Midnight Sun Run

After getting back from Seattle on Thursday I worked a 12 hour shift and then on Saturday enjoyed a fun day of planting flowers and playing with the kids in the yard. Later that afternoon I met up with my three RN girlfriends and enjoyed some Thai food and great Cake that one of them made for me.

They then dropped me off to run a 10K with another RN friend! She was a sport putting up with me and a full stomach... bad of me to stuff my face...(but it was my birthday outing!). It was so much fun. The race started at 10pm and was still light out - well more like overcast because it was sprinkling/ raining. I loved it. The neighborhoods were awesome, playing music- having cookouts, offering beer & water & lemonade. They even had sprinklers set up and were squirting you with squirt guns despite the fact that it was raining. I would totally do this again if we are here next summer (don't think we will be, don't panic family members on the east coast! hehe) We crossed the finish line at 1 hr 24 min. However, it did take us 20 min to do the first mile due to the 3000 people that were running it to... so maybe knock a few min off of that time? So maybe I did it in a hour 20 min? ! I forgot to start my clock when we went across the start!

After that I enjoyed some drinks at a bar with my nurse friends. I had an over night babysitter so I enjoyed my frist night kid free in almost 4 years! I had a great birthday celebration!

At my friends house right before the race 900 pm
After race - about 1145 pm.
Fun night out.

Back from Seattle

Hello there.

Time flies since I left for Seattle and then we are back and back to the grind. I have been so busy since I have gotten back. So here is the update from Seattle.

First of all - even though I just had a 4 hour flight from AK to Seattle - traveling by yourself with 2 kids SUCKS! I caught the famous red eye out of AK and was lucky that it wasn't a full flight and Blake was able to get his own seat (this will come to haunt me later...you'll see). And all in all was a pretty good flight. We left ontime right at 0130 am (WOW a first for me) and the boys didn't fall asleep until 345 am. We then landed around 6. Not to much sleep.

Getting a rental car was a nightmare and the car seats they gave me were hideous. I said I am not putting my children in those and you need to find me some other ones! That took forever. To the Westin we went and slept on that nice heavenly bed! It was super nice to take a nap for about 3 hours before I had to travel back to the airport to pick up my brother. The kids were both asleep when we picked up him and woke up when we got back to the hotel. Ian was so excited to see him. Ran right up to him and said "unlce Kyle is here" and gave him a big hug. Blake (who was just a few months old when Kyle left AK) doesn't know him, but seeing Ian so excited screamed and ran right up to him as well. If Big Brother Ian is excited, well so should he I guess! :)

We arrived Sunday and enjoyed the warm weather outside after some power naps. We went to Seattle center and went to the Childrens Meusem. The boys LOVED it. They could run around and explore and just have a super duper time!

Playing at the Childrens Museum

Ian loved this water thing. You pushed the buttons and could squirt high powered water to move a ping pong ball.

Blake loved this thing. You pushed the button and a gust of air would shoot up and blow the beach ball.

Monday we drove to FT Lewis. To see the Neurologist which everything turned out ok. :) He checked out fine. Then we ate at Olive Garden. Oh my... how I miss eating out! Also, we went shopping at the mall. Very exciting. I hit up a HUGE sale at Eddie Bower and added some nice things for my birthday. Then ate out. yummy!

Out to Eat

Ian loves his Uncle Kyle

Tuesday we had no appointments to go to so went to Pikes Market. LOVED that place. There were so many yummy fresh foods and veggies and milk and eggs and flowers. I ate the most juiciest peach there ever! I gave Ian 5 dollars and he and Kyle picked out a huge bouquet of flowers for only $5! It was the best. If I totally lived downtown Seattle i would be down there every day I had off. Then we went to the Aquarium. They boys enjoyed the fish and wondering around and checking things out. They loved the penguins. Then back to the hotel to nap then out to dinner and off to the Space Needle. They loved the Needle, we were "High in the sky" according to Ian. :)

Pikes Market

Store called Ian on the way to Pikes Market
Flowers!

My $5 Flowers Ian picked out. LOVE them.
High in the sky!

Very cool!
Wednesday was my birthday and Ians big day at Seattle Childrens Hospital. We checked in and off we were to the pre-op area. Things run much differently then they do here in Fairbanks. More, smoothly. Ian was able to pick out the flavor of his "laughing gas" mask. I walked with him to this gurney and held his hand while they put the "laughing gas" on and he went to sleep. Gave him a kiss and walked away. They pulled the curtain and before I could get to the room I heard the nurse say IV in and they wheeled him to the MRI. I got breakfast and came back and shortly after he came too. They also recover differently. He came back to me still sedated while in AK they go to PACU and wake up there and come back awake. They used this certain anesthesia which was awesome and I need to call them to find out because Ian was asleep for 30 min and woke up pulled his oxygen off his nose and sat up and said I want a Popsicle. IV came out, then we were off. I was like wow, I don't have to sit here for an hour and you take vitals. (they were taking them frequently while we were in the room and Ian was sleeping). Then off the neurologist office where they told me the tumor is still there. Hasn't grown. Its just sat there for the past 9 months. And that is just we want it to do. Big sigh of relief. Now we go to MRI's every 6 months for 3 times and then go yearly. Every 6 months I will start to get stressed out has it moved, what is next. I hate not knowing if this tumor is going to grow, I want to control it and hit the button and say DELETE. But that is not how things go. So we just wait...

