Ahhhhhhhhhhh-laska!

This picture pretty much sums up our day. We got up and drove to the airport this morning, then hopped across the country: Kansas City-Denver-Seattle-Anchorage! Lots and lots of flights and planes and whatnot. The cool thing is, due to short(ish) layovers, three time zone changes, and a fairly direct route, we were able to get in at about 3 this afternoon. Jason's dad is a contract nurse and is currently in Anchorage. Since he's only going to be here a short while we had to jump on the opportunity to visit Alaska without having to pay for a hotel or rental car. It's gorgeous up here! We saw a ton of sea planes landing on a water runway, and before we even got to Jason's dad's place, we totally saw a moose. Being exhausted kind of makes everything hazy, so we did little beyond drive around sight seeing in town, stopping at interesting parks along the way. This is too cool.

Axis Askew

Today was an off day all around. I seemed to hit things at the wrong time, end on the wrong note, and more or less flubbed through the entire thing. Weird. I tried to help out with the taking down of VBS things from the church but ended up showing up just as everyone was leaving. I planned to check on a vacationing friend's cat and call to let her know the cat was fine (she worries) but she called before I had gotten around to it, so I felt like a loser as I explained that I was planning on going later. No biggie, but still. All that off kilter energy did not help with my improv show tonight. I just felt so.....off! Anyhow, here's a picture that pretty much sums up how I feel/felt today.

Little squirt

Today was the last day of VBS. All week long the kids have been bringing money to purchase chickens, goats and rabbits for the impoverished people of India. There were three buckets, each with a picture of one of the afforementioned animals on the side and the kids would drop their money into the bucket of their choice. Each bucket was also assigned to a person in our church. Whichever bucket had the most money raised throughout the week, the person who the bucket was assigned to would have to go into the fenced in playground area while all the kids threw water balloons at them. Nice. In the end, our friend Joe (zookeeper Joe as he's been known as this week) ended up getting creamed. Here he is exacting a little revenge on Leigha. I had a lot of fun and got a lot of complements for my acting and puppetry skills this week, but I am so glad it's over. I'm exhausted!

Just go ahead now

Today was incredibly.............scattered. Adjectives fail to describe this day, so frazzling was it. I didn't have to do puppets at VBS today so I had one of two choices: I could A. Show up and be a 'floater', meaning hang out at the registration desk just in case someone needed helping hands. (rarely happens........the biggest job the floaters have had this week to my knowledge is running to QT to get everyone sodas) or B. Take the free three hours away from the kids and enjoy my 'me' time. I won't tell you what I did, but incidentally, I have the cutest new top from Old Navy........ Everything in my Summer is chaotic at the moment. I have fifty thousand things to do and they all want to happen within a two week span. Every time I think I have a handle on it, more stuff gets dumped onto my plate, all falling within the 'red zone' of those two weeks. I just can't seem to iron out all the wrinkles and it's driving me to tears. *sigh* Oh well, the good news is with that much to do it'll go by fast...........let's hope I can do it all. This afternoon Alanna and her flock of kiddos came over for lunch. It was nice to have a friend around. The big kids played outside, the little kids played princesses, and the baby ate cat food. Seriously, she pulled herself up to the cat's food dish like it was her own personal buffet or something. Gross. Funny, yes......but mostly gross. The good news is it was designed to be eaten. This is a picture of Brianna and Clara as beautiful princesses. Awwww. Someday they'll be putting this one in a friendship scrapbook, I think.

Seranade me like there's no tomorrow!!!!

After VBS today Leigha went to Dustin and Alanna's house to spend the night with Cora. With her out of the house, Brianna took a nap and I had a nice, quiet afternoon! When Jason came home from work we went over to Denton and Hannah's for dinner. Denton is in a couple groups with me, so we talked improv and made soup. Awesome. We took in a couple of movies and then Denton and Hannah pulled out the guitar and eukaleile and seranaded us. I believe the song they are playing in this picture is 'Two Princes' by The Spin Doctors. I like that song a lot. I love hanging out with good friends.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrout!

Dear loved ones.

Life on the front lines has become grim. I long for the peace of a finished bathroom. Black powder has hung thick in the air this day and I fear the worst. If you can read this I know that not all forms of outside communication have been cut off, and I beg of you, send reinforcements and supplies, specifically copious amounts of fountain drinks. Please know that I love you all and I hope to return swiftly to the realms of the free world. But until then, I remain. Vigilantly steadfast in the face of nearly insurmountable obstacles, fighting the good fight.

Ever yours,

Jess

Vaycay Beeblay, dawg!

.........And so begins VBS week. The theme for the year is 'If Animals Could Talk.' This is the set for the first lesson. Up in the tree is the serpent and on the dirt part is Adam. (mentally add 'And Eve' and you'll see. Yup, there it is.) There is also a rooster at the base of the tree. Those are all puppets. I got to play Adam today and our pastor was the serpent. I talked to my dad on the phone last night and told him about the pastor's role in the lesson, and he laughed and said, "Wow, typecasting?" Anyhow. The rooms are sooooo cool. I had a small hand in decorating the room the kids go to tomorrow, but today's was my favorite of the five. Today was quite odd. We took Spartacus to the vet for his annual shots and had a conversation about dogs that was hilarious. Somehow we got on the subject of dogs that bite and he said, "You know, the dogs named Kujo and Killer I never have a problem with. But if it's a little white thing named Princess or Angel, you better watch out." (awesome.) I was exhausted when we got home and ended up taking a nap on the couch (weird, very weird for me) and felt blah when I woke up (which is why I don't take naps, like, ever.) so I went upstairs to grab a drink of water and noticed it was umpteen degrees warmer up there, but the air conditioner was on. Greeeeeeeeeeeeat. It just figures that the Summer I decide to let my hair grow out is the summer the air conditioner has issues. To escape the heat we opened all the windows and sat in the basement, and after dinner we went for a walk with Holly. Walking a boston terrier is a little like flying a kite. You point the rope in front of you and let it weave to it's own indecipherable rhythm. We put the kids to bed and I let the dog out to pee, but left the back door open to get some air in the house. I went to do something real quick and I heard a 'Jess, can you help me?' I went outside to find Jason in the back yard with a flashlight. The cat had gotten out and was under the deck, so Jason and I kept trying to lure him toward each other....unfortunately, he was shooing the cat my way and I was shooing him Jason's way. Whoops. Finally we cornered him by the tree near the shed and I was able to pick him up and take him back inside. Victory! I can't blame him for being mad at us, though. He's had a rough day.