Home is where the Air Force sends us...

GOT MILK?

2012-02-10T16:35:00.001Z

2.10.12

Milk seems to be the topic of discussion around the Page house lately. I find myself talking to just about everybody about breastfeeding. What can I say, it's on my mind 24-7. Bradyn's too. His appetite has definitely increased, which is good. I'm definitely having a harder time staying awake at 3 am because he's eating longer though. Thank goodness for pumps and formula!


BRADYN'S MILK FACE

Early Morning Feeding-So Sleepy

Hey, I'm 3 weeks old!

Hey, B-Boy!

2012-02-02T15:24:00.015Z

1 February 2012

If you're a SNTC fan, you will remember that Steve and Miranda named their son Brady. As I was watching yet another rerun last night, I laughed because I got the nickname "B-Boy" from Steve without realizing it. This is one of several nicknames I have adopted for Bradyn. Darren on the other hand, has been sticking to one name, Brady. He has loved this name since we found out we were having a boy. We compromised by putting the yn at the end of Bradyn's name. Now that the Patriots are in the Superbowl, he's even more excited to call him Brady and of course put his money on New England this year. We are having a few people over, but the game doesn't start until midnight here. Something tells me staying up late won't be a problem in the Page house. :D

2 Weeks

We had a pretty busy week already, including Bradyn's 2 week doctor's appointment. Dr. Tille said he looked great and he's almost back to birth weight, which we realized was 7 lbs. and not ~~7 lbs. 7 oz.~~ (Oops! Minor detail.) He's now at 6 lbs. 12 oz, which is up 7 oz. since last week. Now we won't need to go back until he's 8 weeks, which is when he will get his shots. We also put Bradyn on the waiting list for daycare, picked up his British birth certificate, ran errands around base, and even made it to wing night at RAF Mildenhall last night. Pretty sure people judged us, but who cares. We didn't have to take him out of his car seat once.

What a rock star!

Mommy's Rock Star

Rockin' Out!

Lil B Man and I have had some long rough nights-last night he had me up for 3 hours straight! Luckily, Darren is going to swing shift (4-midnight) next week so he can have the late night shift while I try to catch some zzz's.

Bradyn in another milk coma

I feel great and have been a busy bee around the house in between feedings, pumping, and naps. Only 9 lbs until I'm back to pre-preggie weight-yay me! Can't wait to get out the stroller and walk Bradyn to the new Starbucks on base with his friends, Tyler and Liam. (Two ladies I work with had boys too.) Today is our first play date with my friend, Robyn and her daughter, Braelyn. Coincidentally their names are very similar and she is a cutie! Pics to follow.

I'm A Mama!

2012-01-25T23:14:00.017Z

1.25.12 10:34 p.m.

So in LOVE with him!

It's been exactly one week since we welcomed little Bradyn Alexander Page into the world. 10 days earlier than expected and after 10 hours of labor, he was in my arms. Suddenly having a son became a reality. I was in awe of him with his little cone-shaped head and squinty eyes. Dr. Norcross said, "He has Mama's nose." I think he has my hands and feet too. Call me biased, but I have yet to see any of Darren's features in him. Sorry, Dad.

Baby Bradyn, 10 seconds old

So precious.


Darren helping get Bradyn dressed

Such a good dad already!

I was able to keep Bradyn close by for the entire two days we were in the hospital. There was no nursery and mothers are expected to breastfeed and keep their little ones with them 24-7. Darren stayed beside me (on the most uncomfortable reclining chair) and tended to our every need.

Meanwhile, I recovered and began to breastfed Bradyn. He latched on quickly, but it took a lot of patience and practice to get it just right.

Bradyn in his UK car seat.


Putting on the going home outfit

By day two we were anxious to take Bradyn home, but they needed to do a circumcision first. The procedure only took 30 minutes and Dr. Kiel said he was a perfect little angel. A couple hours later, we got him dressed, they checked out his car seat to make sure he was secure, and we were on our way! I remember it being cold and rainy, typical England weather. I of course sat in the backseat with him and although it was a quick drive home, we didn't hear a peep! Once we arrived, I couldn't stop taking pictures of him. Such a cutie and quite content to stay in his seat.
We later skyped with Grandma Roxanne and Aunt Holly, fed Bradyn and then went to sleep! (For about 2 hours. :D )


I'm ready. Let's go!

We were back to the pediatric clinic 3 days later to get a bilirubin test and make sure lil B was on the right track. He took the poking and prodding like a champ and barely cried. His levels were borderline jaundice, so we repeated the procedure again the next day. I fed him until my eyes were bugging out, but luckily he gained weight and his poo was the right color! Major Dimitris said to keep up the feeding and be back for his 2 week appointment February 1.

First doctor's appt. 5 days old

First Spit Bath

He loves his bouncy seat!

We will be picking up Badyn's British birth certificate Tuesday so he will have dual citizenship. What an amazing gift God has blessed us with! He has completely turned our world upside down. We never imagined we would feel this much love and pride for someone so small.

01.16.12

2012-01-16T17:04:00.006Z

Today we had the day off to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I spent the day catching up on some sleep and organizing for baby. I also did a lot of thinking. I thought about starting a countdown to my due date, but then realized there's a very good possibility that Bradyn won't actually arrive on or near the 28th. He could come before, which I'm wishing for, or he could come 10 days later. In which case, it could actually be 22 days until I greet this little squirt who has now made me feel as if my organs are mangled up inside. Why make myself even more frustrated with a countdown that lasts longer than expected? So from this day forward, I'm going to think my due date is 4 weeks away and be pleasantly surprised.

As I sit here thinking about when he will arrive, I also keep thinking about what will he look like. Darren made the comment the other day that he hopes Bradyn has my eyes, but not my feet because he hates my toes. My only flaw, haha! We both agreed he will be tall and have blonde hair, chubby cheeks, and he will most definitely enjoy eating dirt like his momma and daddy did. However, I am not going to test this theory because I have no potted plants in the house for him to get into like our parents did. We both pray that the good Lord brings him into the world healthy and strong.

Here are some more pictures for your viewing pleasure- not posted to facebook. They were taken by Jacob Elliott, soon to be famous maternity photographer. His son is in my class. First photo shoot he's ever done and he has mad skills!

~38 Weeks~

Ready To ROLL!

2012-01-08T20:16:00.003Z

01.08.11

This week the car seat was delivered. Darren and I practiced putting it on the stroller since we bought them separately. Ebay is a wonderful thing. We saved a lot of money and lil man will be riding in style!

I also purchased a diaper bag and this super cute changing pad cover.

For my lil monkey man!

People say I won't use a changing table, but at least it has great storage!

I had my 36 week appointment Wednesday and she said everything was perfect. I've gained weight steadily, even with the holidays. BP's head is down and I'm really starting to feel him engage. I will go back at 38 weeks to see if I'm dilated and every week after. Our bags are packed and in the car. All we need now is a baby!

Stay tuned....


~37 Weeks~

Happy 2012!

2012-01-01T20:46:00.025Z

Matt and Rachel Miller

To new beginnings!

One new beginning started yesterday with the marriage of our friends, Matt and Rachel in Bury St. Edmunds.

We have known Matt since our days at Eielson and were glad we could be there as his military family and be apart of his special day.

Darren and I were the witnesses

The wedding party-Rachel's sister, Sam and daughter, Katie-middle

Mr. and Mrs. Miller with Darren's Bentley, Benjamin

We drove them to the reception, which was at the Deer's Leap in Thetford. We enjoyed a delicious and traditional British roast dinner.

36 weeks pregnant now!

Nun's Bridges in Thetford

The cake cutting started out innocently enough, but we all knew it was not going to end well. And it didn't!

We got into some trouble stealing the groom. Definitely not a British tradition. Nevertheless, it was a great day and we spent the remainder of the night ringing in 2012 with some wonderful friends.

Here's to many more new memories and beginnings in 2012! I can't wait to meet this baby!

I Still Believe in Santa Claus

2011-12-26T07:00:00.012Z

12.25.11

After looking at every baby store possible between here and Nottingham, we still walked away without a UK car seat, pram, or pushchair-(stroller). We of course came home with Hooter's wings. lol! Then hurried home to make chili and cider for some friends for Christmas dinner.

For those of you who missed a skype session with me and the honeydew of a baby growing inside me, here we are again.

~35 Weeks~

Although my belly doesn't quite shake like Santa's, I definitely have a belly big enough to fill out his suit! So I decided to make my own version, complete with Darren's red shirt, black belt, leggings (stylish fat pants) and a Santa hat we picked up in Nottingham. It has my name on it and also reads, "I still believe in Santa Claus." Next year Santa will have a few more presents to bring to the Page household!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday my niece, Megan!

Comfy

2011-12-17T10:00:00.005Z

12.16.11

~34 Weeks~

These are pretty much the only pair of pjs I own that still fit. I wore them all day and all night. The last day of school before break and I let my kids wear their pjs. It was a pajama parade! Someone commented that I was taking casual Friday to a whole other level. To which I replied, "What pregnant woman doesn't want to stay in her pjs all day and get paid for it!?" I love my job!