Ian snoozing away. Sleeps like his Daddy with his eyes open!

After the MRI we came back for another power nap (Kyle was watching Blake) we hit up the pool and then the Zoo & out to our last dinner. The Zoo was ok. Tacoma Zoo is much more nicer and has more animals. (We went there last time we were in Seattle) To bad I didn't the know the B 52's were playing. I totally would have gotten tickets! Then we to Cheesecake Factory and Ian told the waiter it was my birthday and they came and brought cake and sang to me. He was so very proud that he told the waiter! :) It was the best food I have had in a while. YUMMM! Can't wait to move to the lower 48 and eat some yummy food.

Ohh Penguins


Huge Octopus

Then off to catch a plane the next day and off to work on Friday...

Update on the Harmons

So I used to be so good at Blogging. Lately I really haven't' felt like sitting down and typing, however; I do a lot of surfing on the Internet and a whole lot of nothing.

What is going on.... My trees are gone that were down from a rotten birch, and the people that took my tree actually cut down quite a few dead ones in my yard. Now I don't have to worry about them collapsing due to all the earthquakes we were having or just falling down because they were super dead. (and very close to my house I may add!)

I have a landscaping crew coming out tomorrow to give me an estimate on how much it would be to fix my yard. Just needs some touch up this summer that Jeff isn't here to do and then I can take pictures all pretty because we plan to move out of here around January 2010. So seeing that it snows first week in October I need pictures of what our yard looks like in the winter. :) SO in the next few weeks I will be planting potted flowers and things to make our yard have "curb appeal".

Exciting news, since I had mentioned that we were moving probably around January 2010 - we will finally be heading to the "Lower 48". Returning to Fort Benning, GA. Jeff got the job as a Small Group Instructor. He will be teaching Infantry men that have recently been promoted to Captain. Basically its a class on how to be a good Captain in the Army and have a command. This is exciting to us because it will be a non-deployable duty station. We should be here for about 3 years I am thinking and will be nice to have Jeff home for three years. Now that I think of it, I will have a full-time husband. I haven't lived with Jeff longer than 6 months without him doing any field time so this should be interesting to have a semi-normal life!! haha. I will keep everyone posted as to when we leave!

Blake, Ian and I are getting ready to make a trip down to Seattle for Ians check up with the Neurologist and Neurosurgeon. He will be getting a repeat MRI and we are planning on having no changes! Hoping for everything to be the same as the other two he has had. So, in spite of having do some tests, we are making a little vacation out of if. My brother from VA is flying to Seattle to meet us (I need help with Blake while at these appts) and we are going to do tons fo fun things. We are staying at the Westin downtown Seattle for three days where we will explore the Space Needle, Aquarium and Zoo. I have all these plans but traveling with toddlers can be stressful so we will see how they fair on the trip. Then we move to the Westin in Bellvue just north of Seattle for the lats 2 nights. I couldn't stay at one hotel for the entire trip because there is some Conference going on. I wanted a Spa hotel that also had room service, kid friendly and a pool! We will be there for Jeff & mine 7 year wedding anniversary and also my 29th birthday. The Army will cover the cost of the room.... I got a $450 room for $160!!Thanks to military discount! The Westin gives great discounts. So while I'm there i plan to get a massage... Kyle, (my bro) is there to babysit!! Happy Birthday to me!

Then Kyle will be returning with us to Fairbanks! He wants to get away from Va again and will be getting a job and helping me around the house until Jeff gets home. It will be great company. I miss him tons. Ian is extremely happy that Uncle Kyle is coming to play with him!

So that is whats up with us. I will update while we are in Seattle!

Enjoy some pictures of the boys the past few weeks.

Bought the boys some squirt guns to have fun with. They are trying to get me!

A trip to Pioneer Park with our good friend Reagan. Ian was pulling them around!
Jungle Safari Ian

Jungle Safari Blake
(yes I know I have to tighten his straps)

We toured the Large Animal Research Center
and learned all about Muskox- don't the boys look thrilled?

Bah Hum Bug

Tired to p0st this a few days ago...something went wrong..so here it is:

Deployments stink! Whats been new: 2 trees down in my yard, dogs digging around my house making new holes for me to fill up, garage door is broke, Seattle trip coming up for Ian to see the neurologist again and do some more scans and one of my good Army Girlfriends is PCSing in a few weeks, my best friend is getting married and I can't be there!!

On a happier note: my house is clean, and we all are healthy & my girlfriend that is getting married is coming out to visit in July!

