The end is here.

Sorry about the long pause. One might say we have been a bit busy.

We finally found a baby swing! And yes, this is probably one of the best things that has ever happened. This is Oskar with his cousin who is 3 months older than him.

He may not be able to crawl yet, but watch him plank.

Sunday the 16^th Oskar and I were given a going away party and were given a beautiful quilt made by the Gloria Dei Piece Makers. The party was great, low pressure so that was cool, the people were great, everything was great. We are very lucky.

Later that day I met up with a friend from my home church in Minnesota to go to a Reindeer farm in Palmer. It was fun. We got to feed reindeer, moose, and elk and the moose even gave her a kiss. I hadn’t seen her in far too long, so it was good to catch up and find out what is going on in her life. One of her colleagues came along too so I got to learn about the project they are working on. I would explain it, but I don’t want to mess it up. It involved birds though and sounded interesting. It also sounded like a lot of work, most of which takes place outside in the bug infested wilderness. Not for me.

Two Mondays ago Dan agreed to go horseback riding with me. I’m so glad we did it, but I’m good to go on horses for a while. Oddly enough, both of our horses shared some characteristics with Dan. Mine was distracted by shiny objects, which would have been fine except we were riding next to a river on a sunny day. Dan’s horse could not stop eating. Any plant we went past he did a drive-by eating type thing. For a bit of the ride we went through the woods. Holy crap were the bugs terrible.  Luckily I was covered in deet except for what turns out to have been a chunk of my ankle (9 bites). Unluckily, the horses were not covered in deet and they hated going through the woods. I learned that horses like to brush up against trees when they are itchy. Logical, but it would have been better for me if my legs weren’t crushed in the process. My horse also wanted to go through the woods quickly. This was a problem considering a) my lack of experience, b) Dan’s horse’s longing to kick my horse in the face when it got too close, c)the branches that kept scratching my face and causing me to ride with my eyes closed, and d) my horse’s ability to sense that my eyes were closed and think that “Hey! Now is a great time to start trotting!” In the end, we made it without falling off, but I was really worried for a while. The other horse I rode years ago was so tame and subdued. I don’t know, maybe someone had killed his spirit. This horse had spirit.

The beginning of last week was filled with good-byes and good-bye meals. Sad, of course, but with technology it is easy to stay in touch so it wasn't as sad as it could have been. Wednesday we flew back to Minnesota and Oskar was a perfect little champion. I don’t think he even noticed that anything was happening; we were simply in a weird room for a while.  Thursday was pretty much spent at Target getting things for Oskar to have now that we are settling down in Minnesota for a while. Thursday night I got to see the beautiful faces of my former bell choir and some neighbors at a small gathering so they could meet Oskar. Delightful.

Sleeping with grandma on the plane.

It did not take long to warm up to grandpa. 

On Friday we left for North Dakota. We celebrated the 125^th birthday of Ashley, North Dakota (the city from which I get my middle name) and we also went to my grandpa’s farm for a couple days so he could see all three of his great-grandchildren.  I’m always glad to visit them, but it is so far away. This is especially true when sick from pregnancy or travelling with a 6 month old baby, so the last two times out there have been a bit rough for me. Again, Oskar was a phenomenal traveler, but he is still a baby and has a limit to his patience. We stayed in a hotel in Minot and he got to go in a pool for the first time. He didn’t seem to mind it and then he fell asleep. On our way back we spent a night in Fargo to break up the trip again and Oskar got to meet his other great-grandparents. We traveled home on Wednesday and since then I have been trying to organize all of our stuff. So far, I have not been successful. But things always get worse before they get better, right? Right.

The remaining elders of the Ehley family (mom's dad's siblings). Walter (85), Marvin (80), and Clara (89). Eating their suckers while watching the parade in a very humid 85 degrees. Love this picture.

Unsurprisingly, Oskar continues to be the center of attention wherever he goes.

Sisters! Cousins!

Aaaaaand he's done.

