Good news for Daniel

Daniel got some good news today. His Speech Therapist called and said that if he makes any improvement at all when they go to test him again in the next couple of weeks from his last test that they gave him a few months ago, he will not qualify for speech therapy next year. This means that he has gone from having a rating of moderate/severe, speech imparement to a high mild rating in less than a year. She said for him to be able to do that means that he is VERY smart. He really has worked hard at this and you can really tell his improvement. He will continue with speech over the summer regardless of what his test scores are. It makes  me nervous though as I felt like he had lost a lot while we were gone for that month. Hopefully we can cement things enough over the summer so that he will never need speech again!

On another note for him- He had been having problems sleeping all time. Here he is in the grocery cart asleep...We discovered it was his ADHD medication, so now we are trying a new one for him. Hopefully this one works as the last one we tried kept him up for 20 plus hours a day. Mom couldn't quite handle that.

The End of the Journey

This is entitled "The End of the Journey but frankly there was a lot more journey left. We were stuck in CA, it was Saturday and the next flight out wasn't scheduled until Monday night. So we called up Aunt Joyce and Uncle Milton and begged and pleaded to come there (really we just asked and they graciously and immediately agreed.) They live in Bakersfield CA which was about a 4 hour  drive from where we were at Travis Air force Base. The kids and I headed back down I-5 for the second time on our trip. Luckily it's a pretty drive with lots of orchards just starting to bloom. Aunt Joyce and Uncle Milton have a beautiful home. I hated to impose on them as this is where my Grandma had been living and they had just been through a lot with having her there and dying, but Uncle Milton said it was good for Aunt Joyce so she could have a few more days before she had to figure out what she was going to do with her time now that she didn't have Grandma. They've just now become empty nesters as Grandma and Grandpa moved in with them when their youngest was still at home.During this time we learned that my Great Aunt Vida my paternal Grandfather's sister had passed away. That made 3 deaths and I sincerely hope that we are done with deaths and funerals for awhile.

It was so nice to be in a place where they were okay with kids running around and playing. They had lots of toys for them and spoiled them rotten when it came to breakfasts! Aunt Joyce made them a hot breakfast every morning and since Daniel loves anything with syrup he got his share of french toast, pancakes and waffles. They didn't just stop at the syrup either. He had syrup, butter, whipped cream and homemade strawberry jam all together on them. He's been trying to talk me into letting him have that ever since we've been home. On Valentine's day Aunt Joyce made them heart shaped french toast. They were so kind and made that day so special for my kids when I totally forgot about it. (Maybe the month long travel and deaths and funerals had something to do with it.) Uncle Milton took them to the park where they had a blast. Reagan especially loved to be able to go to the park on this trip. She's been asking for months to go to the park but here in AK they are covered in snow and ice and when its 10 degrees outside, Mom's not too inclined to go to the park.

On Monday my cousin Mark and his family came to see us. That really meant a lot to me that he took the time to come specifically to see me. Until the funeral I hadn't seen him since he had left on his mission which was about 15? years ago. Now a wife and 6 kids later... Who knows when we will see each other again. So I appreciate the time he spent with me and the inconvenience it was for his family. And a thank you to Aunt Joyce and Uncle Milton who roasted hot dogs and hamburgers and served their famous rootbeer. Not a fan of the rootbeer myself, (It's the homemade yeasty kind.) but it good for the memories.

Later in the week Aunt Joyce and Uncle Milton took us out to see the Kern river. I had other pictures... But these are some great ones that Uncle Milton took.

Twice a week Aunt Joyce watches two of her great granddaughters so her granddaughter in law can go to school. The kids loved having Lexi and Brielle there to play. Again, I had pictures... Their Grandma, (my cousin) Wendi and her husband came by one night too. I just love family. If anyone wants to come visit me here and stay a week or two we've got room!

Meanwhile on Monday they canceled the flight from Travis, and all flights home were $700 plus per person. So I was calling Elmendorf Air force base as well as Eilsen Air force base (in Fairbanks) to see if they were getting flights from anywhere that we could drive to. All week long there was nothing but one flight from Bangor Maine and that was a bit far to drive to get to. I might as well drive home if I was going to go for that. I was so frustrated and we all desperately wanted to go home. Reagan stopped talking to Paul at all. She was mad that we weren't home with him.Aunt Joyce's and Uncle Milton's was wonderful and I was so grateful to have somewhere to be. Finally there was a flight scheduled for Saturday. After spending a week there we said goodbye and drove back up I-5.

