We did go to the Lower 48 for our summer break, more specifically the Pacific Northwest. I had sinus surgery for the 4th time in the beginning of June. The Dr. reassured me we would be seeing each other again...not something that can be cured unfortunately. I did have a lot of swelling in my face this time for about 6 weeks, I looked like a chipmunk with it's cheeks full of food!! After my surgery we house sat for my cousins that live out of the Portland Area and did a lot of side trips to Seattle and Roseburg. Caught a couple Mariners games, and spent time at the coast. While there, we decided to start looking at areas in the State of Washington of places we might like to retire after our job is done in Alaska, where we could be near most of our family. After visiting several towns from all the way North to the south of the state, we decided on Longview, where we found a lovely home and put an offer the same day!
Longview is located in Southwest Washington about 45 minutes from Portland. I have family in both directions off of I-5 so it is an ideal location to stay close to family as we can! The offer was excepted and paperwork was started at the end of June, closing was to be July 28th.
The next week, we took a short trip to the Mid-West to visit our daughter who was house sitting in Chicago! We took in as much as we could in 4 days...had a fantastic time there! We went to see Millenium Park, walked all over the city, Played at The Navy Pier, we took an Architectural Boat Tour and of course, took in a Cubs game! We picked the hottest week of the year to visit, but we still had a great time! Upon coming back from our trip, our house closed and we were able to move in what little items we had in our storage, spent two glorious days in the house before having to fly back to Alaska for the new school year! We did get some time in between all of that to see a lot of family as well!
Once we got back to Alaska, Greg went right to work, attended the District In-Service and school started on August 17th. I started choir back the same week so that we would be able to have a Fall Concert before sports started, taking my choir singers with them! We held our concert on October 17th, the community came and was able to see just how good the kids have become! We found out that the"Region 1 Music Festival" that is held in April every year, will be in Kotzebue. We have started our fundraising and hope to have all the monies we need to get the group there!
We are deep into winter already! We got snow in October and it has been snowing and subzero temps ever since! 
I have done a lot of crafting, mostly cards as my printer isn't working well for photographs. I made over 100 Christmas cards this year as well as sold several all occasion and birthday cards. I look forward to replenishing my supplies when we go to the Lower 48 for Christmas break. I am in search of the perfect All-In-One printer, maybe Santa will bring me one this year? Here are just a few...
Greg is coaching High School Basketball again and they started practices right after the Thanksgiving break. he has a lot of new players as most of his team graduated last May. Their first game will be January 12th! Go Blue Jays!
The choir decided to do Caroling around the village on Friday December 16th! We have never done it before so it was a great opportunity not only for the kids to get out there and show what they could do, but bring cheer to a lot of our neighbors, especially the elders! Greg and I had the kids come over for hot chocolate and snacks in between neighborhoods, to warm their toes. It was pretty cold and it had started to snow, but we had a great time! The school is having the Christmas Showcase on Monday, December 19th. The choir will be the last to perform for the evening. We have been practicing as much as we can, in between basketball practices!
The last day of school, will be Tuesday December 20th. We chartered a plane that afternoon, as we have to catch the jet out of Bethel that evening. We will be in Longview the morning of December 21st! We can't wait to get back to our new house and spend some time getting it set up! We have plans to see a lot of family during the short time we are home, and cannot wait to actually do some shopping in a store!
We hope that everyone has a safe and memorable holiday season! Merry Christmas - Happy Hanukkah!
