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.