Christmas Parties

The last week of school before Christmas was very busy. Everyone had parties! Peachies class had a little potluck and small gift exchange. One of the students in her class is Philippino and her mom brought in a huge dish of yummy food. It was rice noodles and chicken with veggies and just plain yummy. Another mom had made salmon dip with crackers. There was fresh fruit. Grapes were on sale at the commissary (yeah) and a cupcake for everyone. I laughed about the typical Kodiak mix of ethnic food and salmon.
Friday was the East Elementary School sing-a-long. Basically the whole school meets in the gym to have a top ten Christmas song count down. There were even quite a few religious songs with Joy to the World and Silent Night was number three. One of the island drummers performed and they sang using a Russian Orthodox Starring whatever it is. It was neat. The school really does a great job of encouraging each child and the teachers are very supportive, warm and friendly. I really do like their school. Afterwards both classes had parties with lots of good treats to eat.
Friday night was Peachies pre-school performance. Its a very short but sweet yearly show with about three Christmas carols and a visit from Father Christmas.
Peachie was a super start and struck an awesome pose after each song. The Koehlers came to watch which was so sweet of them. Aaron had to work so it was nice to have our family there. I don't know what I will do if they don't get to stay here a little longer.
Sing It!


Peachie with Father Christmas.

Christmas Cheer

Since I left you guys with such a poor me post last time I thought I would perk things up around here. You may be glad to hear that no one has vomited in ...3 days which is awesome! We visited Santa on Saturday and the kids had a good time. Peach really loved seeing him and gave him a big hug.
Sunday when Aaron got home from work we started decorating. I must confess we did play hookey from church. We had an awesome family day! We started by going to breakfast at the Shelikoff. It was nice except for the four gentleman ( I use that term loosely) sitting next to us that cursed numerous times and talked about visiting a bar in Anchorage with, well it was a bar only gentleman would enjoy. After they finally left Aaron and I were like "Thank you for leaving." Aaron said "Those men did not use good language." Our kids were like "What do you mean?" So I don't think it registered with them. But give me a break there is a woman and three kids sitting right next to your table have a little courtesy. I guess that's what we get for not going to church!
So after we got back from breakfast I started emptying out the boxes of indoor decorations and Aaron started lighting the outside of the house. He had a near disaster on the roof so we decided to just light the porch and the trees out front!
We worked hard while the kids played outside. Finally we went and picked out our tree. This is the every other year so we got a real one this year. It smells so good. At the end of the day 7 hours later the house was decorated. All the boxes were put back in the crawl space and the house looked beautiful.

Peachie ran to see Santa come in off the fire truck.
At the Santa day they were giving away a toy to each child. Some were big, some were small. I am not sure how many years ago they started setting this toy out but something tells me that no one was looking to get in shape.


Here's our tree this year. I tried to take pictures of some of the other decorations around the house but I am not a very good photographer so they came out really fuzzy or the flash went off. Thanks for reading my post.

Orphan Flu Round 3?

I don't know what is going on here but last night around 11pm just as I layed down in a nice hot bubbly bath with a new book I heard the all to familiar sound of a child vomiting. Yes, once again I found myself mopping up the dinner contents of my baby girls belly. This one was a hard one as there was quite a bit of it. To make matters worse Aaron won't be home today as he is now working 72 hours on 24 off through Christmas Eve. That means he will be home 2 days between now and then. We don't have our tree up yet. Its hard to feel merry.
So I got the girl all cleaned up. She got to sit in my bath. This time she was really weak afterwards. Even today she is just starting to perk up. We had planned to go see Santa. This is the "real" Santa. He arrives either by helicopter or fire truck. Its looking like a helicopter day as the weather is clear. I am waiting to the last minute to decide if I am going to drag her out or not. I kinda "need" a few things at Wally world too, as my fall decorations aren't put away yet. I need to get a bigger tote and I wanted to print our photo cards so I could get those out on Monday.
So if you could send us get well and stay well vibes I would really appreciate it!

A Funny Song About Kodiak

This song is so true! My mom bought the DVD at a craft fair and happened to meet Mr Whitekeys the song talks about how it always rains in Kodiak which is true, but when they came to film it was one of the sunniest days in Kodiak. Unfortunatley, the song is cut short by a plea to buy the DVD so you don't get the whole thing.

