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.