In Homer

Quin and I are over in Homer.We came over yesterday after school. It is a nice drive over--lovely in the snow, but a little long at 3.5 hours (in the winter). Today we went to look a mom and dad's pieces at the art gallery and then we drove out the Spit to look at the outside of the townhouse on the beach where we Phil and I are getting married this summer. We still have to plan the food, get the cake ordered, and find a dress, but at least we have a place to have the ceremony now, plus we have plane tickets and hotel reservations for our mini-honeymoon in Seattle. We are going to do very touristy things like eat dinner in the Space Needle restaurant, ride the monorail, go to the SciFi museum and Pike Place Market. Quin is staying here with my parents, so it will be our one chance to be truly free, stay up late, sleep in and do boring adult things.

We did have tsunami warnings/advisories, but nothing ever happened. Alaska's 1964 earthquake was a 9.2 in magnitude and the series of seven massive tsunamis destroyed a lot of the Seward coastline.

It snowed a little bit this afternoon. The view from my parent's house is so spectacular and I love just sitting here and watching the mountains and the bay. So much for breakup; it was 11 degrees here this morning!

Quin and Nana and Yeye are having a great time together (so am I). We are staying until Monday-- I am taking the day off of school. Two weeks from today we will be flying down south to Arkansas for the first leg of our four city Spring Break trip. Plus, it is Quin's birthday that day (mine the day before), so a lot of coming up soon.

Breakup

We got a new lamp shade and Quin has found a use for the old one.

Quin loves talking on the phone, so we got her a little toy one and she has lots of conversations on there with herself--if I try to answer her she gets mad at me and says she isn't talking to me :)
It feels like breakup and it is still February! The snow is melting and today the sun was shining (gloriously) and the temperature was up to 46 degrees.

Just two weeks until we start our trip. I have a lot to do before then--lesson plans, packing lists, packing, confirming reservations, etc. I haven't heard any more about the house closing, but that we are getting close. It will either be by the end of next week or it will be after we get back from our trip.

Last night Phil made some pan-fried salmon for us, which was just lovely. Tonight he broiled some steaks and they turned out absolutely perfect--this was his first attempt at broiling and we had to call my mom and consult the internet for advice. The trick, it seems, is to keep the oven door slightly a jar. I don't usually eat meat--haven't had a steak in years. I only eat free range, organic, antibiotic free meat which we were able to get in Anchorage last weekend--nothing like that available here.

Phil just got called into work. It must be very hard to be on call and know that if they call you in it means that it is busy and possibly chaotic. I don't know how he manages to deal with the stress, but I sure do admire him and what he does.Quin and I are sitting here listening to jazz. I am typing and she is playing with her lego train set. I should be packing the house up for the move--I am trying to do a little every day so I am not over whelmed in April when we go to move.

*Sorry for the poor quality pictures--I used my built in webcam and the light was low.

Astounding Success

My students and I with some of the many boxes of pennies that we rolled and I carried to the bank.

I wrote an article for our local online news--for the entire write up click here

All totaled we had 50 rolls of quarters, 90 rolls of dimes, 79 rolls of nickels, and an amazing (and very heavy) 1315 rolls of pennies. If anyone ever doubts that pennies do add up, we have the proof. With an average weekly income in Haiti of $2.00, or four rolls of pennies, handling all those rolls helped the students to see that they really can make a meaningful impact in someone’s life.

The final total is $3707 that we raised for Haiti relief--all funds to go to Doctors Without Borders.

Mrs. Wade

How weird that sounds. I always thought, if I ever got married, that I would keep my name. And now with Quin having Fischer as her last name I thought I would be Fischer for ever. But I find that I want to be Naomi Wade. I want us to have the same name. Phil has discovered (as he says) that he really wants me to be Wade and funnily enough, Quin also wants to be Wade. She talks about it a lot--the wedding,our new names, our new house, her new room. She is such a great kid--she is adapting so well to these changes. In the country for just a year and she will have a new address to learn and another new name to learn. She is happy about it and I think talking about it a lot, and the fact that she has gone the new house twice, she knows what to expect and that makes all the difference.

I think Naomi Wade sounds lovely.

Plans are coming along

Phil and I have finally made some wedding plans. We are getting married in Homer at one of the beachfront lodges (townhouse). The picture above is the view off the deck of the unit we are staying in. We are going to stay there on the 8th and 9th of July. We have decided to change our wedding date to July 9th so that we can have a few days (before Phil goes back to work) for a mini-break Honeymoon in Seattle (we'll fly from Homer to Anchorage to Seattle and back). Quin will be staying with my parents for the 3.5 days we are gone.

If the weather is nice we will get married on the beach--if not we'll get married in the living room. Either way it will be a lovely view. We are going to splurge and stay some where really ritzy when we are in Seattle--somewhere downtown with Space Needle/City views.

Our house appraised at exactly the contract price, so we are good there. Now we are just waiting on Title documents being prepped and should close in about two weeks! We won't really be able to move until April, due to our extensive Spring break trip, but that will give us time to box stuff and move a little bit at a time. I can't wait until we are living there and all settled in.

Our little cutie

We had an apple for a snack after school. I am so glad Quin likes a lot of fruit and vegetables.


Quin took this photograph of me--it is a little close, but it is the first time she actually managed to get my face--usually it is an arm or torso...

The fuel truck came today--he has to back up the driveway with all that oil and Quin likes to watch.

Sticky!

We made brownies for Phil for Valentines Day. Quin got just a little messy.

I like this version of our card--thanks Bob!

Valentines Day

Even though Phil worked 12 hours last night, he still stopped by the store and bought a dozen roses for Quin and a dozen for me.
He also got me this oh-so-romantic card ;)

The card talks--click on the arrow.

nóng lì xīn nián

春節 Happy Chinese New YearChinese New Year is the biggest holiday in China. This year it is February 14. It is the year of the Tiger. I am a boar, Quin is a dog and Phil is a monkey.

Quin and I are going to make special Chinese food, read Chinese folk stories and watch the Big Bird in China video (which she has never seen) where Big Bird actually goes to Quin's hometown of Guilin.Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Wedding Dress

No, not my dress, Quin's.

She and Carlie (my niece) are wearing matching qípáo dresses.

Still snowing!

It is still snowing. The plow guy just came, though, so at least my car can get down and Phil's car can get up the driveway now.

Camping In

Fun in the snow!

I threw Quin in the snow and she couldn't get up. It was really funny.

I don't know why, but Quin absolutely loves eating snow!

Snow, snow, snow!

Yesterday we got about an inch of light, dry snow. Last night, however, it warmed up and several more inches of heavy wet snow fell. It is still snowing!

Phil barely made it home from work this morning. The roads are not plowed and our driveway is impassable. Our plow guy is out of town helping someone in an emergency, so we are going no where today. Phil had to park his car at the bottom of the hill and walk up in the thigh high snow.

I am glad today is Saturday and I have nothing pressing to do. Quin and I both have colds (sinus, mainly) so it will be good to stay in and hang out.