First few days days in Alaska

Our first few days in Alaska have been exciting and busy. We are waking up between 4-5 am. We have been beach combing at Halibut Point. We found several species of starfish, anemones, urchins, green shrimp, crabs, tiny fish and sea centipede in the tide pools and sand. This was a real treat for me since I always wanted to be a marine biologist. I could have spent all day searching but the boys were grossed out and scared of everything.

Bald eagles were the only birds I saw all day long. The juvenile eagles are a spotted brown color before they mature to the typical bald. We had a picnic while watching the eagles catch their lunch. I am glad we all wore our rain jackets since is sprinkles frequently in Sitka. We walked to magic island since the tide was low. As the tide rises, it becomes an island only reachable by boat. The kids carried their bear bells and sang songs to be sure we did not surprise a grizzly bear. For dinner we had halibut baked with Alfredo sauce, noodles and a veggie mixture. Amanda and I took a long, steep, brisk walk after dinner that got our heart rates up and also looked around sandy beach. We found a brilliant neon orange starfish. We were surrounded by eagles once again as well as Ravens making lots of crazy noises.

Today we have driven to Fortress of the bear where grizzlies are kept in an area when they cannot be returned to the wild. The kids fed goats, sheep and a pony a whole bucket of bread and produce that was leftover from a grocery store. We drove up to blue lake reservoir which was at 100 feet below its normal levels. We stopped at Whale Park on the way back to search for sea animals. This is a perfect spot to catch a glimpse but none were cooperating today. The eight of us grabbed lunch at a yummy restaurant on the way home. Eric's lunch was the most Alaskan. He had the seafood cob salad which included blue cheese, eggs, halibut, king crab and shrimp. All of us walked through the small downtown to Castle Hill where the transfer of power took place between Russia and the US. I was so jet lagged and chilled through I stayed home while Eric took the boys to the estuary and another hike. Tonight we are having grilled Ling cod and king salmon, rice and veggie medley.
It is like staying in a bed and breakfast since we are treated to wonderful hospitality and gourmet dinners! We need a good nights sleep so we can do more exploring tomorrow. What an experience!

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I love it!

I have been so happy lately. I am filled with love and happiness. After a couple of years of being unhappy for no real reason the tides have turned and I am feeling great! I love my neighborhood, my new friends from Logan's school, Logan's teacher, my new body at this skinnier size, my gym friends, my old friends, my kids, my family, the weather, my new dedication to eating healthier, the fact that I make it to the gym or get exercise almost every single day, my zumba and dance classes, looking forward to spending the summer with the kids, the three vacations that we will be taking this summer, that my knee got better on its own, our house, my parents and my husband. I have so many things to be thankful for and I AM THANKFUL!!! Spreading the love.....

Lucas' best friend

In many ways my second child gets the short end of the stick. I foster friendships for my older son but my 3 year old gets to be friends with the younger siblings. We recently had some sweet, old friends stay for the weekend and Lucas says their youngest son is his best friend. They are so cute together and have know each other since they were newborns. It was great to have them together again. I only wish they lived closer so we could all spend more time together!

Almost over!

My two weeks of single parenting is almost over. It has actually gone by very quickly. As always the weekends are the hardest but this past weekend we were busy with Logan's first soccer game, swimming, birthday party and gym time. These two weeks would have been easier if two of us wouldn't have gotten strep or food poisoning. It is definitely much, much better keeping two kids by myself for two weeks when they are this age versus when I had a newborn and a barely two year old. I will always have terrible memories of those two weeks.

I have been amazed at the sweet play time the boys have had together lately. They really love each other and they love to play and pretend that one is daddy and the other is baby. They build forts and wrestle. I walked in to them reading books together in the playroom and it made me smile. This evening, instead of reading a book before bedtime, we told stories to each other. Logan told his half fiction/half real story and I told a child friendly story of Logan's birth with lots of silly sounds of baby cries and nurses voices. Of course I had to mention the fact that I ate a whole pan of brownies a few hours before he was born as well. I had the kids laughing so much they had tears in their eyes. Then they wanted the story of the day Lucas was born as well. It was such a fun moment that I hope to always remember.

E should be home tomorrow. My goal for the day is getting the house completely clean and maybe shock him with a few ironed shirts! I already washed his car and made dinner in anticipation.

First set of pictures from Australia

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Going to Australia is obviously exciting, but first you have to get there. A short hop from Dallas to LA, and then 15 hours straight to Melbourne. I didn’t want to leave anything to chance, so I left plenty of time for the layover to make sure nothing happened. Jennifer dropped me off early so I got onto an earlier flight. This flight was delayed and delayed until finally I hopped on my original flight to get out of there first. So began the flying adventure.

