Showing posts with label Alaska. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alaska. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Surprise!

You may remember that three years ago I surprised my mom and my brother when I showed up in Alaska with my sister to watch Sean graduate from high school.

Well, three weeks ago today Noel and I set out for the biggest surprise of my other brother, Kyle's, life: we flew to Alaska to watch him graduate from high school.


Not only did Noel and I come, but my sister and my nephew also came from North Carolina. And Kyle didn't know they were coming, either.

Hanging at the restaurant before graduation.

He was shocked, to say the least.

I left Lane with Shannon, all the laundry done, lots of friends lined up to help Shannon out, and 14 meals frozen in the freezer for dinners. I took one suitcase, one backpack, one purse, and one baby in the Ergo and we embarked on the 48-hour trek to Alaska. I have to say that the traveling itself wasn't bad (jet-lag with a baby, on the other hand, stinks). I mean, American Airlines hooked us up with a bulkhead seat with lots of legroom and a bassinet. While Noel didn't sleep in it that much since it was daytime for us, it was so nice to have a place to lay her down and let her play or sleep and give my arms a rest.

Snoozin' in the bassinet.

We had a 20-hour layover in Dallas on the way to Alaska and a 16-hour one on the way home. Normally that wouldn't be so great, but I happen to have lots of friends in Dallas, so I hooked up with my longtime friend Marci. She let us spend the night at her place on the way to Alaska (where we got a little sleep...Noel did a fair amount of screaming from being super exhausted from the long travel day) and hang out and nap on the way back. She let us borrow an infant carseat. She drove me to the mall where I got new blue jeans. She treated me to Chic-fil-a and Mexican food. I got to meet her little boy, William. I treated her to Starbucks for breakfast when she picked me up at 6:00 a.m. on my return journey and Dairy Queen for dessert during a trip to the mall. We schmoozed, chatted, and just enjoyed getting to catch up. All in all, it was great to see her (and it was great to have a real bed to nap on and a shower!).

Me and Noel, Marci and William, at Uncle Julio's.

And my chicken enchiladas. So yummy.

I met up with my sister at the airport (we managed to get on the same flight from DFW to Anchorage...awesome, huh?) where I met my nephew for the first time and got to see my sister for the first time in almost two years.

My nephew, Maddox. Yup, he's a cutie.

We made the flight to Anchorage, collected our bags (yeah...they wouldn't check them all the way through for us), ran (well, walked as fast as we could with baby, toddler, stroller, backpack, carry-on, and two suitcases) to the check-in counter for our flight to Kenai, checked in, and booked it to our gate. We barely made our flight and were very grateful that there's no security check for flights to/from smaller cities in Alaska. And we were shocked when we boarded the plane to find out that it was bigger than usual, carrying 25-30 people instead of the usual 15, even being a large enough plane to have a bathroom. That was the first (and only, as my flight back to Anchorage was on a 15-passenger prop plane) time that flight has ever had a bathroom!

And we got to Kenai, met my mom at the airport, and shocked the pants off my brother an hour or so later. We spent the next few days introducing ourselves to new-in-the-last-two-years family members:


Playing:


Relaxing:


Eating:

(Noel's first tastes of solids: avocado.)

Observing the wildlife:


Attending graduation festivities:


And playing Settlers of Catan:

(Noel liked to help.)

I got to eat steak, yellow squash, good yogurt, flavored coffee creamer, salmon, ice-cream sandwiches, Cherry Pepsi, halibut, Chic-fil-a, and real Mexican food for the first time in two years. I got to go to my church in Alaska. I got to play Angry Birds for the first time. I got to meet my nephew. I just got to be myself with my family, staying up late watching movies, talking, and playing games. I got to watch my brother graduate, hug his neck, and tell him how proud of him I was.

All of us. Except for my brother Sean. And Lane. And my and Rachel's husbands. =)

And I came home to this:


It was a good trip.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

From the Archives...

Rewind 13 1/2 months in your mind. Where were you last middle-of-May? I was insanely busy with schoolwork and trying to finish up my master's degree. I was six weeks pregnant. And I was wanting to go to Alaska. My oldest younger brother was graduating from high school. My sister was going to attend the graduation, and I wanted to, but his graduation was thisclose to the rehearsal of my own graduation, which had mandatory attendance. But...we made it work! For starters, we organized it with my sister to be a surprise for everyone in Alaska: no one knew I was coming. Second, I arranged it with a professor to miss my last class, take my final early, and finish reading a book on the airplane in order to finish my classwork. Third, we searched and searched for the best deal we could find on an airline ticket, and approximately $600 later, I was headed to Alaska for the quickest trip I've ever made there.

