Fish

The kids have been begging us for a pet and our friend Jason had gave us a fish tank. So we did the inevitable and went and bought fish. I hate fish quite frankly they freak me out, so I am thrilled to have 2 sitting on my counter top. The kids picked out pear scale goldfish. They are little fat puff ball things that can barley move. Braydon named his white and orange one "Cotton" and Ethan named his gold one "Popcorn" (they are completely sensible names if you see them). The kids do nothing but stare at them and in fact if a fish could die of being stared at they would have been dead 10 minutes ago. I told Daylon that he has to clean the tank because I refuse to and I called Jason (who gave us this ridiculous tank) and told him that if at any time Daylon is gone (TDY or deployed) it is his duty to come and clean the disgusting thing. Popcorn and Cotton seem to be quite happy in their new home and I can't wait for the day they die. Can I mention that I don't do pets, I think 2 kids and a husband is enough to keep up with. I am probably a horrible person.....but my family will just have to deal with it.

this is Cotton

Mt. Redoubt

Mount Redoubt shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 31.

Ok Ok for all of our family and friends out there that are concerned, we are fine. We are not living in lava nor are we dying of volcanic ash intake... We are perfectly fine for the most part. Braydon and Ethan's asthma is starting to become a little bit of a problem and I am sure mine will start to act up very soon as well. Our day to day lives haven't been affected at all, other than on Saturday night the Stake President made a decision to cancel church, due to ash fall. And to tell the truth I was kind of excited, I was ready to see some ash (that sounded wrong, didn't it). Sunday morning came and it was just kind of grey outside. Daylon's truck (since his vehicle isn't good enough to grace my cars presence in the garage) had very little on the hood.




So I had Daylon go outside, sweep it all into a little baggie(to mail to my cousins) and cover his truck.

All Sunday the snow got more and more grey. It still wasn't that bad over here. In matter of fact we even used the outdoor grill for dinner that night. Everywhere in Anchorage got a lot more of ash then it did on our street for some reason. So that is it. No big deal (at least for now) and if it were to become a big deal we have plenty of food storage and meds to function. So no worries.

Like I said "Very Grey"

Seward

This past week has been spring break and seeing as how it isn't spring yet in Alaska we have tried to make the most of it. We have had sleepovers, friend's come over to play sledding etc..... As a family we decided to head 3 hours Southwest of Anchorage to a small fishing town called Seward. Daylon had won tickets to the Alaska SeaLife Center so we spent a few hours there learning about Bering Sea and all of the sea life that lives in and around it. We touched star fish and sea sponges, played with Woody the steller sea lion, squawked with puffins and seagulls and got to see much much more. It was 20 degrees and very windy so it was super cold so we didn't do much else other than go out to eat. We stayed at a hotel and the kids had a great time jumping on their bed. The next day we ate doughnuts for breakfast and headed back to Anchorage. It wasn't a long trip but it was nice to leave the city and just relax. ( I even had a good time with a broken tailbone.)

Nose to Nose

I didn't catch the name of this bird but he sure looked cool

My little model

Woody the Steller Sea lion

they have a ton of cool exhibits

Resurrection Bay

"bye" time to go look at the seals, sea lion and birds below the water

Sledding

We were invited this week to go sledding with some of Braydon's friends from school. It was a beautiful day and the sledding hill was wasn't one we haven't been to before. All was going well and the kids were having a blast. I decided to go down the hill with Ethan and it was great and fun then we decided to go down again together but from a higher spot with a jump and looked like a good idea. My friend Carrie went down first with her son Adam......well they hit the jump from the side and both ended up off their sled. Did that deture Ethan and I NO, so we sat down on our sled and started our decent. We hit the jump dead on we both flew off of the sled Ethan coming down first and then me with my legs smashing his face into the snow. Instantly he was bleeding from his nose and mouth. Everyone there quickly helped me with Ethan who had a bloody and scrapped nose. Me on the other hand was so concerned about Ethan I didn't realize that I could barely move. By that night I couldn't I had either bruised or broke my tail bone (the doctor hasn't called me yet to tell me weather it is broke or bruised). Ethan's nose is healing fine and he doesn't even notice it however I can barely move and sitting and standing up is excruciating pain.

Braydon's Guitar

I have begged and begged Braydon to take piano lessons but no cigar. However one of the rules in this house is that you have to learn to play at least one instrument. On my birthday Daylon gave me an electric guitar and Braydon and Ethan have yet to leave it alone. And so it happened one day after Christmas we were walking around Best Buy, looking for ipod accessories, and came across their instrument section. There he found his new love a 3/4 size Fender Squire Electric Guitar. We told him if he wanted it he would have to pay the 104 dollars for it. Braydon came home and added up his Birthday and Christmas money and sure enough he had just that. Well, when we went back to purchase it they were out so we ordered it online. A month and a half later it arrived in a huge box.............to every ones dismay they sent the wrong guitar and we had one upset little boy. We returned the wrong guitar back to the store with the promise that they would call us the moment they got the right one in. A week and a half later we went and picked his new baby up. He has now started lessons at Best Buy once a week with Sam. He practices 6 days a week and is really getting the hang of it. Especially playing the beginning of Smoke on the Water ( over and over and over again).