Oskar and great-grandpa Odin Tranby. (Oskar was named after Odin's dad.)

Tranbys!

Grandpa's awesome barn.

Oskar with the Nelson great-grandparents.

Dan ran his first marathon in anchorage on the Saturday after I left. Luckily he had some friends in town to cheer him on. He finished in 3:17 and come change and I think he finished 29th overall. Yay for my friend.

We got our health insurance figured out! I will be applying for that after I finish writing this. Priorities… I clearly have them sorted. Now all I need to do is find a job.

On that note, despite many requests to continue, I regret to announce – this is the end. For the time being I am choosing to build my relationships in person and put everything I can into raising my little boy and finding a job. See? I have my priorities straight after all. I would like to thank you all for reading this, for your praise and encouragement, and for your interest in our lives as we lived our Alaskan adventure. Thank you to all who commented, I read them all and tried to respond to them all, but I know I missed a few.  I’m happy to have gone to Alaska, and I am happy to be home. From the feedback I have received I accomplished what I was going for with this blog- to keep you updated, and occasionally make you laugh. Someday I will blog again, until then I bid you all a very fond (cyber) farewell.

Hang on to your hats, this is a big one.

We have had an adventurous week.

Last Sunday a congregation member took us on a great hike in Kincaid. We were down on the beach and up in the hills and it was all beautiful. Oskar likes to sing on hikes apparently. When we stopped walking he would stop singing, but as soon as we started moving again he was all about sharing his opinions. It was a wonderful sound.

Oskar had his six month check up on Monday. He was 19.5 pounds and 27.25 inches long. We should be able to get a couple more months out of our car seat. Yay! He was weirdly crabby toward the end of his appointment and was already crying when he got his shots. He handled them like a pro though and didn't get a fever at all this time. The retired ladies at church threw Oskar a book shower on Monday too. It was very fun and we couldn't believe that out of all the books he got he only got two multiples. Lots and lots of good stuff though and they even offered to ship them home for us, which was very generous.

Dan's mom flew in late Wednesday night and the next day we drove down to Seward. I was irritated at first because it hadn't rained in weeks and it rained most of the drive down there, but when we got there it cleared up and we had some beautiful days down there. We had a relaxing first evening there and settled in to our bare bones cabin. We pretty much stayed at a campground, but they happened to have a couple very simple cabins. We had to bring our own linens, which wasn't a big deal at all but it was pretty difficult to fit three adults, a baby and all the things we needed into our tiny Saturn. The first night we went to the Seward Brewing Company for dinner, which is where we went last August and I got to eat that delicious beer cheese soup again. The night in the cabin was pretty brisk, but Dan was able to build us a roaring fire in our wood stove to keep us a little warmer. The only real downside to the cabin is that we had a squirrel friend stashing supplies in the roof and there must have been some sort of scuffle because when we got back to the cabin one day there were a lot of pine cones around the stove that fell down from above. 

We had a little trouble finding our cabin because we figured there would be a sign indicating this cabin as "Crow's Nest." Clearly we just weren't looking hard enough. 

It is important to know that our resort had a goat. It was raised as a pet, but two employees bought it with the intent to eat it. The owner of the resort didn't want this news to get back to the original owner so he bought it and now it wanders around being awesome. Since it was basically a campground there was a central bathroom facility and I walked up the steps and pretty much ran into a goat. Very unexpected and it provided a nice chuckle for me. But yea, he seems to pretty much lives on the deck of the bathroom facility but can also be found playing with the resort dogs, standing on picnic tables and eating leaves off of trees.

Dan and I got up bright and early the next day to go on a guided kayaking trip in Resurrection Bay to Bridal Veil Falls in Kenai Fjords National Park. It was calm, clear, and beautiful, so not very much like what they are used to. The other people signed up for the trip didn't show up so it was just Dan, me and our guide, Ben. It was a lot of fun. Note to all of you out there, glacial water falls are extremely cold. We kayaked for a ways, then got out and took a short walk to the waterfall. It was freezing back there, and it wasn't an overly warm day to begin with. It was definitely worth the temporary discomfort.

