Is anybody listening???

I thought I might do a quick post to see if anyone still looks at this.

Jarad starts training tomorrow at his new job flying the Boeing 737 for Northern Air Cargo.

Jewelene accepted a calling to serve as the Laurels advisor in the Young Womens program at Church.

Cai is growing up and struggling to learn potty training.  He loves Alaska, but he has asked me, "How does the snow go away?" and "When will it not be cold?"   It is a bit different than Southern Virginia, but we're getting used to it.  Now for the pics and video:

This is Cai walking across the frozen lake - Westchester Lagoon - on a sunny February afternoon.

Grandma & Grandpa surprise visit

fter visiting Danielle and her new baby, grandpa and grandma couldn't get home on the standby tickets... so they hopped over to VA to visit us. Here's some pics from their visit:

View from observation tower at the Botanical Gardens.

Thanks for visiting us! We don't get too many visitors but we love it when they come.

Grandpa helping Cai do a little indoor gardening. They planted cilantro, lemon balm, and dill.

Cai likes to check up on the plants frequently throughout the day. He'll say, "Hi cilantro, we love you!"

Back to blogging...perhaps.

I may get our family back into blogging, but without any guarantee for frequent updates or high quality posts. I know most blog readers are just looking at pics and because a picture = 1,000 words, you'll mostly be seeing photos with minimal comments while I'm the blog poster. --Jarad



Jewelene got our family a one year membership to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens so we'll be posting many pics throughout the year of the beautiful flowers, trees, wildlife, and of course ourselves in that setting.



Here's Cai enjoying a stroller ride just before falling asleep.







The world as Canon sees it. I'm pleased with our new camera, another Canon point and shoot. It seems to take some nice pics (or we seem to take some nice pics using it).

This type of flower (above) was actually in the tropical greenhouse garden.





This bald eagle shot I took through one of those viewing telescopes (thus the opaque quality).

This bird's nest (with brand new baby chicks) was just up on the other branch. The visitors center has a live web cam looking at the chicks in the nest.




Daddy and Cai. I had to tickle him to get a little smile. Lately he refuses to pose.




Just a little update on our family -



We moved back to Norfolk and we love it! Living out in the country (Franklin) was nice, but it sure is great to be close to work and close to a church, library, grocery store, beach, trails, etc.

We're enjoying serving in the Spanish branch in Virginia Beach and have had some great experiences with our hermanos there.



Jarad is still flying the friendly skies for Air Wisconsin Airlines (US Airways Express) and likes his career.



Jewelene will be having a baby girl sometime in the next 4 weeks (and she is feeling very ready). We're all excited for a new baby (just not looking forward to changing 2X diapers - Cai, get yourself potty trained please!).



Cai is learning and growing lots. He's so much fun and our life without him must have been extremely dull because now pretty much everything fun revolves around him.




We're also really enjoying apartment living again. I know everyone says owning a home is the American dream, but for us it was more of a nightmare (which still haunts us, and we don't plan on buying another house for a really long time). For those who didn't know it, our house in Franklin was basically destroyed by toxic mold (of the Aspergillus species) and we were forced to leave. We're still trying to sell the 2.6 acres of land with the moldy house and an old white barn if anyone is interested (the mold remediation and home repair could cost up to $40,000 so we don't plan on going back).



Check back for an update, but not TOO soon!

Courtland Heritage Fall Festival Days

He had more fun sitting in it and being pulled than the other way around. He's such a great helper.

He was a little afraid of all the little donkeys, sheep, and goats...he wouldn't even sit on a Shetland Pony just his size. O'well.
This lady (you can only see half of her) sat for 40 miutes cranking that old metal thing atop the glass container (behind Lena's hands) until she had homemade butter. Lena loved trying and seeing all these new things. Cai and Lena were both fascinated with the corn husker tool--it even spit out the empty cob at the end.




Trying his first "Dum,Dum" lollipop--paper stick and all (we got it away from him before he finished that off too)! Back at home where the weather is beautiful and the leaves are starting to change to my favorite time of year around here.