Touch Tanks

On June 26 my new neighbor Melissa showed the kids and I some cool places in Kodiak. The first place we visited was a marine research center where they have a large touch tank for the kids to check out. It was a pretty cool place and all 6 of our kids had a great time!

Miriam points out the eel in the large, cylindrical tank next to the touch tank. They had a lot of really neat critter in there. Just a note: it really wasn't very cold this day - until we got out to the beach later on - but Miriam had to wear her cool, pink leopard gloves and hat!

Miriam shows off a pretty, red starfish, unfortunately in all the pictures I took of it my camera focused on the background instead! I actually think it looks kind of cool, though.


Joshua gives us some information about some of the creatures we're observing.

Melissa's son, Samuel, learns how to safely hold crab.

Miriam checks out a sea urchin. We learned how this guy uses his spines to bring things like this rock up on top of himself as camouflage!

I think the kids had the most fun trying to catch the small fish in the touch tank, it was pretty amusing to watch!

'There it is, guys!'

Isaiah almost snags it!

We had a lot of fun at the touch tanks and even more fun getting to know our new neighbors better!

Just hanging out

Here are some random pictures from our first two weeks in Kodiak:

A boy and his dog.

Pretzel girl!

We have some budding artists as neighbors who visited us to practice their craft in our basement.

Dotty, dotty, dot...solar system in the sun. - Miriam

(Yes, she meant in the sun)


Our friends the Robinson's, who went to the same church with us in Coos Bay, were stationed here as well and arrived last week. Here their oldest, Jacob, spends some 'guy time' with Joshua while his mom and I chatted and his sister and Miriam played.

Miriam collecting shells and sea glass at Jewel Beach.

Henessy watches her boys explore Jewel Beach.

Since we've been here Josh has taught Miriam to ride a bike! (-=

We bought her a new one here in Kodiak since she had outgrown her old one before we left Coos Bay.

Miriam and I enjoying lunch and a good read.

Catching some air!

We have 'owed' Isaiah a scooter for a while now so we finally got him one here and he has had a blast scootering around the neighborhood with new friends and practicing stunts in our basement.

Isaiah even rigged up a 'sidecar' for his sister using this bin, clever boy! (Very reminiscent of his good friend Devon from Oregon.)

Daddy kicking back and watching the show.

Kid attack! ...or is it Daddy attack?

Finally, our household goods arrived on July 2! In this picture Miriam hugs a box with some of her toys in it. (-=


Now we can truly settle in! ...once we finish unpacking.

More Kodiak Scenery

Here are some more pictures of the base and surrounding area in Kodiak.

This mountain is called 'Old Woman', we understand it is usually the first hike people do when they come here. We haven't done it yet but we probably should soon, since we are being blessed with such lovely weather. (Though it might be too warm for my husband to want to hike, lol!) The white building slightly off center, which looks like it has two 'turrets', is our exchange. We have...ahem...spent a little money there since we arrived - more on that in other posts.

This is part of a view from a little beach on base called 'Jewel Beach' - though I didn't know that yet when I took these pictures - you can pick up a lot of sea glass there which the kids and I think is fun...now to figure out some fun craft idea to use it for!
Past the ugly gray ground you can see a little field with a small tree in it, Josh and I saw a fox there when we went on a walk a week or so ago, I didn't have my camera, of course! We hear that he is around a lot, and we have seen him once more ourselves. What is really funny, and what I would love to get a picture of, is that both times Josh and I have seen him he has been followed by several magpies who hop after him and pick at his tail with their beaks, it is so funny!

As I'm facing Jewel Beach this is the view to my left...

and this is the view to my right.

This is a Magpie.

They are everywhere and I think they are pretty. I am getting the idea that they are little nuisances, like crows, but I still like them.

This is Miriam at the park near our house, somehow I haven't gotten a good picture of this play structure but it is really cool. The purpose of this picture in this post, however, is the pointy mountain in the background. I just love it! It truly has a 'pointy top' like Joshua used to say when he was little. I am sure I will get a better picture of it someday...but until then this will have to do.

This is one of the other play structures in our park, there are 3 total - one for kids up to 5yo, one for kids 5-12 and one for all kids, particularly good for older kids. And there are swings!

The mountain on the left in the background - the green one - is 'my mountain' because I can see it from my kitchen window as I stand at the sink. I love looking out at it and seeing how different it looks in the sunshine, obscured by clouds or with little bits of mist just hanging around on it here and there...I tell Josh, 'I love my mountain!' and I do!

Here is a view of some of base housing taken from the parking lot of the chapel on a pretty day.

And last, but not least, the first picture I have gotten of a bald eagle! We have seen quite a few now but always flying and usually too far away. I realize this isn't the greatest but I was just happy to see one that was somewhat close enough and when I had my camera! This was taken when the kids and I went to Fort Abercrombie with our neighbors (pictures of that trip in another post).

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of Kodiak from my point of view! Can't wait to share it with some of you in person! (-=

Our home in Kodiak

Our first full day in Kodiak got off to a great start, Josh called me around 9am to tell me that we had a house! We were not expecting to know where we would be living for a week or two! It got even better when he picked me up and showed me our new house, a 3-level 4 bedroom house with a basement, garage and fenced yard - it was more than we had hoped for!