The Orphan Flu Returns

We almost made it but alas Eli scummed to the force that was the orphan flu! Actually, Peachie had a little touch of it too. I don't know what it is but I am pretty sure it happens for every mom. Peachie woke up at 4 am on Wednesday crying and I just new that she had thrown up. Something about the way she was crying so anyway Aaron was the first one to get to her because I pushed him out of bed! We got her all cleaned up and then she seemed better after that. She felt a little yucky and tired all day but we were leaving that night so I wastrying to get her better. You know with mom power! Please Lord don't let my child be sick on the flight. Then Eli started complaining that he wasn't feeling good either. The poor kid had to go to the airport and lay down on the bench waiting for our flight. That was when I looked over and saw that look on his face. You know the one. So we ran to the restroom. Let me tell you if your kids ever puke grape juice. Well, its exactly the same color and smells terrible. After he emptied his belly he said. "Wow, I feel a lot better can I have a chicken sandwich?" Sheesh! Thank goodness our flights only an hour. Although you are flying in basically a pop can powered by a slingshot.

Our Trip So Far

Well, we have big in Anchorage for about 5 days now and we are having a great time. Wednesday we met the Koehlers at IHOP for breakfast and then hit Toys R Us and Target! Target was fun we didn't look at everything. Its funny that whenever we get to these huge shopping centers we get a little overwhelmed. It doesn't help that its Christmas and everyone is shopping. The kids were just dying to get to my moms house and see Grandma and Kierra (her foster dog).
We went to dinner at Benni Hannas with the Koehlers that night and had a really great time.
We have been to the mall and enjoyed just spending time relaxing at Grandma's. We did find that we had to go and get internet here at grandmas house for a few days. I have a few class assignments still due in and needed to get on the internet to research and turn stuff in. Aarorn and I took the boys to an Aces game and that was a lot of fun. We didn't know it was Millitariy Appreciation night. There were over 600 service memberes there in uniform and many more not in uniform . They did a lot of special millitary appreciation ceremonies. We have been sledding a couple of times too which is great since there is not any snow left in Kodiak. We don't head home until Wednesay so I am srue tat we are ging to have alot more fun stuff to do.

Target is my favorite Store

Well it has been a very sick week here at the Griffin house. With Peachie being the first to get the the flu we have all taken our turn. Wednesday we are getting off the island and I hope that a change in scenery will help kill some of the germs for us. Kodiak can be a very contagious little town. Once the germs start spreading around they see to multiply. Hopefully, this trip will clear things up for all of us.

Thanksgiving is on Wendesday

Thanksgiving is an interesting time of year at the Griffin house. We get it twice! I think God wants to remind us how much he has truly blessed us and give us ample opportunity to count our blessings. Out of ten Thanksgivings,eleven counting while we were dating, Aaron and I have spent two together at home. Lots of couples and families work around crazy schedules and sadly, lengthy deployments. I thank God that my husband is safe and warm at his fire station just down the road and not thousands of miles and months from home. We make the best of it. This year we are cooking a ham and all the fixings to celebrate on Wednesday. We will put out the fancy plates and cloth napkins. Watch a new movie and play board games and pretend like its Thanksgiving anyway. Thanksgiving day we would usually join Aaron for a big dinner at the fire station but this year plans are a little different. The station is being remodeled and the kitchen isn't finished yet. So the kids and I were invited to a friends house. Aaron will go to the chow hall.......hmmmm. Maybe, I will bring him a plate of food from Bronwyn's house.
I added this neat program that lets you add your voice to pictures. To get the full effect click the little play button in the middle of the picture. There is about a four second delay between slides or you can click the big arrow button. This is one of the last projects for my class about using technology in the classroom. Only about a week and a half left!

The Orphan Flu

I was really hoping we would have been able to get through this week without it. Early this morning it claimed it first victim in the Griffin house. Poor Peachie woke up really sick. The reason for the name is because many of the cast members in Annie! have taken their turn getting it. I guess when you spend that much time in close quarters with 79 people you are bound to get sick. I have been bleaching and hand washing all morning to try and keep the germs at bay. Tonight is the last night of performances and I plan to 1)Spend as much time as I can away from the other adults and children in the green room. 2)Bring my own snacks to avoid the community snack table where who knows what kinds of bugs are growing.
Aaron and the boys went sledding today because we got a lot of snow this week. I am sure they are having an awesome time. We think we have finally reached the point where are kids are old enough to enjoy winter activities like sledding and ice skating without melting after a only half an hour. It is going to be a fun winter this year I hope.