Iditirod

We went down town to see the Ceremonial start of the Iditirod. It was cold and long so that means the kids didn't last too long outside and we soon took refuge in the mall. After all of the teams had done their official start we drove the kids over to go on a dog sled ride. They loved it and wished it was longer. We also went and seen the snow sculptures down by Ship Creek...it is amazing what you can do with snow.

MUSH

"Scrat"

Die Schildburger

Once upon a time, many years ago, the king needed advice and didn't know where to turn. The queen suggest he consult his court advisers, but he admitted that he didn't have any. She suggested that he send out tow men to search for the wisest men in the land to become the court advisers.
Dietrich and Friedrich ride around the country and end up in the village of Schilda, where they observe the local citizens. One father is explaining Einstein's Theory of Relativity to his son (played by Braydon), another is relating the history of the emperors of Germany and a third is explaining the source of the northern lights. The messengers are so impressed with this village that they report their findings to the king and he commands them to bring the village men to court to become his advisers. The citizens are reluctant to go, even with the promise of 100 gold pieces each and a weeks vacation at home annually, but the king gives them no choice. The men go off to court and return after one year, accompanied by the king's messengers. The village has missed them terribly: the children had no one to mend their broken toys, no one could farms well as they could and no one could get in the winters wood supply. The women insisted the men remain and one man had a brilliant idea: they would pretend to be stupid so the king would not want them to return.

Monday: First Trick- The Citizens of Schilda Build a Town Hall.
The citizens decide to build a town hall out of the trees on the mountain. The men climb the mountain chop down the trees and laboriously carry them down the mountain on their shoulders. The last man slips and his tree trunk rolls down the mountain all by itself. The villagers note how much easier that was, so they carry all the tree trunks back up the mountain and roll them down again.

Tuesday: Second Trick- The Citizens Bring Light to the Town Hall
The new town is all finished but when the citizens enter it, they find it is pitch black inside. One citizen suggests it is dark because the town hall is in the shade of the big tree, so everyone helps push it out into the sunshine. They find it is still dark, so the mayor sends everyone home to get containers. Bringing sacks, pots and pails, the citizens try to trap the sunlight in their containers and let it loose inside the town hall. Needless to say, it remains dark inside. Finally one citizen realizes that they need holes for the sunshine to come in, so they chop holes in the roof. They are delighted to find that the building is nice and light inside and they hold a town council meeting. Unfortunately, it begins to rail and everyone inside gets soaked. To solve this problem, the mayor declares that council meetings will be held only on sunny days. The messengers tell each other that these are the stupidest people in the land.

Wednesday: Third Trick- The Citizens of Schilda Trample the Wheat
The wheat is nearly ripe and the head farmer wants to go out into the field to check the ripeness of the heads of wheat. He is stopped by another citizen who says that the farmer will trample on the wheat and ruin it if he walks out in the field. So the citizens solve that problem by using four men to carry the farmer in a chair through the wheat field so he won't trample the wheat. As the four carrying the farmer completely ruin the field, one woman remarks that somehow that didn't work exactly as they had planned.

Thursday: Fourth Trick- One Person gets lost
The whole town decides to go on a picnic and off they go, singing and dancing. They have a great time eating and playing, When it is finally time to go home, the mayor wants to be sure they have everyone, so he counts the people. Instead of the 15 they came with, he only counts 14. Several different citizens count and recount, but they always come up with one short. Finally one citizen suggests that each person stick his nose in the sandbox and the mayor count the holes. They do this ad of course they come up with 15. No one was lost!

Friday: Fifth Trick- The Citizens of Schilda Hide Their Treasures
While the children are playing, they spot soldiers approaching (one which was Ethan) and run and tell their parents. The mayor has two of the citizens bring the town treasure chest and the church bell, their most precious treasures, and hide them from the marauding soldiers. The men row a boat out on the lake and sink the chest and bell in the middle. The soldiers search the houses, but can't find anything, so they leave. The mayor asks the men if they marked the place they sank the treasure. They said, "Of course we did. We put a red X right on the boat where we dropped the treasure in the water."

Saturday- The citizens realize that their week's vacation is over and gather up their belongings to return to the capital. However, the messengers tell the citizens that they have been watching Schilda closely all week and have determined that the men are too stupid to serve as king's advisers any longer. The messengers depart, leaving a very happy village of Schilda.

The moral of the story here- Schildburger are smarter than they appear!


The kids did the whole play in German and did an absolute great job.