I got a hotel room on base as we were supposed to report in for our flight at 1:30 am.We checked in and tried to get a little rest. I arranged with a shuttle agency to pick us up and take us over to the terminal. It's only 3 blocks but at 1 in the morning you don't feel like walking. We waited and waited for the shuttle guy and he never showed up. So I walked the 3 blocks with my 2 kids, 2 suitcases, 2 car seats, and various other bags at 1 in the morning. Only to get there and be told that the flight once again had been canceled for passengers. Needless to say I broke down crying.The next flight was maybe the next night. Some kind strangers took pity on me and drove me back to the hotel where we were able to get our room back. I was not in a good place that night.

At this point I was stuck in a hotel no car (we'd returned it thinking we would be leaving) and nothing to do with 2 kids. There was the bowling alley across the street, but everything else in walking distance was closed. Lots of t.v. The next night the flight was canceled. At this point we had been gone almost a month and we couldn't stay gone forever, so Paul used the airline miles he had and we found that Alaska Air has special rates for Military. The kids and I finally flew home late Wednesday night. The kids and I were about 48 hours short of being gone 4 weeks, and had driven over 2700 miles and were finally home. Can I tell you that I seriously considered kissing the ground?

Daniel did fabulously the entire trip until the day we left, and then he lost it. He didn't regain "it" until 3 weeks later until he finally adjusted to being back home. We are not sure we are ever leaving home again. At least not for another year.

The Epic Journey Part 3

Look at this road. See how it curves? It does a couple of S shapes and there is no side of the road beyond here as it's pretty much straight down for a mile if you look on either side of the road. This is called the Hogs Backbone. It's between Escalante and Boulder UT. And I always have to complete my trips to Escalante by driving over it. (Tiffany this is our little secret that we weren't going to tell you until we took you over it.) There is another area on another road close to here that is even worse. It's called Hells backbone.


The next best part of this scenic Hwy 12 is Boulder mountain. My favorite time to drive over it is during the summer when all the Quaking Aspens have leaves. It is so beautiful the way the light flickers through the trees. The view from the mountain is amazing. (Kind of like the views up here in Alaska. All of you really need to come visit me. You really don't know what you are missing!)

We left Escalante and made the drive up to Ogden on the Sunday morning after the funeral. I had hoped to stay longer but as everyone was leaving it was kind of pointless. So the kids and I headed up to see their other Grandma (Paul's Mom). I had been talking with my parents previously and they had mentioned that the Mortician had said to them that funerals always come in 3, which I had heard before but really was hoping I wouldn't see now. No sooner did I get done talking with them than Paul called and said that his Mom's Aunt had just died. There was number 2. We didn't get to see Lois much the first couple of days as she was busy with the funeral, viewing, and cousins. I decided not to go and take the kids as they had just been through one funeral and 2 in less than a week is asking a bit much of a 3 and 4 year old. But the kids and I went to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. They had some great new stuff- my favorite part- The cow that you could actually milk! It wasn't real but the udder for being fake gave a very realistic experience of milking the cow. Daniel's favorite of course was still the fire truck, and Reagan fell apart when we had to leave Beatrix Potter's cottage. Darn that missing camera!
After the funeral was over with Lois took us out to eat at Olive Garden which might not be that exciting to all of you who live in the lower 48 but I live in Alaska and they make us watch the commercials up here and there are no Olive Gardens in Alaska. So my 2 goals while on the outside (that is what we call outside of AK up here), were to go to Olive Garden and the Beach. So my two objectives were accomplished! Thank you Lois and Aunt Diane!
The next day we took the train to Salt Lake and went to Discovery Zone. Again DARN THAT MISSING CAMERA! They loved riding on the train as well as the tram. Then to get to play to their hearts content! Happy day! The following day we went and saw the movie Tangled. Great movie!In my opinion one of the best that Disney has made in awhile. Though Daniel about took me out by jumping into my lap every time he thought it might be scary. He doesn't wait for it to get scary. He anticipates it. They loved seeing Grandma Lois and all too quickly it was time to start back (or so we thought).
So the next day we started back to Travis AFB. It's about a 13 hour drive (or so it says). One thing that this trip decided for me was that I NEVER want to live in Nevada. There's nothing but ugly desert and casinos in the state! That was a long drive. There's really nothing there on I-80. The kids would be wanting something different to drink and I'd be saying look outside! Do you see a McDonald's anywhere? Once we hit the California border though, it was gorgeous! Can I say that California just makes me happy! Maybe its because I was born there, or because I only have good memories of there (Okay there were the times when Erin got car sick but I try not to remember those.) They may not be able to balance a budget, have crazy politicians, and many other quirks. But it just makes me so happy to be there.
There were no hotel rooms at the base hotel so we stayed in a lousy Motel 6. It was so bad I wrote to the company. Anyone want a voucher for a free hotel room? I would have gone somewhere else but I was so tired and the kids had to get out, I figured what's one night. But then we found out that the runway was closed and our flight would not be going out...
What to do??? Luckily I have lots of family in CA. Next post- On to Bakersfield CA.