Calebs Birthday Pictures

Last week was Caleb's Birthday. He turned 7! I can't believe he is that old already. We had a great week helping him celebrate. We went to lunch at a new restaurant here in town called Angelo's. They serve Greek and Italian food. The food was good the service needs work but hey its a new place to eat so that okay by me. We had a party for him at the bowling alley and it was a lot of fun. It was an evening party and the weather was crummy so we had almost the whole bowling alley to ourselves.
As you can see he had a Mario themed birthday!
Caleb was also Mario for Halloween. Oh yeah, I didn't post the Halloween pics...I'll have to do that too.

Being silly showing off the gifts he got from his friends. From us he got a gift card for Old Navy. He love to buy clothes and pick out what he thinks is "fashion" so now he can go and get what ever he wants with his card.

Kodiak A Great Place to Live

You would never have guessed that 6 years ago we arrived in Kodiak not knowing whether we would be happy here or not. God has blessed us so much in the years that we have been here. Its crazy to think that I can picture my children graduating high school here. It may not happen, God may be preparing a new place for us but for now we are content with our lives on this little island.
This is an online book I put together for one of my classes. It shows just a small abount of the beautiful sights around Kodiak.

Keep Alaska Red!

Well, today is the day! Finally we here the end of it! Whatever way it turns out. I voted for McCain today. As Elisabeth Hasselbeck calls it I am an Americain! In fact both Aaron and I voted straight down our party line. We both voted for Don Young and Ted Stevens. Here's the thing...I really didn't want to. The problem with voting for Begich and Berkowitz is that it gives the Democrats a super majority especially if they win the Presidency and no matter how many times Mark says he will vote against his party on issues such as gun control and ANWR I don't trust him anymore then I trust the fact that Steven's should still be running. I do wish that Parnell was on the ticket.
So here is our strategy. Say Stevens makes it into office and is sentenced to prison or is otherwise unable to perform his duties. Sarah will be able to appoint whomever (Parnell) she wants to as his replacement. If Sarah is VP (fingers crossed) then Parnell as her replacement for Governor will be able to appoint whomever he wants. We shall see how it all turns out. Were going over to the neighbors tonight to watch the results come in. Were bringing a cake to either celebrate or lick our wounds. Either way we get chocolate cake!

A Busy Week

I know I haven't been hanging out around here a lot. I have been working on several really cool projects for my education blog. One of my classes this year is based on using technology in the classroom and so I have been working on projects for that. So far we have made digital video slide shows and then working with a program called comic life. The funny thing is that Eli is in a technology centered class for third and fourth grade. It is called one to one and is mainly used in the more remote classrooms in other parts of Alaska but his teacher received a grant to try it here in Kodiak. Anyway, he is basically learning everything I am learning! So when I say I have to do a project with Comic Life he is like "Oh, comic life I have done that....." So if you want to see what I have been working on over there just click on the linky over on the right!
I did finish up the kids' Halloween costumes. I took a Math test this week and assignment, finished a tech project, and wrote my 8 page paper I thought was due next week but was due this week. Phew! I was so crazy! Thankfully, Aaron is my secretary and he typed my whole paper and played Mr. Mom at home cooking dinner and taking kids to school, piano and play practice. I love that man! I really couldn't do anything without his love and support. Baby, You Rock!
I hope to post some pictures tomorrow of the things we did for Halloween. We had a great time!

Quick Check In

We all had a pretty good week here. It is beginning to get colder. Actually, it is down right freezing now coupled with the darkness it is getting harder to get up in the morning. This week the kids have school only three days to account for the parent teacher conferences. So we plan on sleeping in!
Eli is scheduled to have practice for Annie 6 days this week! Which means we will be spending a lot of time at the High School. Thankfully, he is up for the challenge.
I did really well on my math test this week I got a B which is great for someone like me who has to really work on math. I was happy with my grade.
I also spent some time working on the kids Halloween costumes. I will post pictures when they are done I am really excited for them to trunk or treat this year as their costumes are super fun!
I found some time to finish this dress I had started forever ago for Peachie.


I made this the other day. These are the baby hats the kids wore home from the hospital.

