Ghetto bike

Here's the frankenbike you get when you mix a spiderman bike with a princess bike. Stylin' for sure.
And...

A YEAR AGO TODAY...
Playing in the backyard in AK with Tim, Logan, & our kids. There's Tim being trailed by his permanent lil buddy.

Return to San Diego

Work required me to return to San Diego for some more, well, "work" but I can't say going to San Diego ever feels like work. Maybe the traffic at times, but it's always a nice change of color (green green green).

Well we had to go hit the beach again, and we couldn't resist Del Mar again, since it was so dog-gone purty last time, and not crowded. So what was new? Well, besides a US Marine Corps helicopter buzzing the beach in its patrols, and besides this seagull with zero regard for the rules (as Papou would say, "what part of 'keep off' don't you understand?!"), we discovered something very very cool.

WE HAVE A FISH! Yes, Ms Sadie is at home in the water. I'm sure those of you who've known little kids who swim--to you this is no biggie. But to us parents, who've raised only children inherently afraid of water, splashing, and immersion, this is dumbfounding. I even got her to do the brbrbrbrrrr motorboat sound with her lips and would dip her underwater and back up before she had a chance to inhale water and she was cool with it--over and over! And, she was almost boyant all by herself (maybe it's her thighs!)...we kept swimming and swimming until her lips started shivering but she didn't want to get out. So I guess there's some catching up to do by her older siblings in our pop-up pool here back at the ranch. - (as always, click to enlarge pics).

When will the dust settle?

Ok... we're well into "getting settled" mode, but life still seems to be flying! I guess that's life with 4 growing kids. Probably need to get used to it! ;) It's a good flying, though!

So here I have for your viewing pleasure, the "getting here" in review:

...From the green of the warm season in Alaska, enjoyed by Laney & Mya with Coach Marci (they tell me that dark green stuff is called grass). I often open digital photos to rediscover colors not in the tannish-brownish family. My friend Tracy says we'll get our "desert eyes" which I guess means that brown starts to look more green. Hmmm.

...To the slightly-smaller Sadie standing on the counter under Tim's watchful eye (mid December right before we all got sick just prior to our flight to Chicago... sorry for all the dirty laundry!).

...To Gib wondering "where they're taking all my stuff?" (it all got here quite safe, sound & intact, thankfully!)

...To an awesome 3 weeks in Chicago at the Logan House. Hey, you wanna guarantee a happenin' holiday season?...just throw in some gi-normous crayons!

It's great to finally be here! Can't wait to start having visitors! Bring your sandals.

Pray for Offers

Had our 2nd customer walk-through today (of our house for sale). It just takes one good offer, right? God's got it handled so we're just managing our own personal stress levels! :) Thankfully, I scheduled a bunch of outprocessing appointments today, and I got the EXACT time-slot for, well, pretty much EVERY appointment - so that's definitely something to sing about. Lu - Copa Cabana in the key of F - Go!!

Found this picture of Ang, Lane & Mya (or so I thought), right there on the front page of the Air Force's official webpage... too bad it says it's someone else's family at Keesler AFB in Mississippi. I still think it's really them, though! I'm still investigating whether Ang was really where she claims to have been between 2002 and 2003. ;)

I wonder if our future home is somewhere in the background of this picture of Gray Butte airfield. You never know! Tim wants to know why I haven't signed on the dotted line yet for this one house that has a dirt track in the backyard... Should I really bother to wait & see what the inside of the house looks like first??? ;)

30 Days til Last Day of Work in AK!

Yikes... 30 days until my last day of Active Duty work up here (Fri, 15 Dec)! That's unofficial until the Admin folks confirm the exact number of leave days I get, but 3 of us did the math and came up with that day. We'll likely hang out here over that weekend and then fly out early in the following week (approx Mon-Tues 18-19 Dec). Lots n lots to do between now & then... praying that the house gets some interested buyers soon! Rumor has it there might be an influx of army troops to the area (needing homes!). If I was as smart at Chip, I'd have some countdown clock running right here, but I guess I'll have to keep you posted manually! Did I mention we've had 4 days straight of nasty nasty howling winds? Windchill hitting -20 to -30F! Gusting up to 75mph tonight. Keeps waking us up. Hope the fence holds... I've seen some other not-so-lucky fences in the neighborhood.

Here's a pic from when the kids played at Matthew's house last Friday. The girls asked if he had any "girl dress-up" and, when he didn't, they made do with superheroes and firemen!