Pregnant for the Holidays

2011-12-17T09:51:00.004Z

12.15.11

It's getting harder to dress this bump! As more time passes, BP gets bigger and I get more uncomfortable! The last two nights I have been awakened with hardcore legs cramps and lil man telling me to get up and tinkle. I don't have that sensation of I have to go, he just gets pushy and I know it's time! I love that he's already taking care of his momma!

This is a picture from last week's Weapons Christmas party. I sat down the majority of the night while Darren's co-workers brought me cranberry juice. Plus my ticket was drawn and I won $20.00! Not a bad night for this preggie!

Celebs that join me in the baby bump club this year...

5 S's

2011-12-09T21:59:00.003Z

12.9.11

Have you heard of the 5 S's?? Well we learned them at our baby basics class last night. Apparently if I have these mastered baby will be a happy camper! So I'm taking note of them here, just incase. I will need all the help I can get in those wee hours of semi-consciousness. And come to find out, Darren is a way better at swaddling than I am! Who knew?

SCROLL DOWN FOR BUMP PICS!

Sucking
Sucking triggers the calming reflex and deepens a baby's level of relaxation.
Swaddling
Tight swaddling is the cornerstone of calming. Swaddling also helps keep babies from accidentally flipping onto their stomach. Avoid overheating and loose blankets. I recommend wrapping babies with their arms straight at their sides. Wrapping with flexed arms usually fails because the arms soon wiggle free. Swaddling is the cornerstone of calming. Swaddling is the only "S" that does not directly turn on the calming reflex. In fact, many babies struggle even more for a minute or two when first swaddled with straight arms; that's probably because their biceps are hypertonic from their position in utero—we don't know with certainty.
Shushing
Loud, harsh, white noise mimics the noise of blood flowing through placental arteries when a fetus is in the womb. The louder a baby cries, the louder the shushing has to be to calm him. The "shhh" sound imitates the sound of blood flow that fetuses hear. It has been measured at 75 to 88 dB.³⁷ This white noise is approximated by harsh, loud sounds from hair driers (85 dB) and vacuum cleaners (75 dB).
The noise needs to be as loud as a baby is crying for it to trigger the calming reflex. Continued white noise (at levels up to 80 dB) can keep the reflex turned on and help babies stay soothed and asleep.
Swinging
Lying motionless deprives newborns of sensory stimulation. Swinging (rhythmic, jiggly movement) in rapid, tiny movements, like a shiver (two to three times a second), soothes agitated babies. Use slow, broad swinging to keep your baby soothed. Never shake a baby in anger. Slow motion, however, is usually ineffective at soothing babies who are upset. Turning on the calming reflex in a crying baby requires fast, low-amplitude movements of the head (to stimulate the vestibular apparatus). This motion is like a fine shimmy or shiver (my patients call this the "Jell-o head" jiggle). The head is supported so it moves with the body, and it goes back and forth only about an inch but very quickly—120 to 180 times a minute! This imitates the fetus's in utero experience and is completely different from the large amplitude, whiplash-like swings that cause shaken baby syndrome. Nonetheless, parents should be warned never to jiggle their baby when they're angry or frustrated.
Side or stomach position
All babies should be put to sleep on their back.* However, being on the side or stomach is best for calming the baby; it turns on the calming reflex and shuts off the Moro reflex. (The Moro reflex makes a baby's arms shoot out when he is startled by his own crying.) Being supine triggers the very upsetting Moro reflex. This "S" can be activated by putting a baby on her side, on her stomach (again, not for sleeping), or over an adult's shoulder. Some babies are so sensitive to position that, even on their side, they won't calm down if they are rolled the least bit toward their back.

I'm starting to look pregnant from the front now. I've been waiting for that cute round belly to appear, but it hasn't happened yet. I'm carrying very low and still have my belly button intact! Carrying low has it's benefits though. I can make it up and down the stairs and not be out of breath!

~33 weeks~

Showers of Love

2011-12-09T21:50:00.002Z

12.4.11

Onesies and bottles and bibs, oh my!
We were definitely feeling the love today!
Some of the loot from the baby shower...

I needed a wide angle lens to capture it all!
Thank you again friends and family. You spoiled us rotten!

BP will be snug as a bug
and of course always rockin' the cutest clothes!

~32 Weeks~

And still growing!

Pies and Lullabies

2011-11-29T19:44:00.002Z

11.29.11

Baby Page has certainly been enjoying a lot of sugar. (Ahem, the perfect pumpkin pie I made-thanks to Rachel.) I also had pecan and a pumpkin cheesecake with cool whip. Yummo!
And every night I am playing BP classical lullabies. (Thanks, Sarah) He seems to be responding to the music, however he's always active at night. So moral of the story, our child will be hyper, yet smart. Sounds like the gifted kids I have in my room! :)

The wind is blowing stronger-winter is nearly here! Which means I'm almost in the season for delivering. EEK! More good news. Darren will be changing jobs this week. He will work in load barn now, which says a lot about his performance. He says they are the best of the best and train others. I'm just happy he will finally be on my same schedule and baby can actually hear his voice!

I'm also anxious to open up all these packages for my baby shower! Christmas has come early to the Page house. Guess I better put up that tree!

Hello Belly, Goodbye Feet!

2011-11-21T18:15:00.005Z

11.21.11

This is my current view from up top....major belly expansion happening over here!

~30 Weeks~

Still resorting to self-taken photos in the mirror. Even in the loo! :)

And our newest addition, a 3D TV.

Darren is very proud.

P.S.-We love our new place! I have the downstairs pretty much done. I have unpacked only the stretchy clothes. Still working on the upstairs bedrooms, but another week and I'll feel at home! Happy Turkey Day, everyone! Looks like I'll have more than one bun in the oven this year! :)

On the Move!

2011-11-13T17:53:00.009Z

11.13.11

We spent Veteran's Day weekend in Nottingham hoping to trade in the Porsche for a Range Rover, but the deal fell through. Darren and BP would have looked sharp in a Range! Turns out 11-11-11 wasn't so lucky because we lost at the casino too. On the plus side, we ate at Hooters-~~twice~~-and bumped into an old friend we've known since Hill. Schoon and his girlfriend Anya had the same thing in mind-WINGS! (When in Nottingham.) I was able to do some baby bump shopping, which is another great way to spend time there.

I have been getting things sorted for our move this week. We get the keys tomorrow and I've packed up personal belongings and a blow up mattress to spend the night in the new house tomorrow so I don't have to drive so far to work. The packers come Tuesday and Wednesday, then it's back to the Thetford house Thursday and Friday to clean. We should be officially moved out and on base by the weekend.

I mentioned earlier that I am registered at target.com, but just realized they will not ship anything heavy over here. So hopefully I will find what I need here. We will be using the Base Exchange and AAFES for buying what we can't get off our registry, plus day to day items. I always love getting gift cards-hint, hint! :)

Tsgt. Darren Page/Amy Page
PSC 41 Box 5162
APO, AE 09464

BP is moving and growing more than ever!
Darren saw him moving and still thinks it's weird.

~29 Weeks~

Mocktail Anyone?

2011-11-13T17:12:00.002Z

I have perfected my new favorite mocktail.

(baby friendly)
Mango Mojito

It's the little things.

ice cubes
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. simple syrup

1 part tonic water

2 parts ginger ale

1 part mango juice
garnish with lime and mint leaves

Happy Halloween....

2011-10-31T21:46:00.004Z

10.31.11

From me and my "BUMP-kin"!

(mine is much cuter and smarter of course)

~27 Weeks~

Not bad for painting it on myself. I had a total of 4 trick-or-treaters tonight, which means BP and I have a lot of candy eating to do! Or maybe we'll just pass it off to Darren.

Third Trimester is here already! I go in for my gestational diabetes check this week. At 28 weeks I can sign up for a breastfeeding class and then I have a couple other "mum to be" classes I am signed up for in December. We are moving into base housing November 15-18. Just in time to start the nesting phase!

For those of you who are wondering, we are registered at target.com. They will ship to our APO address, which will stay the same even with the move. I am unsure of when my baby shower will happen since we are moving. With the holidays coming up it may not work out. I had one at school already, so I'm happy with that.

No "outty"- YET! :)

It's Official!

2011-10-16T13:22:00.021+01:00

10.16.11

The final announcement of Baby Page (BP) has been made!

It really feels official now.

So excited to meet our baby BOY!

~25 weeks~

Sorry for the iPhone photo with half of my face. I did manage to get cute Mr. Jack-o-lantern in the background though.

I'm thinking of painting my belly orange like a pumpkin for Halloween since I don't have a cute trick-or-treater to dress up just yet. Darren says no.

He also refuses to take random pictures of me and this little nugget. He thinks it's weird every time BP kicks, but he's coming around. I finally got him to put his hand on my belly to feel and then of course little man didn't even budge!

