Hellooooo

Finally what you have all been waiting for!! An update!! I can't believe it has been a month since I was in Texas with all of you!! Time feels like it is flying by! I am sitting at McDonald's updating my blog and I am about to submit the rest of my application to grad school. Can you believe it?? I am turning something in a whole month before it is due?! That is sooooo not like me.

All of the snow has left Homer and I am so glad. I was getting sick of wearing snow boots!! When I got off the plane from Texas it was like I walked into a completely different world than the one I left. Finally last week the lake here completely unfroze. April and I joke that we are in the spring season A.K.A. "Squatter Season". People are coming from all over to get summer jobs in Homer and on fishing boats and there seem to be a lot of people who are camping, standing on the side of the roads holding signs, and hitch hikers. Living in Homer, I see more people hitch hiking than I have ever seen in my life. It's funny to me that people would still pick them up in this day and age but I have seen it. April also says that this time of year is when everything is brown and not so pretty. Everything is melting and muddy and the plants and tress have not bloomed yet. However, this place continues to be one of the most beautiful places I have been to, so if if is pretty now, I can't even imagine the summer.

The days have definitely gotten longer. The sun does not fully set until around 11 p.m. now and rises about 5:30 a.m. I have blacked out my bedroom window and it makes me hibernate like a bear! It still trips me out so much to look at the clock around 10 p.m. and it still be light outside.

Well I definitely feel like an Alaskan today! I am wearing mud boots that April gave me because we are going clamming tomorrow! I wanted to break them in so I am wearing them around town today. I will definitely take pictures of clamming tomorrow and share them with y'all! I am excited!

Other than that, I have just been working hard! I miss y'all so much! I am excited about mom, dad, and Garrett's trip here during the 3rd week of July! I have already decided on all of the fun things we are going to do :) 

I have many pictures to share! 

One of my favorite parts of my trip back to Texas was getting to go on a girls trip to Oklahoma!!

This was our cabin. Yeah we were really "roughing it" Haha

When we got home, we went to see Titanic in 3D. It was awesome

Courtney and I went to see Casablanca at the Dallas Symphony Hall. They showed the movie but the orchestra played the soundtrack below the screen 

Waiting for Casablanca to start

I am soooo glad I got to see Grandma

I love her so much! I also got to see Meemaw and Ken. Sadly I did not take a picture!!

One of my favorite places

I don't think there is any denying that he is my brother

I truly love family nights at the Ballpark

Dad sent me text message with this picture. I should have made this sign when I was at the Ballpark

Back in Alaska. Beautiful sunset over the ocean. It is like 9:50 p.m. at this time.

There was a huge moose outside of work one day!

Cool picture from April's office

This is April!

We have started walking our dogs along the Homer Spit. Her dog, Texas, and Sophie are best friends

Happy March!

I know that it has been awhile!! I have been so busy with work!! I guess I will just update with some pictures! I will start with some Unalaska pictures:

This is the plane that I rode to get there! It was very loud!

 

They handed us these earplugs when we got on the plane. They were seriously an ear-saver.

So I was sitting at a stop sign and took the above and below pictures. There is a bridge that separates Unalaska from Dutch Harbor. Notice how the above picture (Unalaska) is completely sunny and the below picture (Dutch Harbor) was completely cloudy. It was so weird to look left and right and have such different weather!

Dutch Harbor/ Unalaska was very interesting. I found that it is a lot like other communities that are isolated, there is a sense of community. The area and population were not small at all, but almost everyone I met knew that I was on the island before I actually met them. I stopped by the police department, unexpected, to get a police report and the police chief said "Oh I heard you were here"! So funny! The trip was quick, I was only there for a day really. Office of Children's Services (where I work) has an office space here but it has not been regularly inhabited for a long time! It was very dusty and the calenders were all open to September 2009! I was instructed not to turn on the computers because it would take a long time for them to update since they have not been on for a long time! It is April's turn to make the trek to the island, so I may not be back for a bit.

Northern Lights!! Homer has been having strong solar flares and resulting in this beauty! I can't take the credit for taking this picture but it was gorgeous to see in person!!

   After the trip, I spent the next two weeks in Homer. Matt, our new worker was on a two week break from training so I got to have him tag along with me on my cases. It was great! I wish that we always worked in pairs!! We went over to Nanwalek again and then made a pit stop in Port Graham. Here is another photo of the tiny airplane. I still love them.

