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We walked home from the Fleherty’s after an evening of wine tasting just in time to see the sun slowly dropping over the ocean. It was a gorgeous sunset – as so many of them here are. The most interesting part, though… this picture was taken at 11:15 pm! As Bill and I headed to bed two hours later, it was still dusk! I imagine I won’t see true darkness again before I hit Minnesota! I do enjoy the light.
It’s always nice to catch up with old friends. We enjoyed having AnnMarie with us here Thursday and Friday nights. It sometimes seems like living in Brevig Mission was forever ago – or almost that it didn’t happen at all. (Perhaps I blocked it from my memory with good reason.) 😉 At any rate, as with the rest of our time here in Alaska, the best part of the experience was meeting wonderful people. We’re happy we had a chance to catch up one last time up North and look forward to meeting up with Rudstroms down on the “Range” this summer.
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Since Bill and I didn’t really get a chance to celebrate his birthday last Saturday, I decided to bring home some fresh stuff from Anchorage. We enjoyed beef sirloin, fresh romain salad, asparagus, bananas and kiwi. Our dinner conversation was focused on how nice it will be to eat fresh fruits and veggies any time we want next year – it’s the small things that count!
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“Silly is you in a natural state; serious is something you do until you can get silly again.”
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My favorite times are the moments I spend laughing with my friends and family. Happily, I got such an opportunity this past weekend. Tiff met me in Anchorage, and we got the chance to catch up on the past month, talk about plans for the near future, and laugh!
We enjoyed a tasty dinner at my favorite Anchorage restaraunt, The Glacier Brewhouse, before heading back to the Captain Cook for more visiting and a good night’s sleep. Rick had to fly out for work, so he and the boys drove into town the next morning. I got a chance to catch up with Keegan and Rohnan over breakfast… they seemed older to me! I guess that’s part of the gaps in time between visits. Sometimes I think I’ll blink and they’ll be adults.
Bill and I have enjoyed several trips to the Holt’s new home, and prior to their move many nights of fun at their place in Unalakleet. These are the type of folks that make you feel like you’ve known them forever – and like you’re part of the family. (I’ve even dared to refer to their futon as MY bed… and I think it’s catching on.) 🙂
We continue to feel blessed by our friendships – all around the country!
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My very sweet husband turns 27 today! (And I am so thankful he was born.)
I arrived in Anchorage on Wednesday and met up with Bill, Damon, and six kids from the Bering Strait School District. They are here broadcasting the Native Youth Olympics – an event of traditional games which represent survival skills of the Alaskan Natives in the past. There are some very interesting events… like this one – the wrist carry. The participant hangs on to the wooden stick with her wrist for as long as she can. No gripping, just the bare wrist. This event represents “bringing home dinner”.
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The six students come from Unalakleet, Stebbins, Savoonga, and Shishmaref. For one of the students, it’s the first trip into “the city” since they were too young to remember being here. The sights and sounds of Anchorage are a lot to take in after leaving the village. All the kids are doing great handling their ordering, money, and the responsibilities of broadcasting.
Visiting KTUU (Anchorage’s NBC news studio) was definitely a highlight, as we were there to watch the 6:00 news LIVE – as in right in the room they reported from. I really enjoyed the tour – a perk of being a chaperone. 🙂
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The guys and the kids will leave tonight, and I’ll stay in town for a night of visiting with Tiff. Yea!
Dad and I went out in the boat to break up the ice… and somewhere along the line we decided it’d be a good idea to take the season’s first swim. (Yes – in the same lake we’d just been stirring the ice around in.)
Dad walked in first, which if you ask me is just torture. I jumped in after him. We both jumped twice… I wouldn’t so much call it swimming as a race to get out. Good times!
[QUICKTIME http://bbryson.com/erin/files/2007/04/swim.mov 320 260]
[QUICKTIME http://bbryson.com/erin/files/2007/04/broom.MOV 320 260]If you’re a fan of Ellen Degeneres’s talk show, you’ve probably watched her audience members play “Broom”. We tried it ourselves… You have to look up at the broom while you spin around 20 times. Then you throw the broom down, do a jumping jack, and try to jump over the broom. Give it a try!
Bill has once again blessed us with a blog update. His latest entry is fairly amusing. It reminds me of this picture… [image:70:l]
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We Aune girls started our morning right with a good breakfast and wonderful visit with mom. It’s been a while since all 4 of us have been able to get out together, so it was especially nice.
April and I headed back to Cook to meet up with Dad for a trip to the shack. The Little Fork river is open, so we took advantage and got the canoe out. This is the same canoe we used to go out to break ice in when we were little. It’s seen it’s better days, but we got up and down a nice part of the river… and stayed semi-dry.
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When we got back up to the road, we ran into Trisha, Uncle Earl (my grandpa’s brother), and Steve. We took another hike through the woods. It was a beautiful day!
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