arapaima.  I didn't take a picture.  :(

Biiiiig cats.  The males were lazy.  The females were rough and tumbly and fun.

Here kitty kitty.

Chillin.  You know.  On the steps like a cool cat.

Just lion around.  Bwah!  Oh, I'm hilarious.

So pretty!  The didn't seem like unhappy animals.  And that made me happy.