I am home! I was definitely tired when I went to work today lol. Here are the rest of the Kansas pics!


The chapel where the funeral was held. So pretty!!

( the rest )

27. Where, and How, Do You Watch Movies? Usually at the theater, Amazon Prime or airplane apps on my computer when flying

28. What Is Your Favorite Street? I have a soft spot for Piccadilly in London lol

Yesterday we went downtown to the New Mexico History Museum..it was pretty interesting. There were Native American artifacts, Spanish artifacts, history about both world wars, railroad history, etc. There were a lot of things, and we didn't get to see everything (like the inside of the Palace of the Governors, built in 1610, the oldest public building in continuous use constructed by European settlers in the continental United States) because we had dinner reservations at 5..we'll have to go back next time we visit. We had dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant. I really love downtown Santa Fe..there are SO MANY shops and a lot of times there's music playing (this time there was a Native American dancing), the bells of the nearby chapel ring regularly, and just feels cultural and has a nice atmosphere. Santa Fe is just unique in general. Then we went home and played our last games of Catan for this trip..Dean is going to have withdrawals LOL

( a couple pics from the museum )

Well, the long vacation has come to an end..mom and I fly back to Alaska later today. It's been tiring, but a nice change too. I'll miss Santa Fe and Cindy and Dean! I miss Abby and it'll be nice to see her again! I hope she remembers me LOL. I'll have a lot of mail to catch up on..hopefully nothing too urgent lol. One reason mom and I stayed this long was to avoid all the pollen, but I guess Fairbanks was colder than normal and the pollen has just now started..that's going to be fun to go back to. D: My suitcase is STUFFED haha. Hopefully I'll see some cool glaciers on the flight to Alaska :D

13 – World Fair Trade Day: Do you try to buy certified fair trade products? No..oops lol

14 – World Migratory Bird Day: World Migratory Bird Day is observed twice a year during the second Saturday in May and again on the second Saturday in October. The goal is to raise awareness of issues affecting migratory birds and to inspire action around the world to take measures for their conservation. Do you live in a region that sees bird migrations in the spring and fall? Light pollution is a major threat to migratory birds. Does your municipality have any "Dim the Lights" policies in place to protect migratory birds? Yes, one reason we have Creamer's Field..to keep the birds away from the airport. I don't think so..

Tomorrow mom and Cindy and I are driving to Kansas to visit grandma and Aunt Julie and Joelle! The drive is 692 miles, which is almost 11 hours. D: That's like driving to Anchorage and back in one day! Cindy said it's not a very interesting drive either..probably lots and lots of fields haha. Good thing I have a book that's over 1000 pages to read :P

We played Catan twice last night and I won both times! Dean was like "I don't like this game anymore!" LOL. He's won plenty of times though :P

( pokemon update )

15 – World Art Day: What is your favourite piece of art? Have you ever seen it or only admired it in pictures? Hmm..The Starry Night is cool, and of course I like medieval/Renaissance paintings with four-poster beds in them LOL. I've just admired the pictures

16 – Garden Month: Do you have a garden, or access to a community garden? Is your garden all flowers, or do you grow herbs, vegetables, berries, etc.? If you live in an apartment, do you have a balcony garden? Mom grows a garden in the summer..a mix of veggies and herbs and stuff. I do not

17 – International Bat Appreciation Day: Have you ever seen a bat in the flesh? Real bat or Batman, which is better? Yeah, it was in my house for a couple days! No idea how it got in, but mom eventually got it to go out the front door. Hmm..Batman can do cool stuff lol

18 – Pinata Day: Has whacking a paper mache model for reward featured much in your life? Not really..maybe like once or twice as a kid

On Friday we got to Santa Fe just fine..even though getting up at 5 something is painful, it's better than flying overnight and trying to sleep on the airplane. I didn't have a window seat on the way to Seattle, but I could see a little of the Alaska Range from where I was sitting (the guy at the window was taking lots of pics, I hope he got some good ones!). Aunt Cindy picked us up at Albuquerque and drove us the 50-60 miles to Santa Fe. Earlier in the day Dean stepped off something wrong and sprained his ankle pretty badly..it was really swollen. Ouch! Their dog Blanca was happy to see mom and I hehe. We played a trivia game and talked and then went to bed (my bed has four posts, nice! LOL. I've been teased mercilessly since telling Cindy and Dean about how hard it is for me to say "post"..I wouldn't say it when they were there lol)

