Snow in September?!

That's right folks, it has snowed in Alaska! Last Saturday I was in shorts and a light jacket and then, it rained Sunday and the mountaintops emerged Monday morning covered in snow. This is referred to as "Termination Dust" in Alaska meaning that summer is terminated, but boy did it turn cold fast. Wednesday my car thermometer topped out at 41 degrees, yes, 41 degrees. Although it is cold, it doesn't feel like 41 at home; our bodies have most certainly adjusted to the cooler temperatures here.

On my way to work I stopped to take a picture of these mountain tops; pretty sure the MPs would not approve, but oh well.

The view from my house.
Other mountains from our house.

GO DEACS!!

GO DEACONS!! YAY for a win for the deacs! :) Tyler and I thought we were not going to get to watch the game today because it was only on pay-per-view for .... $135 PLUS taxes and fees ... we love you Wake, but obviously one football game is not worth that on TV. But then, my super computer-savvy hubby, found the game and a log-in for the ESPN 360 so we got to watch it on our computer. We enjoyed waffles, the wake game on the computer, the carolina game on tv, and our pajamas this morning!!

Bella in her Wake gear. She doesn't really appreciate football yet; she did not understand the random cheers and clapping to the fight song. Although unamused, she was dressed for the event!! :)

Bella, not too fond of the bandana, but we're working on it!

In other news ... Tyler built a gate for Bella! Now that I am at school all day we felt terrible leaving Bella in the crate all day. To fix this Tyler built a gate on the front of one of the knooks in our garage!! She loves her new space and I don't feel as bad leaving her at home each day.

The gate.

Bella's knook!

G & T Do the Alaska State Fair

Saturday Tyler and I went to the Alaska State Fair. Although you have the usual food stands and rides, there were some interesting things at this fair. The first being this gang of creepy cabbage fairies ... who knew?! Then there were lots of store fronts selling various things, although this isn't too strange it was just a little different. We toured the super size vegetables, the petting zoo, fairgrounds, and then watched a lumberjack show with our friends. Fortunately the weather turned out to be beautiful! Warm, 66, and sunny! :)

The cabbage gang.

A 323 lb. pumpkin and an overgrown cabbage in the background...

The white thing is a puffer mushroom ... yikes... with a watermelon!

Mrs. Van Zandt is Back in the Classroom!

Today, I accepted a 4th grade teaching position and I could not be more excited. I am teaching at a school on post -- four minutes down the road -- and I have a wonderful teaching partner. Currently I have 35 students, but the principal is in the process of hiring another 4th grade teacher to make my numbers go down. I can't wait to meet my class on Monday! :)

My new school:

Our House

The past few weeks have been absolutely beautiful here in Alaska. Last Friday I spent a few hours weeding and watering the yard for what quite possibly will be the last time this summer. :( In case you don't know this about me, Ginna, I LOVE to weed; I know, who likes to weed?! Fortunately, the house that we moved into was well landscaped and well kept by the previous tenants, which has made it quite fun for me to continue with. Next spring/summer I believe I am going to plant a few more things and enjoy experimenting with what I hope will be a green thumb.

The front of our house!

Bella laid on the porch in the sun while I pulled weeds. This picture is staged because I didn't have my camera while weeding, but you get the idea!

I LOVE that we finally have a flagpole!!! (Thanks, Doc for helping us hang it!) Give us another week or two and the Wake flag will be flying high for football season! :)

Our back porch. We just got patio furniture and an orange umbrella! Pretty soon we'll have to put the table and umbrella away for the winter, but we are going to get a firepit. I cannot wait to make pillows for the chairs and then our outdoor furniture will be complete.

One view from our front porch. You can see that one of the pictured neighbors is moving out, the Denali truck. We actually have four families that moved out Friday/are moving out this week so we'll get new neighbors soon! :)

Moose ... again.

Sorry to bore you with more moose pictures, but I just loaded pictures off of Tyler's camera and found more pictures of our backyard moose. These pictures are a bit more up close which show his size and how close he was to our house.

Another Moose!

I was walking with a friend and Bella this afternoon and a moose just walked out, crossed the street (stopped traffic I might add), and strolled into a park. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera, but these creatures really don't care if you're around or not or if there is oncoming traffic. It was really cool.

It's a moose! :)

I guess we're true Alaskans now because we have had a moose in our backyard. We were sitting down for dinner and Tyler started pointing, yelling, and running for the camera; yes, although we're "Alaskans" we still have tourist behaviors sometimes, too. This moose appeared in our backyard, walked directly beside our house, across the street, and into our neighbor's yard for dinner.

Across the street, finding a meal.

Munching on the plants that this family planted the weekend before ... pretty unfortunate.

Always checking things out.

Moving on.

See ya.