We are home owners!! Yes, it is true. We have bought our very first house! It is a very cute little place. We are excited about it and we should close on it the middle of June! It is 4 bedroom, two bath. It also has a hot tub!! I'm super excited about that. We have lots of extra rooms for guests!!
On Friday, I finished student teaching! I am done with my Master's program and will graduate in May!! I am currently looking for a teaching job and will sub for the last month of school here.
Granger is doing well. He still likes his job but is ready for summer to come and the fish to start running. Summer is going to come and go fast, but we are excited for the adventures we will have and the time we will get to see family. We are continuing to like where we are and are meeting a lot of people. Our circle of friends is growing which makes it better. Our address is going to change again soon, so I will post our new address when we are getting ready to move! We love and miss you all.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
So it's been a long while since we've update you all. Our last post dates back to before Thanksgiving. We'll start there. We flew to Michigan over Thanksgiving to be with the Nyboer's for the traditional Nyboer thanksgiving feast!! We had a great time. It is always good to be with family over the holidays. We of course had to support the Hope College basketball team by going to the Thanksgiving Tournament. With the help of my siblings, we lured my parents to the game to surprise them. As they entered the arena and saw us, they just stared. It took a while but they finally realized it was really us! It was a great time. We were able to hang out with the Klunder's for the night before we had to head back to Alaska.
The school year has already gone fast. In the fall I was able to find a job as an Intensive Needs Aide in Soldotna. In January I began my student teaching and will be finishing up at the end of the month. Granger has enjoyed working with high schoolers. The transition to the peninsula has been great. We are continuing to make new friends and become more involved with our church. We have found a church that we really enjoy and will start to be more active there. We also have started helping with Young Life. We both love Young Life and are glad that it is in the area.
Over Spring Break we went up to Girdwood and stayed at the Hobbit House. We skied two days and went to a friends wedding. Then we headed up to Anchorage for Granger to get PRK eye surgery. Jan and Bernie graciously let us stay with them while Granger recovered. We had a great time hanging out with them.
We are staying very busy, between Young Life club, church, working, and yes...house hunting, our days seem to fly by. We are continuing our search for a house up here as we have decided we would like to stay for a little longer yet. It is hard being away from our friends and families, but it makes the times we see each other that much sweeter.
The school year has already gone fast. In the fall I was able to find a job as an Intensive Needs Aide in Soldotna. In January I began my student teaching and will be finishing up at the end of the month. Granger has enjoyed working with high schoolers. The transition to the peninsula has been great. We are continuing to make new friends and become more involved with our church. We have found a church that we really enjoy and will start to be more active there. We also have started helping with Young Life. We both love Young Life and are glad that it is in the area.
Over Spring Break we went up to Girdwood and stayed at the Hobbit House. We skied two days and went to a friends wedding. Then we headed up to Anchorage for Granger to get PRK eye surgery. Jan and Bernie graciously let us stay with them while Granger recovered. We had a great time hanging out with them.
We are staying very busy, between Young Life club, church, working, and yes...house hunting, our days seem to fly by. We are continuing our search for a house up here as we have decided we would like to stay for a little longer yet. It is hard being away from our friends and families, but it makes the times we see each other that much sweeter.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Fall Fun!
Time for another update. We are doing well. We are both staying very busy, but that is good! Granger is enjoying his job at Kenai Central High School. He likes working with high school students, it brings him back to his past young life work experiences. I am also enjoying working in the intensive needs classroom, however it keeps me very busy! At night, I am still keeping busy taking 2 classes online.
We are enjoying our little place on the river. The fall is already almost at an end and winter is fast approaching! Our friends Donny and Andi are expecting their first baby boy any day now, so we are anxiously awaiting his arrival.
We continue to meet new people and are developing a great group of friends. We are also still in the process of looking for a new church home. There are many options available, but it is a process and will take time.
We are enjoying our little place on the river. The fall is already almost at an end and winter is fast approaching! Our friends Donny and Andi are expecting their first baby boy any day now, so we are anxiously awaiting his arrival.