Isn't it neat! I really like how it came out. Eventually, I might embroider their names underneath but for now I wanted to get them up on the wall.
That's all for now, talk to you guys later!

I need to take a bloggy break!

I will be taking a bit of a break here. Because school is really picking up I will be doing a bit of blogging *here*. I have a math test and a Psych test this week and a 6 page paper. Oh, don't you worry about me I can handle it! I will just be a busy mama and the house....well it can be a little messy right?

Last Thoughts of Japan

I’m glad that I’ve had the chance to come here and experience some of the culture. I really wish I would have been able to get away from the Tokyo metroplex and see some of the more traditional countryside. From what I’ve heard though, “Traditional” countryside is about the same as it is in America. Meaning, people in rural Japan live in the same size homes and apartments as people in urban areas, they just have bigger yards!

There are places, just like in the US, where you can see 200 year old homes and water mills and such. I desperately wanted to see these…and find Ninja’s. But only having a 2 day weekend didn’t really leave a lot of time to do that. I was able to see some of the stereotypical behaviors that are rather humorous, and indicative of what I understand of the Japanese culture at large. The need to please, to not offend, to be polite is a reflection of honor on themselves, not necessarily a reflection of what they think of you.

I’ve always heard how much more hard working the people of Japan are than Americans. I agree and disagree with this general statement. I think just like the U.S., there are hard working driven individuals and then there are the slackers. I’ve seen both in the Japanese work force here. Honestly, there are a lot of things that feel very similar to me between our two countries. I’m not sure if this is because of the tremendous American influence since the end of World War II or if this is more of a world phenomenon. I haven’t traveled extensively world wide, so I can’t speak intelligently on that, but I know Japan feels like it’s struggling to be like the U.S. and struggling to be itself at the same time.

I think a quote from the “Last Samurai” said something about Japan struggling between the old and the new. Clearly Japan has embraced the new, at least as far as technology goes. The struggle now is very clearly between the East and the West, America being the West. I once heard and old man in the US talking about American pride and how you see guys in the US getting tattoos with Japanese symbols and how you don’t see Japanese people getting American lettering tattoos. He was partly right, because that is how it is in America. But here in Japan, 9 out of 10 T-shirts were English. It was hard to find Japanese lettering on clothing at all. Heck, even the T-shirts I bought from the Tokyo Fire Dept. were in English. So to say that there aren’t Japanese people infatuated with America is a little obtuse.

One thing that I consider undeniable in regards to international travel is how much it makes me appreciate my home. As much as I couldn’t imagine being anything but an American when I was a child, that feeling gets more ingrained the more I see of the rest of the world. Of course I’m just comfortable with what’s familiar to me, but that doesn’t take away from the great things I know and expect from my country. Evidences in racial equality, equality of the sexes, true freedom of speech, a classless social system are just the tip of what I see America standing for. A place where a black man, son of an immigrant, can run for president, or a blue collar dock worker can change his stars and own a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. America is unique, and I see why so many people in the world both hate and love us…I think they want to be us. Jealousy always walks the fine line with hate.
So I’m happy I’m home and I love you all!

Campfire Picture

We had a beautiful weekend and were able to spend some time with our friends. One of our favorite things to do in Kodiak is roast hotdogs and marshmallows on the fire pit. We had a lot of fun with baby Malia and Sherry.

Weird Dream

From Aaron:

For some odd reason, whenever I travel, I have the weirdest dreams. I think it has something to do with lightly sleeping in unfamiliar places. This dream probably has more to do with the inordinate amounts of news I’ve been watching over here….since there isn’t much else on. Either way, it’s weird, and here it is…

So I have gone to school to have lunch with the boys...sitting at their tables in the cafeteria. It just so happens that on this day, President Bush is visiting the school and decides to sit at the table with us. He’s very personable and is having a good time joking with the boys. On this same day, not to be outdone by the Republican machine, Obama happens to be at the school and decides to sit with us at the table also...note, there are no secret service or other attendants or anything.

So Obama sits down....and we all kind of look at each other. A minute goes by and no one says anything...and Pres. Bush and I making rolling eye contact...then Obama stands up and says to me, “Well I guess I'll head out...Tell Peach I’m sorry I missed her today.” Because everyone knows Peachie, including Obama, then turns to walk away. President Bush looks at me, shrugs his shoulders, and under his breath says, “What’s up with that guy?” in his typical joking President way. Obama had stopped and was standing behind the President as though waiting to hear what else he had to say, and I gave the President the “keep quiet cough cough, he’s right behind you sign”. At this the President covers his mouth and laughs with me and the boys…which was when I woke up.

