Once again, a busy month. A few weeks ago, we had our very first Chuck E Cheese experience. Well, I've been there, but Anthony swears they were never allowed to go as kids, so they thought it was some kind of wicked place that respectable people don't visit. That may still be true. It sure has changed since my last visit. Does anyone else remember when it used to be called Showbiz, or does that just show my age? Now it's all lights and noise and craziness, but we had a fun time. The birthday party was for an Air Force family in our ward, the Jacksons, who have three boys. We're sad that they're moving to the Azores (Portugal) in a few weeks, and totally jealous that they're leaving winter in Alaska for a tropical island. It was nice to get the chance to celebrate with them before they go.
Will, of course, was terrified of Chuck E, but Ethan was more than willing to pose.
They both had lots of fun with the games and rides.
Will put his arm around Ethan all by himself to help keep Ethan in the car. He's such a good big brother.
Will's favorite was probably the Whack A Mole game.
The week before Halloween, we carved our pumpkin for Family Home Evening. Unfortunately, the pumpkin had to come from the grocery store since there aren't any pumpkin patches or apple orchards here. Or none that I can find. I miss fall in Indiana! But we had a great time working on the pumpkin. Will was a little more helpful this year, but we still spent a lot of time keeping Ethan from eating the gunk.
Our pumpkin, Homestar Runner
This is the only time we were able to light the pumpkin. I put it on our porch the next afternoon, and two hours later, an animal ate the face. Usually we have to worry about punk kids, not wild animals.
We were able to go trick or treating twice on Halloween. The community center has an indoor event in the afternoon, which was nice because it was freezing that evening. Ethan was a dalmatian, and Will wore his zebra costume from last year. To say that Will was not excited about putting on his costume would be an understatement. He was sobbing and telling me, "No zebra!" I finally was able to get him into the pants, but we thought that would be as far as we would get until I convinced him that the top was just a jacket. For some reason he was okay with that.
And once he caught on that zebra=candy, he was all for it. He ate quite a bit of that candy before we left the community center.
When we went out that night, our first stop was at our neighbor, Dan's, door. Dan gets really into Halloween, so his house was all decorated, and he was dressed up as the Grim Reaper. He tried not to scare Will, but Dan's a pretty big guy, and it was just too much. Will started crying, and for the rest of the block, at every house he said, "No Dan! No Dan!"
I had to include this video of Ethan attacking Will for his candy. This is how he growls whenever he wants food.
This is Will's version of "Trick or Treat."
It is definitely getting colder, but we're still waiting for the snow. They predict it every couple of days, but so far, we've only had about 10 minutes of it, and it melted right away. The main thing we're having to adjust to is a lot less daylight. Right now, the sun rises at about 8:30 and sets at 4:30, so we never are quite sure what time it is without looking at a clock. The one good thing is that it makes me start dinner a lot earlier than I normally do because I just assume that it's 6 o'clock. Which means in December, we'll probably be eating dinner at 3 in the afternoon and in bed by 5. Perhaps we'll move into a Senior Community. It's always an adventure in Alaska!
Every night when he puts Will to bed, Anthony has been reading the Book of Mormon to him. Will loves it and never wants Anthony to stop. After a few nights though, Will started interrupting and asking for juice. This kid loves juice. He'll drink his whole cup full in about a minute and ask for more, but it also goes through him just as quick, so we limit how much he gets. Well, Anthony couldn't figure out what was bringing on the requests for juice, so he would just tell Will there wasn't any juice and go on. He then read"...record of the Jews" and got the response from Will, "Juice? Juice?" That made us laugh so hard.
I know it's been forever since I've updated everyone, so I'll try to catch up on all of our good news. First, we closed on the house at the end of August. It was such a relief not to have to worry any more that the offer would fall through, as well as knowing that it's no longer empty and not having the vast majority of our paycheck go to the mortgage. We celebrated by going out for ice cream. I know, we're living large with our new found wealth. On the same day of the closing, Anthony logged onto a computer at work to find that he had received a promotion. Four days before. We thought he wouldn't be Airman First Class until the end of October, so it was a wonderful surprise. Anthony spent his lunch hour taking his uniform to have his second strip sewn on, and his uniform looks much better with the addition.