We continue to meet new people and are developing a great group of friends. We are also still in the process of looking for a new church home. There are many options available, but it is a process and will take time.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
New Address
Our new address is:
339 Kobuk Ct. Apt. A
Soldotna, AK 99669
Sorry, we are apt. A, I didn't add that part before...obviously it's pretty important! We are settling into our new place and we're liking the "big city" life! ;)
Granger's doing well in his new job, and I am starting mine tomorrow! I am an intensive needs aide at Soldotna Elementary.
339 Kobuk Ct. Apt. A
Soldotna, AK 99669
Sorry, we are apt. A, I didn't add that part before...obviously it's pretty important! We are settling into our new place and we're liking the "big city" life! ;)
Granger's doing well in his new job, and I am starting mine tomorrow! I am an intensive needs aide at Soldotna Elementary.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Summer fun
We have been back in Michigan now almost 8 weeks. Our time with family is fast approaching a "see ya later" goodbye. We have had a great time visiting friends, family, and traveling all over the country!
Our summer started with a lot of Klunder's scurring all over to make it to two very important baptisms. The first weekend we were home our nephew Luke was baptised. Then we were all able to have a few days of "Klunder family fun week" before we headed to the next baptism in Sioux Center, Iowa. We were all there for Lily's baptism and then headed in our seperate directions. The time with our family was fun, but too short. All summer we bounced back and forth from Caledonia to Spring Lake trying to give each family time.
On our whirlwind tour of the U.S. we were able to make it to Houston, Texas with the whole Nyboer clan to see Jake and Ellen, who moved there recently. We were also able to make it out to Buena Vista, Colorado to spend time at the cabin. We climbed Mt. Yale elev. 14,100 ft! It took us five hours to get up and 3 and a half to get down. All 10 of us (The Nyboer's and Bain and Laura) defeated the hike! After Nyboer's left Granger and I were able to do a great hike and use our fly rods to catch a few trout on a mountain path. To end our journey of the US, we went to visit Kristin, Tanner, and precious Lily in N.W. Iowa. Lily is adorable.
As most of you know, we are not going back to the village this year. We are making the big move to Kenai, AK. It is only 20 minutes by plane from Tyonek, but will prove to be a much faster pace of life. Granger is going to be working at Kenai Central High School teaching Special Education. I am still in the process of looking for a job, but will continue and finish my last year of my Master's program this year!! We have rented the downstairs of a small cabin right on the Kenai river. We are excited to get back and start fishing!
As soon as I get an address I will post it for everyone, but as of now I don't have it. We are exited for our move and welcome the adventures that lie ahead of us this year. We would love to hear how you are all doing and want to try and keep in touch more this year. Please e-mail us updates on your lives when you get a chance!
For those of you we were able to see this summer it was a pleasure! And for those of you we weren't able to connect with, we appologize, but would love to hear from you. I know Alaska is far away, but visitors are always welcome!! :)
Our summer started with a lot of Klunder's scurring all over to make it to two very important baptisms. The first weekend we were home our nephew Luke was baptised. Then we were all able to have a few days of "Klunder family fun week" before we headed to the next baptism in Sioux Center, Iowa. We were all there for Lily's baptism and then headed in our seperate directions. The time with our family was fun, but too short. All summer we bounced back and forth from Caledonia to Spring Lake trying to give each family time.
On our whirlwind tour of the U.S. we were able to make it to Houston, Texas with the whole Nyboer clan to see Jake and Ellen, who moved there recently. We were also able to make it out to Buena Vista, Colorado to spend time at the cabin. We climbed Mt. Yale elev. 14,100 ft! It took us five hours to get up and 3 and a half to get down. All 10 of us (The Nyboer's and Bain and Laura) defeated the hike! After Nyboer's left Granger and I were able to do a great hike and use our fly rods to catch a few trout on a mountain path. To end our journey of the US, we went to visit Kristin, Tanner, and precious Lily in N.W. Iowa. Lily is adorable.