Better luck next time.

I put away the iPhone and finally found the Canon camera we own and used it on our Framlingham Castle tour today. Only 35 miles from our back door, people! Can't believe we didn't find this gem sooner.

Quite the photographer that Darren Page. The lighting was perfect.

P.S.-We signed for a house on base Friday. They move us in next month-yippee!!

Goodbye September!

2011-10-01T08:42:00.004+01:00

10.01.11

Looks like I completely neglected the month of September. I guess 5 weeks of non-stop working (weekends included) and trying to stay busy while the hubby is gone will do that. I've managed to be very productive at home and at school. One day I hope to feel as if I am ahead of the game. Not such an easy task for a teacher. Who am I kidding, it's impossible!! This year's class has a lot of interesting dynamics. They keep me on my toes! I never know from one day to the next how the day will go. The good news is they have supportive parents and a firm, but understanding teacher to keep them going.

In other news, England has been extremely HOT! Not such a good thing for me lately. :D I can't stand anything on my feet and walk around the classroom with no shoes, which isn't setting such a good example. Hot feet=grumpy teacher.

Darren is unfortunately still in Idaho. As long as there are jets to work on, he stays. I always hope they are going to be back when they say. Darren always expects the worst so as to not get his hopes up. So I'm learning-expect the worst, hope for the best. The good news is that he will get a couple days off once he returns, then one day of work to turn in gear and do paperwork, and two weeks off. If he gets home by next Friday, then we plan on getting in the Porsche and seeing where she takes us. We have a three day weekend for Columbus Day. No set plans, but Darren would like to see Scotland. It's a long trip in such a tiny car, but oh so exciting!

Darren doesn't read this blog (knock on wood) but I think I will try to get his car detailed before he gets back. It's looking pretty sad and dusty in the garage. Plus he bought me some nice gifts back from Korea, so I owe him. A Rolex, or should I say Folex, gold watch and a Burberry London tote. Perfect for weekend getaways.

Summer Recap 3

2011-08-16T15:36:00.012+01:00

July 22-August 11

HOME SWEET HOME!

The Meier Crew:
Brad, Rachel, Joel, Tina, Amy, Anna and Sarah

Dad and Joel took care of the burgers and weenies...

Meier Backyard BBQ

I thought I would be able finally get out of the heat, but I was wrong. One of the hottest summers in Iowa since 1955. No lie.

while the kids kept busy on the gator and go cart.

ALL 10 OF THEM!!

The following weekend we drove up to Owatonna to the Serengeti Indoor Water Park. It's always hard to plan a weekend getaway with the fam, but we made time for it and it was a lot of fun!

My sister Sarah and her husband Joe stayed behind, just incase the newest addition came along. He arrived four days later and I was there to see him enter the world!!

Ryerson Hayden Luyobya with his proud Auntie

Of course going home isn't really a vacation with all the driving around. I love going home, but I hate leaving everyone.

Summer Recap 2

2011-08-16T14:53:00.011+01:00

July 2-July 22

HOTLANTA! From the moment I got off the plane I knew I was going to have to dress light and find ways to stay cool. So that's just what Danielle, Debbie and I did! We beat the heat.

On the fourth, we watched fireworks in the Centennial Olympic Park. We could hear the voice of Crystal Bowersocks in the background as we were waiting in the queue to get in.

We were supposed to see Taylor Swift live in concert, but unfortunately she got bronchitis and had to reschedule. Boo!

We stayed active by bowling

and hitting up the gym, but enjoyed our lounge time too with movies and karaoke.

Then it was on to Florida, or Flarda as those crazy southerners say!

We enjoyed digging our toes in the sand and catching some rays.

Debbie.

Such a goofball, but I love her to bits!

We didn't do a whole lot of swimming in the ocean with all the seaweed, but we took advantage of the pool!

We enjoyed Panama City Beach the most and decided it would be the place that the Stauty's and Page's meet up or retire together to some day.

Me with the best woman I know, Danielle.

There are so many great pictures and memories from this trip. I was lucky enough to see several of my good Air Fore family/friends and also made a few new ones. What a great summer vacation!

Summer Recap 1

2011-08-16T14:33:00.005+01:00

June 18-July 2

Scott, Tammy and Liz came to England! Here they are in Kensington Gardens, London. I think Liz has most of the pictures because her camera wasn't working so she put her card in mine. We toured the Tower Bridge, which was a first for me. It rained quite a bit while they were here, but we didn't let it ruin our fun!

We spent a couple days around Thetford and Cambridge and then drove north up to York and to the northwest to the beautiful Lake District. Ahh! Only 30 miles from Scotland.

Here we met the nicest couple with a quaint B&B. They introduced us to the locals, including a wonderful chef, John who made the best meals! We even participated in quiz night at a nearby pub. Although I didn't particularly like driving around the narrow and windy roads, it was all worth it.

We toured Castle Howard and the Roman walls in the city of York and ended our road trip with the tour of Windsor Castle near London.

FFW to Summer!

2011-06-05T10:20:00.005+01:00

06-05-11

I'm going to fast forward a bit because I'm afraid after the next two weeks I will be extremely busy and there will be not a whole lot of time to blog. I have exactly 11 days until school is out, 9 in school. YIPPEE! Then Scott, Tammy and Lizzo (Darren's aunt, uncle and cousin from Texas) will be flying into London for a two week visit. We plan on driving up north as far as Scotland and making a loop back around sight seeing Great Britain.
After that I will be flying to Atlanta see one of my very best friend's, Danielle, for three weeks. American food, right side driving, affordable shopping, and sunny beach, here I come! Of course I will be very close to HOME SWEET HOME. So that leaves me another three weeks to see family and friends in Iowa. Family, see you some time between July 22-August 11! Eek! I can't wait!
My new nephew will probably make an appearance before I get there, but I'd rather him come early than late! It's hard to believe we have lived here a year and it's been just over a year since I have seen everyone. Next year everyone comes to see ME!! Just sayin'. Love to you all! Have a sunshiny, carefree summer! And to anyone reading this, watermelon and corn on the cob are must haves!! Thanks in advance. :D

The weather is already summery and heavenly here in England. This is a picture of the River Cam in Cambridge where the rowing teams were practicing while I stopped to snap a photo after a 6 mile walk!

Modge Podge

2011-05-17T19:36:00.004+01:00

5.16.11

I'm trying not to forget to blog. It seems like every time I post it's because I have just suggested a friend check it out. So Hello, Meredith! Hope you like it and check in from time to time! Miss having you as a co-worker. I'm thinking back to the good 'ole No Hope Pope days.....good memories there!

So the day for Darren to deploy is fast approaching. He is set to leave Saturday night for Korea and will be gone four months. The days leading up to this deployment have been pretty amazing. We're in a good place in our marriage and have so much fun together. With deployments come a deeper appreciation for one another and we know that spending time together is important. Hey, we took a whole week off and didn't get sick of each other! I think that says a lot!

So here is a recap of our week off May 2-8.
First stop-one of our favorite places, Nottingham. We didn't get to eat at Hooter's this time, but we did more gambling-no big wins, and we randomly stumbled upon Nottingham Trent College one night. So beautiful all lit up! It looks like fairy tale castle.

And this was our quaint victorian hotel close to the city center.

Then on to Manchester, where we saw Man U beat some team I can't remember the name of. Darren and I really enjoy football over here....I think he likes it more than the NFL-shhh! Don't tell him I told you!
The best part of the trip to Manchester was THIS.....

I call her, "Champagne"! And she drives like a dream! I managed to trade them the SMART at a very good price and didn't turn back! I have always wanted a Lexus and she's all MINE! Of course I have Darren to thank for doing the sweet talking. He also recently traded his Range Rover for a Porsche-I know, I can't keep up either! "ROXY" is in storage while he's gone.

Next stop, LIVERPOOL! You can't see Liverpool without seeing something related to the Beatles. Paul McCartney's house was a little out of our way, the museum was too price, so we had to settle for a large photograph.

Ahh, they were so dreamy back in the day....some day we will visit Abbey Road in London where they took their famous picture. Haven't crossed that one off the list yet, but Liverpool-check! Great shopping and night life there.
We made our final stop in Peterborough, a little town about an hour from Thetford. We have been there before via train, but decided this time we would take more time to see their famous cathedral.

While uploading my pictures, I realized that I didn't even blog about the Royal Wedding! Although I didn't attend, I was able to watch most of it at school on the computer. I made a day of it, we made virgin mimosas in class and some of my students dressed up. Then after school a few teachers and I had afternoon tea in Bury at Harriets, a very popular tea house, where they serve the BEST scones on Earth!

Amo I'Italia!

2011-04-25T20:29:00.010+01:00

4.25.11

LONG time no post and April is almost over! I guess that just goes to show you how busy this little chicky has been! Speaking of chicks, Happy belated Easter!

Viva Italia!

