Greetings from Farmington, New Mexico

We are finally here in our house in Farmington, NM. It's day 4 of being in the house and it's nice. We stayed a week in Durango, CO until we closed on the house and had the carpets/tile cleaned earlier in the week. It also took a week to get our new wireless card from Verizon since Qwest has limited DSL and you have to go on a wait list. What? Come on, it's the lower 48...you would think DSL would be readily available and cheap.

So far we've made at least 5 trips to the mother ship....Target!! Oh yeah it's nice. We also filled two grocery carts yesterday at Safeway (aka Carrs for our northern friends) and it only cost $500. Now that was nice. We are in the land of cheaper fruit and meat making life a little easier. The weather has been great. We wake up and say goodnight to blue skies and sunshine. The temperatures are still up in the high 70's and low 80's so I'm trying to adjust to that as well. I think Sarah is too. We are trying to get her back on schedule and help her feel like this is home now. We do miss our friends in Alaska including the little people Sarah played with at the ELC. We are still searching for a day care alternative until we can get into the one we want. We have one we may try.

We picked up the truck last week and the household goods arrive first thing on Monday morning the 29th. YAHOO! I can't wait to sleep in my own bed and have Sarah's changing table back so I can stop with the WWF matches everytime I need to change a poopy diaper. :-) Hopefully the Honda is here shortly after that - I miss her. Kirk starts work on Monday October 6th and is looking forward to it. Like he told me yesterday, he is ready to work instead of being on constant honey-do duty.

We will be going to Delta and Grand Junction, CO next weekend, if the weather allows, in the Cessna. Unfortunately Kirk's older cousin unexpectedly passed away last week therefore we will be attending the memorial service on Saturday evening. That made last week difficult but we know she is in a better place now.

Here are a few pictures of the house and from the vacation rental in Durango last week.

Sarah playing with Grandma Darlene on the back deck at the vacation rental.

Sarah modeling her shades.

Sarah LOVES the papasan chair at the vacation rental.

Kirk outside the new house. Happy owner of TWO mortgages! Yahoo!

Other house pictures.

Goodbye Alaska

We left Alaska on Wednesday, September 17th in the morning. Boy was that hard. The night before, we made the rounds to a few friends to say so long for now. The tears were flowing. But on the morning of the flight, the reality of it all hit hard as we pulled out of the garage and watched the garage door close. The car got quiet with the exception of the rain coming down. The lump in the throat was too much to brush off and the tears started to flow. Then again on take off, flying over Kincaid Park then Fire Island and the Cook lnlet, the past 11 years flashed before us and the tears flowed once again. We had many firsts in Alaska and will never forget our first home together. Hiking, camping, bear and caribou hunting, mountain biking, kayaking, cross country skiing, fishing, floating rivers....all were firsts for one or both of us. But most important, Alaska is where Kirk and I called home after our vows, it is where our first baby Rosco was laid to rest and where our beautiful gift Sarah was born. All the memories no matter happy or sad are held dear to our hearts. Our friends are also held dear and are missed terribly. We know that we will see each other soon. We will see Alaska soon. Like a friend told us on our last days, "you will be back". We hope so.

Here are a few pictures from our send off BBQ. I didn't get as many as I would have liked. Thank you Candace, Mikie, Stacey and Jennifer for a wonderful send off!

They have landed

Kirk and his dad have landed safe in Delta, CO yesterday. They are resting and will fish for a couple of days before Kirk heads down to Farmington. Sounds like the weather in Delta is quite nice with blue bird skies and warm temperatures. Life is good

Cessna Trip on Delay

Yesterday Kirk was hoping to make it to Delta, CO but woke up to horizontal rain, overcast and winds in Bozeman. So he and his dad had to stay another night in Montana. Hopefully they are on their way or are already in Wyoming with the final destination for the day being Delta, CO. We will see.

I just realized this morning that we will be leaving Alaska in a week from Wed. It's crazy and hard to imagine the moment we step on the airplane as residents knowing the next time we return, we'll just be visitors. Wow....

The Cessna Trip Continues

I thought I would brief everyone on the Cessna trip to date. As stated last post, Kirk and his dad made it to Whitehorse, Canada on Day 1. Day 2 they went to Watson Lake for lunch and planned on staying the night at Ft Nelson but when they arrived, there were little to no accommodations. So they took off and made it just in time before nightfall in Ft St John. On Day 3, they headed to Red Deer but had to stop along the way at some random strip with only a shack near the area because of weather. There was another pilot with his general aviation plane in the area too who had camped the previous night because of weather. So, the potential for an overnight camping trip near the shack was high but the weather cleared in the afternoon enough to take off and end up in Red Deer for the night. Day 4 was a good day because they made it to Cutbank, Montana to clear US Customs and then on to Bozeman, MT. Kirk's quote once in Montana was "I love the US. Canada sucks. It was too expensive. (aviation fuel was somewhere around $7-8/gallon.) After two days in Bozeman fishing mostly in the rain, they will be headed to Delta, CO tomorrow. Or at least that is the plan. We wish them luck with the weather tomorrow and smooth sailing. Now for those who know Kirk really well and/or are project management type folk, we are ahead of schedule. Life is good.

Moving Van, AK State Fair and Cessna Trip Departure Oh My!

It's been a crazy last week and weekend. We started last week with the movers packing and loading up the house. As of Wednesday, we are now living with some old dishes, linens, etc. along with a card table/chairs, borrowed crib and toys from our awesome neighbors, and an air mattress courtesy of Costco. Kirk also purchased a portable DVD player for me so I can be entertained at night with Blockbuster specials. Last night I watched an oldie but goodie - The Devil Wears Prada.

Now you see it:

Now you don't:

Kirk and Sarah in the morning on packing/loading days. It was hard to get going...

We took a break on Saturday from the madness to enjoy the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. We arrived shortly after the doors opened and left in time for Sarah to take a nap in the car on the way home. Sarah enjoyed the petting zoo - the pigs were her favorite. She also rode a small train (for babies/toddlers) and the carousal with me. I tried to get her to eat a corn dog (great, healthy fair food) but she didn't want any part of it. She ate a few potatoes and her cracker/cranberry snack from home.

I also made it to the Babies R Us store that opened in Anchorage before the weekend. They divided the old Toys R Us into two stores in one. It was nice to see such a wonderful assortment of baby/toddler products all under one roof. I picked up a few outfits (including the Adidas suit Sarah wore to the state fair) and her Halloween costume. She was nice enough to humor her mother and wear the costume around the house for me. Too cute!

Finally, Kirk's dad arrived Saturday night from Colorado for the big Cessna adventure from Alaska to New Mexico. Kirk and Len departed yesterday around lunch time. They made it to Whitehorse, Canada last night and will continue onto Watson Lake for lunch today and Ft Nelson for the night. Then the big leg of the trip will be tomorrow to Ft St John and Edmonton...or at least that is what my sheet from Kirk shows and it's always subject to change given weather and where the fish call.