The Epic Journey Part 2

We started off early in the on a Thursday morning. My cousins daughter Laura (Cousin once removed? I never did understand how all that works- Regardless she's my cousin), was headed up to Escalante from San Diego with her 2 kids so we decided caravan. It's a bit less than a 10 hour drive according to Google Maps. (We made it in less than that.) We took a rather long short cut through Zion's National Park. But as I had never been to Zion's I didn't mind too much. (I've been trying to upload a picture of Zion's but it's not working!!! Darn that lost camera!)
I have driven (literally) across the U.S. and I'm not sure that there is a road that beats the scenery on Hwy 12 in Utah and that's saying a lot. I live in Alaska where the views are magnificent. You drive through Red Canyon- These are 2 separate tunnels that you drive through. The pictures aren't the greatest as they are from April's phone as she and David were driving. You don't enter but you also pass Bryce Canyon National Park as well. I'll show you more of Hwy 12 in the next post.














That night we congregated at my Aunt Evelyn's house. All my cousins weren't there yet but when you there are like 35 Grandchildren, 77 Great grandchildren and I think 10 Great-great Grandchildren, well I'm not sure there's a house big enough for all of us! It was needless to say a bit crowded but so much fun to see everyone.

Here is a picture of Daniel and Aunt Emma fooling around waiting to go to the funeral. I really didn't have to do much with my kids while we were there because they had so many surrogate Mom's. Though the kids were a bit overwhelmed by having so many people wanting their attention. By the time the funeral started they just wanted me but I was busy playing for it, so we would squeeze hugs and cuddles in between songs.
I love this picture because it is SO my family. This is my sisters April (piano), Hannah (violin) and Eliza (viola). We are always playing, or singing for something. They are practicing for the funeral here. My cousins daughter later joined them as well.

Waiting for funerals to start can take awhile... The kids all had fun taking random pictures. This is my brother David. He lives in Texas and I don't get to see him nearly enough. It was SO much fun to talk to him and see him. April, David and I shared a hotel room while we were there and the first night we were up until 2am just talking and laughing. Wish we could do it more often guys!

Reagan and my sister Eliza hanging out waiting for the funeral to start.
Don't I have handsome cousins? These are the oldest boys of each family of my cousins. As you can see they span many years. My oldest cousin, Richard, I believe is my Mom's age and the youngest cousin I have, Bryce, is 16 I think?



Saying goodbye to Grandma. It was great to see everyone though. I was sad when half of the family left right after the family dinner. I hadn't seen some of these people in about 15 years and there were so many people it was hard to talk to everyone before they left.
The next day was a sleeping half day for Daniel so while he stayed home with Grandma Lyman I took some of my siblings, my Dad and Reagan and went to Devil's Rock Garden. This is a fabulous place that I grew up going to as a child. We drove up and Reagan said, "Mommy, look! There's big rocks!" Another thing to make me sad about loosing my camera. There are 2 natural arches there that I had pictures of. I love this place. I have such fond memories of it. My favorite is when we had a family reunion and we played hide and go seek at dusk in the rocks. It's a child's gigantic playground and it meant a lot to me to be able to share it with my daughter.
Later that day Daniel was a bit more awake and my cousins took him, Jonathan and Emma to slide down the Red rocks down the street. Bet you didn't do this as a kid!
Next stop, and next post Ogden UT