Ethan has been learning all sorts of new tricks. He is completely crawling, so nothing is off limits any more. He even throws himself off the landing at the bottom of our stairs, just like Will does. Even before he was up crawling on his knees, I would find him pulling himself up the stairs. I don't know where he's going, but he's in a hurry to get there. He also loves the washing machine just like Will.
Each morning he is standing up in his crib, and he spends a lot of the day using the furniture to make his way around the living room. It's almost scary how quickly he learns how to do things. He even knows that under Will's chair he can find the best food that's been dropped. I found him there one day after lunch with a piece of bacon from the leftover chowder Will had been eating. His other big news is that his first tooth came in at the beginning of September, a full four months before Will's first tooth had come in. Teeth 2, 3, and 4 all showed up within a few weeks, so now he has two bottom teeth and the two top canine teeth, but no middle teeth on top. He's also doing better with not spitting up, so those of you who invested in stocks for whatever company makes Resolve carpet cleaner might want to start selling them. We won't be buying quite as much any more, so I'm sure their profits will be falling.
Ethan had his first hair cut last week, and I couldn't believe the difference it made. Watch out girls!
Before
After
Will continues to do funny things each day. His friend Brayden taught him to dance, and it's pretty hilarious. He's in a mood where he doesn't like his picture taken, so I'll have to see if I can hide and catch him on video. He's learned how to say chocolate, and everything brown to him must be chocolate.
Will's also learning his colors and has orange and yellow down. We're working on the others. He finally learned to say "You're welcome," instead of just repeating "Thank you," and now he tries to get you to say thank you just so he can tell you you're welcome. His big phrase right now is, "I think so." That is the answer to every question. Sometimes he'll throw in, "I guess," accompanied by an eye roll. Who knows where he's getting this from.
Will had a great second birthday. One of his favorite parts was the candy his Aunt Heilit and Uncle Matt sent with his present. I could hardly get him interested in anything else. He is definitely a candy freak like his dad. If ever he even thinks you have candy, he's on you like a bloodhound.
His second favorite gift was his new tricycle.
As you can see, everywhere Will is, Ethan is usually with him.
For Will's cake, we made an ice cream cake shaped like a basketball, since ball's are his life. It turned out pretty well.
While my parents were here, we were able to take a trip to Fairbanks. One of the things we were most excited about was visiting North Pole, AK, where you can visit Santa Claus any day of the year. Except apparently between September and October, when Santa takes Fall Break. So here's Ethan in Santa's vacant chair.
We also didn't see the Northern Lights, which was disappointing, but we received our first snow fall of the year!
It hasn't started in Anchorage yet, and we're hoping it holds off for awhile. We're instead getting use to the lack of daylight. The sun doesn't rise until 8:30 a.m., and it's pitch black by 7:30 p.m. I have a feeling it's going to be a long, dark winter. To help combat the boredom, we purchased a Wii, and we're loving it. Anthony got the Wii Fit for my birthday, and I've been having lots of fun working out every day. I know, that doesn't sound like a sentence that could be true, but it really is fun. I like all the different games, plus I know that I'm doing exercises correctly--since it certainly lets you know if you're doing something wrong--as well as keeping track of how much I've worked out. It's the best!
As for Anthony, he's finishing up his CDC's (career development courses), and then he'll be able to start working on college courses for his degree. He's still really considering becoming an officer, so it is going to be a lot of hard work to get there within the time frame allowed, but it will be worth it in the end. He also was able to go on his first hunting trip with a friend from the shop, but unfortunately the only animal he saw was a field mouse. I asked why he didn't shoot that and bring it home. He promised me a bear skin rug, and I at least could have made a doll size one with that. In other wildlife sightings, we saw 3 porcupines while my parents were visiting, and today I looked up at the window while I was doing dishes, and this is what I saw 50 feet away at the playground:
I took Will out to see it, and he started shouting, "Hi Moose!" Then it ran off, so he sadly called out, "Bye Moose." Every day it's something new.
A few weeks ago I received a notice for jury duty. For Indiana. It said they would pay the mileage to go back and forth each day, but I don't think they've calculated the distance from Anchorage. I'm pretty sure I can get out of it. I also have officially switched over to be an Alaskan resident. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but it's done. Otherwise, I have lots of projects I'm working on, including Christmas stockings and doing some photo shoots of the boys. (Laura, I miss you! I need your expertise!)