Sooooo I got to spend my entire spring break with Darren! You see, I had booked a flight to Aviano to see Darren for my entire spring break week and then the plans just kept on a changing from Darren's side. First it was Tuesday and then Saturday and then....argh! Lucky for me it was the Tuesday of my break and we managed to get three straight days together to site see around Aviano, Pordenone and VENICE!

We didn't shell out the 150 Euro they wanted for the gandola ride, but we watched all kinds of other love birds splurge. Next time!

It was a perfect get away with my hubby filed with loads of sun and yummy food like gelato-fragola (strawberry) flavored!

We also ate some pretty pricey pizza, but oh so good! And well worth it!

I can't forget to mention my cozy little farmhouse turned hotel in Aviano which was 5 miles from base. A spectacular view and a little bit like home. (There were horses grazing behind me and a strong pig manure smell coming from every direction! lol!)

Darren flew out Tuesday of that same week and I bought a one way back to London on Wednesday where Darren scooped me up in the SMART and we spent the next two days in the busy city. We did the usual London thing: walked around, got lost and confused on the tube and ate delicious meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That was followed by even more walking and getting lost in London, but we managed to find a lot of nice shopping malls we hadn't seen before!

The remainder of the weekend was spent recuperating from the week and chillaxin' on the couch and more QT! It all worked out and we loved every minute of it!

More pics from Venice.....

Not quite sure why I was posing like this, but it's very statuesque!

Now we are both back to work. Darren is set to deploy to Korea May 17 for 4 months, so next week we have both decided to take some leave from work and go up north to the Lake District for some outdoor recreation and more QT before he leaves again. I plan on making a long summer trip home to the sates-yaya!

Darren Update

2011-03-31T21:00:00.010+01:00

3.31.11

Hi, all! Just a follow up to my other post about Darren serving in Aviano, Italy. There are some links on the Aviano Air Force Base website to videos of men and women setting up tents on the football field and bringing in cots.

Also you will see several pictures of the jets and what's happening on base, including this one. It sort of gives you an idea of what the living facilities are like for them right now.
I booked a ticket just now to go see Darren on my spring break April 9-17! A birthday gift to myself I guess. :D
Now I just need to find a place to stay since lodging on base is probably maxed out! Darren says he has Sundays and Mondays off, so hopefully we can spend some QT together. He's doing well and things seem to be slowing down some.

Operation Odyssey Dawn

2011-03-20T20:12:00.005Z

3.20.11
Darren has been called once again. Seems like yesterday he was deploying to Iraq and the first to report for Iraqi Freedom. Pray for Darren and all of the men and women working to enforce the no fly zone in Libya. Darren left late last night and he will be in northern Italy for at least 3 months, but that all depends on what happens from here on out. Continue to watch the news and I will keep the updates coming!
We are hoping if he is gone for three months he will not have to deploy to Korea this summer. He's happy about one thing- not having to test for Tech tomorrow. At least now he has some extra time to study and won't have an excuse if he doesn't pass! :D

Sunday Roast

2011-03-14T19:00:00.005Z

3.14.11

Yesterday Darren and I enjoyed this.....

A proper Sunday Roast! Complete with roasted pork, roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, (similar to our dinner rolls, but greasier), fresh vegetables (broccoli, carrots, parsnips) and stuffing. Another reason why I love England! Thank goodness for new British friends who know how to cook.
It felt just like Thanksgiving, however I'm not sure that I could partake in this every Sunday like they do here. Mayyybe I could if the portion size that was on my plate was cut in half! And I almost ate it all. Of course I had to save room for dessert! A delicious apple pie with ice cream. Jo and Andrew (our new British/Welsh friends) had never heard it called pie ala mode- rubbish! Darren even questioned what it was and he's from the STATES! Sigh.
We then laid on the couch and watched football and rugby for the remainder of the afternoon. Darren lost both of the bets he placed. Double Sigh.

Bragging

2011-02-27T16:22:00.015Z

2.27.11

Another lazy Sunday afternoon at the Page's. Seems like the perfect time for a new blog post to catch everyone up whilst Darren is at work. ( I so enjoy trying to sound British and throw in "whilst" whenever possible).

Darren made it back from Sardinia on February 9-1 week late. He got into a tiny bit of trouble. The butt chewing and letter of reprimand (aka LOR) he received for allowing a lower ranking airman to DD (lame I know) is small potatoes compared to what he has accomplished in the last 4 or 5 months.

So let's focus on the positives shall we!?

Darren won not one, but TWO "Big Boy" awards!

Armament System Supervisor of the Quarter

USAFE Supervisor of the Quarter
(sorry no trophy yet)

This means he won best supervisor out of all the supervisors stationed in Europe! He is now being nominated for supervisor of the year! Can you believe it?! GO DARREN!

So proud of my hubby for working hard and receiving these awards after only 10 months on the job! He has made a name for himself in the 48th AMXS!

For those of you who aren't AF acronym savy either, AMXS means Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. Here is a link to what Darren's squadron does over here in Europe!

http://www.lakenheath.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=4211

___________________________________________________________

Me-I'm loving my job and the new friends I have met here. Yesterday Marysol, Jenn (teacher friends) and I treated ourselves to a much needed head to hoof package! A massage/facial/mani/pedi! AAAHHH! Thank you, Lilly!

Ooh, La La!

2011-02-07T20:53:00.009Z

2.7.11

My new do! Sam, my cute British hair stylist, did a phenomenal job on the cut. There's just something about a good haircut. It makes the worst of days (or weeks in my case) seem so much better! I think I spent the better half of Saturday pretending I was Eva Longoria in a L'Oreal Paris hair commercial. "Because I'm worth it!" LOL!

My school kids came in this morning and couldn't get over how straight it was. Boy, what a difference a little flat ironing makes!
________________________________________________________

Darren is still in Sardinia because they had to swap out an engine in one of the jets. Hopefully he's back tomorrow! I miss him. A little.

2011-01-22T13:18:00.012Z

1.22.11

Today I slept in until 10 and it felt great! I deserved a good night's sleep after three weeks of go, go go! I started a night class on Wednesday nights, managed to make it to the gym a couple mornings and took Darren in at 5:00 AM so he could make his flght to Sardinia Thursday. Just a short 2 week TDY. I look forward to these little trips because I can get a lot done and my house is always clean! Or at least less messy. I suppose I will miss him a little since we won't get to communicate very much. No computers or wireless, just a phone he will have to pay extra to use. Not sure how I would survive without internet access for two weeks. I have a lot of things to do around here and feel like doing none of them! Except for the blog post, so you had better appreciate it!

I need to rewind a little and tell you about last weekend. This is Peckforton Castle, turned country home for guests and wedding venues. We just wanted a little get away and Darren found this place. Pretty amazing.

Our enormous room (even though you can't really tell) and a view of the wedding party from our window.

We crashed their wedding reception only because our little hearts were dead set on going into this amazing wine cellar at night, which just so happened to be where the wedding reception was going down. So we told a little white lie and said we were with the wedding party.

We even dressed the part!

There were all of 20 people at this reception, including us. Darren made friends with the bridesmaids-what a flirt! So they let us stay.

There were peacocks roaming the yard, which I haven't seen since I was little.

Outside of our room, middle window pictured below.

We also took a tour of Beeston Castle. I can't believe how well the weather cooperated for us. It was a gorgeous day!

And I can't end without mentioning Chester Cathedral. No city in England is complete without one and this is a beauty!!

What's NEW?!

2011-01-11T19:55:00.016Z

1.11.11 (<-- Don't see that every day!)

Everything is NEW it feels like! It's a NEW year. I have a NEW job. I got a NEW (ish) car for Christmas and a NEW iPhone 4 from Darren. I'm such a lucky ducky!
Mine until Darren sells it! Mercedes KOMPRESSOR! (turbo) CLK230

and Darren's Range Rover-Carmella

Over break Kelcey was here and we saw some NEW places. Darren had to work so the two of us took a drive down to Stonehenge and although we didn't pay, we still got a decent view of some rocks in a corn field! Seriously, it was out in the middle of nowhere! Not even Rita, our GPS, could find it for us! Stonehenge was worth the drive and the rocks were pretty neat. It was winter solstice and a lot of tourists in vans were parked nearby snapping photos and just camping out.

We then stayed in Bristol (not much happening there) for a night and drove to Cardiff, Wales where we stayed two nights. It took us about four hours total to get to Wales, which was the highlight of the road trip! They had more snow there than what was forecasted for us in England, so luckily we had just bypassed it all. I had to use 4-wheel drive one time and that was to get out of my parking space. haha! In Cardiff we stayed at a quaint little B&B and went to see "Mama Mia", which we loved!! "Dancing Queen" is my all time favorite karaoke song to sing. I will definitely have to take Darren back to Cardiff so we can experience the harbor in the summer and if he's lucky, maybe I will take him to Hooter's and a giant casino we passed! :D

We went to Cardiff Castle and played war time dress up!

