Fall Fun!

October has started with a bang and the fun continues.  There is so much going on, that some times its hard to chose what to do and go see.  The weekends are the best. 

I'll summarize our Island fun.

Amelia and I are on rewind and repeat but no less having fun.  Our weeks are filled with local playgroups, open swims, meeting new people and playing hard.  I am working with the Girls Scouts and have had meetings and events.  Our little troop, has "filled buckets, planned obstacle courses, made apple sauce, beach combing and made s'mores over a camp fire."  The volunteer portion has led me to into several interesting opportunities. The first is a trip off Island to Anchorage. Its a leadership conference.  The GS are flying me for the weekend to learn about troop leading, confidence building and more.  I am really looking forward to it and getting to do some shopping and eating as well!  I have also volunteered to take on planning the year end camping trip for the entire Kodiak GS organization. Yikes and Exciting all at the same time!

I have applied for a part time job with the Kodiak 4-H as a program assistant, but so far have not heard anything.  Lastly, I took a basic Pistol Safety course. I am now considered an amateur pistol shooter.  It was a fun day on the range. I even shot a bullseye!

Molly has been busy in Kindergarten.    This past weekend we had the PTA school carnival.  The entire school gets involved. Each classroom has an event with prizes, there is food, cake walks, and lots of give aways. It was fun for all. I baked a bunch of goodies for the event.  We also survived school picture day.

Andy is living the Alaskan Dream.  He is hunting, fishing, and hiking.  He has just earned a Board Member spot on the Island Trails Network Non-Profit group.  This group's mission is create safe trails and outdoor areas for Kodiak.  In addition, they do a lot of beach clean up. Check out it: http://www.islandtrails.org/ 

I don't think Andy's bio has made it on the site yet, but it will give you an idea.  Andy's hunting has caught him several Ptarmigan. Ptarmigan are a grouse type of bird. We have yet to eat it, but are filling our freezer. http://www.avianweb.com/whitetailedptarmigan.html

The community has had many fall events including Fun On the Farm, The 4-H Pumpkin Patch, a great local production of MASH, etc... 

Oh My How Could I Forget:  The Tooth Fairy!  Miss Molly has lost 2 teeth!  Pure excitement!

Enjoy the pictures:

Busy, busy, busy

Phew, Sunday.  Sunday has turned into a day of recovery and house updates.  We keep having tons of adventures, and lots of free family fun.

This past week I was busy every single night…can you believe it?  I was busy with social outings, girl scouts, family skate, and getting ready for the auction.

I’ll start with family skate. The gym is open once a month or every other month for family roller skate night. It was fantastic.  They turn the lights off, give out roller skates, play music and its just so much fun. We skated to our hearts content. Yes, all of us. Amelia loves to be in the on the action and did pretty good job.

Girl Scouts is taking up much of my time right now, getting our troop organized and attending events.  This past weekend was the Girl Scout Tri.  Andy, Amelia and I volunteered while molly, jumped rope, ran a mile and biked a mile. Thankfully the weather was clear, a little cool, but not rainy or windy. It was perfect.  Molly did her best.  We had about 50 girls turn out for free fun exercise and community entertainment.

A bonus from this event is that down the road is a construction site that has been posting free wood.  We scored on two shipping containers and little more to build a shed!  Nothing like, free wood framing, in great condition to get our engineer busy busy busy.  He is also busy this weekend installing drainage before the freeze, thaw sets in. I love a good handyman around the house.

Lastly, the Stiles-Clark Auction was this past weekend.  I’ve been hearing about the auction since we landed on the Island.  It’s a huge fundraiser than can bring in 35,000 dollars to support local charities and Santa to the Villages.  It was a massive production with raffle items, a 50/50, silent auction and live auction.  It started last night at 6pm and ended at 11pm. It was very long and lots of money was spent. My dessert paid off….I was very pleased that I had tested recipes before submitting.  They competition was still. I did ok. My cake brought 55.00. It was the most, but not the least either.   We ended up not winning any auction items, but had a great time.

I took the girls to the local quilt show this past weekend too.  Quilting is a big deal on the island. I am not into quilting or sewing but its fun to go look and the amazing hanging art work.

