Curing Homesickness

Sometimes when I get homesick I need a reminder of how blessed we are to be here. For me this means taking a drive out to the Glacier. So today I was feeling a little blue and I had some time before I had to pick up Bob so I headed out the the Glacier.

It cracks me up every time I see it . . . I mean a Glacier, right there in front of me. And if you look around into the surrounding mountains you will see waterfalls. And if you listen, you will hear them, rushing off the side of the mountains into the lake. It is a gorgeous sight. The Glacier has recently calved and in one spot there is a brilliant blue. I just can't get enough.

Today I stopped and prayed and thanked God for this gift.

Then I turned back to head to the truck when I saw several people heading over to the edge of a trail and there was talk of a bear.

This is why you never, ever, leave home without your camera!!! (these are old pictures)

There it was walking along the end of a pond. At one point when it walked around to the end closest to us it was probably 20 feet away. It was pretty cool and even though there were about 20 of us, it still made me a little nervous. It was close and not a huge bear, but big.

I truly believe that God sends us what we need and today I needed to be reminded that we live in a beautiful place with so much opportunity. And He showed me that. MJ

Just call me Coach!

Oh yeah, I am helping coach the Girls C-Team Basketball as of today. Tristan has been wanting to coach and our school is in need so in order to balance with our schedules we are sharing the responsibility (Tristan 60%/Me 40% or less, I am not sure that she knows that yet - maybe I should breakout the video of one of my 8th Grade games - ah the memories). Hey Ma now I need black and turquoise stripped socks! I warned her that I only played in 8th Grade and wasn't very good at all. She promised me that she would show me all the drills and I would just run them at practice. I think I can handle that. Of course my man concern was still buying that darn whistle! And a nice coaches warm-up suit. A fancy clipboard. Ahh, the possibilities. I listed our schedule for you all - we're the Wolverines - cheer us on! MJ

Inservice

We had an Inservice today at school and I headed off to a training session on Confidentiality and working with Challenging Kids. It was a pretty cool session and I was very happy that I got to attend. It really helped me to focus and remember that all kids respond differently and what works for one may not work for another. I left there with new tools and feeling down right happy.

Being here today reminded me how blessed we are to be here. Look at what I am doing, (Bob too) something I truly enjoy. It feels good and I am so thankful for this opportunity. This is where that fine line falls of missing being home and being in awe of our lives here. MJ

Breadline Bluff Trail

Saturday turned out to be a gorgeous day so we headed out for a hike. We hiked the Breadline Bluff Trail. A 3 mile trail that "follows part of a route once used by Tee Harbor cannery workers to get to Amalga Harbor for Saturday Night Entertainment." It follows "the water in "Favorite Channel" near the shores of North and South Tea Harbor which is called the "Breadline" for the plentiful supply of fish close to shore." (90 Short Walks Around Juneau) We didn't see any fish we were high above the water. But it was a pretty trail and it was nice to be out on a sunny day.

Just a little side note: When you're walking along a trail and a black thing is running towards you, your heart stops, your step hangs in mid-stride, and you hold your breathe for a split second (which seems much longer when it happens), then you realize it's just a dog and you are not going to get eaten by a bear. Ask Bob, he was leading this time. Of course when the lead stops short and you can't see around them you go into a momentary panic. It makes hiking exciting. MJ

Saturday Night Bunko

I was invited by Betty (I meet her at Galligaskins. She lives down the mountain and across the road from us. I watched their dog Blue this winter. He died a few weeks ago. He was a pretty cool old dog.) to be a sub for Bunko Night. I have never played before and was a little nervous, but I agreed to go. There are 12 ladies who get together once a month. Who's ever turn it is they prepare the dinner and desert. (Oh yhea, twist my arm when you mentioned food.)

I had a fun time. The ladies were really nice, the food EXCELLENT!!!, desert was a peach, apricot, and blueberry crisp - - are you kidding me - - with ice cream, and the game was fun. I hope to get invited again.

If you can read what my score is that was good enough to get me 2nd place. I won $25.00. We put in $10.00, so I came home with $15. Not too bad a night. I got dinner, dessert, meet some new people and came home ahead. Now that's a Saturday Night! MJ

Our Week

As the tourist season winds down our schedules calm down. They are still opposite each other, Bob works Monday - Thursday 2 to 11 and Sunday 6am to 3 pm. I work Monday - Friday 8:30 to 4:30. But we share Saturdays off, when I am not working Saturday School. And I usually put in 2 to 3 days at the theater. But Bob is back to 2 days off a week and he enjoys that. I of course have never been happier with my work week.

We had a couple nice days again this week so Bob was able to get out in the morning and fish. Still none to bring home, but enjoyable all the same. He also saw and I quote "a big bear" that crossed the road in front of him near our condo. He was so giddy about it that he woke me up at midnight to tell me. "Big Mol, Big".

I had ISS this week. It started out a little rough, I mean who wants to be stuck in a room all day away from your friends. But it ended very well. It is rewarding to see a student make positive choices and get all their work done.

Now we are back to the weekend. I don't sleep any more than 8 hours so as usual I am up between 6 and 7 am. I usually turn on the TV about 8 am and suffer through some football in hopes that it will wake Bob up. It will work at about 10 am. Sleepy head! MJ

Happy Anniversary!