From Cardiff we drove back into England and to Birmingham. I had this bright idea to find the NEW Forever21, big mistake! Christmas Eve shopping in one of the biggest malls in England, no bueno! We were done after 2 stores and made a quick getaway to the car and back to Thetford. Oh, and we also made a quick stop at ASDA to pick up groceries for our Christmas/Super Bowl Party for the single guys Darren works with. It felt good to spread some holiday cheer and be a mother hen for a day, but I don't think I am going to make it a tradition at my house for reasons I will not list.

Kelcey and I spent a day in Cambridge and took time for tea and watching little old ladies push shopping carts while others rode their goods around in their bicycle baskets.

Her last week Darren had off so we went to London for New Years with a small group of friends and
stayed by the airport so she could catch her flight on time.
We went to a Medievel Times Banquet near the Tower of London. I think we were a little more fun than the actual show with our costumes and foolishness because people were taking pictures of us all night! So much fun. One of the best times I've had here.

I didn't want to see Kelcey leave. She was to fly out Friday, New Year's Day, but her flight got cancelled. Some nice lady bumped someone from their flight and put her in their place so she could spend New Year's with us! OOPS! What are the chances of that happening!? So we were all one big happy family and rang in the new year under Big Ben! Not the killer fireworks display happening on the opposite side of us at the London Eye. If we had known, we would have been on that side of the bridge. They closed down several streets and the bridge so no one would fall in the water I guess. lol! I have to say they did an excellent job of keeping 250,000 plus people in line, at least in the big mob we were in! Loads of security on horses with their tall black hats and matching neon jackets. Here we are waiting for the fireworks.

We were all nice and spiffy until some guy decided to spray champagne when Big Ben struck 12! We found a small pub to end the night that was American Air Force friendly. They let us in when no one else would, so that was a plus!

Our last night in London, Kelcey, Mikey (pictured right) and I went to see "Wicked" and really enjoyed it.

I know I am forgetting a lot of things Kelcey and I did while she was here, so the end of this blog will be a little out of order.

We set up my NEW classroom so I wouldn't have so much to do when I went back, thank goodness! Had a good start last week and my kids are amazing.

We found a NEW tree, not the Charlie Brown one we wanted, but a fakey and decorated it all cute.

Thanks for all the gifts, family!

We braved every mode of transportation once again, but definitely agreed driving is a little less stressful and time consuming. This is us on the tube.

Took a tour of the British Museum where we saw the Rosetta Stone and experienced the next best thing to being in Rome and Greece.

Spent many days in H&M finding "going out clothes" when we should have found some warm fur coats and boots because we were freezing!

We found a little Americana in Wales-a Ruby Tuesday and a delicious Blue Moon to quench the thirst.

Here we are cozying up to the fireplace sipping some cider. YUM!!

All the best to you and yours in 2011! Cheers!

Spreading some Christmas cheer

2010-12-11T16:07:00.007Z

12.11.10
Christmas work party= Christmas photo card op. After a little bit of contemplation I decided to stick with tradition and do a cheesy couple photo card afterall. Hopefully Monday I will be mailing out photo cards to most of you and if I don't have your address, well I guess no cute Page Christmas photo card for YOU!
I heard a lot of people were doing e-cards this year and believe me I really thought about it. It's a tradition I just can't seem to break-thanks a lot, MOM! So I'm posting some of the pics (awwwwww) that DIDN'T make the cut this year.

Ha, gotta love me rocking my signature one hand on the hip pose-I just can't do the hand holding, one hand on the hubby prom pose.
Anywhoo, these were taken at an enormous country house hotel in Mundford, which is about 10 miles from our house. The perfect place for a Christmas party. Here is a link: http://www.lynfordhallhotel.co.uk/
Will someone puh-leeeeeease get married there!? Preferably in the summer. :D
If you don't have our address, here 'tis!

PSC 41 Box 5162
APO, AE
09464

Just address and stamp it just like any other card, incase you were wondering...

Nearly all of my Christmas shopping is done, such a good feeling. Online shopping is a beautiful thing! Alright now take my lead and spread some of that Christmas cheer, people! Only 14 shopping days left! XOXO

Thankful For...

2010-11-29T21:20:00.011Z

11.29.10

A fabulous first Thanksgiving in England!

Manchester United Football Game

They won-7-1!

We found the North Pole in the UK instead of the AK! :D

And saw another amazing city center-Manchester

(on top of the ferris wheel )

It snowed 2 inches today-we're NOT thankful for that!!

HAPPY TO HAVE HIM HOME!

2010-11-11T10:37:00.005Z

11.11.10

HAPPY VETERANS DAY!

I have been fortunate to not have Darren deploy since we were stationed at Hill AFB, Utah. It's hard to believe it has been five years since his last major deployment. Luckily he won't be leaving anytime soon, but we know the next deployment is inevitable while stationed here. Next week Darren goes on swing shift, so that means I will get to see him for two hours during the day and when waking up and going to sleep. I guess I'll take it and be thankful that he is here.

The military is his mistress and sometimes
she gets all the attention!!

These are some old photos from past deployments in
Afghanistan and Iraq while stationed at Pope AFB, NC.

FALLing for FALL!

2010-11-08T17:42:00.006Z

11.08.10

We finally get to experience another season besides winter-FALL! And I am in LOVE!
On my way to work I pass through Thetford Forest. It stretches for 50,000 acres and is absolutely gorgeous! I had to pull over and take some pics to share. The camera phone doesn't show how truly vibrant the trees are this time of year. I'm so lucky to be able to see and experience "tree tunnels" every day!

I love how they have trimmed the trees so trucks can pass through in this pic.

All Hallows' Eve

2010-10-31T16:14:00.015Z

10.31.10

Happy Halloween!!!

My new friend Jo and I dressed as Roman and Greek Goddesses. I made my costume from a sheet and only spent £20 with the help of the thrift stores! I think thrifting is going to be my new hobby. Such great deals! Jo invited me to Newmarket to hang out with her and some friends and it was so much fun to see how they celebrate Halloween in England.
Jo is from Wales and is also a teacher. She lives in Thetford-extra bonus! I'm so glad I met her. We are so much alike we bought the same bracelets for each other to wear as cuffs without knowing.

These are the other girls we went out with: Sophia, Sheree, Sonia and Hannah. We bumped into a few "Americanos" while we were out who were not dressed up! Jo is friends with Sophia and she introduced us to the other girls who are from England. They were all very sweet and we had a great time! So glad we had that extra hour.

P.S.-P90X round 3-DONE!!

On Tonight's Menu......

2010-10-26T20:05:00.003+01:00

10.26.10

KEBABS!!! Basically anyone and everyone who has visited Europe knows that kebabs are easy to come by. There are kebab/kebap shops on every street corner over here! These kebabs shops do extremely well if they are located near a pub on a Friday or Saturday night, which most of them are. People flock like vultures for kebabs and cheesey chips after a few pints!
If you're in Thetford and want a kebab, I will make you one for 1/2 the price! If you fly to England to visit and stay with me, it's on the house!! :D

If you haven't had one you're missing out. Easy to make. This was my first time making them with lamb and turkey and it was D-LISH! Here's my recipe: grill or cook meat of choice with seasoning (I used balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, lemon-working on a good marinade), add homemade cole slaw (cabbage, celery seed, light mayo, skim milk, white wine vinegar-no sugar), veg, garlic sauce and pita. By the way, they are twice this size in the UK!
Do you like my mag underneath about how to lose 5 lbs in 10 days and get flat sexy abs??
I think I should write to Women's Health and tell them a kebab should be added to their recipe ideas! Substitute for a whole wheat pita-but they aren't as good! Yum!

UFC 120-LONDON!!

2010-10-20T14:21:00.013+01:00

10.20.10

Our favorite past time in ENGLAND?! Of course we went. We spent a pretty £ for those tickets, but they were worth it! We weren't able to cheer too loud for USA, but luckily we are still fans of Hardy and Bisping and fit in pretty well. We drove into London this time and decided to get a last minute hotel outside of London. If we have learned anything about traveling to London it is that travel takes 2-3 times longer than you have planned and of course this trip wasn't any different.
We were on the road at 2 pm and managed to sit in traffic an extra 3 hours with roads closed prior to the fights. Darren was freaking out because he thought the fights started at 4, so we quickly parked our car on the opposite side of the river as the O2 Arena and proceeded to ask someone how to get across. The tube. Of course, why didn't we think of that? Found the tube and we were in such a hurry we didn't even look to see where we were. "Worry about it later", I say. "We're near an ASDA".(Wal-Mart) Little did I know those words would bite me in the butt later!
So we made the fights, an hour early-haha, and had a great time. Minus some guy who was extremely intoxicated and almost fell from the upper balcony where we were sitting. We were wayyy up in the nose bleeds, but had a huge screen in front of us.
At the end of the night we got on the tube and immediately I thought, "This is the wrong way." Well, we remembered Bank and that was where we stopped. We walked up to street level and saw a massive monument. Nope, definitely not where we parked. We got all turned around! When we asked for directions, no one knew where ASDA was or the o2 Arena, except the nice man at McDonalds. He said to get back on the tube and go to Cross Harbor-made sense. I wanted to get back on the tube, but Darren had lost his ticket and didn't want to go back in. (stubborn) I wasn't going to go by myself, so we used the GPS and iPhone to try to navigate, no luck. The tube closed at midnight, so there we were stuck in the middle of London at midnight. After we walked for a couple hours we managed to wave down a cabbie to stop and help us. We tried to explain our situation to him on the way to wherever our car was. Pretty much we just wanted to be in a nice warm car. haha! Luckily he knew where ASDA was! Three hours and one expensive £20 cab ride later, we finally got to our car, but we still had 20 miles to the hotel. It took 2 hours to get there with more traffic and road closures! Ugh! Now I know why people take the train!!! Somewhere around 4 am we made it to the hotel and had to check out at 11 am. Crazy. I like to go with the flow, but I'm beginning to think spontaneous is not the way to go here. Planning ahead is very important. At the end of the day we have an interesting story to tell and still had fun. All the frustration, money and time spent traveling still gave us another new experience in England!