Here are some pictures from our first day in Kodiak, including a few of our new house. I will add more pictures of our house in the next day or two, they are still on my camera and I didn't get around to downloading them today.

Here is one of the C-130's flying over our first 'home' in Kodiak, the guesthouse (a sort of on-base hotel). The guesthouse was also our second home - where the kids and I slept (Josh slept on and air mattress at our house with the dog because she was making too much noise whining when we left at night) - for our first 2 weeks while we waited for our household goods to arrive.

Josh visiting with his friend, Brian, who was his roommate at 'A' school (his 6 month training in Petaluma to become an IT). Brian graciously offered to let our dog stay with him until we got a house (no pets allowed in the guesthouse) and considering we expected it to be a while that was exceptionally nice of him!

I took this picture out the car window on our way back to base from Brian's house on Thursday, isn't it beautiful?

And...drum roll, please...here is our house:

This picture was taken from the guesthouse. That's our house in the center of the photograph. It is a duplex, ours is the left half as you look at it from this direction, so the 3 sets of windows and the deck on the left are ours...the neighbors deck is obscured by the tree. The bottom set of windows is our basement, from the front you can only see two levels.

Here is Josh on our deck with a view of the neighbors yard, and the next neighbors yard and the next neighbors yard...you get the picture.

And here is a view of the other direction.

Life is good here in Kodiak. God has provided a lovely house. We have wonderful Christian neighbors who homeschool and have a 10yo son who has already become a good friend to Isaiah. We have met another homeschooling family who live one block away and have a boy who is also good friends with Isaiah and an older son who is Joshua's age and already becoming a good friend to him. Miriam is also making friends, in fact just this afternoon there were 3 little girls over here playing upstairs in Miriam's room with her! I have already made several friends here as well, and Josh has as well. We even have the joy of having friends from Coos Bay here who transferred around the same time we did!

We attended Berean Baptist church for the second Sunday this morning and are thinking it is our new church home. They even have AWANA there which Miriam is very excited about continuing. Tomorrow Isaiah starts his Theatrical Improv camp which runs for 3 days a week for a month and on Tuesday Miriam begins a 3 week gymnastics camp. Isaiah and Miriam will also be attending vbs at Berean Baptist in a week. I am so thankful! This is why I do not have to worry about our moves, my Lord always goes before us and prepares the way!

Oh, He is so good!

On our way to Kodiak! (June 17)

We began our Kodiak adventure from a room at Motel 6 in SeaTac, just a few miles from the airport. We spent 3 full days and 4 nights in this room, venturing from said room to visit our old church, build a bear at Build-a-Bear workshop, have dinner with dear friends who we hadn't visited with for years, visit the Seattle Aquarium and take a trip to the mall (remember, that is a big deal for us - no big malls in Coos Bay and no malls period in Kodiak!). Let me tell you, it was a good thing we had opportunity to 'get out' because 10 'check-able bags', 5 'carry-ons', 5 'personal items', 5 people, 1 dog and one dog crate makes for a very small room!

We all woke at 5:30am to be ready for our 6:30am pick-up at which time we crammed all of our worldly belongings (at least, all that were not already in or on their way to Kodiak) into the Suburban we hired to take us to the airport. Check-in took a while but all went smoothly, Henessy was drugged-up, her crate was searched and we were on our way!

Most of our bags lined up by the door of our room, with our clothes laid out for the next day. It doesn't look quite as dramatic in the picture as it did in real life, but I decided I'd still share.

Here is my family waiting for the subway train to take us to one of the satellite terminals at SeaTac airport.




Miriam on the train, just because...

A healthy breakfast at the airport.

Miriam and I on the plane.

Isaiah enjoying his window seat.

Incidentally, I don't know who Josh paid off but he was assigned a seat next to Joshua and I was assigned a seat with the two wild children...what's up with that? Lol!

Josh and Josh observing our landing in Anchorage.

This was just too cute, Miriam had her little stuffed animal bag on top of her carry-on with her bear (from Build-a-Bear workshop) on top of that seat belted in with her little purse which her friend Joanna made her for her birthday. Gotta love it!

Josh and Isaiah enjoy our layover in Anchorage.

The final leg of our journey, boarding the flight to Kodiak.

My boys preparing for take-off. Notice the safety card in the lower right hand corner? After we got seated all 3 of the kids pulled theirs out and were reading them, if we had had any problems they were ready! It was funny to me to see them all pouring over those cards!

Miriam took this picture of us in the plane, we all sat in the 5 seats across the back of the cabin. It was cool to be able to all sit together, however this also allowed us to hear our dog very clearly as she gave a little bark/yelp every 5 minutes or so which was a little disturbing!

We did lose a couple before we landed in Kodiak...

...luckily we were able to revive them upon arrival!

And...we're here! One of our first glimpses of Kodiak.

It was a rather ugly day when we arrived, like a mid-winter day in Coos Bay, but we have had many lovely, sunny days since...including today which is close to 70 degrees! It is wonderful and we are certainly going to enjoy it while we can.