Yesterday Dean went to the clinic for his ankle (a bad sprain, like he thought). He's been having to ice it and elevate it and can just manage to hobble around..he hates not being able to do much! The rest of us did errands and stuff..at the store, mom and Cindy were like "you should help us chop off stuff for dinner!" I groaned and was like "if I say IT, do I not have to cook?" and mom said "if you say post ten times in a row without stuttering then you don't have to!" Oh NOOO impossible haha!! Indeed, I failed immediately when I tried saying it LOL, so they had me chop a bunch of vegetables haha. Tedious, which is probably why they wanted my help. :P I kept practicing with "post," and eventually could say it without stuttering! Everyone was proud. :D It was kinda fun showing my skills off then LOL. It was cool eating dinner and saying "behold, I chopped this!" haha. After dinner we played Catan, in which I lost dreadfully, talked more, and eventually went to bed

Today we dyed and decorate Easter eggs! Dean is still very bored, but not bored enough to decorate eggs haha. My drawing skills aren't great, but I did alright I guess. Dinnertime should be soon..I wonder if I'll have to help again :P

( some pics! )

7 – World Health Day: Founded in 1950 by the World Health Organisation. What could you start to do today that will have a positive effect on your health? Drink more water?

8 – Zoo Lovers Day: Do you think zoos do an important job in teaching and conservation or do you think it is time to stop keeping animals in captivity? They do (there definitely are bad zoos out there though), though I still feel bad about the animals being in captivity

9 – Name Yourself Day: Maybe you always felt like your name didn’t reflect who you are, or maybe you just want to try something new. If you could re-invent yourself for one day by choosing a new name, what name would you choose? I've always liked Morgan..

Aunt Cindy and Uncle Dean got here Monday afternoon, yay! We talked and had dinner and just hung out. It was cool Jo finally got to meet them in person too!

Yesterday we hung out and played Mario Party haha until it was time to watch the Northern Lights! We had reservations at Aurora Pointe, a place outside of town that hosts tourists and anyone else who wants to see the aurora! They have snacks and board games to play while you wait for the lights to come out, and they have a live webcam on TV so you know when the lights are out too. The guides there also announce when the aurora has gotten good as well. They open at 10 and you can stay until 2 AM to watch the aurora. Thankfully, we got a pretty good showing! Not really any dancing, but green and stretched across the sky. It was also super windy, so it was FREEZING (I think it was 0 degrees with a -18 windchill!!). Cindy and Dean were still very happy they got to see the aurora though! I'm glad it cooperated :P (the guides said that was the best aurora they'd seen for a couple weeks..cool!)

( the wind made it very hard to take pics, but here are a few! )

11 – World Plumbing Day: We take indoor plumbing for granted – until there's a problem with it. Have you ever suffered a major plumbing emergency? Have you ever tried to fix a plumbing issue on your own? Did you succeed? A few months ago the bottom of the toilet leaked, making the floor discolored and crunchy..I'm having an inspection later in the month, so they're FINALLY having to work on the floor. I've unclogged toilets, yay me :P

12 – Craft Month: Do you enjoy being creative? What crafts do you participate in? What crafts would you like to try out? No, mom didn't give me that gene :P

13 – Good Samaritan Day: Have you ever been a good Samaritan for a stranger? Has anyone ever been one for you? Do you think people are less likely to help out these days than in the past? Sure. Hmm, maybe in certain places, but a lot of people still want to help

14 – Crowdfunding Day: Did you know it dates back to the 19th century although the modern resurgence dates from the mid 1990s? Have you ever donated to a crowdfund? Have you ever asked people to donate to you? Do those birthday donations on Facebook count? I'm assuming GoFundMe counts? I don't think so?

15 – Brutus Day: Et tu, Brutus? Have you ever (figuratively) stabbed someone in the back? Has someone stabbed you in the back (also figuratively, unless someone actually stabbed you in the back)? Probably sometime in my life..

1. What's a food you liked when you were younger but don't anymore? Hmm, maybe yogurt
2. What's a food you used to not like but now you do? Onions
3. What's a food you enjoy eating both warm and cold? Bread
4. Are there any foods you can't get anymore? Why not? SoBe! I haven't found any in like two years..I found a thread on Reddit from five months ago and people were saying it's very hard to find, but it's still out there. I wonder if covid had anything to do with it..sad
5. What's your favorite "breakfast for dinner" (or "dinner for breakfast") food? I don't really do that..

