I have so much to write and I'm not exactly sure if I can get it all in one post or if it will even make sense, but I will give it my best shot. I will try to start from the very beginning when I left Mountain Village. I say I because Ben didn't come down states at the same time I did. Anyway, there were about 10 of us teachers leaving that day including one of my best friends, Nuka and her 16 month old daughter. Here is a picture of us all leaving. Oh yeah, Moose was along with me as well. He does very well in the plane.
Ok, so there we go. It is hard to make out any faces, but just know that was all of us that left that day. It took two planes to take us all. One Caravan and one 207. Lucky for me, I was on the Caravan that goes much faster than the 207.
Anyway, we got to Anchorage and of course ate out like it was nobody's business. We spend three days there and I could not wait for a home cooked meal. We got back and stayed the night in Norwood Young America with Ben's parents and then Nuka and the babes and I took off to Fargo to see my sister. I never would have thought that my first home cooked meal would be meatloaf from my sister who is a vegetarian. That is love right there. I got to see my nephew, Liam and let me tell you....he is the most handsome feller I know. Here is his picture below.
So, after our Fargo adventure we cruised back to Norwood to meet up with my hott husband, Benjamin. I always miss him even if we are only apart for a couple of days. I'm so used to having him with me in everything I do and when he isn't there...it just isn't the same. Ok, enough with the mushiness. Next up, it was time to go house hunting. I absolutely loved going house hunting, but it never really hit me that we would actually be buying a house and settling down. I will explain that more later. After about two weeks of house hunting and other fun shenanigans, Nuka's sister Madeline and Madeline's son Caleb made the trek to Minnesota. The only bummer part was a day after they arrived, we had to take TyAnna's daughter to the hospital and she was admitted there for three days. TyAnna was born with two holes in her heart and she takes medicine daily and is always going into Anchorage for checkups and so forth. So, with this heart condition, her heart has to work extra hard just to breathe, and it ended up that TyAnna had viral Pneumonia. It was very scary, especially for Nuka as she was in a new hospital and her daughter was suffering. So, I stayed the night with Nuka and TyAnna for three nights while Madeline and Caleb stayed home and was entertained by my mother in law, Kathy. Let me just tell you. Kathy is one of the most patient and genuinely nicest people I know. She took them pretty much wherever they wanted to go while I was with Nuka. After three days in the hospital and some good antibiotics, TyAnna was back to her crazy and fun self. Here is a picture of TyAnna being sick of the hospital.
Ok, so we got out of the hospital and the next day hit the ground running. We went to the Mall of America and went on some rides at Camp Snoopy. Yes, I still call it that because that's what it was called when I was younger. We also brought my niece Ava along and got our nails done as well. This was the first time that Nuka, Madeline, and Caleb had ever gone on a roller coaster. It was a blast! The next day, Ben and I went to do some more house hunting. Sure enough, we found THE house. It is in Maple Lake, which is just 8 miles west of Buffalo where Ben will be teaching. It is a beautiful house with vaulted ceilings, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, fenced in back yard, and an unfinished basement. I love it and I can't wait to move in. I believe our closing date is on July 17th. The next few days was going to various malls like Albertville, Eden Praire Center, back to the Mall of America, and Cabelas. In Alaska, people are always ordering things online from Cabela's, so it was pretty cool to go inside of an actual Cabela's store. This was my first time as well. I'm not sure what day it was, but we went to Valleyfair. It was a BLLLAST. Even though it was SO hot and of course I got sunburned. Nuka went on the Wild thing 4 times and Madeline went 2 times. I was so proud of them. Caleb had a blast as well and even went on the High Roller. We also went to the Minnesota Zoo with my sister in law Katee and her 5 kids. It was also VERY hot, but we had fun anyway. They were SO excited to see giraffes. In fact, a lot of the time while they were here they kept saying that things were like a movie. It was true, a lot of what we were doing is things that they never experience and only see in movies. So cool! Their final night in Minnesota we got to experience some AWESOME thunder storms. They never have storms in Alaska and so part of them was scared, but they were also very excited.
I dropped them off at the airport this morning and it was so sad. Sad for many reasons. I think it was sad because I love that family so much and I'm going to miss them terribly, but also sad because it meant that Alaska was leaving me. I've been holding onto "Alaska" for the last month because they have been here. After Ben and I bought our house I got kind of sad realizing that we are settling down here in Minnesota. I'm coming around to being more excited about it and I know I will be as soon as we get into our house and get settled down. I can't wait to start this next chapter with Ben, but I can't help but be sad about leaving part of my heart in Alaska. Anyway, the rest of the summer is going to be VERY busy. June 26 is Ben and I's anniversary. The following Saturday I'm throwing a shower/bachelorette party for my friend Katie who is getting married in July. Then it will be the fourth of July. On July 5th Ben and I will be going on vacation with my side of the family for a week and a half. The day I get back it will be time for Katie's wedding. I'm her only bridesmaid and I feel so honored to stand next to her on her big day. Then, five days later is our closing date on our house and we will be busy moving in. Thanks for all of your love and support in everything we do. I love hearing back from all of you and how you are all doing. I will try to keep the blog going as long as I can. :)
One last picture of Nuka, Madeline, and myself on their last night of being in Minnesota.
From left to right. Nuka, Me, Madeline