We went to Exit Glacier in the afternoon and enjoyed a healthy hike and some stunning scenery. It was also a chance to warm up a bit. To me it seemed to be about twenty degrees warmer up there than on the shore. I was still chilled from the kayaking so this was absolutely wonderful. After a morning of pretty much exclusive arm exercising, it was nice to get our legs moving as well. 

In the afternoon we went to the Alaska Sealife Center and were educated about all sorts of things. It was a pretty cool facility for any city, but especially surprising to find it in such a small town. It was very cool. I recommend it.

Barb and Dan wanted some fish for dinner so we went to Chinook’s on the bay. Beautiful view, delicious food. I had a southwest Caesar salad, steak , peas,  potatoes and lemon cheesecake made from goat’s milk. I also had a drink called a Blackberry Shrub. Everything was great.

The night was chilly again. Another roaring fire helped.

Saturday we packed up and left in a fog. Literally, not figuratively. We stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center on the way back and saw some animals. Some of the animal they have there were orphaned, injured and other things that made them unable to exist in the wild anymore, but they were also in the process of reintroducing an entire herd of bison back in to the wild. It was a pretty neat facility and offered another opportunity to warm up after a brisk morning.

We rushed back into town to try to get some stuff done before meeting our friends for dinner at the Jewel Lake Tea Garden. It may sound sophisticated, but let me explain. Jewel Lake is the name of the lake-pond close by the restaurant and it is located on Jewel Lake Road. Tea garden, loosely translated means pizza and Chinese food. You read it right folks. And you know what? It was fantastic. Also, we had two babies with us and it was a very baby friendly environment.

I’m exhausted and I have more whirlwind days to come. Maybe a three hour time change and an eight hour car ride to North Dakota will help… oh wait…

More adventures to come!

Video time!

This post is sponsored by a friend who generously offered to hold Oskar during Bible study so I could get this done. (Some of you may be wondering why I very rarely use names when I talk about my friends. I figure that it is my choice to put my life publicly on the internet, and they have a right to their privacy. I know they probably wouldn't care, but I think it's a good choice.)

If you can't figure out what he is doing in that video, you don't need to know. He's a funny guy. I know it's long, but if you choose to watch it, make sure you see the triumphant squeal at the end.

Dan and I had a cinematic adventure yesterday. We went and saw Star Trek and enjoyed it immensely. I was especially glad that there was a Tribble in it. Sweet. Unfortunately, I was cold the whole time because I had to wear a skirt. "You always wear skirts, why did you HAVE to wear a skirt?" Valid question. There was baby food on every pair of pants I have. Last night we did laundry.

Oskar can babble!

The mosquitoes up here are really bad this year, especially around our house. I find myself jogging to the car and down the hill just to escape the swarm. They also seem to congregate on our door so whenever we open it we let in the mass. We went to Kincaid Park the other day with some friends and the bugs were pretty bad there too. I tried using Oskar's baby bug spray and I’m pretty convinced that it made me even more delicious. I got bitten all over. Oskar wasn't wearing any and I don't think he got bit at all. Either that or he reacts to bites like Dan, so not at all. Meanwhile, I am doing everything I can to not scratch at the over twenty bites I got and at least one of them has already started forming a ring around it. Awesome. For a while we were all going on the Frisbee golf course but then it got too buggy for me and my friend, who is pretty pregnant, was ready for a break. Also, it was pretty much four wheeling up and down hills umbrella stroller style, so I was getting quite a work out. We exited stage right and sat up on the hill in the sun to chat and take pictures of Oskar and the beautiful scenery. It was great. I also went out to lunch with this same friend on Friday and discovered that you get a free Tootsie Pop with your meal at Thai Kitchen. This made my day. I find that when I eat Tootsie Pops I always look for the guy shooting the star with the bow and arrow and I have absolutely no idea why.

