Moving in Fun!

We got the great news last

Wednesday that our household goods would be arriving Thursday. We were so excited that we were not only getting out of hotel, but into our own bed! When the items arrived it was a bitter sweet moment. Item after item was broken. Some of our broken things are: both TV stands, dining room chair, bookshelf, dresser, etc. Even though they are just things, I think we are somewhat frustrated with having to go through the ordeal of claiming these items and getting them fixed or replaced. We are still in great spirits though! Will and I are getting used to rural living. I freaked out because I thought I saw a lizard on the floor, it was only tape. These are our top 3 favorite stories so far.

Washer/Dryer:
Will hooked up the washer and dryer out in the garage commenting how easy it was. After he was done I had him come inside for a much needed break. After awhile, we started hearing sounds. Not sure if it was the sounds of the house, dishwasher, or washing machine, Will went to the garage to further inspect. Next thing I heard was Will screaming, “It’s FLOODING! It’s FLOODING!” I scrambled to put on my tennis shoes went out to join Will and half of the garage was flooded with water. Will is running around repeating, “It’s FLOODING!” I grab a broom and start repeating to him, “TURN IT OFF…TURN IT OFF!” While Will was turning off the water and inspecting, I’m sweeping water out of the garage. He then commented that he would never forget to hook up the drainage tube. I asked him if he had ever hooked up a washer and dryer and he replied, “Nope, but your dad showed me and it looked pretty easy.” Side note, as we were cleaning the garage we heard the baying of a wolf in the distance. I gave Will ‘The Look.’

Pickles anyone?:
Will and I are truly experiencing the lack of storage in our new home. We decided that we would take a break at 7:30 pm and go get some storage items and dinner. By 8:45 we were starving in the grocery line. Will and I went into the “Family Friendly” line and were stuck in line behind someone “less fortunate” and not paying with cash…. Of course, we have no problem with people with WIC services, but we were frustrated with the amount of coupons and conversations she was striking up with the cashier. Finally, by 8:50 we were out of there heading home and yes, starving! We came inside, Will decided to start arranging shelves in the fridge BEFORE we ate and a fridge shelf dropped and the pickles fell down on our carpet. Thank goodness, it only opened, the juice poured out, yet the pickles remained. I’m hungry, grumpy, and now frustrated. Will grabs a paper towel and starts wiping off the dill seeds off the carpet onto the kitchen floor. I am looking at Will like he is crazy, I grab the carpet, and Will and I take it out on the porch. I take this 5 x 7 rug and shake it out. So now pickle juice is not only streaming down the window (look closely at the window picture), but a nice bit of vinegar gets into my eyes! Will is trying to get me inside to wash them out, I cannot even open my eyes to figure out where to go, and again, we still haven’t eaten. Around 9:15 p.m. we finally ate and eventually got the rug cleaned and put back into the kitchen. Another side note: Will said the pickles were just fine and returned the liquid-less pickles back into the fridge.

Will the Tool Guy:
Will has now decided he is an experienced handy man. He put in another wire shelf into our closet above the other one. After realizing he measured wrong and needed it cut a little shorter he also decided that he needed a tool belt! Man, Will loves his tool belt. He successfully installed the shelf (second time’s a charm). We unpacked all of our clothes and made the closet our space. This morning, I went to open the closet and had a little bit of a struggle. I turned on the light and low and behold…a bent shelf. Luckily, it is NOT the one Will installed. So the good news is that Will and I will be looking for an armoire today.

Summer Solistice

Our pictures first must begin with Will’s incredible fashion assemble that he wore for about three days straight. He wore his fleece vest through frigid temperatures of 73. I thought he looked somewhat patriotic. Will disagreed when he aggressively pointed out his silver shorts. Will officially installed our mailbox. After three days, the tree cutter hit the mailbox and now it has more of an angled effect. However, we officially are getting mail. Before I forget, our address is 841 Old Steese Hwy N., Fairbanks, AK 99712. We also have finished painting the three bedrooms and two bathrooms. We are now installing contact paper to our shelves. Pictures will be posted after we get our stuff…tick tock…tick tock. Some of the pictures that I had to include is a typical Raven (the size of Mattie - 10 pound dachshund) and some of the log cabin homes with antler accessories down the street from our house.

We were fortunate to get away with our thoughts by participating in the Midnight Fun Run this past Saturday. Will and I met my penpal, Marisa, and her husband Joe. They have been very helpful in showing us the sites and telling us the ins and outs of Fairbanks. We loved the 10 K run. It involved various locals in costumes and a few serious runners. We decided to take the “fun” to heart and walked the entire time through rain and punk wielding water guns! It started at 10 pm and we finished at 12:30 am. In the picture below, we came in about 30 minutes too late and they started taking down the finish line. Notice how light **accidental comma** it was at 12:30 am. Will and I were quite sore the next day. We were feelin’ our thirties for sure! At this point we are waiting for our household goods. I’m on the hunt for a job and Will will officially start his job Monday. Until next time…

A house! We have a house!