"The Hole"

So I typed about my hole caused by break up and rain last fall...here are the pictures. Thanks to Dawn who watched the kiddos and lent her husband Jeremiah to me !! 3 hours later we were able to fill it up! Most of it anyways...the majority of it is filled. The part that isn't is really small and I could do by myself .... or Kyle if he is able to come up here and help me get the house sell ready....

Yes I did say SELL!! I think if our cards are played just right we will be out of here anywhere from late November - Late December. But, also, it could be summer 2010 - but we are hoping for this Dec. Trying not to get too excited....Please Pray that Jeff gets his job that he wants down in Ft Benning....

AFTER

BEFORE

The Past 2 weeks -Grandma Visit.

One of my favorite pictures of Great-Grandma and her Grandson - can't you just feel the joy and laughter and love?

My grandma came in on April 30. We had so much fun with the boys. I hadn't seen her in over a year in a half. Last time was when Blake was 4 months old and he is nearly 2!!

She arrived when the temps were 75! We enjoyed the 4 days of the warm weather because shortly after it turned to overcast, wintry/rain mix. Because of the high temps breakup happened quite fast. All the snow melted, and caused me to see what a mess my yard was. Covered in toys, trash the dogs had carried out, and tons and tons of poop! Then I walk to the side of the house and see the HUGE problem. I guess the down pours we had just before the snow came last year, made a nice little river thru my back yard...well I knew about that. But then break up happened and the rush of the snow melting forced my little erosion problem turn into a huge mess! And the hugest problem of it all - all this erosion was happening over my septic tank. 4 feet of dirt missing and you could see my tank. Scared that the ground was going to finish thawing and then my septic tank shift and break off and make a nice poopy pool in my back yard - I frantically called to get it pumped. It was time for it to happen anyways. And then reassured me that it wasn't going to shift and break and that all I had to do is fill up the hole with some pit run. Yea - me fill a 4 foot by 5 feet long or bigger hole with pit run...very very funny!

Ok, well back to vacation. We hit all the hot spots in Fairbanks. She enjoyed everything. Even the vist to an Ortho Doc to get her knee drained of excess fluid -something that could have happened after her knee surgery earlier in March. Most of all she enjoyed going to the indoor pool every Monday for family swim. She sat in the sauna and hot tub and I swam with the boys. Ian did oh so well. I think I am going to enroll him in some swimming lessons if I can.

Another exciting thing is we sat in the hot springs and then we saw a moose. So Gma was quite content that she saw a moose! :) Eating lunch at Chena Hot Springs and the waiter comes over and says look out your window...and what do ya know mama and her babe!

I guess I should mention too I was a bit spoiled...Grandma loves to do wash - so at every given opportunity I was doing wash and she was folding it oh so nicely and putting it into organized piles. Made putting laundry away so much more easy! I told her that she was working to pay off her rent.

Here are some pictures of her 2 week vacation.

Gma and her moose

Picnic in Denali Park


The only snow left! At the Alyeska Pipe Line

All of us at Santa Clause House in North Pole

Reading bed time stories to the boys.

Busy 9 days since last post

Well let me start off with that We have been pretty busy. Or trying to at least! A lot of happened! Brief update:

Both Cars died in one week! I won't go into details...but about 2 grand later all is well! :) Let me tell ya, got the title in the mail for my Jeep and then ka*boom.... Stuff happens that way, huh?!

Gutters clogged. I wish I was 10 feet tall so I could clean the damn things myself. Didn't want to buy a huge ladder - so I had to hire someone to come and clean & do yearly maintenance... also b/c of all the snow melting it was running off the side of the gutter making a nice divot/hole for me to fix later!! Thanks!!

My children are getting on my freakin' nerves...can a mom say that?!! Doing everything in my power to keep them occupied and happy. Thank the LORD the temps have been in the 60-70's to melt the damn snow! Its nice to get outside and play in the mud/slush/water puddles.

BUT now I have melted dog shit to pick up now. Bad thing about having dogs. It was fine when the poo was frozen - was trying to stay on top of it... but when it warms up super fast the frozen poo melts and turn to mush - now I have about 40 loads of crap to wait to dry out before I attempt to pick it up!! NICE! Thanks Trooper & Maggie. :)

Can you tell that I have hit the holy hell Kristin can't stand one more minute of the deployment?! How many more months to go!?! Please, don't remind me. Just send Jeff home right now! :)

The only good thing that has come out of the past couple of weeks is that I broke down and got a housekeeper. Let me tell you she is a God Send. I said I would never have one, I have been missing out BIG TIME!! It has helped me stay on top of cleaning. (Gotta clean for the cleaning lady!) I have her once a week to get the deep cleaning down, then I think I will have her come every other week - Im hoping to become a better housewife and only need her that much. 2 dogs, 2 kids, working part time has taken a tole on my house and my outlook on life. I can afford it, then why not take advantage.....and enjoy life a little more.

Ok, as I type this I think my washing machine is possessed, I better finish this up before it comes bouncing out and attacks me! haha

Also, my grandma is coming in town tomorrow for 2 weeks. So excited...haven't seen her in over 2 years!!!

Ok, hope you all are having a better time than me. :)