What a great day to be an American

I was up late watching the election results on CNN and was loving the acceptance speech that Obama made in Chicago.  I remember when I first heard him and his wife Michelle on Oprah XM a few years ago before he put his hat in the ring for President.  I admired him from day one and he inspired me.  Shortly after that he decided to run for President and held a rally on the shores of Lady Bird Lake here in Austin.  People of all ages, races, backgrounds were excited to go see him and hear what he had to say at this rally.  I am now very optimistic to our future and my childrens future.  My oldest kept texting me last night as she so happy of the results of the election.  She is getting ready to go into the Air Force in January.  Now I need to get away from the tv and computer and wake up Ryan and Kendra for school and give them the great news.

Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus!

Last week my neighbors and I had our "Obama for President" signs vandalized.  The vandal spray painted in red "NO" in big letters across the front of the sign on both sides.  We were not going to remove our signs as that is what the vandal was after.  I did go to Home Depot to at least make another sign as there was not time to order another one.  But Home Depot did not have any blank signs so I didn't get a chance last weekend to make another one.  A few days later someone replaced our signs for free!  Thank you very much to whoever did this act of kindness.  

Almost the end of summer vacation

I can't believe that I have not updated this blog in 8 days-I am bad. Well, I guess it indicates how busy we have been. The kids and I had a great time in Alaska for 2 weeks. The last week we had dinner Saturday night at my sister Glenda's house (her wonderful spaghetti) and then played games, and on Sunday night at my sister Krissy's house, which she made some fantastic Halibut taco's. I am REALLY going to miss my family when I get back in Texas. I am the only family member that lives outside of Alaska. My youngest sister Krissy is now pregnant and her due date is March 27th. I am hoping for a girl but Ryan wants another boy in the family. I was able to run a few times during the week while the rain stopped. I cannot wait to get strict about running again.

On Wednesday my mom, Kendra and I took Ryan in for a follow up ear check and the ENT said he needs surgery since he has an inverted ear drum. Basically his ear drum is sucked into the ear canel. This has happened to him before and without surgery we were able to clear it by having Ryan hold his nose and clear his ears a few times a day. I made an appointment with his ENT when we get back and see what he has to say. Then my mother wasn't feeling well and my dad took her to the doctor. My mom was not able to make it down to Oregon for the big Aasland family reunion.

We flew down to Seattle on Thursday and rented a car to drive to Forest Grove Oregon for the reunion. Forest Grove is a small town outside of Portland where my grandparents lived. My dad, sister Krissy and her husband Brent, Sister Sally and son Joshua and me plus the kiddo's rented this great 1932 Craftsman home in Forest Grove. Sally found this house in www.vrbo.com. I had not seen my Aasland aunts, uncles, and cousins since 1991. We had a great time getting re-acquainted and will get together again in 2 years when my Aunt Janice and Uncle Maurice celebrate their 50th Anniversary.

Today we left the house after being their 3 nights to spend the night in Tillamook, Or. The Oregon coast is beautiful. We went to the beach in Oceanside where they had this neat cave that went thru the side of the hill. For dinner we went to the Tillamook Factory to eat dinner at their cafe, great food cheap prices, and then had some yummy Tillamook ice cream. Tomorrow we drive back to Seattle for our last night. We will go up 101 and then go over to Seattle with a stop at Cabella's.

I plan to post pictures soon!

Fair and Run of the Valkyries

Yesterday was the opening of the fair and we were anxious to go since the weather had been rainy and it finally stopped for the night. I think everyone in Fairbanks was ready to get out and mingle. I actually ran into a few people that I knew. The kids wanted to ride on all of the typical fair rides. This fair has some great food. I had to have some halibut, then Krissy bought some hot and fresh mini donuts that were just made and rolled in cinnamon-sugar-yum! Yes, I have not been eating well, I will have to diet again when I am back in Austin. This morning I volunteered with my sisters Krissy and Sally at a 8K run that was to benefit the Opera Fairbanks. The run was titled "Run of the Valkyries". We helped with registration before the race then we scanned everyone with their names and time ran afterwards. Tonight will be dinner at sister Glenda's place and tomorrow night will be at Krissy's. We cannot wait until Thursday when we fly down to warmer and sunnier weather in Forest Grove Oregon. We plan on making it to the Oregon Coast on Friday. I will post pictures when I get a chance.

zzzzzzzzzzz's

I do not know what it is but my kids love to sleep in when we are in Alaska. At home it does not matter what time they go to bed they are typically up by 7 to 7:30. Here they sleep until 8:30 to 9:00. Maybe it is the fresh air, I do not know. In the summer it is daylight 24 hours here, but my sister and parents have great window treatments to darken the room they sleep in.