We officially ended up with the house we saw online prior to coming to Fairbanks. Our landlords are extremely flexible and are willing to let us do pretty much anything to make the house our home. Things Will and I have to get used to: no garbage disposal, not a lot of storage space, a whole different world for water, no garbage pick up, and awesome radiated floor heating. We are currently trying to figure out if we can install a mailbox so we don't have to get a PO box and I'm trying not to stress about the fact that I do not currently have a job. Sigh. Will and I are taking advantage of the fact our household goods haven't come in yet and we have started painting our bedroom. I wanted to include pictures of the before and after. We only included the pictures of the master bedroom. So here are the before pictures...

Day 12 ~ Haines, AK to Fairbanks, AK

We experienced our first Alaskan "summer" night. We fell asleep while it was still light about 10:30 pm. When I briefly woke up at 5:20 it was as bright as it was when I woke up at 8:00. Will recalled waking up around 1 am that morning and it was still relatively light. As soon as we left Haines, we had zero signal and was in for the last long day. When we entered British Columbia it was beautiful. I can only describe it like we were in a dream. We saw snow on the side of the road and drove through clouds. As soon as we got into the Yukon, the scenery changed. It was still very pretty, but we started noticing our windshield accumulating a nice collection of mosquitoes. We stopped to grab something to eat. Will commented to the cashier that it must be mosquito season and the guy responded, "Yup, welcome to the Yukon." I had to go wait in the car because they were everywhere! As we continued our quest, I started noticing little critters on the side of the road. I tried to point some out to Will, but he kept making excuses that it was a stick or I was "seeing" something. Finally, Will started seeing them. My guess was that they were little prairie dogs. I was so excited, I kept clapping, and told Will that this was even better then seeing a Smart Car. We also saw a black bear walking along the side of the road as well. It was pretty cool. We finally reached the Alaskan border (again) and Will was demanding a sign that said something to the effect of 'Welcome to America.' And low and behold there was one! Phew! At this point, we both became well aware on how tired I was when we arrived in Alaska and I told Will, "Welcome to Canada!" We finally arrived in Fairbanks about 9:00 pm. We were completely exhausted and thankful that it was light so we were easily able to stay alert. Unfortunately, there were no moose sightings, but we are still looking!

Day 11 ~ Pacific Ocean to Haines, AK

Will and I woke up and started to take our things to the car. We watched the end of a movie, saw whales, dolphins, and seals. Will also played a hunting game to pass the time. About 2:30 we arrived in Haines. The background view is breathtaking. However, after "experiencing" a little more of the area, we came up with our Top 4 favorite quotes:

1. Will and I were eating at a Mexican restaurant (I know..I know...we were hungry and it was the only thing open) when he looked at me and said, "We may have to lower our comfort zone."

2. We were walking around Haines looking at the local shops. The owner of a jewelry shop struck up a conversation with Will and I (mainly Will). Then the owner, he, looked at Will and said, "You really have a nice body." We left after 15 minutes and I was amused with just how much this guy was hitting on Will. Will said, "I'm confident and I can handle it."

3. Again at the restaurant, I looked at Will and said, "Where did you take me?"

4. I was on the phone with Wendi when Will was trying to kill a fly. Wendi made a comment that she heard him kill the fly and I responded, "I'm not surprised, the fly was as big as a rat."

In our mini-cabin for the night, it came with our very own grill! The amount of mosquitoes was insane! I saw handfuls of mosquitoes flying outside of the car window. I'm glad Will was the one volunteering to get out to pay the mini-cabin in the morning!

P.S. Will also forgot to turn in the key. We'll be mailing that back to the owners soon! Heh heh!

Day 10 ~ Canadian Waters to Ketchikan, Alaska

We were able to get off the ferry around 9:30 am. Will and I went to a diner for some breakfast and walked to downtown (3 miles). There was fog on top of the surrounding mountains, the air was damp and cold, and there was an occasional sprinkle here and there. Overall, I would describe it as gloomy. We managed to get downtown and our first purchase were hats (man, my ears were chhhhilly). Will and I enjoyed looking at the “kitschy” things. We managed to hail a cab and rode back to our ferry. There will be two other ports today, but only for an hour each. We bought a deck of cards and I introduced Will to "Speed." We played that for about an hour and then headed to bed!

Day 9 ~ in Canadian Waters

We managed to both sleep on one bed in order to use the top bunk as another storage place. It was humorous to hear twice throughout the day, the purser coming on the intercom warning specific tent owners that their tent was in danger of blowing over board. Will and I spent the day, reading, watching the incredible scenery, and reading (yes, Mom, I was reading) some more. Some of the interesting things we saw today were dolphins, a bald eagle, and Will even saw a whale. It started to become quite humorous how Will took a picture of EVERY SINGLE MOVING thing we saw. I took video of it because it was just that funny. Tomorrow we port for the first time on this journey.