It's been a busy first week. Our household goods arrived on Monday. It was oh so nice to finally sleep in our cali king after almost a month hiatus. Only a couple of items were damaged so far. The big bummer is our native Alaskan ivory mask of a salmon was broken in pieces. That will be hard to replace...it may require a trip to Alaska to do so. I'm not sure if the relocation company will pay for three round trip tickets to do so.
Kirk killed our first spider at the house. It wasn't a small one like those in Alaska. Oh no, this was a 2-3" wide black widow. Holy bejesus! I was talking to our friend Jen in Houston on the phone when I noticed something large and black crawling on the wall on the back patio. Kirk wouldn't confess to me what he killed until later that night. I hate spiders with a passion. Small, big, hair or not, I just don't like them period. I have issues with hitting them because most jump back. I would rather spray them with whatever chemical I have handy until they croak. So Raid and I will become friends now that we are back in the southwest. I Googled black widows that night to see what we could do to help eliminate the population around the house. I had flashbacks of my older brother being bit by one when we were younger. Pesticides won't really help. One big thing is to get rid of the moist, dark areas around the house especially near the foundation. We have alot of green non-flower type landscape cover near the house in the backyard that is getting pulled out along with the bark bits used as well now that the shovels have arrived.
Sarah is a hoot and is saying more words everyday. The latest repeats are: Elmo, tractor (Sarah's version of the word said a million times in a 30 min period), slide, lights, trash and eye. She is a friend to everyone at the store. They all get a "hello", pageant wave and smile. If you ask her to say cheese, she gives a big smile and wrinkles her nose. It's too cute. It was like Christmas as we unpacked her boxes of toys, furniture and books. She wanted Kirk to read all her books on Monday afternoon once the movers left the house. He could only get through the first page until she would bring the next one to him.
The big news as of last night is we have an offer on the house in Anchorage. We are negotiating at a price less than what we wanted but once the whole relo process is said and done, we come out OK. So, the close date is set for Halloween of all days. Let's hope we can seal the deal.
We had a great weekend with Grandma Darlene ('Gaga') and Grandpa Len ('Papa') who came down from Delta, CO. On Saturday we enjoyed the afternoon in Durango. We took the Great Pumpkin Patch Express or better known as the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad on a fun ride outside of Durango. It was a great way to get in the Halloween spirit. The train ride was about 30 minutes to a campground outside of town. Once at the campground, the kids could visit several booths with coloring, treats, music, goats, bubbles, balloons, a visit with Charlie Brown, Lucy and Snoopy plus run through the hay maze to the pumpkin patch. Once in the patch, the kids are allowed to pick out the perfect pumpkin and take it home.
Sarah did very well and the costume stayed on to the campground but had to come off shortly after arriving. She loved the hay maze the most plus walking with Gaga and Papa to visit miniature horses near the campground while walking in leaves. The day couldn't have been more beautiful with a pleasant temperature, very blue skies and great family. 
Sarah enjoyed her first taste of a popsicle (aka all natural fruit juice on a stick with no added sugars). She had a good time though it took some convincing at first to get her to the first bite. 