One cool part of the layover was the shuttle bus from the local to international terminal. In the past I had walked between terminals. This time there was a shuttle bus, which proceeded to head onto the runway with all of the planes shuttling around. Maybe it wasn’t on the actual take-off strip, but we did have to navigate in-between planes heading out there and we were real close. We also drove past some hangers with all of the idle planes. I had never had that in the middle of it all look before.

Flight to Melbourne was on Quantas. Nice airline, my first time with them. The flight went pretty smoothly, I worked on my laptop, read part of a paperback, finished an e-book, watched a movie and a few shows, and tried to snooze. I took some medicine to knock me out, but it didn’t really work. Maybe 4 hours of sleep total between all of the catnaps.

The first part of the trip was outside of the city, and it quickly becomes farmland upon leaving Melbourne. Lots of cows, sheep, horses. Many beautiful beaches in this area. I drove along 90 Mile Beach which is a whole series of beaches. Lots of camping here, and next time I may bring a tent and skip the hotel. Stopped at a few, read a few short stories while on the beach, and then drove up to the Dandenong Mountains. This a small mountain and has a few towns at the top that are tourist traps. Check out the pictures of the trees though. Some of them are Sequoia like, and I could not believe how huge they are. Driving all over on the wrong side of the road was a trick, especially through the windy mountain roads.

My hotel choice for the first 2 nights was a low-cost Comfort Inn that I thought was centrally located to where I planned to be on the weekend. It was central, but located in nowhere. I didn’t think about how a small motel might not have a full staff. Things were closed up tight when I made it to the hotel and I thought I may be sleeping in my car. I tried dialing the hotel number, which worked. I woke the owner up and he wasn’t too excited about that. In the morning, he seemed nice enough though.

Phillip Island looked something like Nag’s Head with the sand dunes and water on multiple sides. Not very built up though, with just a few areas of housing. One town area, several farms, a bike racetrack, and lots of beaches. This was a big race weekend, and there were at least as many bikes as cars (racing motorcycles, not Harley’s). The “Penguin Parade” was a big highlight in the evening. You sit on bleachers at the beach and wait for the penguins to come out of the water and waddle up the beach to their nests. It got a bit cold as the penguins arrived about 30 minutes later than “normal”. Hard to train I guess. Some came up by themselves; others seemed shy and waited at the edge of the water for others to come so they could waddle up in groups. No pictures were allowed as the flash could scare the penguins at night. While waiting for the penguins to show up we were entertained by a dolphin that came up almost on the beach and some seagulls that were playing around. The night sky was awesome as the clarity in that part of the world really showed. It seemed like there were more stars and they were really sharp in color. I did recognize most of the constellations though; for some reason I was expecting to see a different sky from back home. My favorite part or the island though was the wild animal zoo where I hung out with the kangaroos, wallaby’s, koalas, and more. Some animals were behind a fence, but most were roaming free looking for food. Feeding them was a lot of fun. I saw 2 kangaroo moms with joeys in their pouches. These guys were big though, I couldn’t believe they fit in her pouch still.I did see a few wallabies running around in the wild and that was really cool. There is something weird about an animal that is that big and hops around. Doesn’t seem quite real.

Apparently I don’t know how to order in an Australian McDonalds. I looked at their board and the first meal on the top left was a “Great Angus” burger so I asked for the first meal. #1 turned out to be something else so we had to get that part settled. Then she asked if I wanted the “box” and I said sure assuming that was a meal with fries and a drink. Turns out it was a family meal with multiple burgers and sides. Not sure why she thought I wanted it, maybe I looked really hungry. Then I couldn’t work the credit card swiper, the credit button was really hidden. It was an adventure. I normally skip the American style restaurants and shops when out of the country, but I needed the free internet and worked there a few hours on the weekend.

Interesting notes:
When using a credit card, you choose to punch in an ID or sign. Not sure what the point of having a choice is if security is a concern.
Lots of road signs to watch for low hanging trees. No indication of plans to trim said trees, or where you are supposed to drive for that matter if you wish to avoid them.
Aussie Expressions:
The trunk of car is the “boot”
Yield signs are labeled “Give Way”
Passing is “overtake” when driving. As in a sign will say “No overtaking” in a construction zone
Think outside the “square”. Not outside the box like we say.
Our gas is called “petrol”. Gas to an Aussie means Nat Gas, which is available at most stations.

Interesting names of towns:
Dandenong, Warragul, Lang Lang, Mirboo North, Yinnar, Moe,
Inverloch, Korumburra, Blind Bight, Boolarra, and many more

Fun dance classes at the gym

(I am behind the instructor in the pink shirt.)

This is what I have been doing lately. I have been getting to the gym at least 5-7 hours a week and burning between 500-600 calories per hour. I am determined to loose 10 pounds and be bikini ready this summer! I have made lots of new friends and am loving it!