Ok, I'm gone now, and that is very very sad. :( I did quite a lot of stuff between my last post and leaving, but you'll have to wait till I get home to hear about it... I can't remember right now. Canada has been fun...I stayed a night at the Kuipers, which was a lot of fun. Dena and Mrs Kuiper picked me up in Durham, and then we picked up Catherine, Ruth and Thomas, and went shopping!! It was sooo lovely to see them again, especially Catherine, what a big sweetie! We had a real girly evening, and took a lot of silly pics, but I hadn't slept for about 36 hours, so I was probably not that good company. I went to bed at about 10, and apparently fell asleep mid sentence. I slept in till half ten, which was awesome, and then Beck, Dena, Cat and I played volleyball...that was a while ago now!! Beck and I were beaten miserably, but took it all in very good grace. :) We went over to the Schuits mid afternoon. Most of them were out working, but Ruth, Joshua and Caleb were all home, and we had fun playing games and baking. Ruth made an awesome ice cream pie that we had for supper later.
We got up at 4 to go to the market. Yeah, I know, I really amn't doing enough sleeping, and it's beginning to catch up on me. There is a lot to see there, and I did a fair bit of wandering around. I made one batch of kettle corn, which was pretty succesfull, seeing it was my first try!! It was also very amusing watching the Schuits sell their honey, and Catherine too...I got it on camera, and it makes funny viewing.
Lisa picked us up around 3. We went home and had a much needed shower, and then Garett and Lisa went off to Lisa's parents anniversary dinner, and Catherine and I went off to Garetts parents. We had dinner there, and sat around talking for most of the evening....though since we were up at 4 neither of us were extremely talkative...but it was nice to see everyone again. All the boys have girlfriends or fiancees now, so it was good to meet them.
I got to church 3 times yesterday. There was a Dutch sermon in the afternoon by Mr Breedeweg, and he was really good on the Samaritan woman. Rev. Spaans was pretty good in the evening too on "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief".
We went to see the new house today...or should I say mansion! It is going to be beautiful when it's done, and they're hoping to move in in a few weeks, though there is a lot to be done before then. We painted skirting boards all morning, with the help of another friend, and Colin played around with her kids. He is very cute btw, happy 90% of the time, so he's fun to be around.
Anyway, that's all for now, and possible forever!
Monday, 28 July 2008
Friday, 18 July 2008
5 days to go...
Hey y'all. Thanks for all the comments, it's good to know that someone is reading my ramblings, and I'm not just doing it for the good of my own health, which would be kind of pointless, as I'm not aware that blogging has any medicinal effects.
Things have been busy as ever here, it's been really nice having Amy here, she was very good company. The weather hasn't been as nice as before, it was raining all of yesterday, but I don't think I can complain. We went to Talkeetna on Tuesday I think, which was fun. We went to "the Roadhouse" for lunch, and then walked round some touristy shops, and I got myself a hoodie, which is light pink and so not very practical but hey, it's fun.
We didn't get maths started till the afternoon, so it was evening before we were finished. So in a last burst of motivation we decided to get up very early the next day and start before breakfast. I was up at 6, and we started at 7, which was good, because we finished at 1, but I don't think I was working at my full potential. In the afternoon we went for a girls road trip to Talkeetna for piano lessons. That was a lot of fun, the piano teacher was really funny and nice.
In the evening we had a game of "settlers of Catan" which is a game that vaguely resembles monopoly. It was a lot of fun, but when it got to 12 at night and no one had won we decided to go to bed.
Yesterday we all slept in a bit, and so maths started a bit later than the day before, (six in the morning is not really very sustainable!) but we were finished about 4. It was really fun stuff, all of it is really. It's been good to consolidate what I did a while back, and it's nice to make progress. I believe we're on lesson 88 of 129, so we won't finish the book, but we done the best part of it.
We took Amy into Anchorage in the afternoon. We stayed the night in Wasilla, which is about half way, and so we stopped there on the way, and had dinner in a pizza place. In the end it was everyone except Mr and Mrs Marble that went to the airport, it was fun.