Saturday, May 16th, I got on an airplane at 6:00 a.m. in Raleigh, arriving in Anchorage at 2:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. East-Coast-time). I waited about an hour for my sister to arrive, and then we waited about an hour for her in-laws to drop a car off for us. We grabbed a bite to eat and then hit the road to Kenai, a three-hour drive. During the drive my sister confessed to me that she had so many friends who were pregnant and that she really wanted a baby, so all that she could think of when she was around them was were they jealous that she was so skinny? I was pregnant and hadn't told her yet. Fail.

When we pulled onto our road in Kenai, I hopped in the backseat and hid for the 1/2-mile drive home. Rachel hugged mom while she bemused that the only way things could get better would be if Michelle were there. And then I hopped out of the backseat and shocked the pants off my mom. She was so excited. Then I broke the news that it was great I was there, but that I wouldn't be able to come for Christmas. After my sister asked why not, I replied, "I don't think they let you fly when you're 8 1/2 months pregnant." Shock of all shocks, they both cried and were happy for us, and my sister immediately felt horrible about what she had said.

Anyhow, that was the crazy part. We spent Sunday and Monday relaxing and just chatting. Tuesday evening was Sean's graduation and we arrived early to get good seats. We watched him graduate, and afterward we headed home, grabbed our stuff, and Rachel and I hit the road to head to Anchorage, arriving at around midnight. We spent the night with one of Rachel's friends, and Wednesday morning we headed to the Great Harvest Bread Company and then to the airport. I caught a flight at 9:00 a.m., getting into Greensboro at 11:00 p.m. Shannon came and picked me up and we got home at around 1:00 a.m. on Thursday, and then got up and headed to our graduation rehearsal at 10:00 a.m. that same morning. Shannon's parents arrived that evening, and then we graduated for real on Friday. It was such an insane trip, but totally worth it! Especially now that I have a baby and can't do crazy things like that anymore, I'm so glad that we made it work!


Congrats, Sean!


Sean's the one in the middle, in focus, looking up at his (unseen) floating cap.


All the family (minus husbands): Me, Rachel, Sean, Mom, and Kyle

Sunday, January 31, 2010

One Last Date

Last Thursday, the day before my induction, Shannon and went on our "last date." We know that we will get to go on dates in the future, but we'll either have a baby with us or we'll have to find a babysitter, so it was our last date without worrying about any of that kind of stuff.


Veronica's. It's located in Old Town Kenai, right across from the Russian Orthodox Church and about a two-minute walk from the bluff overlooking the ocean. It was a beautiful day, as you can see from the sunshine and clear skies!

We went to a coffee shop named Veronica's for lunch. We've been in there before for coffee, and we went in with Shannon's family, but we only had coffee that time too, other than a cup of soup that I had. I've been dying to go in there for their tomato-basil soup, which is the best I've found outside of Eastern Europe, but they haven't had it any of the times that we've stopped in. So, I called on Thursday before we left, and they had tomato-basil soup. I was ecstatic.


We sat on the closed-in porch, next to the fireplace. Sometimes it's chilly out there, but it was nice and toasty last Thursday!

We took our time getting ready, ordering, and leisurely enjoyed our lunch, talking about how at that time the next day our lives would be totally different and just enjoying our time together.


Chicken-cashew sandwiches, tomato-basil soup, and sun-dried tomato pasta salad with cornbread. We wanted dessert but were too stuffed!

It was really strange, going about our day knowing that we'd have a baby the next day. Usually when you're pregnant and in the last weeks there's the "it could happen any time" anticipation of going into labor. However, I had given up hope and knew that we'd be going in for the induction, so the suspense of the "surprise" aspect of going into labor was removed. It was weird doing everything that last day with the knowledge that it was the last time things would be that way.


The view out the window where we were sitting. The Chapel of St. Nicholas is on the right.

However, now that we have our baby girl, I think that we're ok with things being different! I'm sure that the day will come when we long for privacy or for the ability to make decisions without feeling responsible for other people, but for now...loving on and taking care of Lane is proving to be wonderful. As of now I wouldn't trade motherhood for anything in the world!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The In-Laws Are Coming, The In-Laws Are Coming!

I guess a more accurate statement is "The In-Laws Have Come"...and left. My father-in-law and two brothers-in-law flew all the way up here from Alabama this past Wednesday to meet the newest Scarbrough addition. Unfortunately, it seems that she didn't want to meet them yet. :-( So, instead of spending time with the new baby, they spent time with me and Shannon. We tried to entertain them the best we could, but there's just not that much to do around Kenai! Thursday, we began the day by taking them to Shannon's favorite place on the peninsula: The Moose is Loose!


Brad, Christopher, Lyn, and Shannon enjoying their coffee and doughnuts.