On Labor Day, we were able to go on an amazing hike with the boys, called the Winner Creek Trail. The boys did really well, and our favorite part was at the end where you had to pull yourself across the gorge on a hand tram.
It was pretty neat, although it made me feel really dizzy. Lately, I've had vertigo, and I'm thinking of changing my name to Lucile 2. (If that doesn't make sense, you need to see Arrested Development.) Will did incredibly well, walking for almost 2 miles, but Ethan spent a lot of the trip sleeping.
That's about all that is going on in Alaska. Everyone's keeping busy, growing and learning new things. We love and miss you all!
These are just some random pictures I wanted to add.
Ethan crawling up the stairs
This is Will enjoying his sophisticated snack of tomatoes and mozzarella. We don't know why he likes tomatoes so much since Anthony and I both hate tomatoes. But I parked him too close to tomato section at the grocery and turned away, only to turn back to him with half a tomato in his mouth. So he gets them for snacks once in awhile. The first is him trying to smile on cue.
This is Ethan being his crazy self and crawling over everything.
Each morning he puts in his contacts. He grabs my case, take one lid off, sticks his finger in, then pretends to put something in his eye. Then he takes the other lid off and does the same thing.
He started saying "Amen" very distinctly a couple months ago. And when I say distinctly, I mean as if we were part of a Southern Baptist church. We knew the day was coming that he would say it in church. A few weeks ago, right after the Sacrament prayer, everyone was treated to a hearty "Aaaa-men!" from our row. I had to duck my head, but I was definitely smiling.
We've found that one of the best ways to keep Will occupied in church is by reading his books. That also brings the problem that he likes to narrate what's happening in the pictures. Last week I took Ethan to the mother's lounge, and Anthony pulled out a book. So in the middle of someone's talk, Will points to the book and says, "A duck! Quack, quack, quack!" Actually, it's more like, "Fuack, Fuack, Fuack." He knows how to whisper, but we haven't gotten through to him on when we need to whisper.
He has to have as many stuffed animals as possible when he goes to bed, so by the time you're done, he can barely get his arms around them. He also has to make each animal's sound. He's pretty good with all their names, although horses are still sheep, sheep are shoes, and cats are tacs. Then in the morning, he picks a couple animals to play with that day, takes them to top of the stairs, and throws them down. He screams, "Aaaah!" for each one as they tumble down the stairs. It's a little disconcerting.
There is a brown and green plane right outside our gate onto base. Will always called it something, but we couldn't figure out what it was. Now we think he's been saying "tato," his word for potato. Then he changed it to "tuttle" (turtle). We were at a friend's house and they had a small turtle in an aquarium, so I think that's where he got it. But I said it wasn't a turtle, it was a plane. So now, even for his stuffed turtle, he says, "No tuttle, a plane."
He took the empty scoop from Ethan's formula, and he stuck the handle in his mouth, so it looked like he was smoking a miniature pipe. He even would grab the bowl and hold it and gesture just like you would expect an old man to hold a pipe.
Daddy is now "Dadoo," and if he's feeling especially silly, everything ends in "oo." He asked for "crackoos" the other day.
Funny Things Ethan Does:
When he thinks something is funny, he starts laughing through his nose, making this funny face and sniffing really hard. It's almost as if he's trying to develop a snort.
As long as he thinks I'm not paying attention, he can play by himself for a very long time. But as soon as he catches me looking at him, he immediately starts crying and fussing. He was on the floor the other evening, playing happily, until Anthony said, "Ethan." He turned around, saw us, and immediately, "Wah!"
He learned how to pull himself up using a full laundry basket. He grabbed onto one end, started pulling himself up, and suddenly he was standing up with an astonished look as if he wasn't sure what he was doing. We don't think he was quite ready because almost as soon as he was up, he toppled onto his side. Before long we're going to have a walker!
I'm sure most everyone knows by now, but I have to say it anyway. We got an offer on the house, and we're on our way to closing! What a blessing, and so unexpected! It took a couple days to get the offers and counter offers ironed out, and we'll probably walk away from closing breaking even, but hey, we don't have to pay someone to take it, and we'll be done with it. I can't even describe what a relief it is. At the same time, I'm a little sad because we loved that house so much, but it's time to move on. Thank you so much to everyone that helped out with everything there and for all the prayers on our behalf. We could never have done it without so much help.
