Christmas Break

We made it back to Noatak safe and sound. Even with all of the bad weather around we were not delayed anywhere. We got started on our return journey at about 4 pm on Friday the 31st. We decided that we would spend the night at Chad and Adena's and ring in the New Year with them since we didn't get to see much of them because the beginning of our trip was delayed. We rang in the New Year in quiet style to a phenomenal pot roast dinner and the new monopoly card game. It was very nice to be able to visit them for a while. It was also nice to stay there and not have to drive all the way through the night to make our 9 am flight. We had a direct flight to Anchorage from Chicago which was really nice to have even though the flight was long. We arrived in Anchorage around 2pm local time and rented a car so we could do our 2nd half of the year shopping. After getting our outrageous rental car bill from Budget I was a little bit skeptical about renting another car. You would think with a name like Budget it would be at least reasonable pricing but that wasn't the case. Anyways we went to Avis to rent a car and we got a way better deal and a way better car (not that it really mattered about the type of car but its still principle). The lady said we didn't pay extra for being under 25 but we couldn't get insurance on the car. She also said that you might need it if you get pulled over but she would still rent it to us anyway. So we got the car and it was very cheap and I will never use Budget again. I was tempted to take the floor rugs or some spare fuses or something to to get my moneys worth. We got all our extra shopping done in Anchorage and then went to Red Robin for our last restaurant food before the long second half of the year. Then we called Brad and Trisha and went and visited them for a few hours at their home outside of Palmer. Their little girls were very excited that we were there. They were showing Kayla all of their dolls and pets and Christmas presents and telling stories. They weren't the least bit shy at all. After visiting we headed back to Anchorage and went to Wal-Mart to send a few things by bush mail. We debated just sleeping in the airport at that point but we found a hotel right by the airport that we got half off for donating ten cans of food. That was a really sweet deal. It was a little bit dicey trying to make our flight. We got there about an hour and a half early but then we waited in line to check our luggage for about an hour. Of course all of our bags were overweight but the agent let them go with a warning. Then we waited in line at security for about 15 minutes and as we were going through I was chosen for a patdown screening. There was somebody that was already getting screened so I had to wait for that person to be done. We headed to the gate and when we were stopping at the bathrooms we heard, "flight 151 for Kotzebue final boarding. All passengers must board at this time!" We ran the rest of the way to our gate and made it. Our plane ended up being rerouted to Nome before heading to Kotzebue because the weather was bad in Kotz. We made it to Nome and then went on to Kotz with no problems. Our flight to Noatak was backed up but we ended up making it and just flying out a few hours later than originally scheduled. After a few days of traveling it was good to be back.
It was really awesome to be back in the UP at "home." Even though we live in Noatak I think the UP will always be home. The whole break seemed like a whirlwind of activity. I was able to sneak in some ice fishing but missed out on road hunting. We made it to both families for opening presents on Christmas morning. It's one benefit of our families being right down the road from each other. I told Kayla my goal was to take a sauna everyday. I think I missed a few days but on one day I took two sauna's to try to make up for it. It would have been nice to not have had our break delayed by 5 days but we are still really glad that we were able to make it home for the time that we did. Now it is time to hunker down for the long haul. The days will only be getting longer now. It seems like we just got here and now its after Christmas and we are on the downhill side of it.