As most of you know, we are not going back to the village this year. We are making the big move to Kenai, AK. It is only 20 minutes by plane from Tyonek, but will prove to be a much faster pace of life. Granger is going to be working at Kenai Central High School teaching Special Education. I am still in the process of looking for a job, but will continue and finish my last year of my Master's program this year!! We have rented the downstairs of a small cabin right on the Kenai river. We are excited to get back and start fishing!
As soon as I get an address I will post it for everyone, but as of now I don't have it. We are exited for our move and welcome the adventures that lie ahead of us this year. We would love to hear how you are all doing and want to try and keep in touch more this year. Please e-mail us updates on your lives when you get a chance!
For those of you we were able to see this summer it was a pleasure! And for those of you we weren't able to connect with, we appologize, but would love to hear from you. I know Alaska is far away, but visitors are always welcome!! :)
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Unique Experiences
Living in Alaska has produced many opportunities for unique experiences. Living in a small village has produced even more unique experiences.
Most of you know that there are no roads in and out of the village, therefore a small plane is required to get anywhere (besides the dump). The small planes do not fly in bad weather either, so any snow, rain, wind, or low clouds and you are stuck where you're at. We have had multiple times when we have been trying to get in and out where weather has either post-poned our departure or made us leave early. It can get nerve racking when you want to get out of the village when you have a flight out of Anchorage that you are trying to catch. Luckily, every time we have needed to get out, we have.
Groceries. Getting groceries is a unique experience. It teaches you to plan ahead. To get groceries, we fax an order into Safeway and tell them what time to bring it to the airport to fly it over. We listen to hear the plane coming and take the truck to the air strip. The plane lands and we unload the groceries and bring them home. It is always interesting having someone else do your shopping for you. Sometimes we get interesting things, but for the most part we get what we want. It gets hard sometimes when you want to cook something but do not have all of the ingredients. The store is not just around the corner, so it teaches patience and planning. It is humorous when planes come in to watch everyone scurry to the planes to get groceries. When we were leaving for spring break people were on snow machines, four wheelers, and trucks to get groceries. A few people were waiting to get the fast food they ordered! One family ordered McDonald's for dinner! Pretty funny.
Volcano's. You don't need to worry about Volcano's in Michigan. Here, we have been dodging lava for a few weeks! (Just kidding) We have been worried about ash. Mt. Redoubt has erupted over a dozen times in the last week. Ash, which is jagged rock and glass, has been shooting 50,000-60,000 feet in the air. The wind for the most part has been in our favor. We got our first light dusting of ash yesterday. pretty gross stuff. It has been really cool to watch the sky. We are not too far from the volcano and can usually tell by the color of the sky when it erupts. It has a grayish, yellow tint to it. It looks creepy sometimes because it looks as though it is right over us and should be falling on us, but it is up to 8 miles over us! Here is the website that we look at daily to keep informed on the volcano's activity. http://avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt.php
Earthquakes. Alaska has dozens of earthquakes everyday. We experienced an earthquake earlier this year. All of a sudden our house started to lightly shake for about 10-15 seconds. It was a cool experience. Here is another website that shows Alaska's daily earthquake activity. http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/Seis/recenteqs/index.html
These are a few unique experience of life in the village.
Most of you know that there are no roads in and out of the village, therefore a small plane is required to get anywhere (besides the dump). The small planes do not fly in bad weather either, so any snow, rain, wind, or low clouds and you are stuck where you're at. We have had multiple times when we have been trying to get in and out where weather has either post-poned our departure or made us leave early. It can get nerve racking when you want to get out of the village when you have a flight out of Anchorage that you are trying to catch. Luckily, every time we have needed to get out, we have.
Groceries. Getting groceries is a unique experience. It teaches you to plan ahead. To get groceries, we fax an order into Safeway and tell them what time to bring it to the airport to fly it over. We listen to hear the plane coming and take the truck to the air strip. The plane lands and we unload the groceries and bring them home. It is always interesting having someone else do your shopping for you. Sometimes we get interesting things, but for the most part we get what we want. It gets hard sometimes when you want to cook something but do not have all of the ingredients. The store is not just around the corner, so it teaches patience and planning. It is humorous when planes come in to watch everyone scurry to the planes to get groceries. When we were leaving for spring break people were on snow machines, four wheelers, and trucks to get groceries. A few people were waiting to get the fast food they ordered! One family ordered McDonald's for dinner! Pretty funny.