Of course we are awaken to more rain! It is currently 47 degress and the high will only be in the 50's. Not good about the rain situation since the river is out of it's banks. I will not complain about the temperature since it is 100 degree's back home.

Ryan's ears

Just like last summer, my poor son has a busted ear drum while on vacation. Very frustrating as he mentioned late this afternoon that his ear was hurting so I gave him some Motrin to help with the pain. He had no other systems and the Motrin was not helping the pain. My mother took us to a nice clinic where Ryan was seen immediately, they rushed him in as they could see he was hurting. His left ear drum was busted. He had no other systems, no running nose or no fever. From now on before we get on a plane he will go to his doctor for an ear check before we fly. The doctor today told us to see an ENT before we leave Alaska, they will arrange it for us and call us tomorrow. Ryan is a trooper, we had to feed him in order to give him his Augmentin. When we got to my moms we made his favorite meal, pancakes, eggs and bacon. He ate and ate and ate. He is now resting comfortably and we will take in easy for the next few days.

My family went to see the Chena River which is near by. Due to the rains, the rivers around here are going over the river banks.

I will update our trip in the next day or two. The state fair starts in Fairbanks this weekend, I am sure we will be there once or twice.

North Pole Alaska

Every time I come visit my parents, I have to go visit Santa Clause House in North Pole Alaska. I love Christmas and to see all of the ornaments, Santa and Mrs. Clause are always there. Some of the people visiting were having Santa call their grandchildren from their cell phones and they got a kick out of it. I found a beautiful ornament and wooden stacking doll that was made in Russia. It was a cool rainy day, so it was a perfect day to be inside. Afterwards the kids and I headed to Barnes & Nobles. The Barnes & Nobles here has a nice big circular fireplace with lots of comfy chairs around it to sit and read.

Summer Vacation in Alaska

We have been in Alaska since Thursday and it has been so nice to be in cooler weather. I know that Alaskan's are sick of the cooler and rainier than usual summer, but being from Texas it is a very nice change. Today was rainy and around 60 degrees and should continue the same for the remainder of the week.

We had my parents 60th anniversary party on Sunday at the Dog Mushers Club up on Farmers Loop road in Fairbanks. Many people turned out to wish them well and it was great to see faces that I have not seen since I was a teenager. Yes it has been too long!!

I have been enjoying my visit with 5 sisters and 1 brother. The sisters, mother and I went to go see Momma Mia the other day. It was a good movie, but good thing that Pierce Bronsen (sp?) is good looking as his singing has something to be desired. The women did a great job in the movie. I hope to have a few more girl/sister events before I leave back to Texas. I will be here until the 7th of August, then we head down to the Seattle/Portland area for a long overdue family reunion on the Aasland side.

Hopefully I can post pictures tomorrow....

Sorry about the Christmas music, I will figure out how to change it. I forgot to have my sister-in-law show me before she left tonight to go back home in Anchorage.

Summer Vacation in Alaska

The kids and I are having a great time in Alaska. Ryan and Kendra are having fun playing with their cousins Joshua, Seth and Sydney. This is the first time in 2 years where all of the siblings are together. Today we had a birthday party for the summer birthdays, Kendra, Ryan and Seth. We grilled outside since the weather was nice and had a pinata "Texas" style. I will try to upload some pictures in the next few days. We are going to take family pictures tomorrow at the library, and get ready for the big 60th anniversary party for mom and dad on Sunday. Kendra is looking forward to the Hannah Montana concert in 3D on the Disney Channel tomorrow night.