We came back this morning pretty early so Emily could go to work, and I better go now and start some maths. Sorry this is a bit disjointed and uninteresting, it's too early in the morning to string words together properly...
Lots of love
xxx
Things have been busy as ever here, it's been really nice having Amy here, she was very good company. The weather hasn't been as nice as before, it was raining all of yesterday, but I don't think I can complain. We went to Talkeetna on Tuesday I think, which was fun. We went to "the Roadhouse" for lunch, and then walked round some touristy shops, and I got myself a hoodie, which is light pink and so not very practical but hey, it's fun.
We didn't get maths started till the afternoon, so it was evening before we were finished. So in a last burst of motivation we decided to get up very early the next day and start before breakfast. I was up at 6, and we started at 7, which was good, because we finished at 1, but I don't think I was working at my full potential. In the afternoon we went for a girls road trip to Talkeetna for piano lessons. That was a lot of fun, the piano teacher was really funny and nice.
In the evening we had a game of "settlers of Catan" which is a game that vaguely resembles monopoly. It was a lot of fun, but when it got to 12 at night and no one had won we decided to go to bed.
Yesterday we all slept in a bit, and so maths started a bit later than the day before, (six in the morning is not really very sustainable!) but we were finished about 4. It was really fun stuff, all of it is really. It's been good to consolidate what I did a while back, and it's nice to make progress. I believe we're on lesson 88 of 129, so we won't finish the book, but we done the best part of it.
We took Amy into Anchorage in the afternoon. We stayed the night in Wasilla, which is about half way, and so we stopped there on the way, and had dinner in a pizza place. In the end it was everyone except Mr and Mrs Marble that went to the airport, it was fun.
We came back this morning pretty early so Emily could go to work, and I better go now and start some maths. Sorry this is a bit disjointed and uninteresting, it's too early in the morning to string words together properly...
Lots of love
xxx
Monday, 14 July 2008
Monday 14th
It's been a fun weekend, and I've come out unscathed except a burst blister on my heel which is pretty painful, but I'll survive!
There's been a lot happening the past few days. Amy Chamberlain is a friend of Emilys and she had come up to stay for the week, and is very nice. We went in to Anchorage on Thursday to pick her up, and we did a lot of stuff on the way, as it's pointful to do, since it's a long trip, and you want to kill as many birds as you can. We have been reading George MacDonald books in the car, and a Scottish accent makes them all the more exciting, so I've been doing my fair bit of reading too, which is fine. They are great stories...childrens books are the best!
We stopped in Wasilla to get a couple of things done, went to a few shops, and then went to Coldstone Creamery to get an ice cream for lunch. Abby and I shared a large and it was huge, and I mean huge as in both of us felt sick afterward... It was good ice cream though...we mixed up blueberry muffin and cheesecake ice cream with snickers, brownies and cookie dough. It would be interesting to work out how much of this blog is taken up with telling y'all what I'm eating...!
We were going to hike Bird Ridge but there wasn't time, so we just headed into Anchorage, where we were meeting Mr Marble at Sportman's warehouse, where Ian got the ultimate boy's birthday present, which was supposed to be a surprise, but I think he had his suspicions. Anyways, it was fun. We were going to go to Moose's Tooth for dinner, which is this awesome pizza place, It had a 2hour wait for a table though, so we got a takeaway and took it to the Posts instead. It was very good pizza indeed, and the dog thought so too, he gobbled up a whole piece in one gulp when I left it on the floor. I was 'plum tuckered out' after all that so I crashed out. Amy was there when I wolk up. She is a really nice girl from California, and she knows the Campbells... in fact her sister wrote to Johan...tis a small world. It was dreach, so we just went straight home in the morning. On Saturday we went back into Anchorage in the morning so we could hike Bird Ridge. We all set out in high spirits, and it was a lovely day for a climb. It took us 3 hours to get to the top, and there was an awesome view from the top. We went to a Greek Restaurant for dinner, kind of for the twins' birthday, which is next week.