U.S. jets intercept Russian bombers near Alaska

TRAINING EXERCISE: Two Tu-95s penetrated an American buffer zone.
By BRUCE FINLEYThe Denver Post
Published: September 30, 2006 Last Modified: September 30, 2006 at 06:32 AM
A push for greater Russian military openness collided with old Cold War habits on Thursday as Russian long-range bombers flew within 15 miles of U.S. airspace over Alaska. Fully armed U.S. fighter jets responded, intercepting the two bombers. The Russian Tu-95 bombers on a training exercise Thursday penetrated a North American buffer zone, according to a statement Friday from Maj. Gen. Brett Cairns, operations chief for the North American Aerospace Defense Command based in Colorado Springs, Colo. The bombers stayed in international airspace.
The U.S. response "was appropriate," said Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command. "We have a near-sacred responsibility to protect and defend the United States and Canada against any and all threats. We will not waver in this responsibility," Keating said. Four U.S. F-15 fighters, supported by two Canadian CF-1 fighters, found and intercepted the bombers. A U.S. pilot snapped a photo of the Russian craft with a red star on its tail. U.S forces, too, have been conducting training exercises over Alaska and Canada.
The encounter happened despite a new initiative led by Keating to get Russian commanders to notify U.S. officials more fully about training missions.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that the four F-15 pilots are my good buddies from work."

Moose taken down by Crimson Bears

Tim, Laney & I went to a local high school night game last night - our Palmer Moose vs. Juneau's Crimson Bears... a showdown to decide who goes to the State finals.

[Anchorage Daily News]
Palmer came back on Tanner Grover's powerful 24-yard rumble up the middle in the third quarter. Grover kept his legs churning and carried a pack of Juneau defenders into the end zone. But Palmer would come no closer. The Palmer defense stopped Juneau on a fourth-and-goal attempt at the 4-yard line with 2:15 play, preserving the chance for one last desperate drive.
But heading into a heavy crosswind, Palmer quarterback Smith threw two incomplete passes on third and fourth down, and the Moose season was over.

We had a great time, and we were glad it was a dramatic game, but unfortunately we lost, 14 to 19. Laney enjoyed the hot chocolate and hanging out with the guys. Despite her youth and this being her first football game, she still knew that standing on the Palmer home team side was where we needed to stay put (despite the crowd, limited view, and being grazed in the lip by an errant football).

Full Afterburner Ang

Ang had an awesome time at the squadron open house (aka. Gold Carpet Day) today... she got a high-speed, full-afterburner, zero-to-a-hundred, 35,000 pounds of thrust, F-15C Eagle thrill-ride on the runway, followed by a max-aero-brake, or "wheelie" as Gib calls it (useful in slowing down to speeds that won't turn the brake pads into molton hot magma). Her friendly pilot was Andy and I was out on foot snapping pictures. It was nice to kick back & "enjoy" being at work today!

Fall is here

We're officially in fall (my favorite season), based on the golden colors appearing, and also the nighttime temps in the high 30s! Aaah! But afternoons and evenings this week are looking beautiful so far... almost cloudless skies tonight. Here's a look at the kids having a good time in the backyard after dinner.

And here's Sadie... 44 days old (6.285714285 weeks old, for those keeping close track).

GeoCaching #3

Went geocaching again. That's 8 we've found so far! Today was more fun for the kids. We went to Crevasse Moraine (local forest preserve) to hike their kid-friendly trails. Why would anyone need a camera? We're there to conquer GPS treasure hunting! Only, it turned out to be the most gorgeous early-fall evening! Rats. The fall colors were just reaching bright gold and orange! Wow. The kids had a great time digging through the ammo cans rich with plastic trinkets. This offset the slight trauma of them tripping over every fallen tree trunk and thorn bush! We had to get going for dinner, so we still have 3 more in that park to go discover.

I think we're going to register & plant our own cache next. Laney, however, mentioned she'd like to do less trading and more outright "collecting" of the plastic treasures. Hording junk is what I call it, and it will not be tolerated! Here's Gib holding the tiny "Piggy" geocache yesterday... it's just big enough to hold the sign-in log rolled up inside!

Oh, here's the sports summary for today: Cubs lost; Roddick lost. Questions?