Bob and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary tonight. After school I went to Coastal to meet him for dinner. We ate at a Ma and Pa restaurant here (at the moment the name escapes me). It is the place we went to the morning we arrived in Juneau. It reminds me of what used to be Lou-Lou's in Onsted.

The Anniversary Gloves

The ninth anniversary is pottery, willow, and leather. We like to be creative and get each other a little something based on what the anniversaries are. I struggled with this and came up with nothing relatedto the three

of pottery, willow, or leather. So I got Bob a humming bird feeder. He likes to watch them outside our window. Then Bob gave me my gift . . . leather gloves. I have been out done. Bravo they are beautiful. MJ

The Weekend

Thank goodness that Michigan won (I can't believe that those words came out of my mouth), but if Bob had walked around here one more Saturday talking about how the world wasn't right, I don't think I would have made it through. How does one become such a sports fan? It's just a game! (I am not really looking for an answer, I know that many of you are extreme fans.)

The wind and rain have kept us in another weekend. Yes, we have rain gear, but it is nasty out. So instead we used my fringe benefit of working at the theater. We saw Balls of Fury and ate a tub of popcorn. It was a pretty funny movie. Lately we have been using the free movie perk. We have seen the Simpsons (which is a must see), SuperBad (another must see), and Balls of Fury. I saw several more this summer. Bob is still a little bitter that I saw the latest Harry Potter without him.

Today I will be heading out to do our Christmas shopping. Have you all been good? or bad? The cruise ships are dwindling down, so the shops are closing up. In about 2 weeks the town will be as it was when we got here. So the time is now. MJ

Sunny Hot in Alaska

Just wanted to share with you that it is a gorgeous September day here, 65 and sunny hot. Tomorrow is to be the same. September was always my favorite month in Michigan, maybe it will be the same in Alaska. Oh, did I hear that it was 43 in Denver? MJ

MJ's Jobs

This ought to bring many of you a good laugh.

First, I am becoming known as MJ at work now because the Assistant Principal's name is Molly and it was getting a little confusing for both of us (and the people who were calling and had no idea which Molly they needed).

So today I was told that 3 days a week for about 45 minutes I will be helping our PE teacher with his class. He has 48 students and that's a handful. So as of now I am the Attendance Clerk (which they are trying to hire for), the ISS Instructor, the Volunteer Coordinator, and fill in PE Assistant. I believe Momery (Mom Emery for those of you who don't know the lingo) when she saw the picture of me at the Theater "you've never been afraid to work". I can honestly say I never have a day that drags. Also I see it as an excuse to buy a new pair of tennies!!! Oh yhea, and a whistle!!!

Bob at work

Sealions

The sealions are so adorable. When Dad and Sandy were here, Tristan took us out for a whale watching tour. The Whales weren't so great, but the sealions were fun. Bob took about 70 pictures. That man is dangerous with a camera. Anyway, Tristan told us that no matter what the sealions are always in the same spot. With the eagle. It's like they are posing. Thus the reason why we have so many pictures of them. It makes it very challenging to pick just one. There is a photo contest here every year and we think that this is one of the pictures we will submit.

Ziplining

This came about because Tristan knew someone whose boyfriend does the tours and they needed some bodies to fill the tour so there I was with an offer to go for free. . . and we all know that I am cheap, so off I go. I pretty much knew what it was about but I just looked at the tree tops and didn't let myself freak out. It was pretty cool. At the highest point you are 180 ft above the ground on a platform hooked to a tree. Let me tell you the trees sure do sway. But I actually looked down. There was only one point where I wasn't sure if I would be able to step off the platform (well, 2) but the first one is just after you zip over a gorge and look down and the earth has dropped out from under you. Then you are on this one tree at the edge of the forest and all you see is open and down. Wow! It was a toughy, but what are you going to do, you're mom's not there to help you down. So I stepped off. Trust in the Lord. The longest zip takes you out of the trees, over the beach and back into the trees. At this point the ride is over and all you have to do is step off the platform and lower yourself down. Ahh, they sure don't know me. Luckily Tristan went first and they are really good about spinning you out there so you can lower yourself down. So it was a fun, exciting experience, but I am not sure that I will ever do it again! MJ

Chilkoot Trail

The Chilkoot Trail is a 33 mile trail from roughly Skagway, Alaska to a small town in British Columbia. The plan is for Molly to hike it next summer. I will be going with Tristan and her mom so far. There is a possibility that Voe and Kevin will be joining us and make Scott. I am very excited and have been training. Bob enjoys that because that means that I carry the pack when we hike now. Check out the trail at the National Parks Service website. If you're interested in doing the hike let me know. The more people the less I worry about the bears!

Our Garden

The lilies are from our garden. They finally bloomed. Our garden was on our deck and it is a beautiful place to sit and watched the channel. We tried to grow tomatoes and peppers but so far they have not yielded any fruit. They are still pretty to look at.

Back to School

I started back to school on August 22nd. It feels good to be back and I really enjoy my job. I am pretty tired out, but that's okay, it's a good tired. This year I am the ISS (In School Suspenion) Instructor, Volunteer Coordinator and right now I am the Attendance Clerk until they find someone new. MJ

Getting Started

This is the beginning of our blog. We hope to keep you updated a little better on what we are up to. Today was a cold and rainy day here so it was a good time to get started. Happy reading.