On holiday in the Great white north

So I know I have been sort of vague with details of what I was going to be doing this weekend. Maybe you noticed, maybe you didn't . I don't know. But here's the scoop.

So I get this email from my aunt Sue that my Grandpa has a big birthday and party coming up. Now this entire family (save for a small hand full) all live in Anchorage Alaska. They are throwing him (my grandpa) a huge birthday party and everybody else in the family ( which consists of 20 or so people) was going to be up here for the party. She asks if there is any way that we could swing a trip up here. Luckily we just happened to be in the right place with the right connections and were able to pull it all together in about a week. We couldn't afford to bring the kids, but Rockstar and I could just take a long weekend and come up.

But here's the catch. Because it came together so fast, my Dad and step mom didn't know we were coming. So for the first time ever I was able to sneek up on my Dad and surprise him at work. What is funny is he didn't even recognize me at first. He had a hard time placing me.

Thus far we have had a great time. We flew in this morning and have just spent the day having lunch with my aunts and uncles and then having dinner with my dad and step mom. We are staying in a hotel and have the freedom to just chill out and do as little or as much as we want.

Tomorrow we are going to go out for a nice drive and see some glaciers. Alaska is really pretty this time of year but the constant daylight takes a bit to get used to. By the time we get a handle on it, it will be time to go home. Like now for example, it is after 11 at night and it looks like it is dinnertime. The street lights have not even been triggered.

So I will get some more interesting details of our lovely weekend getaway and some pictures too. But for now I have got to get to bed.

I am starting to fall apart.

More Father's day stuff

Ok I know I already did a big Ode to Father's day, but some of the pictures I put on didn't show up, so I had a couple more I wanted to put on. So think of this as an extension of the last post :)

Happy Father's day

Because I had so much fun digging through old pictured for my Mother's day collage, I wanted to do the same for Father's day too.

So here's to all the fathers today. To my own Dad who taught me how to bait a treble hook, splice a cassette tape, start a campfire using only lighter fluid (Don't try this at home, his eyebrows are just now beginning to grow back), create an entire meal using only red meat products, and correctly install a home theater system.

Also to my Father in law, Grandpas, uncles, but most of all my own Husband. You all have done an incredible job at providing for your families and heading up these families in the best way that you know how. I thank you for taking care of us all so well!

Happy Father's day!!

Random facts #8,9 & 10

Ok I know I am getting lazy at writing , but in all honesty we are completely in the throws of T ball and the whole jumble of end of school year festivities. Plus I have taken it upon myself to purge ourselves of all the unnecessary things in this house all the while trying to generate a little scratch in the process.(Note the Ebay widget I have added over to the right) Our house has just been completely unsettled for the past couple weeks or so and I am just trying to get my feet under me. So sorry. Life happens and you just have to deal with it sometimes.

So with that....I will give you some more random things you probably didn't know about me.

#8

My Dad was a news director while I was growing up.

He started out in radio and worked his way into television. He worked for ABC and then went to NBC later in his career. I spent a lot of time hanging out in newsrooms and hanging out in the studio as they did the news live. My favorite place to be though was in the control room with a head set on listening to all the behind the scene stuff that went on. I was amazed at how my Dad could take control of a chaotic scene for an hour every night. It was pretty cool. Not something that many kids are lucky enough to be brought up in.


#9
I backpacked through Europe when I was 17.

The french club in my high school took a group every couple years. I got to be a part of that. We Spent time in England and over all parts of France. I had an incredible time and it really created a crossroad in my (young) life and changed me in ways that I would have otherwise not been changed. It was a breath of fresh air in the very small life of a young girl growing up in farming community. It exposed me to history and culture that you just can't get from a book. I will forever be grateful to my french teacher Mrs. Jackson who ultimately helped shape the person I am today.

#10
When I was 12 on a bet I memorized the periodic table.

(Insert nerd laugh here) When I was in the 8th grade, my chemistry teacher offered $20 to the first person who could memorize the periodic table and spit to back to him (by memory) in exact order. I am pretty good at memorizing things. (I used to rock at memory verses) So I sat down one night, (my social calendar was pretty empty in those days....gee I wonder why) and memorized it. It really wasn't all that hard. What I didn't expect about this is that 20 years later I can still rattle it off. Not all of it, but I can still do the first 10 elements in order from memory. If I look at it I can do far more. It's funny how the memory works. In the heat of frustration I can rarely get the right kids name out, but yet I could do this. Whatever.

**As a side note, I did get that $20. I ran straight out and spent it on a New kids on the block cassette. Because I am awesome like that.

So there you have it. Now you know a little more about me. Although I can imagine that at this point in the game you were wishing you didn't know half the things you do :)

Give my Dad some bussiness oh won't you please :)

Ok I know this is tacky, but if you know me, that rarely slows me down. I am going to do something I don't normally do here and that is shamelessly promote something. Over on the side bar over there ------------> is a link that says "shop Alaska from home". Click on it and check out my Dad's website that he has been working really hard at, but not having a whole lot of traffic. So I thought I might be able to help him out by getting the word out through you guys.

In short, it is a site devoted to those of you that went to Alaska on vacation, but didn't get all of the souvenirs that you wished you had. It seems like there is always something that you just couldn't afford at the time, but you wish you had gotten. Enter Shop Alaska from home. Check out his stuff.

Also check out his "about us" page. We even made it into the roll call :)

Or if going to my sidebar is just too much work, you can click.......here.