ALASKA!!!!

Yes! We are moving to ALASKA!!! It was our 17th choice (out of 18) and we had 5 Boston jobs on the request list. Ya get what ya get and you eventually learn to breathe again. We are now looking forward to it! Juneau is one of the cities closest to Seattle. It is the capital of Alaska. The town has 30,000 people and a very low crime rate. They get 277 days of rain per year. It is a sub-arctic temperate rain forest. When it does snow it melts off fairly quickly. So, technically that makes it WARMER than Wisconsin! lol! In the winter they have a few hours of daylight ~ not that 24 hr darkness folks speak of. And in the summer the sun does ~ eventually ~ set. They have a Walmart, Costco (like a Sam's Club), and a Home Depot. And yes, there is always online shopping. I am going to try to figure out how to deduct all "shipping and handling" costs from our taxes!!! I have a list of "family" building ~ folks we know and love that are there, or folks that are really good family friends of those we know and love. So it will be ~ hopefully ~ like being embraced by family when we arrive! We will have to have a housewarming party! Speaking of houses, there are not enough! The Coast Guard is aware of the shortage of suitable housing. They are willing to pay for temporary housing until we land something. So as soon as we have our arrival date hammered out we will be booking that. Like an "Extended Stay" hotel. I expect we will be living in that (with just what we take in the trunk of our car) for up to 2 months. I heard of one family that ~ as a way of getting out of temporary housing ~ wrote letters to people that had their house on the market and begged them to consider renting to a sweet Coastie family. I think, and Dave is not yet "sold" on this idea that our "emergency escape plan" is to buy a house with a VA loan (zero down) and... since the housing market is so challenging, we would be able to rent it out easy-peezie ~ just pay a management company to deal with it. Liam might miss a day or two of school ~ his last day is June 13th I think (not sure how they are making up two cancelled days). At this point we are thinking of having the the movers finish up with getting us out of here (the house itself) June 3rd. His last week of school will be a commute from a hotel. Then Dave would work here through June 10th. Then we head out ~ either that afternoon or the next morning. Our first choice is to drive to Bellingham Washington and take the ferry (thats how we can get the car to Juneau) from Bellingham to Juneau. It is... ha ha!... get this! .... a 2.5 day ferry ride!!!! I hear they have a naturalist on board and they make announcements when a whale or something like that has been spotted. The second choice is to take the Ferry out of Prince Rupert BC Canada. I have to work on getting the kids their passports. We may not be able to take the Bellingham ferry because it may be already booked solid. The only way in and out of Juneau is by Ferry or Boat. Its "land locked." Juneau is part of the mainland but there are no roads up over the mountain out of Juneau. Or tunnels. (can climb over it, can't go through it, can't go around it) Once we get to Juneau we are going to boogie to Kodiak (airplane ride) for the change of command. Then return to Juneau for beginning our life there! I have heard from a number of folks up there, and they all ADORE it there. Dave will be in Boston this upcoming weekend for a colonoscopy and scans. He seems fine and I don't think we can expect any problems. That being said, we have had, more than once, some spot being found that upon further inspection is deemed to be nothing. So, we call that "spot scares" and I feel that I brace for them each time. About mid-way through his treatment year we were told that, although they were 96 % sure they could get rid of it all, if it comes back they have a 4% chance of figuring out how to kill it the second time. So ... yeah... the "spot scares" are frightening. Not sure anyone checks the blog anymore. But if you do check back after March 16th for ~ what we expect to be ~ an excellent report. Okay, thats all I have for now, gotta run! Kerri