GeoCaching #2

Went geocaching again. Found 3 for 3! Pretty easy finds, though... right in "downtown" Palmer. Was a bit chillier than expected, and started to sprizzle (sprinkle/drizzle). Here's a pic of Palmer airport, which is near "Cache Cow", the last cache we uncovered in town. We may go explore more ambitious hiking trail caches tomorrow or next weekend--we were a bit tired today after a squadron farewell party last night. The kids enjoyed not going to sleep til nearly 11pm! This messed them up significantly today. Oh, the joy, the love.

Tennis anyone? Great matches today on the men's side. Didn't catch the women's final. Men's final is lunchtime Sunday--I'm pulling for Roddick, but the kids are rooting for Federer, even though they originally hoped Nikolay Davydenko would go all the way... I'm not kidding, these little kids are telling me who's playing who in today's matches and I'm shocked to find out they're correct! And Gib even says his name correctly. Have to send a shout out to Ang for some top quality homeschooling there!

GeoCaching for the first time

We successfully discovered hidden treasure (3 out of 4 attempts!). With a GPS and the internet, you and your kids can hunt for hidden treasure, inventory the fun contents of the stash, record your visit in the logbook, and trade out contents with your own trinkets on hand. There are so many more aspects, like Travel Bugs that are trinkets that jump from cache to cache, where you can view their progress online, as they randomly circle the county, or the continent! We're hooked. Here we are after finding our very first GeoCache in Hatcher Pass! Also, here's yet another sunset. And also, Gib smooching Sadie.
Go to http://www.geocaching.com ! Here's an example of one we did (pictured)... http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=0825019a-d42c-4333-97e0-6e21451f99ca -- we're obviously the "scottang" entry.

When we run outta sunsets like these, I'm going to be depressed! Again, taken off the front porch.

Wicked sunset! We've had some great ones in August, and (I'm not trying to brag) I took these all from the front porch.

State Fair (pt.2)

Mya, quite at home "touring" in her movie-star convertible. Gib, still "in the zone" on 2 wheels.
Laney & Matt.
Mya & Gib.
Big smiles for just a couple bucks.

Well, can you tell I have difficulty picking just 3 or 4 top pictures for one subject? We went yesterday (Sunday) after church, with our friends Randy, Christy and their son Matt. It was the first sunny day in 2 weeks, I swear! It was gorgeous, and all of Alaska & Canada came out to enjoy the Fair in the sunshine with us!

State Fair

Laney & Matt truly enjoying the fire engine (aka. the party bus).Defensive driving requires the occasional glance out front.
This was Mya's favorite ride--can ya tell?
We fit right in at the Livestock Exhibit.
The serious look goes with serious fun! Here's Gib, in his element.

June 06 - Twin Peaks Trail

15 minutes away from our house on the way to Anchorage is beautiful and secluded Eklutna Lake, home to a bunch of great trailheads. Mark & I decided to hike the Twin Peaks trail hoping to reach the saddle, apparently called "Twin Peaks Pass" that overlooks Palmer and the Valley including the Knik Glacier and Lazy Mt. We didn't bring a sherpa (experienced guide w/ sandles & loincloth) so we found ourselves gaining impressive altitude up Pepper Peak (yes, Mark, I found out it's real name, I think) but woefully out of reach of our intended Twin Peaks Pass. So we accepted this change in plans and enjoyed the awesome view... we actually climbed up higher than the Pass so that we could see over it from along the ridgeline. A couple hours after starting at the bottom (900 ft Elevation)... 2 burned out legs, a pair of Powerbars, and 1 empty camelbak later... we reached our summit of 4,575 ft!

Dinner for Eleven

De, Tim & Julie, and Lu & Logan, and the bunch of us all had dinner together at our place. Fried stuff--good stuff--diner fare...Putting the new fry-daddy to work! Oh, and an unexpected invasion of evening sunshine ruined our 48 hrs of straight drizzle.

I have to mention something before I forget--Tim & Julie gave Sadie a newborn gift, a little bib with a saying on the front, that Laney was happy to read aloud for the group just after unwrapping. [Laney]: "It says, 'I love my Big Mother.'" To which we all died laughing at what was misread by the eldest sibling, since the bib really says "Brother."

Anchorage & More Sadie

Ok, maybe we did get out just a little... on our way to do a big Costco/Sam's run, we stopped at the Anchorage shoreline by the international airport. Here's a picture looking northeast towards the city, and one with Ang and company. And here's a slew of more Sadie pics... click on them to expand to full size.