We stayed in the Posts for the weekend, and went to another family's house for dinner, which was nice.We're back home in Willow now. Only a few days left here now...:(
There's been a lot happening the past few days. Amy Chamberlain is a friend of Emilys and she had come up to stay for the week, and is very nice. We went in to Anchorage on Thursday to pick her up, and we did a lot of stuff on the way, as it's pointful to do, since it's a long trip, and you want to kill as many birds as you can. We have been reading George MacDonald books in the car, and a Scottish accent makes them all the more exciting, so I've been doing my fair bit of reading too, which is fine. They are great stories...childrens books are the best!
We stopped in Wasilla to get a couple of things done, went to a few shops, and then went to Coldstone Creamery to get an ice cream for lunch. Abby and I shared a large and it was huge, and I mean huge as in both of us felt sick afterward... It was good ice cream though...we mixed up blueberry muffin and cheesecake ice cream with snickers, brownies and cookie dough. It would be interesting to work out how much of this blog is taken up with telling y'all what I'm eating...!
We were going to hike Bird Ridge but there wasn't time, so we just headed into Anchorage, where we were meeting Mr Marble at Sportman's warehouse, where Ian got the ultimate boy's birthday present, which was supposed to be a surprise, but I think he had his suspicions. Anyways, it was fun. We were going to go to Moose's Tooth for dinner, which is this awesome pizza place, It had a 2hour wait for a table though, so we got a takeaway and took it to the Posts instead. It was very good pizza indeed, and the dog thought so too, he gobbled up a whole piece in one gulp when I left it on the floor. I was 'plum tuckered out' after all that so I crashed out. Amy was there when I wolk up. She is a really nice girl from California, and she knows the Campbells... in fact her sister wrote to Johan...tis a small world. It was dreach, so we just went straight home in the morning. On Saturday we went back into Anchorage in the morning so we could hike Bird Ridge. We all set out in high spirits, and it was a lovely day for a climb. It took us 3 hours to get to the top, and there was an awesome view from the top. We went to a Greek Restaurant for dinner, kind of for the twins' birthday, which is next week.
We stayed in the Posts for the weekend, and went to another family's house for dinner, which was nice.We're back home in Willow now. Only a few days left here now...:(
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Tuesday 8th
I find this blog very difficult to keep up...maybe emails are a better idea...but hey! I've started and therefore will soldier on! It's been a few days since I managed to post last...and I can't remember half the stuff i have been doing. One thing worthy of note is that I got Joanna's card....yay!! It was so nice to get mail, even if it does take 2 weeks to get here. It was that card that inspired me to post again, I've been a bit rubbish at keeping in touch.
We've had a really fun weekend. It was a bit sad to miss mum's birthday, but it was Emily's birthday and Independence day here, so we had a party of our own! As we sat and did maths the rest of the family were preparing a bbq. I think I'm going to employ the twins as cooks. Isaac made awesome cookies, and Nathan makes the most indescribably amazing breakfast, called puffy pancakes....yum. A couple of families were up for the birthday, and we had hot dogs and coke in USA glasses, you don't get more authentic (or unhealthy) than that! For pudding there was strawberries and cream with shortcake, as much as you could eat, and that was how much I had. Most of the folks went off fishing then, but I had had a couple of late nights, so I just stayed at home, and slept the night in a hammock. :)
On Saturday we went shooting at the local range which was a lot of fun! I actually hit quite a lot of stuff, so don't mess with me, especially not when I have a muzzle loader in my hand...I'm more dangerous than I look. We stayed there for a while, and then went to Montana creek. I didn't have a fishing license, so I just sat with Emily and chatted, which was fun. Ian caught a salmon, and then bbq'd it for dinner. After that Isaac took a few of us out on their amphibious six wheeler (I want one of these!). We went looking for one of their huskies who went missing on the 4th. I don't think they expect her to come back, but Emily is really upset about it all, and is trying everything. I hope she's successful.