Oskar is six months old? Can you believe it? Tomorrow we have more shots and get to find out how big our big guy has become. He's already almost too tall for his car seat. Our current car seat was a very generous gift. The next one is going to be expensive.

I am all for exposing Oskar to everything at least once so when I buy him food I get a mixture of organic and non-organic, different grains every time and anything else that I can do for him to try new things and everything. This included trying prunes yesterday. My mom told me not to, because she knows he's pretty regular, but I wanted him to try them so we had prunes. Mistake. It was one thing when he exploded poo style when he was only on breast milk and formula, but this was a whole new level of mess. We usually eat one container of veggies or fruit per day. We did not eat the second half of that container last night. I’m just glad that our babysitter didn't need to deal with it. At least we know what works if he gets plugged up in the future.

Crazy eyes! Prune feeding was not our cleanest event. He's becoming a pretty good eater so I almost changed before I fed him. I'm glad I decided not to.

So we have a hot baby. When he is fussy, we just take off his clothes and blow on him a bit to cool him off. He was crying shortly before this video was shot. This is also why you rarely see him in clothes. He's pretty much just in a diaper and socks all the time unless we go out into the world.

This land of the midnight sun thing is crap. It is incredible how much having this amount of daylight messes with your internal clock. It should not be twilight at midnight and it should not be dawn before four. And it’s only going to get worse!

I am enjoying my new camera so much. I haven't played too much with the editing software that came with it, but it seems to be pretty easy to use and I have been able to improve the couple images I have worked with. Today we are going on another hike and hopefully I will be able to get more scenery shots. I got a couple the other day but the weather was weird so the shots aren't as good as they might be today. I took the shot below the other day. It's a bit crooked. It's an okay picture, but even after I fixed it up, it's not the best. I might keep working on it though. I hear the weather in Minnesota has not been great. Apparently Alaska has "never had this much summer." We'll try to bring some back with us.

Splish splash Oskar plays in the bath

Sleeping outside on memorial day.

Holy moly it's June. Where did May go? This last week was full of sunny 70 degree days. Absolutely glorious. Yesterday we golfed in a tournament and it was not so nice. About 50 degrees and misting. Wet feet are not fun. Dan and I golfed on a team with a couple friends from church and actually did pretty well. Dan and I got some good shots in, but luckily it was a best ball tournament and our other members were better than us. We ended up coming in seventh place our of 23 teams.

Today is 50 and raining. We really enjoyed the Alaskan summer.

I'm so excited!

I'm so tired!

Oskar spent the tournament at our friends' house and apparently he did very well. The tournament was in Wasilla so we were gone for about 9 hours. He didn't nap very well during the day though so when we took our friends out for Indian food to thank them, Oskar was a little crabby. Afterward though we got him in the car and he just passed out. It was pretty funny how hard he was sleeping.

Oskar cut his first tooth at the beginning of the week so now when he chomps on our hands its not only painful because our muscles and tendons move all about but also because he has a little razor blade in his mouth. Awesome. He is very self conscious about this tooth and will not let us see it. You'd think it'd be easy to see because he has a gaping smile on his face nearly all the time, but whenever we pull his bottom lip down he closes his mouth. He continues to enjoy and devour any food we put in front of him. So far we have had carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, bananas and apples. This week: peaches, pears and prunes.

Oskar plays in the tub now. Don't call CPS. There is tape over the outlet and it is further away than it looks. Also, he can't reach the knives. Wow, we are terrible.

I learned that making the sound "Mmmmm" when you eat is not a learned behavior. Oskar doesn't this all the time while eating. It is super cute. He also screams when I'm not feeding him fast enough. That is less cute.

I have also learned that if you try to eat your lunch on the floor so you're close to your baby, his toy, foot or hand WILL find its way into your food. Results of this phenomenon include, but are not limited to: spaghetti sock, chili moose and pizza hand.

Hopefully, I will be able to post some videos next time. They take too long to load and Oskar needs to go home and eat.