I know weird...I'm not an Obama hater, I don't love him either, but I thought it was a funny dream. I guess my perception of Bush was someone I'd have agood time hangin around, where as Obama was...going through the motions. Sorry if I offend any Obama lovers out there!

TOKYO!

Well I got out to Tokyo this past weekend. I wanted to get on yesterday and make a post but I was just way too beat after Monday's class to go over to the Internet place and do.....so here it is a day late. Just a few pics....

The first is Akihabra....basically "Electric City". You can find anything and everything electronic down there....from patch cable, to computer components, to software.....to uh, weird Japanese sim dating things...you name it electrical and they had it.



The next is the moat around the Imperial Palace where the Japanese Emperor still lives. You can't get inside except for 2 days a year....this wasn't one of them. Either way, the place is awe inspiring.



We then went up Tokyo Tower, which is basically the Eiffel tower...only taller, and not as rickety. This is a photo taken in the direction of the base...somewhere out there.....in the never ending city. No really...Tokyo is huge! I think Godzilla has a summer home here!



The last place we stopped was the famous Shibuya Crossing. This is the intersection you see on all the shows about Tokyo and how populated it is. It's amazing how many people there are. I looked it up, it's 14000 per square kilometer there! Anyhow, I went up to the 2nd floor of one of the corners into Starbucks and pushed some people out of the way so I could get next to the window and take a picture!



Well that's all for Tokyo, I took a lot more pictures, but I just don't want to post them all here. It really is an experience being here, and I truly feel fortunate to be able to see this culture and the people. There's a lot of things I see just from watching them on the trains and how they interact with each other. For instance, it's rude to talk on your cell phone on the train, you are expected to text only, and there's a section at the end reserved to elderly or expecting women to be able to sit down. People either don't talk or chat in very hushed voices on the trains so as not to bother anyone else.

There's a lot of unspoken rules like that. Another one is when you're on an escalator, you are expected to stand to the left, in order to let people who want to walk to go by on the right. But the dumb American I am, I stood there, and this totally goth young Japanese guy came up behind me and just waited....didn't say a thing until I turned around and saw him and moved saying sorry. He just smiled and went on his way...I'm not sure what he was thinking...but outwardly he was polite, despite his appearance. That is Typical Japanese, not the exception! I wish America would take some manner lessons from this place.

I'll post tomorrow about a dream I had last night that Melissa thought was funny. Love you all and talk to you soon!

What We Did Last Week but no picutres!

I added pictures at the end!

I think I will give myself (and Aaron) the bloggy consistency star for the week! We are rockin this blog this week!

Okay so I promised Aaron I would post pictures of the kids and what we had been busy doing this week but I haven't yet! Sorry Honey! The kids were of course in school all week which was great they had a busy week. Wednesday is Awana day and we have 17 Cobbie's which is crazy because we have a tiny room to keep them all in. Thursday was Open House at school. Again, I didn't take any pictures but we had fun with the teachers and the kids got to eat an ice cream sundae at school. Saturday we spent time at home and I got to get a little sewing done and then we went to the pool Saturday night. Caleb spent the day with his friend Logan. Logan's dad is a commercial fisherman who also repairs Crab pots on his off season. Caleb and Logan spent the day with John (Logan's dad) at his shop climbing all over the crab pots! I wish I had a picture of that! We also went to open swim at the pool Saturday night. Sunday after church we went to a bonfire at my friend Sherrie's house. Sherrie and her husband Steve just adopted a baby named Melia she is so cute and a very good baby. The kids are really starting to miss Aaron and I am too. Two weeks is just long enough to really start to miss him.

OK so I came back and finished this post later and actually did take a picture. This is Peachies new bed. I tried to get a good shot but her room is small and the kiddos were in a post bath pre-bedtime crazy mood.

Sarah Palin is My Hero!

Check this totally true and really awesome story my friend Sarah shared on her blog. It will bring tears to you eyes!
click here Sarah Palin

JAPAN!

Well I've been in Japan for about 5 days now. Wow, to say it wasn't what I expected is a little bit of and understatment.