We had a really nice day on Sabbath. We went to a local Anglican mission which only runs once a month, and so we didn't have to go to Anchorage, so we had a lot more time to read, and we listened to a sermon in the afternoon which was really nice. It was good to have Mr Marble home for a few days.
It was Ian's birthday yesterday, so we went to Talkeetna to get his free birthday latte and ice cream cone...that is such a good idea, I'm going to suggest it to Thorntons! I like the American scoop size too!
That's all folks.
We've had a really fun weekend. It was a bit sad to miss mum's birthday, but it was Emily's birthday and Independence day here, so we had a party of our own! As we sat and did maths the rest of the family were preparing a bbq. I think I'm going to employ the twins as cooks. Isaac made awesome cookies, and Nathan makes the most indescribably amazing breakfast, called puffy pancakes....yum. A couple of families were up for the birthday, and we had hot dogs and coke in USA glasses, you don't get more authentic (or unhealthy) than that! For pudding there was strawberries and cream with shortcake, as much as you could eat, and that was how much I had. Most of the folks went off fishing then, but I had had a couple of late nights, so I just stayed at home, and slept the night in a hammock. :)
On Saturday we went shooting at the local range which was a lot of fun! I actually hit quite a lot of stuff, so don't mess with me, especially not when I have a muzzle loader in my hand...I'm more dangerous than I look. We stayed there for a while, and then went to Montana creek. I didn't have a fishing license, so I just sat with Emily and chatted, which was fun. Ian caught a salmon, and then bbq'd it for dinner. After that Isaac took a few of us out on their amphibious six wheeler (I want one of these!). We went looking for one of their huskies who went missing on the 4th. I don't think they expect her to come back, but Emily is really upset about it all, and is trying everything. I hope she's successful.
We had a really nice day on Sabbath. We went to a local Anglican mission which only runs once a month, and so we didn't have to go to Anchorage, so we had a lot more time to read, and we listened to a sermon in the afternoon which was really nice. It was good to have Mr Marble home for a few days.
It was Ian's birthday yesterday, so we went to Talkeetna to get his free birthday latte and ice cream cone...that is such a good idea, I'm going to suggest it to Thorntons! I like the American scoop size too!
That's all folks.
Thursday, 3 July 2008
Thursday 3rd
Sorry it's been so long...it really is difficult to find time to sit down for long enough to write something worth reading. It's been busy here, we go out and do something fun pretty much every day, and doing maths takes up a lot of time too.
'Pony' is home for the weekend. He has a couple of days holiday since it's independence day tomorrow, so that's nice. We're planning going for a train ride tomorrow to see a bit of scenery, (hopefully do maths at the same time), and then come home for a bbq for Em's birthday.
Yesterday we went haying. It was such good fun, Mum would have loved it too. We were driving around on the field on the back of this ancient truck with a mechanism for lifting the bales, and then we had to stack them all up, and then move them to a barn. My hands were really scratched and sore afterward but it was such fun. We were out on the quads a lot too, and we had a race, which i oh so nearly won! We might get to go again, it depends on the weather.
We were at a graduation party of a family friend, and that was pretty fun. It was down by a lake, so we were out on a dinghy...i think i was one of the few who stayed dry. The family came over again on Tuesday I think, and it was good fun. We played Ultimate Frisbee, which is apparently soon to become an olympic sport.
Happy birthday mumsy!
'Pony' is home for the weekend. He has a couple of days holiday since it's independence day tomorrow, so that's nice. We're planning going for a train ride tomorrow to see a bit of scenery, (hopefully do maths at the same time), and then come home for a bbq for Em's birthday.
Yesterday we went haying. It was such good fun, Mum would have loved it too. We were driving around on the field on the back of this ancient truck with a mechanism for lifting the bales, and then we had to stack them all up, and then move them to a barn. My hands were really scratched and sore afterward but it was such fun. We were out on the quads a lot too, and we had a race, which i oh so nearly won! We might get to go again, it depends on the weather.
