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.