3 Week Update

It's been three weeks since we last updated the blog so I will do a briefly update.

Matthew was gone for three long weeks to Greece and England with some classmates and a teacher. He had a very good trip. They left NY for 2 days in Thessaloniki, 10 days on Mount Athos, back to Thessaloniki for two more days, then to England for 4 days at a monastery there, back to NY for a night and then to AK. It was a very long trip and he and all his classmates were good and ready to be home with their families.

While Matthew was half way across the world the kids and I have been in AK. We stayed pretty busy. We went camping a few days after getting in with my parents and Nate and Mel. They got here on Wed night and we left Thursday to go camping. (My parents, Mary, Isaac, the kids and I, Nate, Mel, Ben, Hans, and Peter) We had a really great time. My mom and I had the kids at camp while everyone was fishing on Friday and it was pretty chilly and overcast. Everyone left for fishing around 6am and the kids were awake at 6:30. For some reason I thought it was closer to 8 or 9 when the kids woke up, but when I finally looked at my watch it was only 7:30. Friday went by pretty slowly...I was ready to go home that night but when I was telling Luke we were going to go home he started crying "no I was to go camping!!" It was pretty funny actually so we stayed another night. We had a good day though! We explored every part of camp, kept the fire going all day, took the dogs on a lot of walks, pumped water, dug in the dirt with spoons and tried to dig a well to China. It was all in all good. At some point in the morning I was desperate for a nap so when Hannah finally took a nap I put on a movie for Luke and three of us got a nap. The Fishing crew finally came back around 2ish with no fish at all. They said there were no fish in the river. My dad checked the fish counter online and discovered there had only been 64 fish up the river in the last 2 days instead of hundreds.

Plan B. Saturday we drove to Seward to see if there were any fish. My dad caught 2 during there last hour fishing but nobody else caught anything. Sat was beautiful and sunny. Mary, my mom and I took the kids the the Sea Life Center and to throw rocks in the ocean. Luke really likes the fish and the "bugs called shrimp". :) Grandpa Bob met us in Seward but decided not to go fishing, so instead he came into the Sea Life Center for a while, had lunch with us in the camper and then took the camper to the Kenai. (Grandpa was taking a break from wedding stuff and house fixing-uping.) We left Seward that evening to go home and got home around 10pm. The kids were covered in dirt from head to toe. Hannah was eating chocolate chips on the way home to keep her from screaming the whole time and then decided to suck on her toes. She had chocolate between almost every toe. Both the kids got a bath, ate toast and then got another bath. We didn't get to bed until midnight and Sunday morning the bells woke us up. We barley made it to church.

After the camping trip both kids got pretty sick with a cold, coughing, runny eyes the works. It went on for about a week they started to get better then all of a sudden took a turn for the worse. I took the kids to the Dr and they both had sines infections. Both on antibiotics that they hate and I have to force down there throats. It's was pretty bad for a while with nobody sleeping and at least one kid up screaming or coughing in the middle of the night. Hannah got a red blistered butt from the antibiotics and screams every time she goes to the bathroom and gets a diaper change. She has been getting a lot of bathes lately. Thankfully they are not done with there meds and Hannah's butt is getting a chance to heal.

Matthew is home and has been for the past two days. Luke was supper excited to see his papa and wouldn't go to anyone else the first day he was home! Matthew is on a 9hr time change though and is having a tough time adjusting. 9hs's is a long time!!!

The weather has been rainy and gloomy almost the whole time we have been here. I for see a yucky summer. We did have a few nice days here and there and some evenings have cleared up the sun peaks through for a bit. Although the rain is good for the lawn and plant's it's not so good for the mower as the grass is way to long by the time it dries out enough to be mowed and then it takes forever to mow it all. I am so behind in my work. I may have to find some other job this summer to make some money, I'm not making very much with all this rain.

We are living in the St James House again for the summer and loving it. There are 3 boys upstairs that Luke loves to play. It works out great here and it is right by my parents.

We celebrated Luke's 3rd birthday on Friday when Matthew got home. Luke and I made a train cake and then Papa helped us decorate it. There was soo much candy on the cake. The kids loved it though (although I think the parents may have been a bit shocked) and most of them just ate the candy off the cake and left the cake. Gummy wheels, licorice tracks and wood, nerds for coal, gummy bear conductor and passengers, gummy worm passengers, chocolates here and there and other stuff. It was a really cool cake. We'll post pictures eventually. Luke had been looking forward to his birthday for days and I don't think her was disappointing at all. He was so excited to see all his friends there.

Well I think this covers most of the three weeks. It's been so long I don't really know what has happened. time to make dinner for my family and then put them all to bed, probably including myself as the kids have shared there cold with me and will be unable to take any meds do to being pregnant and antibiotics having a very bad effect on me. I'll just sleep out this cold.