June

The month of June went by sooo fast!! 

* we had several visitors

* Lance had his birthday party

* is was a very rainy month 

We found lots of things to occupy our time waiting for the rain to stop. We made silly noises in the fan

We did lots of art projects 

We were just plan silly 

Lance helped mommy do her hair 

We played dress up

We waited patiently for the rain to stop 

* the kids had their second dentist appointment. Lexie's teeth looked great but the dentist is worried about Lance's underbite because it rubs his top teeth. He has to see an orthodontist about it. He didn't know if Lance was too young or not, but thought we should let the orthodontist decide.

* Lexie broke her leg. She has been such a trooper and adjusted so well. It doesn't slow her down one bit! 

* the inside of the house is almost ready!!!! Now we have to find where to put all the tools we have now! 

* vacation to Pennsylvania and Missouri is less than two weeks away

So close!!

The inside of the house is so close to being finished. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!!! Saturday Andrew had to work so he took off yesterday so he would have two full days on the flooring for our living room and hallways. 

Sunday went a little slow because we were just figuring it out, but once we got the hang of it things went pretty fast. 

Sunday was tons of fun on the farm! We discovered that the creak that runs on the border of the land has fish in it!!!!

We didn't have our fishing poles but we did have a tackle box, so I rigged us up some cane poles to use. 

Lexie caught a fish but it flopped off before we got it up on the bridge. We are still figuring out what the trick is to landing the Arctic Grayling Trout. 

I bought Lance a little boat a couple weeks ago, but he hasn't been able to use it because we have gotten quite a bit of rain. Yesterday he was finally able to take his boat out on the creek.

It didn't take him long to figure out how to row. 

Daddy let Lexie have a turn too, but we had to be extra careful because of her cast. 

We had another exciting event happen on Saturday. While I using the weed eater I found a frog!! The kids loved it! I knew we had frogs in Alaska but I had not seen one yet. 

The kids played with it for a while then let it go when we had to leave. The farm just became tht much more awesome to the kids. 

Monday we got a late start. I let Andrew sleep in since he never gets to. On the way down to the farm we seen a firework stand with a big blowup slide. We just had to stop. Lexie was a little slow making it up the ladder to the top, but she did great and the kids had a blast playing with 3 little girls. We purchased some firecrackers and headed down to the farm. It rained most of yesterday so Lexie had to stay inside with us because we can't have her cast getting wet. Lance went out with his rain coat and boots. We had a fire going burning some boxes and stuff. He kept a check on that, played with the dogs, looked for frogs, and checked the creak. 

Lexie helped hand dad glue and boards. The kids loved the new slick flooring. The slid around all over it playing.

I cleaned the bedrooms up to get ready for carpet that will be installed TOMORROW!!!!! 

Before we left we shot off some fireworks. I felt like we were celebratin a huge milestone of completing the flooring. We LOVE our little farm!!!

Summer in Alaska

Summer in Alaska in different from anywhere else. 

The sun shines 24 hours a day! Which is so awesome. We find ourselves outside at 10 o'clock still playing only to realize that it is so so late, rush inside for baths, a quick story, prayers, and bed time. I have thick curtains that block out the sunshine to help us sleep. 

People from all over the world flock to Alaska in the summer. Fairbanks is filled with tourist now. They come from all over and by many different means. You see bicycles with packs on them, People on foot, RVs and campers galore, motorcycles, and even the occasional horse or two. 

This is not an RV park. This is a Walmart in the middle of the week, it will be worse this weekend. 

Alaska DOES have bugs. We have some of the biggest misquitos you've ever seen!!! 

It gets warm here! Some People think That Alaska  never warms up. We have amazing such beautiful summers. 

We have gardens. With the abundance of sunshine and rich volcanic soil, Alaska produces some of the BIGGEST crops! I'm talking foot long corn, heads of lettuce that are HUGE, over 1,000 pound pumpkins, and the biggest flowers you've ever seen! 

The salmon run is very serious business here. *Side not when you buy salmon at the store you want wild caught Alaska Solomon.

Summer solstice is a very exciting time. Last weekend all of the state celebrated the summer solstice. There was carnivals, parades, contest and tons of events going on all over at all hours Of the day(we missed it due to the flu). 

O, and one more thing in Alaska. Forget the sunscreen. We are so far from the sun you won't get burnt. 

Summertime in Alaska is AWESOME. God sure knew what He was doing when He created it! 

Not again!

I got this bright idea about putting the kids in a daycare just as a drop in so I could get some painting and stuff done in the house. 

The kids and I went and visited the in home daycare and it looked so fun! The kids also got along super good with the ladies daughter. Everything looked super safe and like tons of fun. Lance and Lexie couldn't wait till they could go play and stay for the day. 

Last Monday the kids stayed for 4 hours. I Was able to get tons done and the kids had tons of fun!

So on Thursday I dropped the kids off again. I got a text that Lexie had hurt her toe but it seemed okay and was probably just bruised. The bench at the table had got knocked over and smashed her foot. I was finishing up anyway so I figured I better go pick them up.

As the evening went on Lexie's toe and foot got worse and worse. She wouldn't walk on it at all and was crawling everywhere. So first thing Friday we went to the doctor. 

Turns out Lexie's foot is broke just above her big toe. Just weeks before vacation and Lexie will yet again be in a cast! I am so bummed! 

Tomorrow we will be seeing the doctor again for a hard cast. I am hoping we can get a boot or something remove able or water resistant so that Lexie will be able to enjoy playing in the water. 

Almost done

Things with the house have been coming along great! Last week, I got the kitchen and living room painted and I laid the tile for the backsplash of my stove.

 

Last week we discovered that something was wrong with our well. We called in Alaska well drilling and had them take a look. They said they may be able to fix the existing well but we could run into a couple problems: 1. We could spend lots of money trying to fix this one and still end of having to have a new one drilled 2. This well isn't up to code and if we ever wanted to sell the house we would need to drill another one anyway. A well should be at least 100 feet away from the septic. As much as we hated forkin out $7,400 for a new well,  we knew we needed to. Tuesday they started drilling and by Friday we had running water! 

I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous when we started opening valves to the different areas of the house. Andrew had pretty much done all the plumbing himself. I am pleased to say that everything works and no pipes went spewing lol. We had a couple small leaks which were easily fixed by tightening up the fitting. 

Now all that is left is trim, hanging ceiling fans, and flooring which goes in this weekend and on July 2nd! 

If all stays on track we could be moving July 4th weekend!!! Now we just have to decide if we want to spend the weekend moving or if we want to enjoy the weekend camping.

Happy Father's Day

The kids and I made some special cards to give to Andrew for Father's Day.

Lance and I woke up early to make Andrew a special breakfast. Lexie does not like to wake up early at all! 

Lance was so excited to bring daddy breakfast in bed and to give him his special card!

Valdez photo dump