FIGHT NIGHT!

HARDY! England's favorite-the crowd erupted when he came out!

Part 2 Nottingham

2010-10-12T20:18:00.014+01:00

10.12.10

Darren got his three day weekend so we took advantage! Day 1 Darren and I stayed near Derby because rooms were booked in Nottingham on Saturday night. The GPS took us deep into the English countryside on day one. We got to see a lot, but driving 4 hours when it should have taken 2 was too much time spent cooped up in the SMART. We had an interesting time in Derby, lost too much money at the casino and saw some of the crazy locals falling over themselves at 2 am. People watching in England is fun! I just can't get over how the girls dress in this chilly weather- 4 inch heels and skin tight dresses they can't walk in at 40 degrees. I guess I'm all about being practical when I go out, especially when I am walking! Or maybe it's just because I lived in Alaska for four years and I never really had the opportunity to dress up.

Day 2 made it to Nottingham to see the castle this time. Beautiful on the outside, not so much on the inside. It wasn't as exciting as I wanted it to be and the entrance and surrounding walls were by far more interesting.They turned the castle into a museum, but we got to see some props from the Robin Hood movie that came out in May with Russell Crowe. I took some pics of some of the costumes, but no pictures were allowed. OOPS! We went to the casino again and even though Darren lost a good portion of his Alaska PFD money, I managed to play Black Jack for 4 hours with £20 and make £3!

Day 3 we made it to Sherwood Forest-thanks to the GPS. By far the best part of the weekend and well worth the 30 minute drive out of Nottingham. I could have stayed there all day taking in the fall colors and surrounding myself with mother nature. The Major Oak was said to be the meeting place for Robin and his merry men and I took a ton of pictures of it to get all the angles- MASSIVE!

Great weekend, lots of food and beverages, luckily it involved a lot of walking and a couple P90X workouts. I took so many pictures.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=264368&id=503826551&l=63dce1c559

Counting Down...

2010-10-03T11:02:00.017+01:00

10.3.10

There are days when time passes by so quickly and life just happens. Other days it seems like time can't pass quickly enough, like now. So I am counting down to some upcoming dates that I have been looking forward to for a while now, as well as some new ones.

October 7-ALASKA PFD $1,281.00 in the bank account. I love Alaska and we will need to plan a trip there again soon!

October 11-Columbus Day-No school! I hope Darren gets off too since he has been working 12 hour days and some weekends. He deserves a three day weekend so we can take "Lemonade" out one last time before she goes into storage!

October 26-DVD release of Sex and the City 2. I am a huge fan of SNTC and I have this on the countdown list only because I have anticipated seeing it since May. I decided to wait to see it with my friend Fil. Her husband, Ryan worked with Darren at Eielson and now they are here at Lakenheath with us and also live in Thetford! Ryan just got back from a seven month deployment in Iraq and Fil didn't have a babysitter when the movie premiered, so we set up a date night to watch it together with some cosmos. (Now that her babysitter is back! LOL!) We are so happy to have the Cacal family here with us.

The Cacal's-Ryan, Fil, Owen and Cody

October 29-Day 90 of P90X! That definitely is a big accomplishment for me because I have been very dedicated to this exercise program since day 1. I haven't always eaten 100% clean, but I am doing my best and have been pushing play 6 days a week with the doubles routine (two workouts in one day, morning and afternoon or night). It has worked out well since I'm working part time. I have strengthened and toned my body and I feel great!

This was me after my second phase- at Sena and Scott's wedding- Christmas break last year.

October 31-Halloween We get to set clocks back an hour here in England, so that means an extra hour of fun dressed up as.....???. Last year we were the puppet and pig from the Saw movies. We saw a preview for Saw 3D yesterday and it comes out on, guess when!?! Halloween! So maybe we can reuse those costumes and wear some 3D glasses? HAHA! I don't know. We thought about having a party here, but there just isn't enough space. So hopefully someone else is having a party for us to crash.

We scared a lot of people!

November-As of right now the only thing that I can think of to countdown to in November is Thanksgiving and Black Friday! Several of my friends have birthdays in November too, like Kelcey. So that brings me to my final date to count down to!

Kelcey and I at the Tower of London

December 15-Kelcey's second visit to England! Kelc decided she wanted to see more of England because we traveled all over Europe this past summer and didn't get to spend much time in Thetford or the surrounding area. She planned a trip back here a lot sooner than I expected! She is staying until December 31. Unfortunately the flights spiked up in price after New Years, but I'll take it!! I'm so excited to experience my first Christmas in England with her- and Darren of course. I will definitely be in the Christmas spirit this year and I think a real tree is in order! I heard you can go pick one out, chop it down and dog sleds will bring it to your car.

We are hoping to make it to Ireland or France if Darren can get the time off, but we will definitely be in London to ring in the New Year. I should probably look into getting a room now!

Sorry family, looks like we will not be home for Christmas this year. : ( I guess you are just going to have to plan a visit to see us!

Let the countdown begin!!

So much to look forward to. I almost forgot. My good friend Becca, whom I met in North Carolina at Pope AFB, will be flying over to Europe in the next month or so and we are hoping to meet up! We also have a couple more friends getting stationed at Lakenheath some time in December. The Chipleys! We met them at Hill AFB. Patrick worked with Darren and then made a visit out to Alaska to see us one summer. His wife Sarah and their daughter Cale will be living here while Patrick is working on his masters degree in Michigan, but he is coming in December to help them get settled first. It will be nice to have another military family/friend over here.

LIFE. IS. GOOD!

Goodbye Whiny Kinders!

2010-09-20T20:59:00.007+01:00

9.20.10

Yep, I got a new job! I interviewed last Wednesday for a 4th and 5th Math Coach and accepted the job on Friday. Today was my first day of work and it was great! I had to force myself to leave at noon because it's only half day...ok, I didn't have to force myself that hard. But it was weird leaving so early! I'm going to be observing the 4th and 5th grade teachers during math this week and pulling students for one on one teaching next Monday. This school is still on base at Liberty Intermediate. So far everyone there seems friendly and helpful. I already feel like it's a better school for me because it's a smaller more cohesive group. 12 classroom teachers, all female in the building, except for Alan the counselor and David the supply guy. Crazy! Only 300 students at this school vs. 700. I can learn names at least! Ms. Scotece is a teacher who sat in on my interview and at the end when I said, " I hope to see you again soon." She replied, "Oh, I'm sure you will." Today she came up to me and hugged me she was so glad I got the job. She just said, "You were #1 girl!". I have a feeling she had a lot of say in me getting the job, nevertheless she made me feel so proud of myself. Everyone says I am really lucky to have gotten a job in DoDDs so fast, but I think I'm blessed. I had a positive attitude and pictured myself getting the job. I really had the best interview of my teaching career and God answered my prayers. Maybe Grandma asked him to relieve my pain and suffering I was experiencing with the kinders. :)

There is a possibility my position will be full time plus there is a teacher leaving in December, so fingers crossed one of the two happen. For now I will enjoy my afternoons off!! Maybe I can make recess with the kinders, haha! I will miss recess with Tyler. He is the cutest!

Happy Birthday to Darren tomorrow!

Nottingham -To be continued...

2010-09-11T19:48:00.011+01:00

9.12.10

I say to be continued because I will be going back to see Nottingham Castle! We have been there twice now and both times the castle was closed. Darren wanted to go there to play poker and all I wanted to do was find Robin Hood, which I did, but it was on our way back to the train station. We had time for a quick photo op outside of the castle and only distant pictures of the castle itself. It has been rebuilt many times and looks more like a mansion.

Nottingham is only a two hour drive or train trip away and since we always go to places on a whim, next time we will have to plan ahead! This is hands down the best looking train station I have been to in England.

