What Are The Tremain’s Up To Now?

Nevermind my idea to post a photo and have you guess where I was. Since it’s taken me so long to post, I figure I’ll cut out the game.

Ron, Molly, and I left here Tuesday night and arrived in Anchorage. We spent Wednesday in Anchorage and that afternoon we boarded our next plane to Kotzebue, AK (33 miles north of the Arctic Circle).

We were in Kotz Wed-Friday and then made our way back to Anchorage. Saturday we were able to catch up with some old friends, go on a little hike, and enjoy ourselves. Sunday we headed back to Portland.

Here are pictures:

*Note the price of that bag of Doritos!

Can you imagine what the PETA people would say? Multiple seals washed up on the beach while we were visiting. Some locals had already found this one and taken part of the skin to use.

Quads are a common mode of transportation. Ron and I were lucky we had a truck to borrow. Car seats are not as common in Kotzebue as they are other places that I have been. I didn’t see one in use while visiting. I did see a mom, dad, and one year old on a motorcycle… no one had a helmet on.

When the snow melts you remember all that stuff you tossed out in the yard!

Grave yard on the tundra… I wonder what they do when people die during winter?

Of course we need a couple cute kid pictures!

I promise I am not trying to get out of posting pictures of our venture… life and its complications have gotten in the way. Last night about 6 pm Ron and I were getting ready to go out for a bite to eat when we got a call from Nistassa. She was at work and had a terrible migraine. Her regular medicine was not working and needed to go to the hospital. We are 2 hours from her, but got in the car and started the drive. Long story short, after a trip to the ER Ron and I got home at 2am and fell into bed. We have not had a chance to go through the photos from our outing, but I have great intentions of getting it done.

Hello Readers,

Ron and I have travelled roughly 5,000 miles and have lived to tell about it. I hope to post pictures tonight, but while I have a minute I thought I would check in and let you all know we are home again.

I can’t wait to share all about our journey!

My six loyal readers know that I have complained numerous times about my psycho neighbor. I am proud to announce, HE IS GONE! He sold his house!

He sold to a family with about 8 children. They have already started stealing my landscaping bricks to keep their trailers from rolling down the street. Had they simply ASKED first I might now be as irritated as I am right now, but they didn’t. Ron and I were watching our the window as the large U-haul arrived. The full basketball team of children (and then some) unloaded from the van, and two adults walked over and took our bricks!

Tomorrow night we are flying out and I am hoping that my bricks have been replaced by the time I get home… grrr.

I am lucky enough to have the best dad in the world. I also share him with my siblings, but for the moment we’ll just pretend he’s mine.

My dad has always been there for me. In good times and in bad ~ kind of like a marriage! He’s one that I can always turn to for advice, and he’ll give it to me straight. I appreciate that.

I don’t tell him nearly enough how important he is to me, or how much I love him. Regardless, I think he knows.

Another important dad is the father of my kids, Ron. Today on HIS day, he mowed the lawn, barbequed our dinner, and was as wonderful to us as he is every other day of the year.

Hank and Molly got their dad an AWESOME tent, a dvd, and some sweet treats to show their appreciation for him. Hank and dad camped our in the tent last night, I think our family will make a lot of great memories in this new tent.   

Stay tuned later in the week… Ron and I are headed on an adventure. We leave town Tuesday night and will be back Sunday. I plan to take the laptop. Maybe we’ll play a little game of “Can you guess where I am?” That would be fun, right?

Today Ron, Hank, Molly, and I ventured into Portland for a brief shopping excursion. Ron was lucky enough to get a guest pass to shop at the Columbia Sportswear Employee Store. Basically, Columbia employees get to buy all gear/clothing at a very reduced price. Better yet, Columbia recently bought the AWESOME company Mountain Hard Ware. So, not only did we get to buy Columbia gear at a great price, but we got the Mountain Hard Ware stuff too. It was way too easy to load the cart…. considering that everything was at least 50% off retail prices, we saved a fortune….but you know how I love a deal? We spent a lot too.

Ron lucked out and got a 4 season tent that he’d been drooling over. I got some awesome clothes and a jacket. Hank scored some great clothes and a jacket too.

I could go back again and spend entirely too much!

Do you ever wonder what your kids are going to be when they grow up?

I do.

Hank is a very smart kid. Studies come easy to him. He puts in little to no effort and gets B’s. When he applies himself he gets A’s. He is a very black and white person. In Hank’s world there is no grey area. He has high morals and is a very heartfelt person. I could see him being a prosecutor (not a defense attorney), or possibly a scientist. He has talked about being a pastor - but doesn’t like speaking in front of people.

Molly is a daredevil and risk taker. She climbs and jumps and runs. Thanks to her new favorite activity I am declaring her a future opera singer. She loves to go into our downstairs bathroom (1/2 bath, kinda small), close the door and talk/yell. Ron and I are guessing that she likes the echo and sound that is makes. One problem, after a few minutes in there, she realizes that she is all alone and can’t get out…. and starts crying. I walk by, pop the door open, just enough for her to see out… and she promptly shuts it and returns to her songs.

Our little girl is now 13 months old.  It seems like this past week she has gone from super crawler to sprinter.  She is now walking and running everywhere.  Sometimes she even hops.  She is on the move constantly!  She has 8 teeth, eats everything we give her, and loves milk!  She says, “mama, dada, Hank, hi, and dog.” Sometimes she mixes up her sounds and dog becomes God. Interesting… This past weekend Ron and I had the most free time to ourselves that we have had since Molly was born. Nistassa came over to kid sit while we went to a wedding Saturday.  We also took her up on a babysitting offer Sunday and went out to a movie.  It was like the good old days.                                                                         

Wednesday Ron is having an endoscopy at the hospital here in Astoria.  The docs seem to think he might have an ulcer, so we’ll see.

Next Tuesday is Hank’s last day of school.  He is counting down the days ‘till summer!  Hopefully soon we’ll start to get some nice summer weather.  So far this month has been grey and rainy.  – Not much different than summers in SE Alaska.

Last night I ordered a new camera. Thanks Amazon.com!

I had the Pentax Optio W20. It’s an awesome camera. Totally waterproof (submersible), does photos, videos, everything you could want.

After looking around I saw a few options of interest but settled on the Pentax Optio W60. It has not been released yet. According to Amazon it will ship to me in early August. It’s got a 5.0 zoom, and 10 megapixel res.

I can’t wait to get it!

Ron’s camping buddies were all pretty curious about how I would react to the lost camera and ring. Maybe they thought I was some monster?!?! It’s not a big deal, they are “things” and things are replaceable.