Momentus occasion

My little man is so grown up. He just learned how to tie his shows all by himself. He has also lost another tooth, his front tooth! Now he is just a gap toothed adorable little man who is getting all grown up!

Fishing at Chena Lakes

Here is the crew! We all went fishing at Chena Lakes. The kids had a lot of fun. Papa Rick and dad were good teachers and all of the kids got to catch and release fish. The largest was caught by Mia at a whopping 11".

First day of school

School starts today!!!!!! Oh, maybe I'm not supposed to sound so enthusiastic :) The kids were so excited to begin school today. We got them all set up and they were ready for us to leave. Here are some pictures of how adorable they look!

My son, the spy

Okay, I had to show this. Me and Lauren were having a girl-to-girl talk and Gabe decided to spy outside of our door. Instead of getting 'the scoop', he fell asleep. Rats, his plan is foiled again!

Babies!

Carries little sister had twin babies and we got to visit them! They are so incredibly cute and I kept harboring thoughts of how I could sneak one out :) Here are some pictures of me and the girls enjoying our baby time!

Meteor Shower

So last night was supposed to be the best night to view the meteor shower, with 200 meteors seen in a 1 hour time period. Of course, being the old farts that we are, we went too early when it was too light, being that it was way past our bedtime. Even still, we could see the stars, 4 satellites, Jupiter and a few meteors. Some changed colors, some did not. They went by so quickly. With Rick's fountain in the garden, and the stars above us, it was a (cold) and magical night. The girls were diehard, determined to stay up to watch the entire show. It was about 40 degrees outside, so they got comfortable on the patio furniture with every blanket they could find. Lauren even fell asleep out there (which she still denies). I looked online and discovered that the best viewing time was between midnight and 5 am, when it would be darkest. I finally surrendered at 1 am, but still got to see 2. It was pretty cool.!

North Pole....so far!

So our time in Fairbanks is going really well so far. We've been having a good time visiting with the family and with Grandma Joyce and Aunt Tana who are up from California. We've been enjoying the sun (especially since the smoke has cleared).

Today we went for a 10.5 mile bike ride to Chena Lake.

Chena Lake

Grandma Joyce aka 'Mother Joyce', Papa Rick aka ' Captain Davey Jones' and Aunt Tana aka 'floosy sue' gettting ready to "Skype".

The one and only swimming pool!

Some catching up to do.....

Well, now that we are somewhat settled in to North Pole, I suppose I can finally catch everyone up. I have been especially bad about keeping in touch with anyone, especially by phone. Aside from the fact that every time I get near the phone, all of the kids need something now, I am struggling to keep everything going and make more decisions. Funny thing....we thought we were done with life in limbo! We have to figure out which school the kids are going to, since there are definitely more than 1 here! Since we would like to stay in North Pole, that narrows it down to just 2. Unfortunately, the one that we are zoned for now, while we are staying with Rick and Deb (Cory's parents) is not the same one that we will likely be zoned for when we finally find a place. ugh! I am trying to avoid moving the kids into 2 schools in 1 school year, but it may be inevitable. Other than that, I am able to continue working with Homer Medical Clinic, and have begun that this week. Cory started his job this week and is really liking it. He is learning the ropes of the computer system and how different things are done in a real city :) Everyone seems to be very nice and I think he is really going to like the department.
Otherwise, we are just enjoying the weather (it got up to 86 a couple days ago) but we are not so enjoying the smoke that just keeps on coming. We got to see it when we drove up here. It was kind of cool because it was dark outside and all of the sudden it was bright red. Apparently they have closed down the Parks Hwy and the airports, so it is not looking good. It did rain today though, so hopefully that will help.
The kids are eager for school to start (the 17th). Lauren will be flying back the end of this month, since her school starts September 6th.
Well, that's all for now. I will post pictures soon!