Visitors to Alaska

This summer in Alaska has been chilly, rainy, and well, not anything I was expecting. We were spoiled last year by all the sun, record breaking temps, and events. This year was kind of a bust. Although we have made huge strides while here. The highlights of this summer have been our trip to Anchorage, Michael playing soccer, Anthony playing tackle football, and our two guests from New York.

Our first guest was my father. I was so nervous. I had not seen him in 2 years and 7 months. When I was living in Hawaii, he was not in a position to travel. When we were in Florida in between duty stations he was in the process of running his harness racing business, so when I came to Alaska I really believed I might not see him until we left. Luckily for me, my husband bought my dad his ticket. No excuses not to come now, right? Let me just say that this is the first time in 14 years that I have had my dad back. He was funny, loving, energetic, compassionate, entertaining, and the man I always remember him being before my mom passed. Typically when we (myself, Rob, and/or the kids) travel to NY, I am crunched for time, I have to share him with many others, and he's always stressed. He's usually always running around doing chores and making other people happy that you rarely get to have some one-on-one time. BUT NOT THIS TIME! I sit here in tears at how happy that one week we had here in Alaska made me. Although there were some hiccups with travel itineraries and other annoyances, I would not have changed it for anything.

As I type this, everyone is sleeping. Including my sister in law who leaves later tonight. It was great having her visit. She was able to spend quality time with her nephews, makes fun of her brother, and we got to share some girl time. Which in this case meant lots of coffee talks, shopping, dying each other's hair, and working out. Usually when we get her to visit, like the time she came to Hawaii and Florida, they are jammed packed with activities. Well in Fairbanks, AK there is not as much to do. So it was a little bit more relaxed and I am kind of glad it was. 

I am not sure what it is anymore. Maybe I am just getting older? Maybe I view things differently? I just view time as so much more precious then I used to. I look at the loved ones in my life and I just want to be selfish and spend more time with them, and then there are people who I wish lived closer so I could have that also. On the bright side we love having visitors and never mind having friends and family stay with us. So who is coming next?

My point is this. Make time for those that matter. Social media does not really count. That means pick up the phone, send a card, and if you can make a trip to see the person do it. No great stories start with "remember that day on Facebook..."Then the next important part that I constantly have to remind myself is that no one can make choices for me and I cannot make their life choices for them. 

Michael Turns 4!

What you do for one you have to do for another. Today is Michael's 4th birthday and what a journey 3 to 4 has been for our little guy. He's my post deployment baby. For those civilian minds, post deployment babies are those sweet blessings that occur after mommy and daddy have gone without each other for so long  because one was on orders. Michael was my deployment. There were none after Rob's because Michael is my handful :)  Michael, your 3rd year is complete.

• During that time we have moved to Alaska. 
• You finally kicked the pull-up habit. (Thank you Potty Gods)
• You attended preschool at Ladd elementary and your amazing teacher Ms. Corrie was unbelievable. 
• You befriended Addy girl who you always wanted to play with and then would purposely scare her.
• You had your little group of boys that you would play with each morning; Henry, Walter, and Ashton
• Some of your favorite things are Minecraft (game), anything Mario(video game), Despicable Me(movie), Brave (movie), hide and go seek, toy guns, Frozen (the movie), singing me your ABC's before bed, riding your bike, goldfish crackers, staying out at hotels, begging me for soda, eating all my watermelon and pineapple, and reading your two favorite books; How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. 
• You have more energy then I know what to do with. 
• You expect to get your way since you're the baby(we need to break this habit).
• It takes you a long time to warm up to people.
• Right before your 4th birthday I needed to load up on 5T clothing because you outgrew all your 4t ones :(
• You think you are the boss.

All you wanted for your birthday was Minecraft toys. When we went to Anchorage we stopped at Toys'r'us to get you everything we couldn't in Fairbanks. You wanted tacos for dinner. Since I couldn't get a baker to bake you a Minecraft cake, I made one from scratch. Vanilla cake, chocolate fudge buttercream, and marshmallow fondant. I hope you enjoyed it because it took me almost 5 hours to make and a trip back to the grocery store. We opened up presents and daddy surprised you with an iPad mini. Hopefully this will stop you from fighting with Anthony. Its been cold and rainy which is the complete opposite of last year so there really wasn't much to do kiddo. But you seemed to still have a great day. 

For your 4th year of life:
I hope that you enjoy your first season of soccer on the Artic kickers.
Continue to work on your manners.
Stop sneaking into my bed at night.
Continue to enjoy preschool.
Continue to work on your speech with mommy's help of course.
Keep mommy from being too serious

Goodbye 8, hello 9

Today marks my son, Anthony's 9th birthday. I share this bittersweet feeling as he gets older. On one hand I am so proud of how far we have come. After a long pregnancy, a scary delivery, and many challenging milestones, my little man is getting older. I remember taking him home and being so nervous. I was only 19 years old. What did I know about raising a child. Not much, but luckily after babysitting the for the Bauvers for a few years and some other families, I knew that I was going to be busy.
I started my Mommy Marine blog when he was very little. I changed over to this blog after some email conflicts, but I'm lucky that everything is still here. I hope he can one day go back and read some of these. For one, he will see how young we all were. Secondly, he will see how poor my writing was (yikes).
So back to my Anthony. Your 8th year is complete.

