Sam and Misty

It's hard for me to wrap my head around how fast the years go by. Before I knew it Elly was 6 years old and it was time for her to start 1st grade. My choice has always been for Elly to attend a private Christian school. Never having gone to a public school myself makes me nervous and hesitant to send Elly. Since we do live in Germany and our choices of schooling are limited I've had to get used to the idea of sending her to the public school on base. Homeschooling is an option, but not one I would enter into lightly. With Elly being an only child I feel she needs more interaction with other children and I think she and I would end up having a hard time of it at home. Sam and I believe the DoDDS school here is much better than your average public school in the states and, so far, have been very happy with our experience with Elly's education.

Each year we've done lots of praying and hoping for the best. We also send a letter to the school administration detailing what kind of environment we would hope for Elly to be in. So far, we've had wonderful teachers. At the end of last year, I asked Elly's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Biggs, who she would suggest for 1st grade and she mentioned Mrs. Stewart. She had worked with her in Korea and knew she would be coming to our school this year. Thankfully, that's who we ended up with and we met her for the first time on the day of the open house just before school was to start.

She is in a newly built school this year, so we enjoyed checking it out before school started.

Here Elly's checking out the music room.

Sitting at her desk.

Elly's name on her desk.

Elly and her 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Stewart.

First day of 1st grade!

Such a little girl...and such a big campus!!

Waiting to get in line for her classroom.

Saying the Pledge of Allegiance before going to the classrooms.

I LOVE this picture!!

The school has fall and spring photos. This was the fall photo and turned out so cute with her perfectly matched missing front teeth. I could not love this little girl any more!

She's precious and we are so proud of her!

Ok, well here I go again after another 6 month break from posting anything on here. (Much longer than that now, since I didn't get this posted when I actually wrote this) I'm still convinced that I will actually get up to date on this blog at some point in my life so I'm just continuing from where I left off at...which is last summer (2015!). If I actually thought anyone (other than family) followed this blog I would be embarrassed about posting something from so long ago, but since I get the blog printed off into books I like to have it all in order. So...here goes nothing.

I love, love, love our trips back home to Alaska every summer. It's always so nice to just reconnect and be with my family. I also love that Elly gets such an extended time with my parents so she can really connect with them. This summer was a little different since we were already in Pennsylvania for the Thompson reunion. We had our flights scheduled so that we all flew out the same morning from Pittsburgh. Sam was leaving an hour or so after Elly and I. He headed back to Germany while we flew on to Alaska. I don't like being away from my husband for so long during the summer, but for the time being that's how it ends up. I have a real need to reconnect with my family and it really doesn't make much sense to go for just a couple of weeks. I just wish I could bring everyone I love together in one place and not be spread out all over the world. It's hard being so far away.

Anyhow, we flew into Fairbanks around midnight, but of course it was still pretty light out. I love seeing my Alaska again. My heart gets so excited to see "home"again. Even though I've been gone for quite a few years now it will always have my heart.

Mom had lots of different pieces of material that she was going to make into a quilt for me. So, while I was there we went through the pieces and laid them out in the pattern I liked. Elly really loved working with the material. She is a girl after her grandma's heart for sure.

Elly enjoyed picking strawberries for Mom.

Mom, Elly and I went on lots of 4-wheeler rides. This day we stopped by the field of cows and picked some wild strawberries.

My shoulders have hurt for about 10 years and I've just put off having surgery in Germany. It's gotten to the point where I knew I needed to get them fixed. This year I had everything arranged before I got to Alaska to have my right shoulder fixed. On July 16th I went in for that surgery. It was so nice to be home and have my mom there to help take care of Elly (and ME ☺) while I recovered.

Rika's Roadhouse in Delta is a place I always love walking around at. Elly enjoyed the animals and then wanted to place some flowers on Rika's grave☺

On our way home we stopped by my cousin's place to see the new baby goats.

♥ Elly was in love ♥

More 4-wheeler rides and fun taking selfies ☺

Elly was so happy playing in the mud out by the greenhouse. She was such a mess, but loved every minute of it. I loved seeing her get dirty and have fun.

♥ Mailing a letter to Daddy ♥

Elly lost another tooth while we were there.

It's always fun to go to the Deltana parade and fair while we're home.

Elly was ready to get lots of candy.

We took a ride on the ferris wheel. That's about as daring as I like to be ☺

On one of our 4-wheeler rides we stopped out in the fields and took some photos. I love my Mom♥

In early August, Elly and I had gone to Fairbanks for the day. We were almost home and I was turning onto Jack Warren Road when a truck came through the intersection and hit us. He said he just didn't see us. Thankfully we were ok, but Mom's car didn't fare so well. I felt so bad about wrecking her car, but there really was nothing I could have done differently. It was totally not my fault.

Another day playing in the mud.

Elly loved putting on parties for us. She would gather things from the kitchen and put on a party.

We went back and forth for awhile about whether we would go back to my brother's cabin. I was concerned about driving a 4-wheeler the long way back with my recent shoulder surgery. And in general it's just rough living. I wasn't sure I was up for that, but in the end we decided to go and I'm so glad we did. I love Alaska and the wild beauty and there's really nothing like being removed from all modern conveniences. It makes you interact and enjoy the people you're with. We drove the 2 hours to Fairbanks and stocked up on food at Freddy's then drove another 2 hours to Healy. From there we took the 4-wheelers and Chad's truck 11 miles into the wild. It was awesome!

I really don't know why Elly brought her goggles with her on this trip, but she must have been bored.

Getting all packed up and ready to head back to the cabin.

The trail was in very bad condition from all the rain they had been having.

Chad's truck got stuck at some point.

Nothing but wilderness in any direction. I love it!

The long trip back to the cabin was made much longer due to various issues we had going in. First, the truck was stuck, then a tire blew.

Elly was staging a protest by this time. She really was not a happy camper.

We got the tire fixed and headed off toward the cabin again. Chad was in the truck in front of those of us on 4-wheelers. He had most of the supply bins in the back of his truck. Elly and I came upon this plastic bin that had fallen out when he hit a bump. Mom's things were dumped out. I got them back in and pulled the bin to the side of the road and waited for Mom and Dad to reach us.

They never showed up, so eventually we backtracked to see where they were. They were having issues getting up this hill because of the deep ruts the rain had made in the trail.

Finally, we made it to the river where we crossed to get to the cabin. It was such a site for sore eyes!

Dinner in the cabin.

Elly loved being outside playing, but I kept a good watch over her. We were in the middle of the wilderness after all and it wouldn't be unheard of to have a moose or bear walk by.

Uncle Bill gave Elly a ride in the big backhoe. She loved it.

Getting water for the cabin involved taking the containers down to a stream and filling them up. Of course, it was a great opportunity to take pictures too. ☺