We're being watched

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.



The view of the mountains from the back yard.

I am Curious George

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!