Merry Christmas from North Pole!

So all this snow delayed our flight into Seattle Sunday morning and we are now waiting to make our trip again tonight. We should arrive in Minneapolis Christmas morning, fingers crossed!
These pictures are for Jason and his classmates who don't believe in Santa! Nor do they believe his Aunt Amy lives in North Pole! Here is Santa's House and the Ice Park close by. There is a picture during the day and at night so you can see how they light up the park. Also some of his reindeer, Blitzen and Donner. Blitzen has the bigger rack and is pretty tough. A teacher that I work with takes care of Santa's reindeer year round and knows them just by looking at them. He gets to tell all the visitors that come to North Pole about the reindeer and gave my students and I a free tour! They each got a picture with Santa and got to shop for gifts. Then we went out to the ice park and went down the ice slides.If I can figure out how to get the video of us going down the ice slides I will do that soon. The kids had a lot of fun with it and I'm a little bruised from it, but it was a blast!I got a picture taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus last week on our field trip because he's preparing for his big night and was so busy today!
In the words of Santa...

"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"


 

Happy Holidays!

We'll be home in three days! Unfortunately Iowa is looking a lot colder than Alaska this year, which is strange! I think I should make everyone come visit us this year. Here's a pic that didn't make it to the Christmas picture card....we'll have no problem with a "White Christmas" with all the snow in Iowa!

Have a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Halloween 2008-Garth and Wayne

Aimes' World!

Nichol and I went to high school together and she got stationed at Ft. Wainwright over the summer. It's been a lot of fun having her here. We dressed up as Wayne and Garth for Halloween. (I had to share.) We had a good time with it and went to a friend's house last Saturday, it was a Saturday Night Live Halloween Party.
We noticed there was an Obama head on a platter in the corner and since I'm for Obama, we decided to leave a little early. I think I was the only one in the room rooting for him because there were some Palin-McCain look alikes and I booed at them! lol! November 4th, rock the vote! Or should I say, BARACK the vote! lol!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Well, here we are in the first part of October and it's snowing already in North Pole! These pics were taken on the first snowfall and me driving past Santa on October 3. Last year it snowed on Anna's birthday,September 22, so it's a little bit later this year. It makes it warmer outside at least. In the 30's today and I see it's 70's in Iowa today...boo!
All this snow reminds me of the holidays and I wanted to let everyone know we will be home for Christmas this year- December 21-30!

Hunter Elementary

Well, we are already 3 weeks into school and I am really liking my new job at Hunter. I have 20 kids now and they are a teacher's dream! I couldn't have asked for a better group of kids. I enjoy the people I work with, as they have welcomed me with open arms from day one. We have SMARTboards and document cameras for those of you who are techies. I am in heaven! No more overhead transparencies. It's the little things in life I guess. I have been blessed to be put into a school where I have support and things run smoothly. Go Hornets!

Viva Las Vegas

Darren and I went to Vegas last week with our neighbors, Larry and Darlene. It was a free flight they offered us to our favorite city, so we couldn't pass it up! We stayed at the Sahara, which is on the north end of the stip, close to the Stratosphere. It was extremely hot the entire trip, over 100 degrees every day. Darren and I were both winners the first night. We tried to get Larry and Darlene to gamble and they decided to play roulette. Darlene hit on black 11, so she was happy. Larry walked away a winner then we taught him how to play Black Jack and we couldn't tear him away. We went to see Roseanne Barr, who was very disappointing. We paid $10 to a couple who didn't feel like going, now I know why. I went to see The Coasters, Platters, and Marvelettes perform in our casino with Larry and Darlene while Darren gambled. It was a pretty good show, but Darren was having more fun because a waitress offered him a suite that was available. Apparently she had seen him in the casino giving away his money, so we upgraded with our winnings on the second night-see photos. We didn't ride any rides, but we took Larry up to the top of the Stratosphere so he could see the top and all of Vegas. He couldn't stop talking about how much fun he had. Overall, we all had a good time, but couldn't wait to get back to Alaska...where it was 52 degrees and rainy. Doesn't look like it's supposed to clear up any time soon. Let's hope this isn't a sign of a bad winter, or we might have to take another vacation.