• During that time we have moved to Alaska. 
• You played a season of flag football with the Fort Wainwright Redskins.
• You attended Ladd elementary with two amazing teachers, Ms Rosevear & Ms. Bartlett.
• You made a best friend named Jack.
• Some of your favorite things are Minecraft (game), Call of Duty Ghosts (video game), Full House reruns(TV show), riding your bike, pizza, hibachi shrimp, root beer soda, junk food, and the Magic Tree House book series. 
• You were my active 8 year old and now my very active 9 year old. 
• You love to be the class clown (to a fault).
• You are the best big brother and mother's helper.
• You kick daddy's butt at Call of Duty.
• You now wear your glasses all the time.

I know you were hoping for a puppy, but you will have to just enjoy Angie and Jake's dogs; Bailey and Boston. (One day, my love bug.)
I hope you enjoy your trampoline. I know you are going to be very excited to open the rest of your gifts from family that thought of you on this day.

For your 9th year of life:
I hope that you enjoy your first year of tackle football.
Make some new friends over summer break.
Love the 4th grade and all it has to offer.
Continue to be the best big brother for Michael
Realize that mommy and daddy love you no matter what.

The Last Frontier

Welcome to Fairbanks, Alaska. Our family arrived here May 24, 2013. Wow, it has almost been a full year. There has been so many adjustments to make. First off, daylight in the summer and then lack of sunlight in the winter. Then there is the issue of mosquitos during the summer. Followed by sheets of ice covering the streets in the winter. Our transition was pretty seamless. We stayed at the Hampton Inn out in town. The hotel was clean, breakfast was hot, and amenities were enjoyed. We moved into our home on June 14th. Luckily for us our house hold goods were delivered the same day. I was even able to set up cable and internet installation the same day. 

This was taken October 2013 on our outing out to Denali. It was a beautiful drive but Denali shuts down on October 1st for the winter. We had enjoyed the summer. I made a few friends the week we got here. Those friends I made would become friends I hope to keep for life.

As for the summer, we celebrated Michael's birthday at the house for a BBQ. July 4th we spent with friends. FYI there are no fireworks since the sun does not really go down. I ran the Jingle in July 5k. Rob ran the Midnight Sun Run 10k in June. We enjoyed his birthday. Celebrated mind in August. Anthony started 3rd grade and Michael was able to enroll into the Pre-k program at Ladd with Anthony since he is EFMP. 

During September, Rob went moose hunting. No luck there. But he learned a lot which will be helpful on our camping trips. Anthony finished up flag football. I was still consumed with school work and Michael was, well Michael. 

My only demand coming to Alaska was a coffee bar. I needed access to hot coffee at all times. This was taken before my birthday. Since then I was gifted an espresso machine :) October we hosted a Halloween party. November we celebrated Thanksgiving with friends. Christmas was the hardest because we did not go home. It really made me miss family. For New Year's we threw a shindig at out home. 

The kids did great this winter. They braved the negative temperatures. Enjoyed ice parks, Santa visits, and enjoyed dog mushing races. Now that spring is here, the Ferrie family is planning an eventful summer. I can't wait to post more. 

Aloha Hawaii. Alaska Bound

       Well it is finally happening. Rob has reenlisted and has been cut order to report to Fort Wainwright, Alaska. We will not have to report until June 10, 2013 but that makes it even crazier. A few weeks ago I said a prayer to my mother and asked her if I was on the right path. If she could send me a sign it would be helpful. So I got my sign. Yesterday Rob called from his Warrior Leadership Course and told me the news and when we would report. June 10th is my mother's birthday.

LtoR: Rob, Myself, Mikey & AJ behind me at his reenlistment

       Right now I have 277 days to enjoy this beautiful island and all it has to offer. I will truly miss it. Luckily I still have plenty of time to enjoy it. So I pulled out my little checklist of places that I want to go and things that I want to do. I might as well play tourist. Currently there are 32 more things on my list. Plus I pick up a few from TV. 

Ferrie family day at the Honolulu Zoo

       So we spent the day at the Honolulu Zoo. Something that I will miss in Alaska. It was a great day and the kids had so much fun. The tickets are inexpensive, compared to the Bronx Zoo. The weather was gorgeous and the animals were all out. 

       I haven't been very good about taking my camera with us on our family outings but I finally got a case that can carry all my equipment. Hopefully that will solve my camera problem and I can get back to taking tons of photos. Like I mentioned earlier Rob is at a Warrior Leadership Course. He needs to complete it in order to pick up rank and he won't graduate until September 28th. He has to stay there 5 of the 7 days in a week. You forget how much you need someone in your life until they are gone. Luckily he's not far. That is all that is going on this week.

Oh my poor blog, How I have abandoned you for so long. Well New York was great. The flight was long but in the end it was so worth it. It was a much needed break from reality. I was able to attend both Ginas' weddings. Both brides were beautiful and I really enjoyed myself. The boys and I stayed very busy.

hold that thought....

Surprise surprise

So this month is just about over. Today marked my 300th day if surviving this deployment. We had a film crew from the show Coming Home here last week. I was so upset that it didn't include the happy ending I had hoped. On a brighter note my Aunt bought us plane tickets to come home to New York while AJ is on fall break. He starts at the end of this week and doesn't have to return until the 11th! I'm super excited now. I've been needing a break for awhile. Yay!