The Epic Journey Part 1

I have been dragging my feet on writing this blog post for 2 reasons. I lost my camera which means all my great pictures are gone and the other reason is that when you are gone for a month the post is going to have to be really long!
We left Anchorage on Saturday January 29th. The kids and I took a military space A flight as they are free and flights to UT were over $700 and that just wasn't in the budget. I loved the terminal here. It was all set up for families and kids. They have a special room for parents of young children with cribs, rocking chairs, leather couches and a big flat screen t.v. Out in the main area they had toys and things for the older kids and the remote to the t.v.? It was an airplane that you sat in. If all airports were that well equipped you would have a lot happier and less stressed out Moms and Dads!
The flight itself was interesting but traveling with kids the best I've ever been on! We were in a big KC130 cargo plane. It was filled with cargo and right in front of us was a big trailer with something on it that I couldn't figure out what it was. But the notation on the side said that it was 250,000 lbs. If that thing moved we were dead! Our seats were on the side of the plane, canvas stretched between metal was really all it was but it really wasn't that bad for sitting on. Just like on a regular flight they gave us blankets and pillows and you could buy a meal to eat if you wanted to. Unlike on a regular flight they also handed out ear plugs because it's rather noisy. But that was the great part for me. You can't hear your 3 year old throw a fit! She also doesn't bother the other passengers as they can't hear her either! Once you reach cruising altitude you are allowed to get up and walk around as much as you like, you can even lay down and take a nap. For these reasons I say it's the best way to travel with kids!
We reached Travis AFB (just outside of Sacramento CA) around 9 p.m. and it was gently raining. The first words out of Reagan's mouth? "Look Mommy, Mud!" She hadn't seen mud in months, just snow and ice. So that was a really big thing for her. As we walked the 3 1/2 blocks to the hotel they both loved jumping into the puddles. We were already soaking wet from the rain what was it going to hurt? Besides it was warm. I was warm in January while outside! Hallelujah! We stayed in the base hotel that night and I also can't say enough about military hotels. They are clean and nice and cheap! Great combination in my book!
Our plan for the next day was to drive to Ogden (Travis said they never had flights to Hill AFB in UT, but the week after I needed it they had flights almost every day!) so the kids could see Paul's Mom for a few days before we headed south for my Grandma's funeral. But I was awakened that morning by a phone call from my Dad saying to check the road conditions from the storm that had just come through to make sure I could get through. Guess what, I couldn't. The infamous Donner pass was closed to all vehicles but those with chains. In my car at home I could have made it no problem. With a rental car? No way. So we changed our plans and drove instead to my Aunt Diane (my Mom's sister) and Uncle Bob's home in Fallbrook CA which is just north of San Diego.
The kids had met Aunt Diane and Uncle Bob last winter at my Grandfather's funeral in Missouri and Reagan had fallen in love with her "Uncle Bobby". So she was really happy to see him again. He had to work a lot while we were there so Aunt Diane was happy she got to spend some time with her as well because when Uncle Bob's around she forgets there is anyone else in the room. Daniel had a great time there as well. They have a dog which I am sure was happy to see them go because my kids were so happy to be with a dog again they could leave her alone and followed (chased) her everywhere. Reagan couldn't have been happier just to be outside and she would climb through the dog/cat door and go outside all day long.
The first day after we got there my Grandparents (my Mom's Mom and Stepdad) paid for us to go to Legoland. It was a great place to take the kids and they were just the right age. Legoland is built for kids of a targeted age up to about 7. Much older and they would be bored with most of it. There was only one ride Reagan wasn't big enough to go on. There are all kinds of things made out of real legos, people, animals that actually moved and made noise. Reagan and I went on a pirate ship ride (Daniel said it looked too scary.) and Aunt Diane and he waited for us on a bench. On the bench was a guy made of legos. All of the sudden they heard a noise. They realized it was the lego man talking. He was saying, "I shouldn't have gone on that ride. I wouldn't stand there if I were you!" The ride was great by the way and Reagan is definitely our dare devil. She was giggling on all the fast and crazy rides.
If you ever make it to Legoland you MUST, I repeat MUST try their apple fries. They were amazingly good! They take Granny Smith apples and cut them up like french fries, fry them up in a batter, roll them in cinnamon and sugar and give you real whipped cream to dip them in. Heaven on earth!
We wore the kids completely out. On the last ride where they are riding their horses and going out to defeat the black knight with their jousts, Reagan was almost falling off the horse. Daniel still has the map and is planning his next trip to Legoland.
We drove over to my cousin Ryan's house that night for dinner. It was so fun to get to meet his son Sean, and get to play with him! We met his wife Kelly for the first time as well. Reagan was of course in heaven with a baby to take care of. She also got to help Ryan make dinner and he was so cute with her! (He needs a daughter!) He pulled up a chair and let her help him make the salad and put the pizza in the oven. She LOVES Ryan. Poor Daniel was so tired that of the 4 hours that we were there he spent most of it passed out right here. It was wonderful to see Ryan again. The last time I saw him was about 15 years ago, so a lot has changed in both of our lives, but it was good to reconnect and feel that feeling of connection that you only get with family. (Thank you Ryan for the pics. You just aren't in any of them :-(
The next day Daniel was having a sleeping day. He has been having problems where he will spend most of an entire day sleeping and still go to sleep the that night. So while he slept Aunt Diane, Reagan and I spent the day watching old movies. I definitely get my love of old movies from this side of my family. Shirley Temple, Doris Day, and Swiss Family Robinson were some of our movies that day. After Daniel woke up about 3 p.m. we dragged him to the park. On days like this he has a hard time dealing with things and really just wants to go back to sleep. Reagan was in heaven. She keeps asking to go to the park but our parks here are covered in ice and snow. She got to swing to her hearts content. She did not want to go back to the house, but after about an hour that was all Daniel could handle. We headed back and went to dinner with my Grandparents and Uncle Bob and Aunt Diane. They took us out for Mexican food that was SO yummy! I haven't found a really good Mexican restaurant yet here. Grandma and Grandpa got to meet Daniel and Reagan for the first time and I think Reagan wrapped herself around Grandpa's finger so tight I wouldn't be surprised if they went home and rewrote their will. Reagan has asked several times for "the other Grandpa", they are their Great Grandparents. Poor Daniel was so out of it he just wanted to go back to bed so they didn't get a good view of his personality. It has been about 15 years since I've seen Grandpa as well and about 6 years since I've seen Grandma so it was really good to see them. Grandpa looked exactly the same. Grandma came back with us and visited for awhile.
The next day we visited my favorite place the beach. Yes my Alaskan friends I went to the beach and soaked up the sun! Beautiful shimmering waves, the sand with golden specks it was wonderful! I so wish I had the pictures from this. There was a beautiful picture of Reagan making a sand angel with the biggest smile on her face, another of the 3 of us running away from the waves... It makes me so mad I am missing them but we do have the memories. I love the beach because I love just sitting listening to the ocean, it's so peaceful and rests my soul.
Next- On to Escalante UT.

