Sunday, March 22, 2015

Spring break is over, the sun is shining and Some more friendly facts :)

Well I suppose if I can spend hours with my nose in my kindle, I can write a quick blog post. Spring break is over and Em goes back to work tomorrow. For the first time in three years Em's college and work had the same spring break so she was without schedule work for 5 days! She also normally has a lot of school work to do, but since she's student teaching now it's different. It worked out though because John's new boss (I'll get to that later) needed to go to Seattle for his daughter's surgery and needed a dog sitter. His dog though is a 24/7 kind of dog and requires company literally all day. Perfect for a dog loving teacher on break! So Em spent the week with 3 dogs and a cat hanging out mostly at home reading 3 books and occasionally taking a break to go have lunch with John, take the dogs for a walk, or clean up a bit. The pup's name is Benelli and she is just under a year old with LOTS of energy. Mili and Ammo definitely got more activity this week and loved it. Benelli had to go back to a new dog sitter this week and she was sad to let them and John go. John had to walk her out to their car because she wouldn't leave him :( Fortunately we'll see her a lot and get to play often!





 Lunch break at the Glacier one day and through the beautiful disc golf course the next :)

So yes about that new boss thing, John is still working for Hecla as a cost analyst so don't fret. A few weeks ago John went into a local gun shop (WHAT :O) with his ISU jacket on and the owner (Benelli's dad) started talking to him because he used to live in Idaho Falls. He loves ISU and found out that John studied accounting there. GO BENGALS! They were jokingly talking about needing someone to help out with the books and run the show on the weekends. As John was walking out he said "I'm not kidding about that work thing". So long story short, John ended up going back in a few times and by the next weekend was working there. The place is extremely nice with some really cool guns and a nice gun range downstairs. They have a special secured section that holds guns that are not for sale, but just to look. We thought this was the perfect place for John to put Em's grandfather's WWII service pistol. This place is secured more than our house so we didn't mind putting it there for others to enjoy. Em has no expectation of ever seeing a paycheck from them, but does expect to see new(er) toys and spending a fair amount of time there. The place is like a museum and really chill so Em likes to spend a few hours there to bring John lunch and let the pups say hi. Benelli is always there when her dad is so we get to see her. John's always been THAT guy in gun stores that hangs out all the time and enjoys it so for him it's a fun way to spend part of his weekends. The guys and gals there are all really cool too and make for a fun group to hang out with. Today John was sold a slide fire grip that turns a semi automatic gun into an automatic gun and we both got to shoot it on a few of our rifles in the range. Gotta admit, it's pretty freakin fun and ridiculous in a good way! John is pretty proud of Em and her ability to handle it :D





After John closed up the shop we drove the dogs out to Eagle beach, which is at about mile 27 of 36 in Juneau so it's fairly "out the road" as us locals call it ;). It's unbelievably beautiful out the road because it's the highway following the coast line and there's mountains surrounding you on every side, plus you can't see town! Eagle beach is one of many turn out points that is available and is one of the areas that the ocean meets fresh water. It's just passed Herbert Glacier, where we were a few weeks ago. It was very quiet and Em plans to go there more often to run with the dogs because it's dirt road with water and mountains! We came home just after sun set behind the beautiful mountains and worked together to make a good pesto dish...Go TEAM KLEIN haha, and to get ready for the week.




One other fun update is that Em has a summer job with the school district teaching PE to a k-5 summer camp! She was officially offered the position over break and is really excited to be able to put her skills to use and continue working with kids. They even said she gets to do all of the planning and can use the pool, so she plans to schedule it weekly and do swim lessons with each group! John has also decided to sign up as a volunteer firefighter for the community and will begin his journey to becoming an EMT and firefighter 1. It's a long process because the classes are already scheduled, but he's able to attend the weekly training's and work his way to going out on calls. He's always enjoyed being a part of Search and Rescue or organizations like that so he's excited to start this! Interesting fact for you...did you know that only about 3% of fire calls in the country are actually for fires?! Crazy huh?!

So now begins the end of the academic year, which has snuck up on us so fat. Em defends her master's project this week and is excited for the CEC conference coming up in April. She looked over the sessions this week and is really looking forward to what she gets to go to and to present on her and Alex's paper! John is getting more settled into his job and into the community. Summer is just around the corner and we are both enjoying the recent addition in sun light!

A few more friendly facts for you before we say good night...

1. The Norther Lights are so amazing and cooler than we ever thought possible. We saw them a few weeks ago and spent over two hours watching them on the balcony with our Christmas blankets.
2. Merrils are awesome shoes! Em is on her 3rd recent pair and wears her water proof boots almost every day. They're like slippers.
3. The mail moves very slow here and overnight shipping is NOT POSSIBLE so please don't ever pay for it, because it won't ever work.
4. It's not unusual to be running or driving and see a glacier pop up out of nowhere, it happened three times this week.
5. John has a new scar...on his head from being too tall and forgetting to duck. He kept his eye on the prize and not what was in front of him. He required 10 stitches but is ok :)
6. The bears are not awake yet, but it's time to start being on the look out.
7. Alaska is an amazing adventure!