We were at a graduation party of a family friend, and that was pretty fun. It was down by a lake, so we were out on a dinghy...i think i was one of the few who stayed dry. The family came over again on Tuesday I think, and it was good fun. We played Ultimate Frisbee, which is apparently soon to become an olympic sport.
Happy birthday mumsy!
Friday, 27 June 2008
Friday
Almost a week is gone by already...it's really very sad. :( We've just finished up with maths for the day, so I'm taking a moment to give you an update. We've covered a lot of ground in the past week, 20 lessons so far, ratios, Pythagoras, simultaneous equations etc. It's good to refresh your memory, and it's doing my mental arithmetic a world of good. :) Ian works really hard and is really easy to get on with, so teaching him is fun and rewarding. But none of you care about maths anyway, so I better shut up about it.
Despite a ten day forecast of rain, the sun was blazing yesterday, and such good weather was too good to be wasted. Mrs Marble had bought 'a whole bunch of plants' so we went to Mr Petersons farm to get some fertiliser, affectionately termed 'cow poop'. Emily is working for this guy on his farm, and she is totally in her element there. She took us to see some kittens in the barn which were very sweet, and then Priscilla and I went after her on the quad and watched her spray a field with dung. I got to drive too, which was so fun. I tried in Canada with very little success, but I managed much better this time.
We went over to Talkeetna after that and had ice cream for lunch...yum yum! It's such a cool little place. Then we went to the Susitna river to get rocks for the garden. Isaac drove some of the way, and it was pretty scary seeing a 13 year old behind the wheel of this massive truck, but he was actually really good, a lot better than i would be, but that's not hard.
We did maths all afternoon, and then we had pasta with moose for dinner. It was very very yummy, killed by Ian, cooked by Abi. :) There's black bear in the freezer, can't wait to try it!!
We started on Maths pretty much straight after worship today. Priscilla had a friend over today, so they went out riding. Her parents are still in right now, lets just say they are quite stereotypical Americans, 'not real Alaskans'. Folks here don't seem to think of themselves as Americans at all. There was apparently a referendum to leave the US a couple of years ago, and it almost passed.
The twins have just gone off fishing. They're not allowed to start until midnight, but they have gone now to 'save their spot'.
That's all for now, thinking of you all at home, but can't say I'm homesick.
Despite a ten day forecast of rain, the sun was blazing yesterday, and such good weather was too good to be wasted. Mrs Marble had bought 'a whole bunch of plants' so we went to Mr Petersons farm to get some fertiliser, affectionately termed 'cow poop'. Emily is working for this guy on his farm, and she is totally in her element there. She took us to see some kittens in the barn which were very sweet, and then Priscilla and I went after her on the quad and watched her spray a field with dung. I got to drive too, which was so fun. I tried in Canada with very little success, but I managed much better this time.
We went over to Talkeetna after that and had ice cream for lunch...yum yum! It's such a cool little place. Then we went to the Susitna river to get rocks for the garden. Isaac drove some of the way, and it was pretty scary seeing a 13 year old behind the wheel of this massive truck, but he was actually really good, a lot better than i would be, but that's not hard.
We did maths all afternoon, and then we had pasta with moose for dinner. It was very very yummy, killed by Ian, cooked by Abi. :) There's black bear in the freezer, can't wait to try it!!
We started on Maths pretty much straight after worship today. Priscilla had a friend over today, so they went out riding. Her parents are still in right now, lets just say they are quite stereotypical Americans, 'not real Alaskans'. Folks here don't seem to think of themselves as Americans at all. There was apparently a referendum to leave the US a couple of years ago, and it almost passed.
The twins have just gone off fishing. They're not allowed to start until midnight, but they have gone now to 'save their spot'.
That's all for now, thinking of you all at home, but can't say I'm homesick.
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