A Christmas picture

Just wanted to show our latest Christmas portrait and to say many thanks for all the cards and gifts we received! I was afraid that we would feel a little lonely for our first Christmas away from family, but we had a great Christmas and felt very loved! We wish everyone a Happy New Year!!!

Northern Lights

I wanted to do another quick addition to put up my first picture of the northern lights. Sorry things are so out of focus. It was 3am, -1 degree F, pitch black (moon had set), and I couldn't really tell if things were in focus or not when I took the picture. This was a very minimal display, but I was happy to get the picture.

Christmas is coming to Alaska

We went out to the woods of Ft. Richardson yesterday to find and cut down our Christmas tree and we thought we would share some pictures of what we found. Merry Christmas to everyone!

Trip home

I wanted to share some pictures from my trip home in October. Sam, Colin, Meg, and I all came home for our cousin Marcie Plummer's wedding. I loved being home. We visited Devil's lake and it was just beautiful. We spent Sunday over at grandpa and grandma's and played some boche ball. As you can see it was fairly warm for October.

Then I was happy to see Colin and Meg again in NYC a few weekends back. We all met up with Kate, Nick, and Knowl for some dinner. I was so much fun and I wish we could do it more often.

I am working hard on my internal medicine rotation now and am looking forward to my Christmas vacation!

Happenings of September/October

Hi everybody. Although I am sure everyone knows that Rob and Mary came to visit, I thought I would put up a couple of pictures from their trip in September. One is of Halibut Cove Lagoon, where we spent a few nights in a cabin in Kachemak Bay State Park and the other is of the two of them with the Matanuska Glacier behind them. After they left my foster sister Deborah (matron of honor at my wedding) came to visit and we went on a cruise in Seward where we saw loads of orcas and then flew to Fairbanks. We took the Alaska Railroad back. Right after Deborah left, I flew to Alabama to be matron of honor in my best friend's wedding. Meanwhile Ian is hoping to get a job in Fairbanks working for a 1 star general. He'll be flying up on Tuesday to meet the people. We're both doing well. Hope all is well with everyone else!

Denali National Park

Ian and I just went to Denali National Park this past weekend and we couldn't have timed it better. The fall colors were at their peak. We are going to have to go back next year because one day in the park is just not enough. We took the shuttle bus 86 miles into the park to Wonder Lake. We saw eight grizzly bears, four of which were very close to the bus. We saw a gyrfalcon, a red fox, several snowshoe hares, two golden eagles, five moose, and countless dall sheep. Ian captured some footage of the closest bears so as soon as he gets that edited I'll put it up. It was simply a stunning weekend.

By the way, if anyone wants to see more Denali pictures go to:
www.flickr.com/photos/missmerv

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

I hope you have a great birthday and I wish I was there to celebrate with you!

Goshawk

Ritchey stopped by this afternoon. We were in the driveway talking when we saw a squirrel fall out of the tree. We figured it had fallen and was stunned. However, when we went over to look at it, there was a large neck wound. I spotted a large hawk on a low branch, just waiting for us to back off so he could finish his dinner. Ritchey took some great photos of the hawk while it was still in the tree. I waited until it came down to eat. Mary and I have looked through a number of bird books and we believe this is a goshawk.

Mt. McKinley

Hi everybody. I thought I would give you a pretty picture to ponder. Since Ian is still in Korea and the day was so pretty I decided to pop up to Denali State Park to have a picnic with a view. This is what Mt. McKinley looked like this morning at 10:30 am. Not bad, huh?

Ian returns on Friday and we'll make sure to put up some pictures of his trip. He has gotten to tour the DMZ, which he thought was pretty neat. My grandparents have just been up for a visit. We took a glacier cruise and saw two pods of orcas, three humpbacks feeding, and loads of puffins. The glacier was pretty spectacular, too. On the drive down, we also managed to see about two dozen beluga whales in the Cook Inlet. All in all, I've had a pretty awesome August!
mv

Hi All-

So glad this thing is taking off. I am so happy to see all the great pictures and read about what everyone is up too. My camera currently needs a replacement battery and then I can add some pictures of my own. I am rotating in Obstetrics/Gynecology right now. It has been very exciting of course! I just got off a 12 hour shift from 6pm-6am, during which I got to do lots of fun stuff, including helping with a c-section and putting in stapples to close her incision. I am loving my third year, even if I have to stay up all night! I am headed this weekend to Sam's cabin in NH with him and his family. It almost feels like being in WI and is very very relaxing. What is everyone else doing for labor day?

I would like to re-invite Ritchey & Maria, as well as Gib and LIz, but their e-mails have disappeared. So if they want to join, just let me know!

Keep all the great pics/stories coming!

Miss you all and hope to see some of you very soon!
-Andrea-