There are a lot of interesting buildings and shops with a carnival in the city center.

Happy Birthday to David today!

9.11.10

2010-09-11T19:32:00.008+01:00

Many of you remember where you were on this day nine years ago, and I remember exactly where I was. I was in the middle of my student teaching experience at Pope AFB Elementary, North Carolina. Parents were frantically picking up their first graders from lunch when I heard the horrifying news from a co-worker. "There was a terrorist attack in New York City". We watched as the twin towers stood smoking, it still gives me chills today. Needless to say, military life for us changed dramatically. Darren deployed at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in the spring of 2003 and was part of the first air force group to set foot in Iraq when the war started. I just looked through the scrapbook I put together during that time and found this picture. It makes me very proud to know he is still one of many enlisted men and women serving our country. When he's home I try not to take our time together for granted because I know there are many wives out there who aren't so lucky!
God Bless the USA!

Happy birthday to Evan today!

Snails or Slugs?

2010-09-11T19:10:00.002+01:00

8.24.10

I never knew the difference, but according to Wikipedia, snail-like creatures that lack a shell (or have only a very small one) are called slugs. These little guys are all over our back yard. One night we had two of them outside our kitchen window. To me this was pretty cool and I had to share!

All Work and No More Play!

2010-08-22T10:15:00.011+01:00

8.22.10 Sad....my long, stress-free summer is coming to an end! I'm a little sad that I won't be teaching full-time and setting up my own classroom this year.....ok not that sad...but I feel a little lost. I'm sure some of you can relate, when you're used to doing something and have a routine and then suddenly it changes and you're like, ok now what do I do? There are a lot of unknowns at the moment, but that's all part of starting something new. I haven't officially received word on when I am to report to work for orientation, but I know teachers go back this Thursday and then the kids next Monday, which is when I officially start! I'm anxious to meet new people and make new friends, hanging out with the boys is getting a little old. Lord knows I need a gal pal to shop and gossip with! haha! I did meet a girl last weekend who is from Wales and is a second grade teacher in Brandon. She invited me (ok, more like I invited myself) to her classroom for a day or two to see how they operate in the British schools. I requested to come in during one of her Victorian themed lessons when they dress up. How fun! I'm obsessed with British history! I can't wait to start season 2 of The Tudors, but I'm afraid I won't have much time for it.

Side note, no more being a couch potato for me. Time to start waking up early, pushing play on P90X and eating clean! So far I have done very well and I'm on day 20 of 90. Fingers crossed I am still blogging about sticking with it in a month and will have pictures posted of my new "guns"!! Time to really Bring It! and work hard!

Speaking of which, who knew golf was so tiring!? Darren and I both were sore after this day.

RAF Lakenheath Country Club

I'm A Working Girl Again!

2010-08-11T16:38:00.004+01:00

I interviewed for a kinder aide position on base yesterday. The interview itself lasted for oh, 5 minutes. As soon as I told her I had been teaching for nearly 9 years, her eyes lit up and I knew I had it. (confidence is good, right?) So, needless to say Darren is happy I got a job and I'm happy because I'm not going to bounce around from classroom to classroom as a substitute. I get to pull kids to do mini lessons and testing as well as recess and lunch duty, yuck. But my foot is officially in the door and I hope this will lead to a full time teaching position. This is a school with over 700 students, just in K-3. The biggest elementary school I have ever worked in! At least one of the 60 teachers is bound to leave. :)

Congrats to my student teacher, Stephanie who got the
Academic Intervention Aide position at Hunter. I'm so proud!

Thinking of all my Alaskan teacher friends and how much
I will miss working with everyone this year.
Yes, even these two!

Have a great first week back and a successful year, everyone!!

There's A mini Stonehenge in Thetford?!

2010-08-11T15:10:00.010+01:00

What a great find! Ruins from an old priory in our city center.

This has been a very busy summer of site seeing. Especially in and around England. Darren's parents visited for two weeks in July and I think Jack has gotten me into cathedrals now. I am just in awe of the history and architecture. I was most fascinated with Ely Cathedral and probably took 100 pictures, although they're nothing like seeing it up close. Here is a link to some of the pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=211785&id=503826551&l=39778d4838

We also toured the well-known West Minster Abbey in London.

Norwich Cathedral, 30 miles from our house

We took a day trip to Cambridge, where Darren and I
argued about who was better at punting...

I think I won that bet!

Another weekend we finally found a beach in Great Yarmouth.

We had a lot of fun....as you can see.

The best part was having family around.
This was the only picture I managed to get of the four
of us and Roxanne was too busy drinking her pint! haha!

Our favorite place in Thetford, The Riverside.
Inside there are license plates from the states.
The owner didn't have Alaska up yet, so Darren
gave him his old one off the vette. Pretty cool.

Pure.Dead.Brilliant!

2010-07-09T09:11:00.001+01:00

Edinburgh Castle

Little did we know that phrase was not only an airport slogan, but a phrase commonly used in Glasgow, Scotland to describe something extraordinarily special. Hence the title of this post and the perfect way to describe my two week holiday to Scotland, Belgium and Germany. My very good friend Kelcey and her friend from college, Ashley flew into London the weekend of June 12th. We had no plan of where we were going, but we knew we wanted to travel to a few places that would be relatively cheap to get to and back from. So we found an internet cafe, in which most of our beginning days of our trip were spent. We began looking for cheap airline tickets via Ryanair, then hostels, bus and train transportation to and from each stop. The internet is a beautiful thing by the way, and after many hours of stress and "just book it" decisions, we set out for Glasgow, Scotland. We then took a train to Edinburgh, flew to Brussels, Belgium and rode a bus for six hours to Frankfurt, Germany. A final plane trip brought us back to London, Stansted. Our trip started and ended in London, where there were far more of us in the pictures than by the end of the journey.
Here we are in the Tower of London where the crown jewels can be seen.

All of the places were unique in their own way, especially Brussels! (We stayed in the ghetto of Brussels.) Of course the best part of any trip is trying out new things, and boy did we indulge in what there was to offer!
Glasgow didn't have much, but the architecture itself was enough to keep us satisfied. Edinburgh had indescribable views and a haunted past. We didn't try the Haggis (sheep's heart, liver and lungs) but we found a new love for kebabs and a quaint little cafe, The Elephant House. It's the birthplace of Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling, you may have heard of him. We also toured Edinburgh Castle and a wool factory during the day and at night we took a Ghost Tour into the vaults and underground to find out some of the town's dark past.
Then on to Brussels, oh Brussels. We stayed mostly in the town center and were in our room before dark if that tells you anything of where our hostel was located. Despite the creepy men trying to pick us up on every corner, we kept busy during the day eating Belgian waffles, taste testing the best chocolate in the world, and trying out some of their flavored beers -Framboise, which taste more like sparkling fruit juice(below).

I also had an amazing mussels dish, which they are also known for.
We really enjoyed Frankfurt, mostly because it was a lot cleaner than Brussels, and there was a mixture of the old and new. We could communicate a lot more with people there, unlike Brussels. French was hard to understand and few people spoke english very well. We ended our time there with a cruise on the Rhine River where we were able to see the beautiful vineyards on the hillsides and several castles unfortunately made into hotels. We learned about delicious Eiswein or Ice Wine. The grapes are picked when frozen, which makes for a much sweeter and more concentrated wine. Frankfurt also had enormous soft pretzels, tasty grapefruit Hefeweizen and of course sausages and brats. We had a hard time finding a brat with sauerkraut on a bun, but I guess that's the American way of eating them.
This is Frankfurt AM Main, some of the older buildings that have been renovated.

The food definitely didn't disappoint us at any location and if it wasn't for all the walking, we would have surely gained 20 pounds instead of 10, lol! oh, I can't forget to mention, Frankfurt was the one place that had an elevator! We needed that by the end of the trip, that's for sure. We also were able to be there when Germany won a World Cup match, so we didn't sleep for at least 2 hours with all the horn honking taking place outside our window!

So many stories to tell that I just can't begin to describe without the girls chiming in. Overall a pure dead brilliant trip!
This is one we took our last night together in front of the London Eye, Patrick not pictured. :)

Darren and I celebrated 9 years of wedded bliss-haha- July 7....we went to Wimbledon to celebrate!!! Although we didn't see Serena play, we were there when she won and got a glimpse at Martina Navratilova trying to enjoy her lunch, lol! We sat in Court 1 and were 3 rows up from the action. This is a picture at one of the surrounding courts in Wimbledon Stadium.

And me trying to get some shade, it was extremely hot that day!

Household goods come tomorrow, WHOO! Jack and Roxanne will be visiting next Friday, lots to do before then!