1. Tokyo is HUGE. I expected a large city, but Tokyo is amazingly massive. For instance, cities usually have one downtown, or an area of extreme high rises that you would consider downtown. Tokyo has like 15 of these mini downtowns. With each area of the city kind of having it's own business center. In between these major districts are the standard urban sprawl.

2. Smog is crazy here. I was expecting something a little cleaner, but it's thick and really sucks, cause most day's you can't see further than a few miles, so there's no real city scape to enjoy.

3. The neighborhoods are so cool. When you leave the main gate, it's one of the main highways through Tokyo, though we're on the West side and nearing the end of the city, the traffic is non-stop. But since the buildings and so close to each other and connecting roads so narrow, the incredible noise from that is almost non-exhistant a block or 2 into the communities. We went walking last night and got lost, and at 7 o'clock the streets were almost deserted, and it was so quiet you'd think it was 4 am or something. So even though it seemed the city at large was dirty, these small communitees were very quiet and reserved and clean. Refreshing.

Here's a few photos I took around...

I thought I got away from this joker over here.... :(



Here's our sweet ride to run about the base in! 0-60 in 10.4....minutes!


Tokyo...or Mexico City? Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference!

Well that's all for now, we went and ate at some noodle shop last night. They're everywhere, but I forgot my camera with the pictures back at my room....no in room internet in GOV'T billeting....are we the most advanced country in the world or what? So I'll post some more, or try to post some more tomorrow. I had to do a little jiggying with stuff to get to post here at all. Anynhow, take care, love you all and talk to you soon.

Aaron

"Jesus is Way Cooler then Spiderman"

Tonight we were studying our verses for Awana. Calebs verse was 1 John 4:14 The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. I wanted to see if Caleb could at least understand the words that he was memorizing so I started to dissect the verse word by word. We got through all the words with no problems until the word Savior. I asked Caleb if he knew what a savior did and why we needed one. He didn't hesitate with his response. "A savior is like a super hero, like Spiderman. Except Jesus is way cooler then Spiderman, he can spray His webs much farther." Hmm..I was trying to remain straight faced here as to find out exactly where his little mind was going. Silly me I said to him "Caleb I don't know if Jesus can spray webs." Calebs response "Yes, He can the Bible says Jesus can do anything, so that means He can spray webs farther then Spiderman."

My Sweetheart is on the Road

Is he turning Japanese! Aaron left me alone for two weeks to go to Japan for training. Have fun honey and I will keep posting pictures of the kids for you. Maybe he will check in photo's for us?

This is no ordianary week

I wanted to get to this story last week but I had a lot of homework and didn't get to it. So here we go! It all started about a week and a half ago. I got a call form Mr. Cobaugh the principal of the christian school I graduated from telling me he and his son Daniel were going to be in Kodiak hunting. They wanted to go to dinner or something if the opportunity came up but they would only be on island for the weekend. Daniel and Tom had been hunting in Kodiak before and we were able to get together both Daniel and Michale come over for track or cross country meets every year as well. I think the boys must like the fact that they know someone here because they always call us and ask us to come to their meets. Daniel really likes Aaron a lot. Daniel and Michael have a form of autism and actually they were the inspiration for me to want to learn how to work with kids with autism and other developmental disorders. I have known the boys since they were two and three.
Okay, so we didn't hear from them and I assumed with the crummy weather on Sunday the would simply just be to busy. That was until 10:30 Monday night when Tom (it feels weird to call him that!) but hey were all adults, called us form the ER. Yep, apparently he and Daniel had ridden out the storm Sunday and then Monday they got a goat. The rain had really soaked the middle of the island and Tom slipped while going down to get the goat and dislocated his shoulder. As a result they were unable to field the goat and had to wait for the float plane to pick them up and take them to the ER leaving the goat and all their gear. The call was to ask Aaron if he knew how to field a goat and could go with Daniel to get everything. Now, Aaron is not really the hunter gatherer type and has never had any experience. Thankfully we know enough people in Kodiak who do so at 10:30 at night we started calling people in the church directory. We scored when our church pastor said he could go with Aaron and Daniel out to get everything. Well Tuesday proved to be a no fly day. We ended up bringing Tom and Daniel back to our house. We had a great time. Daniel played Wii and Peach talked Mr. Cobaugh into a few rounds of Go Fish, Princess memory and War. It was also a great excuse for a King Crab dinner. Yum! Wednesday we needed to find a new person to go out with the guys to get the goat thankfully we were able to find someone to help. They guys were able to fly out and recover the goat it was still intact and gather up all the gear. It made for quite a busy week as the Cobaugh's didn't leave until Thursday but it was so neat to be able to spend time together. On a side note while Aaron and I were discussing who we should call Tom overheard us say we should call a guy named Bruce Beehler. Apparently, they had been in collage together. So Aaron and Tom went up to the Beehlers house to "drop" in for visit. they hadn't seen each other in like 20 years. Totally random huh! They weren't able to go out with them but they did lend the use of their freezer.