Volcano's. You don't need to worry about Volcano's in Michigan. Here, we have been dodging lava for a few weeks! (Just kidding) We have been worried about ash. Mt. Redoubt has erupted over a dozen times in the last week. Ash, which is jagged rock and glass, has been shooting 50,000-60,000 feet in the air. The wind for the most part has been in our favor. We got our first light dusting of ash yesterday. pretty gross stuff. It has been really cool to watch the sky. We are not too far from the volcano and can usually tell by the color of the sky when it erupts. It has a grayish, yellow tint to it. It looks creepy sometimes because it looks as though it is right over us and should be falling on us, but it is up to 8 miles over us! Here is the website that we look at daily to keep informed on the volcano's activity. http://avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt.php
Earthquakes. Alaska has dozens of earthquakes everyday. We experienced an earthquake earlier this year. All of a sudden our house started to lightly shake for about 10-15 seconds. It was a cool experience. Here is another website that shows Alaska's daily earthquake activity. http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/Seis/recenteqs/index.html
These are a few unique experience of life in the village.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Winter weekend
This past weekend (March 6-8) was quite the exciting weekend. We were blessed with a beautiful new niece on Friday morning. Lily Kay Smith. My sister Kristin and Tanner are doing well.
Also in Tyonek, the Chief Chikelusian Celebration was going on. It started with a potluck on Friday night. There was so much food! It was really good. We had moose meat for the first time! There was moose stew, moose meat in gravy, plain moose meat, all very delicious. After the meal some of the kids in the village did some traditional drumming which was really neat to hear.
Saturday night, we decided to cross-country ski down to the river (which is about 2 miles away). We found a good camping spot and set up. We did not anticipate how big of a job setting up a campsite would be, but because the snow was so deep the moment we stepped out of our ski's we would sink to our knees. After pounding down the snow with our ski's and boots, we set up our tent. We also made an area to have a campfire. Our fire wasn't as big and warm as we had hopped, so we decided to make hot chocolate instead. The night was extremely cold! I even slept in my down jacket! It may have been a premature camping trip, but was fun anyways. Granger also got to shoot his new gun that he got, which is always fun. Once we got home and started to thaw, my feet began to swell! I thought I was going to loose a few toes, but everything turned out ok.
After we warmed up a bit we headed to Second Lake to watch Snow Machine (Snow mobile) races. The kids were ice fishing and playing on snow mounds. They also had a riffle shoot. The kids did an egg toss in the snow! It was really funny to watch because the egg was dropped almost every time but never broke! They had a blast though. We enjoyed the picnic and headed home.
Also in Tyonek, the Chief Chikelusian Celebration was going on. It started with a potluck on Friday night. There was so much food! It was really good. We had moose meat for the first time! There was moose stew, moose meat in gravy, plain moose meat, all very delicious. After the meal some of the kids in the village did some traditional drumming which was really neat to hear.
Saturday night, we decided to cross-country ski down to the river (which is about 2 miles away). We found a good camping spot and set up. We did not anticipate how big of a job setting up a campsite would be, but because the snow was so deep the moment we stepped out of our ski's we would sink to our knees. After pounding down the snow with our ski's and boots, we set up our tent. We also made an area to have a campfire. Our fire wasn't as big and warm as we had hopped, so we decided to make hot chocolate instead. The night was extremely cold! I even slept in my down jacket! It may have been a premature camping trip, but was fun anyways. Granger also got to shoot his new gun that he got, which is always fun. Once we got home and started to thaw, my feet began to swell! I thought I was going to loose a few toes, but everything turned out ok.
After we warmed up a bit we headed to Second Lake to watch Snow Machine (Snow mobile) races. The kids were ice fishing and playing on snow mounds. They also had a riffle shoot. The kids did an egg toss in the snow! It was really funny to watch because the egg was dropped almost every time but never broke! They had a blast though. We enjoyed the picnic and headed home.
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