Life in Alaska continues to be a hectic whirlwind of activity. We're still trying to get the last boxes unpacked, although I'm pretty sure some of them will still be here the next time the movers come to take our stuff. Once in awhile I get to them, but I have so many projects I'm working on, it's hard to see the progress in any one area. I'm leaving some things for winter though, since we're trying to get outside as often as we can when it's nice (which has been rare lately). But everyone says all the time to get out while we can, so we spend a lot of time away from home.
Will's still wanting to help around the house. He always wants to help Anthony work on the cars, and he loves to wash them. It works for a bit until he starts dipping the sponge in the dirt and running for the car.
Ethan had his 6 month appointment several weeks ago, and I was FINALLY able to get someone to listen to me about his excessive spit up. I've been told everything from "All babies spit up" to "He's still gaining weight so he's fine." There must be a list of phrases they all have to learn in medical school, especially since the doctor who said he was gaining weight was seeing him for the first time and didn't have any of his records but magically she KNEW he had gained weight. The doctor we saw this time was wonderful and helpful. His weight was 16 lbs 10 oz, and he was 29 1/2 inches, which was in the 25th percentile. Since he'd dropped about 10 percent, she prescribed some Zantac to help him keep everything down, and we'll see where he's at next week.
Will, on the other hand, is growing at an astounding rate. I'm not even bothering with getting 2T clothes anymore, and some of the ones he's wearing are even 4T. And he won't be two for a month and a half! He's very active and doesn't seem to know his own strength. He loves throwing toys and leaping on you when you're on the floor. With it raining so much, we haven't been able to get outside a lot, so I think we're all going a little crazy from being cooped up. Once it stops, hopefully we'll be able to get his new sandbox set up and spend sometime outdoors before it gets too cold. Most days it's been in the high 50's. I'm scared for winter. But since we've been indoors, Will's really gotten into reading. He wants to hear the same books over and over, and he loves anything with animals. He's pretty good at most of them (he even knows a lemur!), but horses are sheep, and sheep are often shoes. He even can tell you a lot of the sounds they make. We need to find a local farm to visit, but I don't know if he could handle the excitement.
Anthony's decided to make us a true military family. We all have to do push-ups every night, even Ethan.
Okay, not really, but look at that form! Ethan IS getting very close to crawling. He usually does his version of the Worm, going up and then flopping down on his stomach to get around. When he's on his knees, he usually gets so excited that when he tries to go forward, he lands on his face. Soon he's going to figure it out though, and Will's going to have to watch out because he'll have a constant companion.
Anthony's been impressing everyone at the shop with his mechanical skills. If there's a difficult job to be done, he's the one they call in. I told him to be careful or they'll just make him do all the work, but when we have to worry about downsizing even in the military, it's nice to know how important he is to the squadron. He's also really considering becoming an officer and will be attending a meeting next week to find out his options.
Anthony's parents were able to come visit at the beginning of July, and we were able to act like tourists with them and visit some of the places we hadn't seen yet. We took them to Six Mile Lake, a really beautiful area on base.
It is also the reason I will never step into a lake again.
This is the leech that tried to eat me. Theresa saw it just in time on my foot before it hooked onto me. It still makes me sick to think about it. Anthony thought it was funny to sing his version of the "Millions of Peaches" song: "Millions of leeches, leeches on me." I did not agree.
We also went on a short glacier cruise and saw Portage Glacier up close.
Then we walked to Byron Glacier. We spent the 4th of July throwing snowballs. Anybody else do that?
We tried out some local restaurants, saw a moose run across the street right behind our car, and had a wonderful time. It was great to have them come and I know the boys really enjoyed spending a couple weeks with them.
Here are just a few other random pictures we've taken lately.
We were driving around base to find the ocean, and suddenly there was a fox right next to us. He finally stopped long enough for a picture.
A little farther down the road, a bull moose stepped out in front of us. It's hard to see, but he's right in the middle of the picture.
Ethan found a pen on one of his escapades around the living room and created an artwork on his face.
I don't even remember what he got into. A cookie, maybe? He just looks so pleased with himself that it made me laugh.
Ethan trying out the Sit 'n Spin.
Will's started wearing one mitten around the house. He either misses Michael Jackson, or he's pretending it's an oven mitt to help me with dinner. I can't tell.
Enough said.