Enjoy the pictures. We are staying busy, the temps are cooling off, just put flannel sheets on everyone’s bed. Its hard to believe that keeping our house at 60 degrees actually feels warm.

Miss you all.

Dessert Table at Auction. Mind is the third one from the bottom.

Waiting for the bus. Sunrise is 8:30am.

A hike to the beach.

Family Skate Night.

Starburst Starfish covered in sand at low tide.

Settling in...

Life is funny. Its not always exciting.  I realize, the blog will be slow at times and fast at other points.  Its been a couple of weeks since my last visit.  The past couple of weeks, we've been settling in to life.

Kindergarten is in full swing.  Early mornings, bus routines, homework routines, open houses, moms and muffins and its all good stuff.  We've also had weekly dance class and girl scouts starting.  Our other little one started preschool and then the school closed.  Amelia and I are back to being full time partners in crime.  If you know me at all, that means a daily adventure awaits.

Living on an Island means using the resources around you to find fun things to do and explore, even if the weather is horrible.  We can't just take a road a trip or fly off the island on a moments notice.  To begin, the girl scouts.  Molly is in the Daisy troop. I am a coleader.  Its going to be fun!  We have meetings twice a month and there are 12 girls in our troop.  Our plan is to keep their minds active and creative.  So, if you love Girl Scout Cookies, keep us in mind. I'll ship :).

Molly's dance troop is performing in the Nutcracker this year.  If you are free the first weekend in December, let me know and I'll get you a ticket! 

Amelia and I have had swim lessons, play groups and weekly hiking.  Our hikes have been easy and with some new little friends. Today we ventured into a moss covered forest and ended up on a hidden sandy beach. Not worry, bear spray was carried by all, but with little kids its hard to spot the wildlife before scaring them off.

We are checking out family roller skating tonight, and movies over the weekend.  In other news, Andy made the front page of the local paper with his spearfishing Starry Flounder, and is working with the Island Trails Network, a small non-profit with a goal to clean up the island and collect/recycle Tsunami debris.

I have been checking out the local exercise options and am volunteering for several of the spouses association events, including an auction. I have been perfecting my dark chocolate cake recipe to auction off. The money raised will go to local charities as well as the Santa to Villages program.  The Coast Guard flies santa an gifts to the remote villages of Kodiak.  Its pretty amazing.

Enjoy the few pictures. Life is good.

A Sunny Fall Day

The island is changing. The bright green of the Emerald Isle is starting to fade to brown and hints of cooler air are starting to blow. Even the grass may only need one more trim. We are starting to hear that within the next four weeks the winter weather and darker days will be here.

Our week was lovely! Amelia started preschool and we had open house at Molly's school. Molly's classroom is lovely, bright and colorful. Molly hid a picture of herself in the play kitchen area. It's her favorite part of the room :). She loves going and so far every day has been GREAT.

I started planning for our upcoming Daisy outings with Molly's troop and working on Dessert ideas for an upcoming auction. I volunteered to make a sweet treat to be auctioned off.  The monies raised will help fund the Santa to Villages program run by two retired coasties.

We spent our rainy Saturday hanging pictures an catching up. I had forgotten how hard it is to hang pictures!  You have to find the perfect wall for each one. OR, try something new, like create a photo wall.  It came out great, thanks to Andy's help with the measurements and the placements.  I have to recommend finding a photo frame with a one hook placement, versus two.  I also had signed up at the local museum to take a spruce root bracelet class. It was fun class, and nice way to relax.

Sunday was a perfect clear day.

We decided to head to Pasagshak to fish. The Pasagshak is about an hour drive from Kodiak. It was a beautiful day by the river, but with the outgoing tide and the sunny weather, we had No Fish ON.  The highlight was Molly getting to try her new hip boots and fishing pole that lights up when you reel in a big one. Two classic garage sale finds.   We finished our outing with a trip to the roads end, Fossil Beach.  The kids and I got to view the rocket launch facility. The knickname is "the other cape".

The pictures came out great and we created lasting memories.  On a side note, I found my favorite place to eat in Kodiak.  An old, out of the way Bar with delicious food. Go Figure.

Dumping the water out. Waded in a tad bit too far.

A shell Fossil from the beach.

