Last Night in Vail

Tonight ended with people gathering at the girls' condo and relaxing with a plate full of yummy food. It was neat to see Galena/GILA staff chillin' out together, before all the business of school days begin in August. August seems far away when you're in a beautiful area, eating great food, and have the freedom to visit with folks.

Day 3 and 4 in Vail

Skating in Beaver Creek, an upscale resort version of Vail, "wow," we shopped here...for ice cream and chocolate treats.

Being 6'4'', Jay appeared pretty fluid, I didn't see him fall...he would've wiped out several unfortunate kids...

After swimming, Ethan gets ready to enjoy his root beer float, we pampered ourselves with room service and settled in with episodes of the Simpsons.

Hurry Up and Wait

Jenna joined us in Fairbanks on our way to Colorado, she's a great gal with lots of potential, only a 9th grader. Computer games helped make the time pass, world class travelers, they took all the traveling so well...

Taken June 21, 2008...grey hair status--light approaching moderate, noticable from 20 feet, spotting grey hair in the beard (wife of this man doesn't really care)... :)

Vail, Colorado

Arrived...Couldn't check into hotel right away...just got off a red eye flight and 2 hr. van ride into Vail...trying to enjoy the sights and STAY AWAKE...

Ethan and Romay met some kids to mingle with in the pool, our camera can take pictures underwater up to 33 ft, although I'm not quite willing to test that theory yet.


Marriott allows you to check out a Volvo for 4 hours and since teachers are on a tight budget, it helps that it's free...prices for food and entertainment and everything else in Vail are resort type prices...so we found a supermarket and did lunch and snack shopping, another words, saved some bucks.

Going" home" with pizza, starving kids awaiting...

GQ Ethan

Now we're in Anchorage, getting ready to board the red eye flight to Denver. Ethan always wants to dress a little snazzy, I just love it, and get a kick out of his style. So, we'll update you all after we arrive in the Rocky Mountain State.

Green Laundry

I was slightly backed up with laundry and had to get it done, especially since we leave tomorrow for Vail, CO. One thing I learned, to keep up with laundry on a daily basis, 4 people (mostly our two kids) create enough dirty clothing to fabricate a small landmark, or mountain. So, Jay, put up some lines for me today, notice we forgot to hang the underwear in the back. Grandma Slwooko always made sure mine were hidden in the posterior of our clothes line, she understood what kind of humility I'd feel if friends wandered by, good thing they dry pretty fast.


Sarah and Romay had my favorite rendition of agutak, easy to make and simple. We had to substitute blackberries for blueberries, then with the left over blackberries, they put the juice in water and made plain tasting water with a black color.


We live in the upper left hand corner apartment.

Moving Boxes, Again

Jay and I bid on a small shed to house our extra belongings that just can't seem to make it into the tiny apartment. I don't do to well with clutter, easier to clean in my opinion and well, it gives me a good excuse that "we just don't have to room to be able to bring that into the apartment." What makes it a special sort of kind of novelty is that some of our former students helped build it, former Koyuk kids attending GILA. Although it doesn't sound exciting no matter how I pitch it, we consolidated boxes today, making more room for storage. I wore about two layers of deep woods perfume (Cutter brand, not that expensive, about 10.00 a bottle, ha!) while doing this, listened to music and got something accomplished off my "to do list." Oh, a griz was spotted today in town, so, everyone is making sure our kids are watched and with an adult when going places.