Off to Alaska Soon

Thought I would share all the places we are planning on staying while we are up in Alaska.
As you know we are leaving on Thursday, September 1st and coming home on the 10th. We just can't wait to see everything!

We will be flying into the Anchorage airport. We have a nonstop on the way to Alaska. We will be renting a car for the whole time we are there so we will be able to get around to see all the great spots.

We hope to be able to do a little birding while we are there also! One of the birds on my list is the Rusty Blackbird. I was reading that were lots around right now so it should be easy to get! I have a couple of others on the list but nothing real "special" just regular types that we don't get down here.

The first 5 nights we are staying in cabins right near Paul Jr and family in Wasilla. Check out how nice the cabins look! http://www.alaskalogcabins.com/ .
We will be spending lots of time with the family here and also doing a bunch of side trips around the area. I know they want to show us how beautiful there home is! It is such a different place from Southern California! One of the places that we want to go is the Matanuska Glacier outside Palmer. http://www.matanuskaglacier.com/ Palmer is the town next to Wasilla. Paul is very interested in walking out on the glacier.

After those wonderful 5 days we are heading up to Denali National Park http://www.nps.gov/dena/. They don't allow cars into the park so we have booked a tour package for our three nights there. It is run by Denali Backcountry Lodge and is called the Denali Backcountry Safari. http://denalilodge.com/newtrip.html

We get to go to the end of the road and then spend the night at the Lodge there. We go out to Wonder Lake that late afternoon. http://www.wildnatureimages.com/DNP%20Wonder%20Lake%201.htm They talk about the pink "alpenglow" evening light on Mt. McKinley. It sounds wonderful!

On Friday we will be driving back down to Anchorage to spend the night before a Saturday morning flight back to the "real world"!

We should be coming back with many, many pictures and lots and lots of great memories!
This is the biggest trip that Paul and I have taken together. It is the first time we will go on a plane together. We should have a great time! We will let everyone know when we get home safe and sound and happy.

Happy Birthday!!

Guess who is having another birthday tomorrow!! Have a great day! We are so proud of you and pleased you are in our family.

Ron and The Girls

Ron, Cory and Casey were here for a too brief visit this past week. They left this morning. Both girls start their school next Monday so they needed to get back to get ready for it.
Cory is at Berkeley and Casey is a Senior in High School. She is taking several college classes also. I forgot to ask which classes she is taking this year!
They will be back down for Steve's wedding so won't be as long as it was last time. It has been 18 months since they were able to come down. It was really great to see them again. There should be some rule that no one can live more than 8 hours away. They live about 16 hours and that makes for a very long drive! At least now with Cory being about half way Ron and Casey get to stay there for the evening before taking off again.
Ron was looking forward to enjoying some of the restaurants up in Berkeley area. He doesn't get much variety up in his area! He said there were lots of great places with great prices. He loves all kinds of food and loves to try new things.
Ron and I spent hours just sitting outside and talking and watching the hummingbirds and scrub jays. He can talk about all kinds of subjects that he has been reading about. He has always been a avid reader and now he uses the internet also so there is unlimited amount of information to learn.
Looking at the picture you have to know that it was taken on Grandpa's driveway. Casey is the taller of the two girls really. They are on a slope so Casey looks shorter. I'll have to find a better place to take pictures!!
I wanted to get one with Grandpa but he still wasn't feeling well so didn't stay outside long enough for me to think about taking the picture! Next time we will have lots of pictures.

The Wearing Blog

Here is the Wearing personal blog. I hope to keep it updated and also have Jessy add stuff when she wants- so no promises about what will be there.http://wearingsinaz.blogspot.com/

Cory's new blog

This is Cory's new blog:
http://breakingnewsfromberkeley.blogspot.com/

This is Misty, Jessy's new bird. I wasn't planning on adding any more animals to the zoo but she decied that she wanted to join the family on her own. I found her in our back yard when the dogs were tring to jump on her. She couldn't fly away and none of the neighbors said that she was theirs. So now we have 2 dogs, 2 cats and a bird. Jessy really likes having her. I think it reminds her of Mattie's house.

The Wearings 2005

This is the latest picture of the five of us. It took a long time to get all of the kids to actually smile on the same picture. Kody had a 103-104 fever that day but it was the last weekend we could get them done while Brianna was still here. Over all I think it turned out well.
Posted by Darcy.
(I need to figure this group deal out more as it came up with my ID on it and not Darcy's! Until that just add your ID in the post. Thanks Me)

Shannen in Hawaii

The Gilmores

Last week Gramps had a visit from the Dot & Dick and their son, Gary and Grandson Gregory.

Happy Birthday!

This Kitty is sharing a home with the Birthday Girl!
Happy Birthday, Tammy.
Hope you had a great day even if you were at work!

Chinese Silk Tree

Okay, I have to admit defeat. I was trying to grow this tree in a large pot but I was always forgetting to keep it watered so it just didn't grow. In fact I almost lost it several times so I gave up. We had been talking forever about getting a tree for the back of the yard but just never did anything about it. Well, Saturday I asked my Super-Handiman Hubby to dig a hole so we could put the tree in. Guess what, that silly man did it even though it was a million degrees out and it hurt his shoulder. What a guy! (thanks, love!)
It is a fast growing tree (not that you could tell when it was in the pot!!) so it should be giving us good shade in a few more years. Between the maple and this one that should do it.
This will also give the birds one more place to sit and maybe a good blind for me to hid behind to take pictures of the orioles on the hill!

I'll start and everyone can jump in as they want to!

I have set this up in hopes that all of us can use it to let everyone know about all the exciting things (or even the boring things if that is all that is happening!) happening in all our families. Please post pictures of houses and trips and kids and kats and dogs etc. I hope that I can get it set up so all of us can post easily but if you have a problem let me know and we can work on it!! I have sent everyone a email with all the information I think you need. Lisa, Scott, Tammy and all the kids, this is for everyone so don't be shy!!