Rain! Rain! Come and Stay.

We got rain!  We got rain!  We have been waiting so long.  Ponds are drying up, boat docks aren't reaching the lake, plants and crops everywhere are dying.  We need it to do this every day for a month, but we will celebrate what we get!

First Day of school 2012

Thursday, August 16th was the first day of school. 

Kylee is now in first grade and her teacher is Katie Ricks.  I was quite upset when Kylee was assigned this teacher because at the end of last year, I spoke with Kylee's kindergarten teacher, wrote a letter to the administration about her, and had a meeting with the principal.  None of the things I requested (teacher, teacher history, friend in class, etc) were honored.  None!! And to make it even more aggravating, several friends I know got exactly what they requested for their children.  However, having met Kylee's teacher I have high hopes that this year will be great.  Her teacher is over-the-top nice and from the few minutes we've spent with her, she reminds me a bit of a Disney Princess.  I can't think of a better match for Kylee. I think Kylee felt the same way because after meeting her teacher on Monday, she couldn't wait to start school on Thursday.

Brayden's teacher looped with the class, so he has the same teacher as last year, Mitzi Carrington.  A few of the students decided not to loop, so there were some open spots in the class.  Unbelievably, an LDS boy was put in Brayden's class.  There are only three 4th grade LDS boys in our school, and one of them (the one in Brayden's class) is from a different ward.  Fingers crossed that they become friends.

Brayden is in a Brand-new building.  Now in our area, there is one campus for preK-2nd grade, one for 3-4 grade, one for 5-6 grade, one for 7-8 grade and then they put all the kids in the whole district together for 9-12. I won't have two kids at one school until Brayden is a senior.  Kylee and Mikayla will never go to the same school!

Mikayla's first haircut

I couldn't put it off any longer, it was time for Mikayla to get her hair cut.  I originally had her scheduled at JCPenny because they are doing a "free haircuts for kids" promotion.  Brayden and Kylee each got their hair cut at the store, but Mikayla didn't want to get in the stylist's chair.  We let another little girl waiting go before us, hoping that Mikayla would get to watch and realize it wasn't bad.  A few minutes into that girl's cut, the stylist found lice.  I wasn't going to stick around for a free hair cut and possibly come away with lice, so we left and headed straight to Walmart for some shampoo with tea tree oil in it (tea tree oil is unscientifically proven to decrease your chances of getting lice).  So far, we are head varmint free and I'd say I did a right-fine job of cutting my cutie's hair at home.  As evident from the picture, Kylee was taking a bath and washing her hair with lice zapping shampoo at the time.

I was sad when her baby curls came off.  It is probably my last first haircut.  Sniff. Sniff.

Megan and Todd come to visit

Megan, Todd, and Lila spent the summer living in Philadelphia.  On their way home to Utah, they stopped at some church sites and then came to visit us for a couple of days.  We had so much fun visisting with them and the kids were sad when they had to leave.

The first day, we went swimming at the neighborhood pool and todd helped Brayden with his catching skills.  We had a picnic while we were there. 

The second day we went to the aquarium. We got to pet horseshoe crabs, shrimp, stingrays and starfish.  

Megan and Todd happened to be here on two record breaking heat days.  At least one (and I think both) of the days we were hotter than the Sahara Desert or Death Valley.  The only place in the world with a recorded temperature hotter than Tulsa was Bagdad.  So sorry Megan and Todd!  We are now in the chilly low nineties.  We are so happy you braved the heat to come and visit.

Cruising Alask, Day 7

This morning was a sleep in morning for most, but I still hadn't won a ship trophy, to I got up early to go to trivia.  And guess what--I won!  Brayden and Sam helped, but they took pity on me and let me keep the trophy.  Taylor took the girls to breakfast in the dinning room and then to camp.  Taylor and Brayden went mini golfing on the top deck and then took the kids to lunch with Matt and Ellie. I played some hand and foot with Grandma and Grandpa and had a Dan Faber family lunch, which was quite enjoyable.  We also started packing today.  Boo!

The guys were hanging out on deck and noticed that the green slide was open.  A very cold Filipino was operating it and thought they were crazy, but they went for it anyway! Kenzie and Ali decided to join, too. I think the pictures pretty much say it all.

At dinner, the girls all sat together and the boys sat together and each table had a great time. At 7:30 we docked in Victoria.  We left the kids on the boat and Mom charted a van for us, Darren, Danica, Shelly, Lauren, and Nikenzie, and Dad.  We stopped at the Lenient Governor's and signed a guest book for the Queen of England and then saw a castle, Parliament, and the Empress Hotel.  There were some awesome buskers (street entertainers) and I had a few minutes of fun dancing on the sidewalk, mostly by myself.  We headed back to the boat and got the kids and ate ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa and the gang before bed.

Sadly, the next morning we had to leave the big, big boat.  We woke up early enough to eat in the dining room one last time and then away we went.  The trip home went smoothly until our last flight was delayed by a couple hours.  We got home after midnight after a full day of travel.  I had forgotten how hot Oklahoma can be.

Best trip ever.

Cruising Alask, Day 6

Standing on deck two, looking up.  This is where the glass elevators are in this ship.

Matt enjoying his desesrt (another helping of Filet Mignon)

Our whole group (minus the bartender in the corner of the picture)

Welcome to Ketchican!  We got up early and decided to skip the dining room to eat on Lido deck.  I asked one of the workers if we could have a pastry and he gave us a huge plate of them.  I think he thought it was a joke, but by the time enough of our party had rotated through, they were gone.  We took the kids to camp and went out to Ketchican.  It was super fun to hang out with Megan and Todd.  We did a little shopping and bought some ornaments in the Christmas shop (where I sat on Santa's lap) and some pendants made out of moose bone.  We wondered around and came to Creek Street with a beautiful bridge and shopping built right out of the river.  We rode a cool glass elevator that went up the hillside, enjoyed the view, and found some totem poles.  The elevator ended up beingpart of the Cape Fox Lodge. Todd got some smoke Salmon and the sample at the store was delish.   Taylor and I then went to the The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show and had a fantastic time. 

I took an afternoon nap on the ship with the girls and then we got up and got ready for a fireside and group pictures.  Afterward, Brayden wanted to go to camp and Kylee wanted to stay fancy and eat with the grown ups.  Some one told the waiter it was Will's birthday and they brought out a special desert and sang to him.  It wasn't his birthday.  But is was hilarious.  After dinner, the boys went to the top deck and the wives eventually joined them.  We had a fun time watching the sunset and just being together.  We then headed to the comedian show (it didn't take long to figure out the comedians are much more enjoyable that the "shows").  We picked up the kids and took them to see the magician perform some tricks.  It was a late night, but so fun.