Roaming Buffalo.

In Seven Days...

Wow!  Its been 7 (SEVEN) days since my last post.  I guess this means we have really begun to become Islanders and are getting settled in to life here in Alaska.  Well, a little of that is the truth, the other part of the seven days I have called it gathering and researching of lots of information about programs, classes, kids activities, school stuff and so much more!

Our weekend started off with a lovely guest, Adam Redford, yes, you can google him.  He is professional fishing guide based out of Miami FL.  He has been living in Alaska for the last three months at the Good News River Lodge (http://goodnewsriverlodge.com/) teaching and guiding people how fish.  Why is here?  He is here of course to fish.  Adam is looking for the large Halibut to spearfish. The very large Halibut are known to come into shore this time of year.  Unfortunately, kind of like the weather, the Halibut are not following the norm.  He has been fishing since Saturday and still no Halibut.  Now, the Silvers are still in and Andy caught two on an early  morning fishing trip. I will try and post pictures!

Molly is still loving her Kindergarten class and I attended my first PTA meeting. It was interesting and I hope I can stay involved at some points through out the year.  Amelia started a toddler preschool program.  Its two mornings a week and she loves it.  There are 4 kids 2.5 to 3 in her class and they get to play, learn, play and explore.  We've started a dance class, and a swim class. 

Our last bit of fun was signing up for Girl Scouts. I have decided to be a co-leader to Molly's Daisy troop.  It seems to be a lot of fun work, creative brainstorming, and creating future leaders of tomorrow.  The group will be a great activity for Molly and I to do together. I am already thinking that Andy will join us in leading songs and of course hiking, plant identification, and more.

Enjoy the pictures! 

The End of Summer

Friday afternoon and Molly gets off the bus and announces:  I have three days off!  Let me remind you, we've only been in school for two days.

Wow.  Our weekend started off with a bang.  Andy got selected for Commander -- 05!  We are so proud of  him. AND, his Starry Flounder was accepted as a World Record. (http://www.iusarecords.com/ViewRecord.aspx?id=629)

We also received Flat Stanley in the mail from friends in Alabama. Flat Stanley is here for a week.  As you can see he is already have a lot of fun! (http://www.flatstanley.com/)

 The girls and I went on a hike, did a little garage sale visits and Andy went diving.  If you can believe it we found a few hidden treasures and Andy didn't catch any fish! 

We also, checked out the Kodiak Fair and Rodeo.  Its a highlight for the town and end of summer.  Its a small affair, but full of family fun.   There are a few food trucks, a few kid games, a small animal zoo, pony rides, and of course the fair and Rodeo.

On Monday we had heard that the Silver Salmon were coming in at a few locations.  The Silver Salmon are fun to catch, large in size and delicious to eat!  You are limited to 2 per catch.  I found out, that this is truly the end of the fishing season.  When you reach the banks of the river, there are dead fish everywhere.  If you remember me saying, that after the fish spawn they die.  Its the cycle of life.  It was a bit overwhelming in spots.  BUT, the Silver Salmon are fun to catch!  They swim up stream, fast and furious and the bait has to land directly in front of them.  If you catch one hold on and hope your line doesn't break!

Andy is working on perfecting his method of canning and preserving fish. So far, we have several Pinks Canned and it reminds me of canned Tuna.  The Coho (Silvers) have been frozen for later consumption.  I am thinking that next year we may invest in dropping off at a fish processing plant to have the bones removed :).

Lastly, it was back to school today. It was a rough start but I think Molly will have a great day. Amelia also starts at a dance class and I am going to check out the PTA. Wish us luck!

Enjoy the pictures!

Our new Art Center

Games at the Fair

1st Prize Celery.

Silver Salmon

First Day of Kindergarten

Wow!  I can't believe the day is here.  Honestly, its a tad bit quiet without Miss M around.  Miss Amelia and I will have a productive day around the house but we will be anxious to hear how the first day went!  I can only hope it goes well.

I did learn a few things:

1. We got up way to early. We can sleep until 6:30.
2. I over packed her lunch today.
3. Got the bus stop about 5 minutes too early.

The bus arrived, and Molly got on without looking back!

Enjoy the pictures.