Good Bye Dear Grandma

If you are on Facebook and are "friends" with me you probably already know about my Grandma passing and the extremely long trip we had to attend her funeral, there will be more about that insane trip in a later post. For this one I wanted to write about my Grandma.
I have always considered myself very lucky when it came to Grandparents. My Mom's parents divorced and remarried so I had 3 sets of Grandparents growing up. One of my Great Grandfathers was alive until I was 18 and that same year I lost my first grandparent. I have been extremely blessed to know my Grandparents. With the passing of my paternal Grandmother I'm down to one set and I appreciate Grandparents even more as they become fewer.
As you can see, even at the age of 95 she was a beautiful lady still. She never wanted to live this long and would have happily left soon after my Grandpa died about 15 years ago. But she taught us all something about perseverance with her life. She suffered from scoliosis most of her life and though she was in severe pain a lot of her life you never heard her complain. She still did everything she needed to do and more. The doctors said it would eventually kill her, but she just kept right on going. She might have been a little slower and she might have been a little stooped over until she could get her back to straighten out but she did it, and as I inherited some of her back problems I have really come to admire that.
She also was alone a lot raising her 6 kids. Grandpa was often gone frequently with work. I remember her writing me a letter when Paul was on his 1st deployment writing of her love and empathy for me and the situation I was in. That meant a lot to me.
She lost her mother at a very young age. I can't help but compare her just a little bit with other people I've known who have had that happen to them. That is a really formative experience and plenty of people have let that make them bitter and hard, but those two words I could never ascribe to my Grandma.
I will miss you Grandma. But you fought a good fight. You deserve the rest. I love you!

Reagan's 1st Trip to the Dentist & Daniel's 1st X-rays

I know, I have been bad and my blog has been silent for awhile. I'm going to work on updating it (and there will be a lot) over the next couple of days so stay tuned....
Daniel had his first dental x-rays recently and he did really well. He seems to have inherited Paul's teeth (Hallelujah!) and came through the visit with a clean bill of health with no cavities. Another good bit of news for him is that the over bite that he has had since birth has corrected itself. This problem runs in the family and the only way to correct it is for them to go in and break your jaw and remove part of it. Then you spend 6 weeks with it wired shut. So we are really happy that he isn't going to have to deal with that.




Miss Reagan had her first trip to the dentist and my worst fears were confirmed. She's following right along in her Mom's footsteps. She has 3 cavities of which we will be getting filled next week. But she LOVED the visit. And why wouldn't she? She got to wear cool glasses and got individual attention. What's not to love?