Then we headed to Homer. Homer is only about 80 miles away and has a fantastic view when the weather is clear. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy so they couldn't get the full effect, but it was still fun and I think they enjoyed it. We went down to the Homer Spit so they could get some pictures. Plus, they just needed the experience of walking on the spit. I mean, really, how many people can really say that they've walked on a spit?


The view off the spit.

As we were driving into Homer, we started to see lots of eagles. It was really cool. While eagles are known to be around Homer a lot (there used to be a woman who would feed them), I've been to Homer a lot and have never seen as many as we saw this time. Shannon's dad and brothers were way impressed by the Alaskan wildlife (the eagles in Homer and the few moose they saw on the side of the highway).


Eagles in a tree on the way to Homer.


Eagles on the spit.

We walked around on the spit a bit, but it was really windy and cold! Plus, all the cool shops that are open during the summer are closed during the winter, so there wasn't that much to look at other than the eagles and the scenery. We did go to the Salty Dawg, one of Homer's most distinctive landmarks. It's been around for over a hundred years, serving as a post office, a railroad station, and a schoolhouse (among other things) before being transformed in 1957 into the bar that it currently is.


Inside the Salty Dawg. People from all over the country/world write things on dollar bills and hang them inside. Every New Year, the owners take down all the dollar bills off the lifesavers and donate the money to charity. The bartender said that this year they removed $4000!


Shannon, Brad, Lyn, and Christopher on the harbor on the Homer Spit.

After a quick trip to the Alaska Wild Berry Products store and a quick lunch, we headed back to Kenai/Soldotna. Shannon and his family went to Buckets to watch the Auburn/Tennessee basketball game while I took a nap at their hotel. Friday, we walked around Old Town Kenai and took pictures of the Russian Orthodox Church. After a cup of coffee at Veronica's, the boys all went to Kassik's, a local brewery. Afterwards, we all went to watch my brother Kyle's hockey game, which they won. It was Christopher's first hockey game ever, and it was Lyn and Brad's first high school hockey game. Then it was back to our house where mom prepared a salmon and halibut feed for all the guys. We all hung out, watching silly things on youtube and just talking and eating. Saturday morning, Shannon and I met his family at Louie's for breakfast before they had to drive up to Anchorage.

It was a great visit with Shannon's family, and we're so glad they got to come! We're bummed that they didn't get to meet Lane, but we are glad that we got to actually spend some time with them while they were here!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Babymoon/Belated Anniversary Trip

Last week, Shannon and I made the long trip from Kenai to Anchorage to celebrate our anniversary (four months late) and our Babymoon, or last trip as a couple without children. We had wanted to go to Charleston back in August, but our schedule was so insane (what with moving and all) that we decided to wait to celebrate until we were "settled" in Alaska by going to the Princess Lodge. Well, unbeknownst to us, the Princess Lodge closed for the winter on September 12th, three days after we arrived in Alaska. So we were forced to come up with an alternate plan. Living on the peninsula, there aren't really that many options, so to Anchorage we went!

We left Kenai on Sunday afternoon and drove to Girdwood where we parked at the Alyeska Resort and took the tram to the top of the mountain where we had dinner at the Seven Glaciers Restaurant, overlooking Alyeska's ski slopes and the Cook Inlet.


Outside the Alyeska Resort, holding our tram tickets.


The view from the top.


Shannon at our table, surrounded by mountains.


The view of the sunset from our table.

After leaving Seven Glaciers, we headed for Anchorage and checked into our hotel downtown. While I won't comment on the hotel or even mention which one we stayed at (priceline is severely disappointing sometimes!), at least the view was good!


The view to the right out our hotel window.


The view to the left.

After checking into the hotel we headed to the store to buy some yogurt and coffee creamer for breakfast in the morning, and then we went to TGIFriday's for dessert. Then it was back to the hotel for a hot bath (for me), ESPN (for Shannon), and in bed early (for both of us).

Monday morning we slept in (until 7:30 when nearby construction woke us up). We took the morning easy, eating breakfast in our room and enjoying the coffeepot. Then we went to the movies, where we saw Everybody's Fine. It wasn't the best movie ever, but neither was it bad, so we had a good time. Then we headed to Humpy's Great Alaskan Alehouse for lunch. I had eaten there once before, back in 2005, but my sister recommended it as one of the better places to eat, so that's where we headed! Shannon got fish & chips (he was jealous of my fish & chips at Seven Glaciers) and I got chicken fettucine, which I never do, because I know it's loaded with fat and calories. But it was what I wanted, and I'm pregnant and entitled to gain weight, so I ordered it! Yum.


The sign over the bar in Humpy's. For those of you who don't know, a humpy is a pink salmon.