This and That

2010-05-31T18:34:00.001+01:00

Our new home in Thetford

I'm so behind on this blog. I suppose I should start updating in case anyone out there might be reading it! So here is a little of this and a little of that!
First our new house, we moved in two weeks ago today. WOW! The internet connection is bad right now, but I managed to post a few pics of the inside. The table and chairs we got from our landlord, who says the chairs are 80 years old! Other than that, we have a futon, bed, tv and computer. Our household goods should arrive in the next 4 weeks, if we're lucky. Darren's vette (his baby) is also enroute and should be here June 21. (Sidebar, he's currently trying to get us tv and maneuvering the satellite dish....while I sit here and tell him if there is a signal or not. LOL!) We'll have a phone and better connection starting June 8. So that's most likely when we'll be able to call via land line, but I still prefer SKYPE!
We just got back from London this afternoon, so all I can do right now is sit I'm so sore and tired from the walking we did. It was worth it! We saw more in 2 days than most people I'd say. We were just in awe of it all and I think we finally have the hang of train and tube transportation. Sounds like we will have our first visitors soon: Patrick (Darren's step-brother) June 11 followed by my friend Kelcey, June 13!! We are very anxious to show them around our part of England!

It's Memorial Day, so I'm also taking time to remember those whom we've lost and especially those soldiers who have fallen fighting for our freedom. I hope you are too! God Bless all of you!

HAWAII!

2010-03-19T06:43:00.001Z

Paradise on Earth! We had such an amazing time. Darren and I stayed at the Hale Koa-Federal Government Resort. Mostly there were a lot of retirees hanging out at the pool and wearing very little, but still a fabulous place. We snorkeled, went jet skiing, took a submarine down 102 ft. in the ocean, toured Pearl Harbor and got a lot of sun....Darren a little more than he should have since his back is still peeling! O'ahu and Waikiki were full of tourists and all of the people who live there were incredibly friendly and so happy. Hawaii is so far our favorite place we've visted and we can't wait to go back!

Chena Hot Springs

2010-02-23T04:48:00.000Z

Scott, Sena, Darren and I spent Vday at Chena Hot Springs. It took us a little over an hour to drive 60 miles on a winding, bumpy road. Darren and I have been close, but never visited the "resort". We first toured the ice museum, originally built as a ice hotel 6 years ago. There were many sculptures made from ice, including our ice bed and martini glasses. The temperature stays at a chilly 20 degrees year round. We were amazed at all the Chinese tourists in their big puffy blue snow gear. :) Gotta love tourists! Afterwards, we sat in the hot springs for about an hour and just relaxed. The temperature outside was 10 above. The water was 70-80 degrees. It was definitely a great day. Darren surprised me earlier with a Movado watch. I'm so lucky!

Been Gone For Awhile

2010-01-20T05:36:00.000Z

I haven't had any time to blog since school started it looks like, so here are the high points. In October we received word of orders to Lakenheath, UK and move in April! We are anxious and ready to make our new home in England for a few years. Over the holidays we flew to Iowa for Vegas and had a blast! Scott and Sena (Darren's niece) moved here after New Years and we have been having fun with them ever since! It's too bad we have to leave them, but I know they'll love Alaska as much as we have. Here are some pictures from our travels.

At mom's with sister Tina and the kids

Get together with HS classmates-Justin, Andrea, Nicole and Cory

Vegas at the Wynn- La Reve

Back To School

2009-09-01T05:13:00.000+01:00

I'm into the third week of school and really enjoying 2nd grade. My student teacher, Stephanie is great! If only I had an assistant every day with these little ones. Here is a picture of me in our school garden. We started it last year and my fourth and fifth grade helped build a shed and also planted potatoes. They worked on it over the summer and it is filled with sunflowers and vegetables we sell on Thursdays outside of school. I have 24 students as of today and hope I don't get any more. It's a good number and just enough bodies fit in one room. It's been raining for what seems like an eternity, so I hope it stops soon. It is defintely fall here and the leaves are turning along with the fireweed. I hear that's the first sign of snow! agh! Hopefully it waits another month!
In other news, we just got orders to England on Friday! Darren had it number two on our list of bases, so we are both very excited to be moving out of the cold to a milder climate. We will be here until the end of the school year and report no later than June 11. We have several friends stationed there already and are anxious to call RAF Lakenheath our new home away from home.

New Ride

2009-08-02T07:49:00.000+01:00

So, I decided I desperately needed a car before going back to school (boo!) in a week. Darren and I drove up town to see what we could find, our traditional weekend trip to the lemon lot on Wainwright and a little used car lot in Fairbanks. Didn't see anything at Ft. Wainwright, so we hit Darren's favorite hot spot, walked around for about 5 minutes, and I saw a 2001 Black PT Cruiser with a reasonable price tag. We called the number and the guy took $800 less than asking price on the spot! So here's my new ride for the next year, if Darren doesn't sell it first! I'm going to have to hide the title for sure, I like it that much. Sun roof, fully loaded, runs well and is a lot of fun to drive!

Summer Lovin'

2009-07-20T07:07:00.001+01:00

Celebrated 8 years on the 7th!
Picture taken at the top of Angel Rocks near Fairbanks 4th of July weekend

I can't say I have been very busy this summer, but I'm relaxing and enjoying every minute of the nice weather while I can. We haven't been fishing at all, but hope to soon. We camped 4th of July weekend and took the canoe out. Then took a 3 mile hike up Angel Rocks and then got caught in a thunderstorm. We were soaked, so I guess we got that shower we so desperately needed after all!
Some of the highlights are posted in pics below, there is one missing though. Last month I did a 10K walk with a friend for the Midnight Sun in Fairbanks. We finished with a time of 1:46, which I thought was good. I was mostly sore in my lower back and not in my hips like I thought. And speaking of being sore, Darren and I started a new workout today called P90X-BRING IT! Their other motto is "Get ripped in 90 days"! So, we'll see how ripped we are and if we can even make it to 90. I'm going to stick with it as much as possible and hopefully post some pics along the way. Maybe this blog will give me some extra motivation!!
It's sad to think these could be the last pictures we take of summer in AK!

Kelcey and I before our road trip to Anchorage with the Uhaul-we made it no problemo!

Puddle of Mudd concert-Fairbanks

Get together at Julie's house with friends (former coworkers from NPE.)

Darren taking a picture of Nichol and I at Citizen Cope concert in Fairbanks

Julie's first Chicken Dance-Polka style!

Schooool's Out For Summer!!

2009-05-25T04:36:00.000+01:00

above-Me, Shirley, Kim, Jamie, Mindy
Too bad not forever. ;) Here's a picture of my fav ladies at Hunter. We took a long lunch and then I spent the rest of the last day of school cleaning out my room and sorting my stuff so I could move it into a new room. We had a teacher accept a job at a new school so I took her position as a second grade teacher! I'm very excited to get back down to primary. I was supposed to have 5/6 next year, possibly looping up with some of my kids, but just didn't want another combo. I also will have an intern next year, so having one grade that I'm familiar with is better than having to learn a new grade. I'm taking a Kagan course this week and then helping Kelcey move down to Anchorage. WAH! Darren's leaving for Korea this week, but only for a month. Maybe I'll finally get things cleaned out and organized around here! I can't wait to enjoy summer in Alaska!

FUN in the LIMO!

2009-04-08T01:51:00.000+01:00

Alert the press!! Darren drove me around to have some fun for a change....I don't know how many times I've picked him up and dropped him off at poker parties. Enough for a limo ride with my friends, that's for sure! This was a limo he had purchased and then sold earlier this week. The guy let us have it back for one night and it was so much fun! Kelcey (second picture far left), Nichol(second picture-far right), Darren and I started at our house then drove to Eielson for a going away party for hir former boss Rob. His wife, Bernie had to stay behind, but took a picture with us-top photo. Then we made a stop to pick up Sandy (second picture second from left) in North Pole and went to play some pool. After that we went up to Fairbanks and met my friend Julie and danced. It was a great way to celebrate the big 3-0!!
Some background info on the girls: Kelcey and I work together at AE and have become great friends since we see each other for daily walks and talks after work. We walk in the hallways at the school I teach at. Sandy and Julie worked with me while I was at North Pole Elementary. I taught with Sandy my first year there and we've been friends ever since. Mostly everyone knows Nichol, we're high school buddies and she got stationed up here a year ago. Bernie has been like a second mom to me. Her husband Rob had to switch positions. They have been so wonderful and have always been around to help us when we need it. Such great friends to have while we're up here. I'm so lucky to have them!

Merry Christmas from North Pole!

2008-12-24T22:22:00.000Z

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!

2008-12-17T20:37:00.000Z

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

2008-11-02T21:37:00.001Z

Aimes' World!

2008-11-02T06:56:00.000Z

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!

2008-10-12T22:46:00.000+01:00

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

2008-09-06T05:49:00.001+01:00

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

2008-08-07T22:22:00.000+01:00

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....

2008-07-25T05:38:00.000+01:00

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

2008-07-08T06:41:00.001+01:00

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

2008-06-25T05:54:00.000+01:00

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!

2008-06-22T03:28:00.000+01:00

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

2008-06-09T09:44:00.001+01:00

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

2008-06-04T05:21:00.000+01:00

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?