Our new pets, Goldie Hawn (the fish) and Ruprect (the snail). It's a long story.
Anthony and I took the boys out to do some errands this evening, and as we were leaving Target, a woman stopped us. Since Anthony was in his uniform, I assumed she was stopping us because of that. Instead, she told us that she and the cashier had both been remarking that it was nice to see a family where the parents were treating their kids so well. Both of us were taken aback. We weren't acting any differently than normal, and it was surprising not only that someone would even notice us, but she went out of her way to say something. It made me so grateful for my wonderful children and our family and made me want to be a better mom to always live up to that compliment.
Will has been a big help around the house. He's very interested in using Anthony's tools, and he even helped put together Ethan's crib on Sunday, so we got him his own play set of tools today. I had a hard time finding tools that didn't make "authentic" noises or play songs, but we finally found just a regular set. He loved banging the hammer into the nails, and I'm sure I'm going to find him trying to use the screwdriver throughout the house. Before, he would take a pen and put it in a hole, so now at least he has the right tools. He's also been a little accident prone lately. He rolled halfway down the stairs a few days ago, and today he tipped himself backwards in his chair. He had been tipping back on the back two legs, and I told him to cut it out or he'd fall. He chose the latter.
Ethan's been trying new foods, and we're both loving this new arrangement. He tried sweet potatoes, and while he seemed a little shocked at the taste, he loved it. He finished the whole jar and hasn't looked back. Ethan also started babbling a little bit. On Sunday during church, he decided it was time to start talking. All through Sunday School it was, "Da da da da." I think he was trying to say, "Happy Father's Day." It was an appropriate first sound to make, but now I can't get him to be quiet. He has such a cute little voice though. I'm sure this is the beginning of the end with two talkers.
Here are some more pictures of our boys and our home here in Alaska.
Will loves his stuffed animals. Every morning he grabs two before I can lift him out of his crib, and our living room is always littered with them.
He always hated hats, but lately he can't get enough of them.
He even wears Ethan's hats.
I don't know why everyone looked so unhappy when we first got to the zoo. It's a beautiful day, Anthony was off work, we'd just had lunch. Why do they look like I've forced them into a day of grocery shopping?
At least Ethan would smile for me.
Will is enjoying his grilled cheese sandwich at the outdoor market.
Gathering more rocks to take home.
He figured out how to get the sunglasses on his eyes instead of around his neck.
Several times I have been working around the house and I notice that the bouncing has stopped in the Jumperoo only to find that Ethan has jumped himself to sleep. But if I take him out and lay him in his crib, he's immediately awake.
Here's our awesome Landcruiser that we got for such a good deal on Craigslist. I love driving it! And I'm even starting to get good at parking it. Starting.
Before I put the pictures of our house, please excuse the mess. Like I said, we're unpacking all over the place and it's not been very easy to get organized. But I wanted to get pictures up before it's time to move, which is when I will be organized. So try to look around the piles of things to get the picture. I only was able to get the main floor and the front and back yards because the basement is where all of the empty boxes are going, and the boys were asleep in their rooms. Also, these pictures were all taken at 10:15 at night. Do you see how bright it is outside? I'm not complaining. We're storing up the sunshine for the very nearby winter that is coming. Even in June, we've had a lot of days that are in the LOW 50's at best. I had to wear a sweatshirt to weed our back yard today. Where is this global warming I keep hearing about?
Our house
Each building is a group of four homes. We have a single car garage (heated!) and we share the driveway with our neighbor.
We have a special room called the Arctic Entry to take off our shoes and wet clothing in the winter. That scares me. How much snow is there?!
The living room, which opens up into the dining room/office.
I had to take a picture of Anthony the way most of you would recognize him.
The kitchen is in there somewhere.
Half of our backyard. The other half looks about the same, except with a tree. There's no grass right now because the people before us had a dog, so it's our job to restart the lawn. They do give us free grass seed at least. And again, it may look like the middle of the afternoon, but it's definitely not. No wonder the kids couldn't sleep without blackout curtains!
Our garden area where we're about to plant lilacs, and the playground behind us.
For the last few weeks, Will's been calling me what sounds like "money." He used to say "mama" but then it suddenly changed and we couldn't figure out what he was saying. Finally it dawned on us when we went to get him the other morning. I picked him up, and he pointed at his Curious George doll and said, "Money." Anthony pointed to me and asked who I was--"Money." Then at the monkey--"Money." So apparently, in Will's mind, this is what I look like.
