Saying goodbye to our epic summer in Alaska happened this weekend.  We met Greg in Alaska.  We had three purposes; visit the North Pole, Thanksgiving, and clean the house we rented.

Landing in Anchorage bought a flood of memories of our summer up here.  It truly was an amazing summer!  Unforgettable for sure!  We spent most of the day in the airport on Sunday waiting for Greg to return from ORD.  He had to divert.  I can’t remember the last time he had to do that!  Very thankful he is a highly trained pilot who does what is safe even if it isn’t popular!  The kids and I got a lot of school work done and watched the Vikings win!  We tried to use our 5 hour wait for him wisely.  Monday we spent cleaning the town house.  Our lease is up at the end of the month.  I really enjoy the fact that we can clean the house in about 2 hours, from top to bottom!  Awesome! Greg will come up one more time and then the house if officially done.  Bitter sweet if you ask me.

On Tuesday, we attempted our next purpose.  To go to the North Pole and see Santa.  This was one of the very few adventures in AK that totally flopped!  It was Santa’s day off!  Ugh.  We did get to drop off our letters in his letter box, but it just wasn’t quite the same.  We did see the reindeer though.  We also look forward to the ice sculptures.  But again, we struck out on that too.  We were too early for those.  It hasn’t been cold enough, image that!  It was -10*F.  I think we might need to make a trip with our nephews!  Watch out nephews, North Pole may be in your future!  We did however find the Thai place in Fairbanks!  Now this place is rated the best Thai food in the country!  It is pretty amazing!

Last but not least was Thanksgiving.  Being on reserve for the holidays is very unpredictable.  He could be home or could be flying without much warning.  We chose to spend it up in Alaska in hopes that Greg would be there.  Not this year.  He was off flying.  The blessing in all this is the Ness family.  They were in the same boat as we were.  Both husbands went to work, leaving us moms to take on Thanksgiving with 6 kids!  I’m so thankful we were able to join them for thanksgiving.  Not only did they provide all the food.  We also made a mess making lefsa with them!  We had a great laid back couple of days.  Hanging out playing games, sledding, walking, and just enjoying each others company.  Although we miss our husbands and extended families on these days, it was sure comforting to be with great friends.  Hopefully next year we will not be on reserve!  Oh wait we have Christmas reserve to look forward too!  

 

M is for Moon!  Rahab is in kindergarten this year!  I love this curriculum.  It provides such fun activities all while learning!  Rahab is my helper in the kitchen.  I can remember when she was really little she would be contently playing in the house somewhere.  The moment she would hear me cooking in the kitchen she would come join in on the action!  It was quite a joy for her and I to make Moon Cake!  She did an amazing job measuring out the ingredients and following directions!

Arches!  Esther, Jadon and I have been studying Roman history.  We were learning about the arches they made and that are still standing today.  Pretty incredible if you ask me!  Of course we, and by we, I mean Esther and Jadon, had to try their hands out by making an arch out of pudding boxes!  What a great project!  They even learned some vocabulary, like the keystones and their purposes.

Service!  This is one of the perks of homeschooling.  We were able to take the afternoon and learn how to make Cardomon Bread.  Which was being sold as a fundraiser for Truly Motivated.  It was an awesome way to serve.  I’m hoping we can do it again next year.  If you haven’t tried this bread, you need too!  We have a couple of loaves, and we might be willing to share.  Maybe…