Us in our booth with the humpy behind us!


My chicken fettucine, oh-so-bad for me, but oh-so-delicious!

After eating lunch we wandered around downtown for awhile, looking in fun shops and doing a bit of Christmas shopping. Then we headed to Babies 'R Us and registered for baby stuff, and then we headed to the Dimond mall where we watched some little kids at hockey practice, had a cup of soup at The Perfect Cup, and ice cream at Baskin Robins. Then it was back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep!

Tuesday morning we woke up and went to Great Harvest Bread Company, one of my favorite places in Anchorage. Shannon had never been to one, so when he asked for three samples of bread and got three real slices, he was shocked! We ate our bread samples and got some hot chocolate and a loaf of bread to-go.


The outside of Great Harvest Bread Company in Anchorage.


Mmm, a thick slice of bread, fresh hot chocolate, and a loaf of cinnamon-chip bread for the road!

Next it was back downtown to do a bit of baby shopping (diaper bag and mom-things) before heading back to the hotel to pack up and check out. We headed back to TGIFriday's for lunch, because when we were there on Sunday evening we scored some coupons for $5 sandwiches. So back we went, both getting a different chicken sandwich and splitting regular fries and sweet potato fries for a grand total of $15 after leaving a pretty good tip for our waiter!


Happy Anniversary to us with HUGE chicken sandwiches for $5 each!

And then it was time to head back to Kenai. We stopped in Girdwood to take some pictures of the mountains and frozen inlet, and then drove the remaining 2 1/2 hours home. All in all, it was a pretty good trip! The only thing that would have made it better would have been to be able to stay in a swanky hotel...but we spent most of our time out-and-about anyways, so it didn't really matter. Happy Babymoon/Anniversary to us!


The view of the inlet from a pull-off in Girdwood.


This view never gets old!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Winter Wonderland









And all you people in the South think that winter is ugly. Ha.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Fun Stuff

A couple of weeks ago as I was flipping through the Sunday paper I discovered a local "contest" where you could win a free turkey. Simply cut out the paper turkeys in the paper, fill them out with your name, phone number, and address, and drop them at local businesses which would be doing drawings for free turkeys for the winners. So, I filled out about 10 or 12 of them and Shannon and I took about 30 minutes driving around and dropping the turkeys off at local businesses. It was almost like a date. :-) Lo and behold, we won one! Mom went to pick it up the next day (because you know, pregnant women shouldn't lift an 18-pound turkey, haha).


Shannon felt that braving the cold to run all the paper turkeys into the businesses was worth it for this beaut!

Thanksgiving was a pretty good and relaxing day. It was a bit of a bummer because Shannon had to work from Wednesday evening until Saturday evening straight through, but they did give him a few hours off on Thursday morning/afternoon so he could come enjoy a meal with us.


Mom's carving the turkey while my brother Sean looks at my Sweet Potato Casserole with contempt.

It snowed a lot this past week! Monday night and Tuesday morning we got between six and eight inches! They finally plowed our road last night, which was a very nice surprise after driving home from our birthing class: no having to maneuver my way through the deep snow on the road after all!


This picture was taken on Thanksgiving.

Shannon and I buy one new ornament every year for our Christmas tree. Our "First Christmas" ornament is two s'mores in bridal attire. I don't remember what last year's ornament is (I think I couldn't find one I really liked so I just got a cheap one at Target). But this year's ornament came from The Moose Is Loose on our trip last week.


Quite appropriate for our first Christmas in Alaska with a baby on the way, don't you think?

And on Monday when I got home from work, Shannon had surprised me with these beauties:


Blue and orange for...you guessed it...Auburn! It's a miracle I managed to finagle myself out of a blue and orange wedding!

Shannon and I had decided that we weren't going to spend a lot of money on baby clothes for multiple reasons: 1) we're still not 100% sure that it's a girl, 2) we're moving in 2 1/2 months, 3) Then we're moving again two months after that, 4) And then we're moving again two months after that, and 5) babies outgrow newborn or 0-3 months clothes so quickly that it just didn't seem to make a lot of sense to buy a lot of things that might or might not fit for more than a month or two. For these reasons, we had what we felt was an adequate amount of baby clothing, but not a surplus by any means. Then last week, we received a package in the mail from my sister. Christmas had come early! She had mailed us an absolute ton of gently used baby girl clothes that had been given to her specifically for us.
I don't know how she did it, but I do know that we are blessed beyond belief. We lack for nothing now, thanks to her (or thanks to God for giving me a kind and thoughtful sister who wanted to bless us immeasurably).


Onesie after onesie, hat after hat, dress after dress, outfit after outfit...our little girl will be all decked out after all!