On the job front....

I got a call from the district Tuesday and I have a job!! I will be teaching a 4/5 combo at Hunter Elementary in Fairbanks. I wasn't thrilled about the position, but I am grateful to be working in the fall. I drove by the school yesterday and it looks like it's in the "ghetto" of FBX, but I'm told it's a great school with a good principal. This will be my second time teaching fourth grade and a first time teaching fifth. Luckily I did some math tutoring for 5th grade all last year, so I know a little bit about the curriculum for both grades. I have a friend that did the same split a couple years ago at NPE and I'll be able to use her materials AND expertise. I will have to drive about 20 miles and hope I can car pool with a friend, but that also means getting up earlier as she has to work at 7 and I start at 8....I've gotten used to getting up when I want to! :)

Darren and I are going on our Vegas trip Sunday morning with our neighbors and staying until Friday, so I will have more to post next weekend. Love you all and thanks for visiting my blog!

7 Years on the 7th

Over the 4th we traveled south to a place called "King For A Day", and fished the Klutina River in Copper Center, AK. We recently bought a new travel trailer, so we had our friend Ross pull it with his truck. We hoped to catch a lot of salmon like last year, but didn't have a lot of luck. Darren and Ross each landed only 1 "red" in the 5 days we were there. We went down to Valdez one day to see if it was any better, and Darren was the big winner with 4 "pinks", Ross got 1. I have yet to catch and eat my own salmon!
Darren and I also celebrated our 7th Anniversary today! Hard to believe 7 years have gone by already, that's for sure! Thank you everyone for the cards and well wishes. We went and ate at an Italian restaurant called, "Geraldo's", which was very good and I am still burping up garlic. Here's to many more exciting years ahead.

Land of the Midnight Sun

Here are a few pictures of us at the Midnight Sun Festival in downtown Fairbanks. Both were taken on the bridge downtown with the Chena River below. We took these pictures around 11pm. We stayed up by walking around to look at the different vendors and night life, then hit Big Daddy's BBQ before calling it a night around 1am. Lindsey had to fly out at 9am and made it home safely with one delay in the cities. What a memorable trip!

Fun all night with nothing but light!

Lindsey flew in last Saturday and we have had a lot of fun while she's been here. There was a lot of rain this week, but we were able to do all the touristy stuff around the North Pole area. We took a cruise on the Tanana Chief Sternwheeler that goes down the Chena River in Fairbanks on Tuesday night. They served us prime rib and salmon and it was about an hour and a half trip. I took her on base yesterday. I couldn't let her leave without seeing at least one moose, she was lucky enough to see three! A momma and her two babies, which is rare. We are going downtown tonight for the summer solstice and Midnight Sun Festival to see the midnight sun. Darren and I haven't had a chance to experience the festival yet. It was over 80 degrees today, so we're hoping the weather stays nice so we can share some pictures with everyone. Lindsey keeps saying how much she likes it up here, but I told her this IS the best time to come, she might not be saying that come November. I am sad that she has to leave tomorrow already. I hope we get more visitors soon--hint, hint!

Another New Baby for Auntie Aimes

I'm an auntie again! My sister, Tina and her husband, Matt welcomed Cordell Charles Hoeft to the family- a little earlier than expected- on the morning of Tuesday, May 27, 2008. Big sisters Aubrey and Ashlyn are so excited to have a baby brother to help take care of. He is such a cutie! I think he resembles Aubrey, left. Thanks for sending me the picture, mom!

The New Baby

Darren's small business of buying and selling from the Eielson For Sale Board has been going pretty well. He bought an H2 about a month ago down in Anchorage. This week he had a navigational system put in with screens in the back of the head rests. Now he's just finished putting his 24" rims on it...man, I feel like I'm on my own episode of MTV Cribs with our new "whip". (If you've seen the show, you will know what I am talking about.) So, now that Darren has his "baby" he says, and I am quoting him, "you can have your baby". Funny, it's not OUR baby. He's making progress at least! He acted like he was allergic to babies before. ;)




Here are some new pictures taken today of his "baby". He is very proud! Does anyone know how to dye leather?