Then on Monday, I escorted a teen on my workload to her mom's house in Kansas City, Kansas. In three days I flew to 10 different cities (Anchorage, Juneau, Wrangle, Petersburg, Ketchikan, Seattle, Chicago, Kansas City, Minneapolis, and Homer) , flew on 11 different flights, and flew on 4 different airlines (Era, Alaska, American, and Delta). I stayed the night in Ketchikan and Kansas City. American Airlines lost my luggage so I didn't have any of my stuff when I stayed in Kansas but luckily I was staying at the Hilton and they gave me all the toiletries I needed. It was a lot of travel but I really like traveling. I was sitting in Minneapolis and I realized why I like airports. I think it is because normally when you are there, it is because you are going somewhere exciting. Going to the airport means that there is an adventure is waiting or someone you love is at the other side. Thankfully in a week, my flights will be taking me to people I love. Next Friday, I will make an overnight trek to DFW and will be home for 2 weeks! Oh I can't wait!! Sophie is coming too! I feel like this next week will feel like finals week in college because I have so much to do before I am off work for two weeks but then I will be on vacation! Yayyyyy!!

Coolest valentine's day yet!

The note that Kandi left on April's office door

The Homer Spit from the air!

I laughed out loud at this! This is the Nanwalek Airport haha!

The smallest plane I have ever flown in! Sooooo cool!

I have never been this close to the pilot before!

Happy Birthday Aunt Donna!!

Coolest picture of the ocean

So this the moose that had a stare down with me one morning last week! I was walking to my car and stopped to read a text and when I look up this lady was about 10 feet from me! Scary and cool all at the same time!!

Rocky beach

Quite a difference from last week! It was completely frozen last Saturday!

Wow what a week!!

Man has this been a week!

This last Saturday, Sophie and I went and walked on the beach! Yes even though it is super cold, there is still a beach! All of last week was so snowy so when the sun showed it's face on Saturday, we had to get out and see it! I let Sophie run around without her leash but then had to put her back on it because she didn't have the sense to not get in the water! Now I know she is a Texas girl and normally allowed to get in any water she wants, but it is COLD!!! But it was a gorgeous day!

I sure am glad that my weekend was relaxing because this week was not my favorite! I have removed two kids in the past two weeks and I feel like all of my cases have blown up and there is drama going on with all of them. April has been on vacation for a week and I have decided she can't go away again! Last night I got a call after hours and had to go and remove a kid. We were out late and the I got stuck in the foster parent's driveway! I didn't get home until midnight!!

Oh well, some weeks are good and some aren't! Hopefully next week is better! I do feel like I have a great team around me and so much support! Another thing that is good, I was approved to have the first week of April off to come home! Yay!

Frozen Beach

Isn't this very American... a flag and a bald eagle

Homer

She LOVES the snow

Courtney's brother sent me his flat Stanley for school! He was very excited for me to take pictures for him! He is hoping flat Stanley will be able to get a picture with a moose!

What a Blizzardly Day!!

I think that today I saw my very first blizzard!! And boy was I out working in it!! April (my coworker) left today for her honeymoon and of course I end up having to do a removal on one of her cases! I had to remove a 12 year old who was sweet and respectful and doesn't deserve the hand life has dealt him. I am always glad that I can help keep a child safe but it is never easy to tell a mom that she is removing her son and to tell the son the same thing. My job has its blessings and its challenges. Today I was reminded about how thankful I am that I have a supportive supervisor. She was apart of the removal today as much as I was and that is a vast difference from my last supervisor. It is amazing what support can do. My boss hired a third worker for my unit and I am so excited!! That means that our unit is full and we will be able to split the responsibilities three ways once he is finished with training.

Last week, April and I attempted to go to Unalaska, Ak. That was quite an adventure!! Last Tuesday we flew from Homer to Anchorage and then headed to Unalaska. However, we flew two out of the three hours and they landed us in Cold Bay to refuel and told us that the weather was too bad to continue on to Unalaska. And boy is there a reason Cold Bay is called that!! There was nothing out there but a couple buildings and a frozen bay! So we spent enough time there for them to refuel and for us to use the restroom and headed back to Anchorage. When we got to Anchorage, all the flights back to Homer were full so we were able to stay the night at the Dimond Centre Hotel and we feasted on sushi. It was a great ending to a tiring day! We each got our own hotel room and they had the biggest bathtub I think I have ever been in! So we got up the next morning and went to the airport for a 10 a.m. flight. We boarded the plane and taxied about 10 feet and they said the weather was too bad in Homer so the flight was cancelled. Supposedly Homer had a whiteout and people could see only 10 feet in front of them. So we waited around at the airport until we were finally able to make it back on a 3:45p.m. plane. It was cool because on the flight back, the volcano Mt. Redoubt was steaming and I could see it from my plane window.

People tell me that this is the most snow that Homer has seen in a long time and that it is not normally like this. However, everyone also says that a brutal winter brings a gorgeous summer. So I say let it snow!!

The REAL First Day

So after working for the Office of Children's Services for close to 3 months, I am finally done with my training and I can actually take on cases of my own!! It is so nice to feel useful again!! I was so busy today and it was awesome! Please remind me of what I just said in about 6 months haha!

So tomorrow, April and I head off to Unalaska, AK! We leave at about 11:00, have a layover in Anchorage, and then board the flight for Unalaska at 2:00. We should be in Unalaksa around 5:00p.m.

I will update more later! Love y'all!