Zuko really liked Mr. Cobaugh
These scanned pictures came out weird but I hope you get the idea. It ended up being really cool for Aaron to fly to a part of the island he or I hadn't seen. This is smack dab in the middle of the island. There was a lot of snow and so many lakes they dont even have names.



I love this picuture of him holding that dead goat! I asked him why he had such a mad or whatever was going on face he said that he was standing on an incline and that goat was heavy! When I asked him is hunting might be a new hobby for him he said that maybe if he had the whole experience instead of just the messy part he might like to try it.

A Quick Note

I know I haven't shared in a while. Sometimes I feel like I have nothing to blog about. Then when I do get a cool experience to blog about I find I have no time! I do have a really cool story to share of our amazingly busy week. I spent the better part of the week with the principal of my Christian school Tom Cobaugh and his son. I have pictures of my husband with a dead animal. (something I never expected to see!) I spent a weekend on Woody Island at the ladies retreat. It was so awesome and the speaking was powerful. I enjoyed the fellowship with my girlfriends as well. I think I got like 7 hours of sleep for the whole weekend. Right now I have tons of math homework to catch up on and a blog entry for my tech class but I wanted to share this awesome video. You may have already seen it. I don't usually catch these things until they have been all over the Internet but just the same here it is. Make sure you watch it all the way to the end.

Last Days of Summer and First Day of School

Well, the week leading up to the first day of school proved to be a great one. We finally took the opportunity to revisit Fossil Beach. We hadn't been to this side of the Island in two years so it was a long time coming.
The kids had a great time playing in the water. I don't know what it is about kids that can allow them to withstand that kind of cold but they had a blast.

Caleb was actually knocked down by one big wave. He got up laughing like crazy!

Naomi played kitchen with these logs. She insisted on wearing her bathing suit even though it was really windy outside.

Beach Bums!

The boys are showing you which grades they are in this year. Caleb is in First Grade with Mrs. Baker as his teacher. She is an awesome teacher, Eli had her for First Grade as well. There are a lot of kids in his class from kindy and several from our church so that was way cool. Plus, Mrs. Baker is a Christian and very sweet. I had to do submit hours for course work last semester and Mrs. Baker was my host teacher. I will be a classroom mom for Caleb this year and I am really looking forward to spending more time with her. She is a great role model for my teaching years ahead.

I wanted to snap a picture of Eli in his class on the first day of school but by the time I got to his room his teacher was in full swing. Third grade is going to bring allot more responsibility. Eli is totally up to the challenge and can't wait. He is in a two year program with the same teacher, with an emphasis on computers. Each child will be loaned a Mac book (I am so jelous) and learn word processing and technology skills. His teacher was careful to remind the students that they still had to learn how to look things up in a book and write cursive and all the standard school stuff right along with the technology.
There are allot of really cool kids in his class as well, from church and the community that he was happy to see again. He will also be spending time in the GT class so he is a busy boy.

Peach enjoyed a solid week of mom and dad to herself all day. We went for walks, did pre-school work and even went to Taco Bell without the boys. She will start pre-school at the church up the street from us on Tuesday and is really excited. Do you like her hair? I am trying to get better at doing hair and really want to learn how to french braid.

School starts for me on Wednesday. I have 9 credits this semester. A math class designed for teachers. I have already read the first chapter and I think I may enjoy it. It's about teaching the concept of math and not really about solving problems. I am taking a Child Development class by DVD it won't be a hard class and I have my little subjects for observation living in own laboratory! My last class is a Technology class for teachers. I will create a blog to turn in all my assignments on. Things like you tube videos and flicker slide shows. Yeah for me I can do most of that already!
Aaron spent a lot of time this past month at work and in Dallas for training but right now he is home on an 8 day break which has been great. He is gearing up for two more weeks of training in Tokyo, Japan. How cool is that!

