2009...A Year In Review

2009 is slowly drawing to a close. Well, that's not entirely true. I would have to say that 2009 screamed through our lives with the velocity and beauty of a Bugatti Veyron. (Don't worry, I'll give you a minute to google that. You and I both know that you're going to do it, so don't pretend otherwise.) I thought I'd take a little time today to reflect back on this past year, and the changes that it brought to our lives. We started the year in our traditional Alaskan way...an Aces hockey game! They have a game each New Year's Eve, and it's always a blast. If you've never had the chance to watch a live hockey game, you are really missing out.

Technically, I met these Aces players just before the New Year, but I just had to throw this in there. Why? Seriously? Uh...look at the picture again. You're welcome. The new year in Alaska brought out all of the regular visitors. This Mom and baby moose stopped by for a little nibble on our tree out back. We had the usual group stop by...black bear, moose, eagles, etc. These are the things that I miss most about Alaska. I love that you are living in a land that has been lost to most of the United States. Wild. Natural. Unspoiled. March trotted in on canine feet, with the Last Great Race...the Iditarod. Fur Rondy is a week long celebration to mark the finale of a long winter, and ends with this most difficult test of endurance and heart. The Iditarod covers over 1,150 miles of the most beautiful and unforgiving territory known to man, and it begins in beautiful downtown Anchorage. March held a couple of surprises for us as well. Not only did we have the normal amount of earthquakes, we also had some trouble from a cranky volcano. Mt. Redoubt decided to blow her top a few times, and one of the eruptions ended up with clouds of ash heading into Anchorage. That's not snow on the truck. That's volcanic ash. We were lucky that it didn't do any real damage. Other than bringing all traffic to a standstill (including the airports) and keeping all humans stuck indoors, you'd hardly notice anything was amiss. Well, Tink did panic a little bit, but we don't like to talk about that too much. It's a tad embarrassing. In May, I was very fortunate to be allowed to meet the Palins. I got to follow them around for the morning and take pictures of their visit. It was loads of fun, and Sarah Palin is a very kind and beautiful person. She's not the typical politician, and that's what I like most about her. (P.S. The rumors of me taking the State Crest from the speaker's podium are unequivocally untrue.) Todd Palin. Yep. Feel free to pause here a minute. No rush. I totally understand. Once again, you're welcome. A very sad occurrence happened at the end of April. Ashley and Tink boarded a plane and flew off to spend a very long "vacation" with Grandma and Grandpa. The Grandparents were kind enough to babysit them for us while we took a little detour overseas. For 3 years. Poor kitties. Well, poor me. The kitties are being spoiled rotten, and have both doubled in body size. Let's just say that Grandma is not adhering to the strict diet that I had the ladies on earlier this year. They are now both roughly the size of this ottoman.May brought a big truck and a group of burly fellows who proceeded to pack up all of our worldly possessions and ship them off on an ocean liner. We had been trying to go overseas for our entire military career, and had pretty much given up. We were in the process of trying to decide where we were going to retire when the orders came through. Belgium. Go figure. Early June had us flying into the glorious country of Belgium. There aren't words enough to express how excited our whole family was about getting this opportunity to go explore Europe. I won't bother re posting pictures of our adventures here so far. Feel free to browse the blog if you care to. In the 6 months that we've lived here, we've traveled around Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland. We've explored castles, toured breweries, and visited amusement parks. We've experienced things that we'd only seen in books in the past. We're crossing some things off of our "bucket list" and are adding more all the time. I'd like to thank everyone who had a part in getting us over here. We really appreciate this opportunity, and are definitely making the most of it.

Looking back on 2009, I realize how truly blessed we are. We are all in great health, and are living in a country with so much beauty and history that is just waiting for us to explore. I wish all of you a very Happy New Year to you and yours. If you want to read more about our Alaskan adventures, feel free to check out my old blog GrizzlyBarb. (If you'd like to scroll back up and take another look at that picture of the hockey players now, feel free. Again...you're welcome.)