Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with our family. Our tradition is to open gifts on Christmas Eve and Santa gifts on Christmas Day. Jade loved opening and playing with her gifts. This was Kenny's 1st Christmas so she was a great big sister in showing him how to open his gifts. Kenny was more interested in the bags and wrapping than the gifts themselves.
Christmas Eve we drove around and looked at Christmas lights and delivered Christmas Cookies. We enjoyed a Prime Rib Dinner with twice baked potatoes and delicious brownies made by Grandma Jean on Christmas Day. We topped the day off by playing several rounds of bowling, golf and boxing on the Wii. It was a great time with family!

Ward, Bea, Jean, Wyatt, Eric, Jared, Carol, Kenny and JadeSue, Eric, Kenny, Carol and Jade

Grandma Jean playing Golf on the Wii

Jade playing with her new Train Set

Jared and Jade Boxing on the Wii

Jade making us some Play Doh Ice Cream

Kenny in his new bike

Kenny's 1st Christmas - Opening Presents

Kenny playing with the packaging

Jade holding her new Tea Set

Jade made Reindeer Cookies for her classmates

Hawaii Happiness!

Mele Kalikimaka & Aloha!! We spent 7 days on the Island of O'ahu - in Honolulu this past week. We traveled with our friends Dan & Annette Smith, their on Danny, our friend Alfi and Annette's parents Rick and Carol.

The trip started out a bit crazy - but ended on a good note. We left Anchorage and were supposed to go direct to Honolulu - but ended up getting routed to Seattle first, making our 5 hour flight a 9-10 hour flight. When we left Seattle, after take-off our airplane sucked up a bunch of geese - causing a fire ball - right outside our window. We landed safely and had a multiple fire truck escort back to the gate. We got out of Seattle that night and got into Hawaii at 3am!

When we arrived in Honolulu we arrived to flash flood warnings - wind and rain!! Fortunatley the flash flooding only lasted the first couple days. The rest of the time was partly cloudy and sunny. We didn't let that stop our time on the beach or out exploring. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village - which was a great hotel - with birds, fish, penguins and turtles that Jade loved to go see every day.

We managed to drive around the whole island, we went to Dillingham Airfield twice - the first time just to see what it was like, the second to go on a Glider Plane ride, which was the highlight of the trip for both Eric and I. We also went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, we went on an evening boat cruise, went to the Honolulu Zoo, Pearl Harbor, the Dole Plantation, saw lots of Honolulu Marthon runners and got pictures at Nike Town lookin' like we ran the marathon (: and shopped at Waikiki.

On our drive around the island we stopped for pictures at Hanauma Bay (we didn't go snorkling, which we would do if we went back) and we stopped at "The Shack" and got a picture of our friend Steven's license plates that are up on the wall at the restaurant.

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Jade sitting with a Giraffe at the Honolulu Zoo

The Wrens Christmas Photo

Dancers at the Polynesian Cultural Center

Jade and I sporting our cultural tattoos

A picture of the airplane pulling the Glider plane

at Dillingham Airfield

Sunrise in Honolulu (we got up pretty early every day)

Eric getting strapped in for the Glider Ride - He got to fly the Glider

A submarine we toured at Pearl Harbor

Jade in her Zebra in the Lagoon

Hawaiian Dancers performing for a Sunday Service on the Beach

Kenny having a fit because we made him go in the Lagoon - it was a bit cold for him

Jade playing with her toys on the Beach

Jade proudly wearing her new sunglasses

Dole Plantation had a huge Maze that we went through - the goal was to find the 8 stations in the maze and time yourself. With both kids, we only managed to find 4 of the 8 stations. Everyone got tired and hungry so we had to leave

Here is Dole Plantation-it was fun watching the pineapple cutting demonstrations and eating fresh pineapple.

The beach at Dillingham Airfield

Eric taking in the view from our Hotel Room Deck

Kenny hamming it up on the beach

The view from our hotel room (top floor)

This was a fun family vacation - the first time for Eric, Jade and Kenny to Hawaii and the first time Carol had been to O'ahu. We enjoyed seeing so many things and spending time with our friends Annette, Dan, Danny, Alfi and Annette's Parents Carol and Rick.

Aloha!!!

More Pics of Playing in the Snow

Here are a few more pictures of us over the Thanksgiving weekend. On the morning of the big snowfall we took the kids outside and pulled them on their sleds to the school yard across the street. Jade spent most of the ride falling out and laughing at herself and Kenny enjoyed watching Jade and squealing with her.

Eric and Jade

Cruisin' along

Carol and Kenny

New Fur Hats

We often have artists sell their jewlery and hand made items at my office. They recently had a holiday bazaar in our building and I found these great fur hats for the kids. Here are a few pics of them - they had fun posing for me.

Here is Kenny with is "Got Muk Tuk?" Bib - I couldn't resist the purchase at AFN

Kenny in his Beaver Hat

Jade in her fox hat

Jade and Kenny trying their new hats

Thanksgiving & Snow Days

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. We've shopped, eating really good food, played video games on the Wii, and played outside in the snow! Here are some pics of the kids over the weekend.

Jade and Kenny Update

Firegirl Jade

She learned all about fires and fire safety at school

Kenny got so full, he fell right to sleep

Kenny - 10 months old - 1st Haircut


Big Sister & Little Brother Wren

Kenny turned 10 months old on 11/18. He got his first haircut on his birthday-mom and dad have learned that going to a professional stylist will be best for our kids from here on out! Jade continues to love school-she brings home projects everyday-we have quite the collection going. She also pays close attention to who was the leader for the classroom that day and keeps us informed. She had Eric and I laughing so hard tonight because she beat both of us in boxing on our new Wii gaming system. Already we can tell playing games on the Wii will be a family fun activity!

My Trip to Scotland and England

The last week of October I had the opportunity to travel to the UK on a business trip. Three of us from Alaska and two folks from Toronto, Canada traveled to Glasgow, Scotland to learn about the mental health services offered by their national health services as well as to learn about the non-profit services offered to their community and to the minority community in Scotland. We presented to a group of service providers about Alaska Native culture and the services we offer. It was an amazing experience. We met great people everywhere we went.

I had the opportunity to stay and take 4 personal days and traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland and to London. In London, Drew and Hope Cherry allowed me to stay with them for a couple nights. It was a wonderful trip and I hope in the future to travel with my family to other countries!

Posing with a guard at Buckingham Palace

A statue of a mother outside Buckingham Palace



Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abby

Crosses commemorating the Military in the UK
(outside Westminster Abbey)

The London Eye

Tower Bridge Over the River Thames

St. Pauls Cathedral

A Bag Piper in Edinburgh Scotland

A street shot in Edinburgh Scotland

An Advice Shop in Edinburgh Scotland

Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle

Me in Front of Stirling Castle

Hammish the Highland Cow

Me on a cruise of Loch Lomond

Me standing in front of Scot Monument

Cowgate in Edinburgh Scotland

Me dancing at a Ceilidh - Traditional Scottish Dancing

All the ladies taking a break between dances

Mid-Swing at the Ceilidh

All of us at the Scotia Clubhouse in Glasgow

Scotia Clubhouse Flag

Enjoying Indian Food in Glasgow