I can blog again its raining today!

I promise I will update the blog today when we get home from church! We have had perfect weather for nearly two weeks..everyone knows you can't blog when it's sunny out! There are lots of pictures to show with the first day of school and last days of summer.
The weather actually made a really crazy turn. It feels like the Kodiak version of Guttov out there its nuts!

I Have Resorted to Bribery!

I know I'm not the first mom to do it! I knew it was going to start getting a little crazy when I began counting the days(hour....minutes)left until I can put my kids on the wagon train to parental freedom that is the big yellow school bus and send them to 6 hours of stimulation that does not require my supervision.
It may not have been in as much as a hurry if Aaron had been home fore more then 4 days in the last 3 weeks. (I am serious people only 96 hours) and he is only home for 24 hours all of this week.
So, the bribery I am referring too includes a bowl of glass beads and three canisters. I told the kids they could earn a bead, pebble thingies for helping me out around the house. You know mow the lawn, make a 5 course meal scrub the toilets..oh, wait I already do that. Well I don't mow the lawn. No, I mean things like keep their rooms picked up, vacuum the kitchen floor, put their laundry away. As they earn their pebbles they can use them to "pay" for privileges. Twenty minutes of game boy, wii,or webkinz will cost you a pebble. A candy bar at the store, a pebble. You get the idea. We started this morning and I had three wonderful little helpers running around at my bidding. It was great! The house was picked up and I had time to sit down and do something for myself.
Oh, and because I am the giver of the pebbles I have the threat I mean opportunity to take the pebbles away! (muhaha) Fighting with siblings(minus), not following directives the first time(minus), back talking or bad attitude, good guess(minus). The kind of power that gives a parent is exhilarating!

A Week in Review

We had a big week around here. Naomi is in ballet at the Little School of Dance for a two week dance camp.

The boys were in Bible School all week which meant we had to set the alarm "gasp" and actually be ready and out the door by 8:45. I suppose this week was a good dry one for when school starts again. Only two more weeks to go!
Here is a great picture of the kids at the Eagle River Nature Center where Aaron and I were married.


And here is our family 10 years later.

Happy Birthday Princess Peach!

I can't believe 4 years have come and gone. Today Peach told me that now she is 4 and I need to teach her how to read all of her books in her room. She is such a great little helper for me around the house. We love her so much and thank God for giving her to us.

The Griffin's Are Back in Town!

Yep, we made it home from our super long but lots of fun vacation. We had a great time in Hawaii, the kids had a great time with grandma. Everyone was happy almost all the time. Back in Kodiak now and the weather is smoking nice. Retuning from Hawaii's hot weather to the cold summer weather of Anchorage this year was criminal. Thankfully, we returned to Kodiak and the sun came with us! The last two days have been awesome with 65 degree's yesterday and 69 degree's today. We hit the beaches quick.
Unfortunately all that play has left me with a bit of a head cold and no intention of unpacking the bags and bags of junk.
Here are few pictures of some of the stuff we did in Hawaii and in Anchorage. I plan to make a Flikr account so if anyone want to see more they can.



Lava flowing into the ocean was really cool!

You shouldn't play with lava steam!


You might get burned!

Big Blog Update With Lots of Pictures!

Well, this week has been super busy. We made the ferry trip to Homer and it was a lot of fun. The water was so calm we made it in to port 2 hours ahead of schedule. We then drove straight to Eagle River to see Grandma. So far we have been shopping and playing. I guess I will just get on to the pictures so you can see what we have been up to.

The Saga was leaving port when we were leaving.


Notice this No Smoking sign? When Peach saw this sign she pointed to it and said "If any ghosts try to get in here we tell them "No ghosts allowed". It was so funny!


The answer my friend is blowing in the wind!


I think I got our Christmas card for this year.


It has been warm in Anchorage so the kids have been playing in Grandma's backyard a lot.


Our 10 year anniversary dinner at Orso's our favorite place to go on a fancy date.



The boys got to play with some really big toys at the 3rd of July fireworks at the park near grandma's house. We walked up and sat in the grass to watch. They do them at midnight on the 3rd of July here in ER.


And here is the picture of Eli in costume for his play. Isn't he a nerdy boy?
Now, Aaron and I are off to Hawaii so we will check back in later from the Islands! Woot!