Wow, has it really been that long since my last post. Talk about slacking off! In my defense, we have been super busy around here lately. Last Friday I packed up the kids and caught the ferry to meet up with Z-Man in a sweet little town, I’ll call it TinyTown, about 90 miles north of us. (When I say little, I mean little! They have only 500 year round residents.)

It was tough to get everything we needed for the weekend all packed up and onto the ferry with out any help. We didn’t take the car as we usually do so everything had to be walked on. The girls were great on the 4 hour ride but Princess got sea sick, so we were all happy to see “daddy” when we got there.

We stayed with a good friend of Z-Man’s in town and though I had never met them, they were very nice and took good care of all of us during our stay. The reason we headed off on this impromptu trip is the incredible Yuletide Celebration they have in TinyTown. The night we arrived, they had a wonderful tree lighting ceremony. A man dressed as a traditional town crier walked up and down the streets ringing a big bell and calling everyone from their homes. We all joined in singing carols and the local school children joined in chorus to sing us Christmas carols in Japanese, German, French and English. Then Santa arrived riding on top of a huge red fire truck that was all lit up with Christmas light and had a fully decorated tree on top.

Since Z-Man knows the fire chief personally, the girls where invited to ride with Santa on the truck. Once Santa arrived, he lit the big town square tree while we all joined in and sang “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. Then we were free to wander up and down Main Street where all the local shops had opened up and were serving refreshments and munchies. I of course forgot my camera back at the house and didn’t get even one picture of the girls riding with Santa or the tree lighting!

The next day we all headed down to the rail station where we were able to meet Santa and sit on his lap. There were complimentary drinks and snacks as we all boarded the “Santa Train” which took us on a beautiful 1 hour ride through the snow covered mountains. Santa and one of his elves walked up and down the train visiting with all the children. Neither of the girls wanted to sit on Santa’s lap or visit with him when he came through the train. I did manage to get one or two photos…

Later that night there was a wonderful Yuletide ball with lots of music, dancing, and food. A child friendly band played for the first few hours and then more adult music finished out the evening until 1am.

Z-Man managed to surprise all of us with an early Christmas present…a puppy! Someone in TinyTown breads Maltipoos and he reserved us one of the puppies weeks ago. She is 8 weeks old and completely adorable! I named her Mali and we all are in love. I’m not getting much in the way of sleep though. She thinks she should be able to sleep on the bed and is nonplused that we don’t agree. I haven’t had a puppy in about 9 years and I’d forgotten how much work they are. I hope to get her into obedience classes right away so she’ll be trained before the baby comes home.

We caught the Ferry home on Sunday and we were all exhausted! I’ve spent all my time since then running after the puppy, cleaning the house, unpacking, Christmas shopping, and of course, packing for our trip tonight.

We are finally heading up to get our fingerprints done for the I600A. Z-Man and I leave tonight and will stay in Anchorage for 2 nights before heading home late Saturday. My mom is coming over to stay with the girls (and the puppy). I can’t wait to get this finished so we can get the dossier done. We talked to the Home Study agency on Tuesday and they should have everything approved by next week. I’m hoping the holidays don’t slow us down too much!

So, have a great weekend everyone and I’ll let you know how it all goes when we get back! In the meanwhile, here are a few pictures of all our recent adventures.

posted at 11:52 AM  
Labels: Adoption, Alaska Living, Kids