Summer Vacation

I can't believe I have not updated this blog since April 24th! Yikes. Since then Ryan "graduated" from Elementary School and will be a 6th grader at Middle School this fall. Hard to believe. This was the first summer that I was off all summer with the kids and it has been great, but the time is going by too fast. Kendra and Ryan have been doing some sports summer camps at the local high school We are now on a 3 week vacation to Alaska and then Washington/Oregon before we head back to get ready for the first day of school.

I want to use this blog to journal our vacation. Yesterday did not go too well. We left Austin on Southwest (free rapid reward tickets), our flight left at 3:20 pm and we were on the same plane to Seattle and in the middle of the flight we were to land in Denver and let passengers off and on. Well, I was worried about getting out of Texas before the bad weather came to Austin as a result of Hurricane Dolly that I didn't think to look at the weather around the states. Due to a bad thunderstorm in Denver we had to land to Amarillo for awhile. The plane refueled and restocked supplies. Initially we were scheduled to land at 6:45pm pacific time and we landed at 9:05 pm. We were on the same plane for almost 8 hours! Our flight on Alaska Airlines was scheduled to leave at 9:45 pm. Needless to say we did not make our connecting flight. It was after 10:00 Seattle time, midnight Austin time, when we tried to get a hotel room for the night. An Alaska Airlines agent gave me a flier with an 800 number on it to get a hotel room at a discounted price due to my missing the flight. I found out that the rooms in Seattle were booked due to a big Seattle Mariners game and a festival going on in Seattle this weekend. I finally found a room at a EconoLodge that was not too far from here. I was happy to get a room that was close and not a smoking room, but my heart sank when we got to the hotel. It was a part motel/hotel and there was a police car at one of the rooms. We checked into our room and when we opened the door, you could hear the "cheep-cheep" on the smoke alarm as it needed a new battery. We had to gather our luggage to the small elevator and go downstairs again to get a different room. It was almost midnight and we had not eaten dinner but we were soo tired we went strait to bed. This was the worst hotel room I have stayed in and felt sorry for the kids. We didn't get a good night sleep, maybe 5-6 hours, so were anxious to get the to airport this morning. I am at the airport and we are at our gate waiting to get seats together on the next flight. We cannot wait to see our family in Fairbanks! I will report often and hopefully down load some beautiful pictures in Alaska.

Vince Young Football Camp

Ryan had the best day today.  He was one of the lucky 350 kids able to go to the first Vince Young Football Camp.  He had a great time playing football with Vince.  Vince also had some of his football friends there as well.  There was Micheal Griffin, 2007 1st round pick for the Tennessee Titans; (Austin Bowie alumni-Ryan's future high school); Selvin Young, starting running back for the Denver Broncos (Vince's best friend); Bo Scaife, starting tight end for Tennesse Titans and former Longhorn; and Kasey Studdard, starting right guard for the Houston Texans and former Longhorn.   I have a great feeling inside knowing that this is a day he will NEVER forget.  Go Vince Young, you are the best!  

Callie

Callie finally got spayed yesterday. She will be 8 months on the 18th. No, this is not a current picture as I am terrible at taking current pictures as you all know and the last picture I have taken of her was at Christmas. She is now about 60 pounds and already feeling like herself today. It will be hard to keep her restricted for 7-10 days. On one of our short walks today she really wanted to get a squirrel. Per doctors orders she needs many short walks in a day, but no running, jumping or climbing. Instead of pain medication I should have received sleepy medication.

Ryan and Kendra

It has been too long since I have updated this blog.  The last posting was on December 13th and today is April 9th!  Yikes.  Well I am going to try to do a better job at posting more frequently.  We have been busy the past few months.  Our dog, Callie is now 7 months old and keeps me busy, especially in the mornings until we get our daily walk/run in.  She is a very social dog and loves to see people, other dogs, chase a squirrel or cat.  Ryan is busy playing baseball.   He has 2 games a week and we are having a great time watching his games.  I think he excels as a 1st baseman.  Now to decide what sports summer camps he will attend.  We have baseball, football and basketball camps that are offered at the local high school and the University of Texas.  Kendra still loves to shop with her mom, but her favorite activity is to play with her friend Anna.  They like to roller skate, or make smoothies.  Here are some current pictures.  Enjoy!