I don't see the resemblance.
Life's been pretty hectic for us the last few weeks. Anthony has had a lot of training exercises, so he's had not fun twelve hour days that last through the weekend. The boys and I are still working on unpacking and cleaning, although Will seems to be working more on repacking and tearing everything apart. I tried to make a Goodwill box of things we don't need, and I keep finding movies and toys that I know we want to keep. I'm sure I'll have to repack it before I drop it off or who knows what we'll be missing.
Anthony won a major award a couple weeks ago. And no, not a leg lamp like he was hoping (if you haven't seen the movie "A Christmas Story," we highly recommend it). He was called into the Master Sergeant's office, where he found three other Master Sergeants waiting to speak to him and he was told to shut the door. Usually that's not a good thing, but they assured him he wasn't in trouble. They were interviewing candidates for the Sharp Troop award, and he'd been nominated. The nominations are based on their outward appearance (a nice looking uniform and well groomed), knowledge of training and current events, and being a good worker. He found out last week that he had won, and part of his reward was to attend a speech by Secretary of Defense Robert "Bill" Gates, who was visiting our base. Anthony even got to shake his hand and get a picture with him and received a Secretary of Defense coin. Hopefully they'll send the picture to us so we can post it.
To make sure I have something to do instead of just visiting Target, we decided to become members of the zoo, and we've been able to go a few times. The first time we went, it was just the two boys and I, so that was an adventure in itself. We didn't know what to expect, but the zoo is pretty nice. It's set in among the trees, so it looks like you're in the middle of nowhere, except for the other people and the fact that the animals are in cages. The majority of the walkways are gravel, and I spent way more time than I wanted to getting Will to follow me instead of picking up every rock in sight and saying, "A rock!" as if there weren't 10 million rocks all around us. It took us a couple hours to see all of the exhibits, so by the end I was pushing the stroller and carrying a very tired boy uphill to the entrance. It also didn't help that near the end, Will had stuck his head in between some wooden posts on the bridge near the brown bear exhibit and had gotten really excited about the stream below us. He had his pacifier in his mouth--which he normally is not allowed to take outside of his crib, but we were trying to go to storytime and I thought he might need something to keep him quiet. When he opened his mouth to say "Wa-wa!," the pacifier became part of the exhibit. He promptly forgot this, and I spent the next 15 minutes trying to drag him out of the zoo while he was crying for Paci and searching all the pockets of the stroller because he thought I'd hidden it from him.
We decided to try the zoo again with Anthony on Monday because he got the day off for our anniversary, and we thought it would be fun for the kids. Our first anniversary we got to go for a nice dinner by ourselves, but now that it's our third, I guess times have changed. It was a really beautiful day though, and we had a good time. Here are a couple of videos we took there. Will's getting closer to saying moose (before it was just moo, but now it's a little bit like mooth).
The moose at the zoo must not have been as scary to him as this one.
But given the chance, I'm pretty sure the one behind the fence would do more damage. We found out what the goats could do if they got close enough.
Poor Will. He seemed so interested in the goats until their playing got too rough. After that, anytime they came near him, he'd say "No" and start crying. I think it will be awhile before we visit the petting area again.
To make up for it, we got some cotton candy to share, which Will loved! We were a little worried about the price. It's Alaska, and the zoo, and summer, so we figured it must be pretty expensive, but the kids selling it must not have gotten the memo that it's tourist season and you're supposed to over charge for everything--it was only $1. They even asked whether we wanted small, medium or large. For the same price. We chose a large. Even if it was the size of a Volkswagen, we still would have chosen a large.
Ethan wanted to share a message with everyone too.
Last week Anthony and I gave each other our presents for our anniversary early (he never can wait). I got him a print of "The Prayer at Valley Forge," and he got me a new wonderful camera so I can take pictures of all of our adventures without having to worry about whether they'll turn out okay. Or work around the chocolate on the lens that I can't seem to get off. Our first video we shot was of Ethan trying rice cereal for the first time. He didn't do too bad with it.
Our boys are growing up fast. Every day Will figures out something new, and Ethan is ready to join his big brother. I can't believe how much they've changed in the few months we've been up here. Thank goodness we have the Internet to help close the gap. We miss all of you and love you!