Aunt Cindy and Uncle Dean are coming to visit in March!! They want to see the Northern Lights. Since they (and grandpa and Stephanie) came to visit in 2010, no other family has come to visit (they're missing out!). Yay, exciting! I hope they get to see the Northern Lights, seeing them on video definitely isn't the same

( jan 7-13 )

The storm last night cooled down the temperature somewhat..it might have been too cold for other Kansans, but I thought it felt AWESOME haha. We went walking in the courtyard when we visited grandma, and found some rocking chairs to sit in lol

Me, grandma, mom (yay 3 generations!!), Aunt Gina reflected in the window lol, Aunt Cindy, Uncle Dean


They have a nice courtyard! We saw a red-tailed hawk fly by too! (Grandma loves birds, which I hadn't known, so she was very happy and said "thanks for visiting us!" hehe)


My bed has curtains, grandma's has a hat :P

We also went to Barnes and Noble (why not :P) and I found a couple geocaches. Tomorrow we're driving back to Kansas City (we'll visit grandma again before we leave) and mom and I are staying overnight (it's easier for everyone, I think), and then leaving Tuesday afternoon to go back to Alaska. That was a fast trip! It was nice seeing everyone again, and maybe now I can visit more often since Kansas is closer than England haha

( 24. Do you prefer popular music or relatively unknown music? )

Dec. 31: Mom and I boarded the plane to Anchorage at 5 something..even though the flight was less than an hour, I still felt gross. We had a few hours to kill in Anchorage, so we hung out at the lounge upstairs (mom and Dana both have slept there lol) and had dinner. Even though it was dark when we landed, I could see there was no snow on the ground. A couple hours later we looked out the window and it was snowing like crazy haha..wow. Eventually we boarded the plane to Seattle at 9 or 10 something..I tried sleeping for like an hour, but it's just too hard and uncomfortable, so I gave up and watched Into the Storm instead. The flight attendants didn't do anything special for the New Year, but I'm sure they didn't want to bother the other people who were trying to rest

Jan. 1: We got to Seattle at 3 something in the morning..ewww. There were people everywhere just sacked out on the floor and chairs and stuff..unless I was in a secluded quiet place, I don't think I could do that. We had another long layover there, but we just had to hang out until everything opened (I felt SO bad for the poor people that had to be there at 4:30 D:). At the place we had breakfast (I felt like I was constantly eating haha) they played modern songs like "Umbrella" and "Can't Feel My Face"..and then they played "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" by Celine Dion?!? Oh my goodness, that was one of my favorite songs of hers when I was a kid! I don't know if I've ever heard that song in public (if so, it was in the 90s LOL), but it made me really happy and nostalgic! We left for Denver at maybe 6 or 7 something..I had a whole row to myself, so I could actually lay down and sleep somewhat better! I tried watching the rest of Into the Storm, but I couldn't find it! Maybe that flight didn't have it?? Weird. We finally got into Denver a couple hours later, but we still had to drive the 40 or so miles to where we're staying, Loveland. We were so tired lol. Even though we traveled the farthest, we were still the first ones at the house we're staying at. We needed a nap anyway lol. Eventually Aunt Cindy, Uncle Dean, Aunt Gina, Aunt Julie, her husband Kerry (I'd never met him before!) and her kids Joelle and Jessalyn showed up (Jordan actually has a house in a nearby town, so he's not staying with us). It was so nice to see everybody again! We stayed up late talking and then went to bed, which was awesome LOL

Jan. 2: Happy birthday, Apsley Cherry-Garrard!! <3 The bridal party were doing a bunch of fun things, so the rest of us hung out and were lazy haha. We had told everyone about geocaching, so eventually mom and I went to find some caches with Gina. She'd never done it before, and she LOVED it haha. We found five, yay! After that we went to a used bookstore, where of course I found too many books, and Gina payed for all of them as a Christmas present! Aww, how nice lol. After that we went back to the house, and hung out more and ordered Thai food..yumm. Julie and the others eventually came home..they were talking about the prayer things they were going to say, and someone suggested that she should rap them..and she DID, with Joelle tapping out a beat on the table. It was AWESOME and SO funny. I love that even though she's pretty religious, she has a great sense of humor about it as well (that's something I liked about Paulette too). We also watched this hilarious video of this Irish kid trying to convince her mom to let her go to the pub ("but I'm SIX!!!" *holds fingers up*) And then it was time for bed..yay :P

Today, Jan. 3: Wedding day! We Facetimed grandma for a little bit..I bet she was sad she couldn't come. :( When mom and I saw how nicely dressed and gorgeous everyone else looked, we just looked at each other and cringed. We weren't casual or anything, just..Plain Old Alaskans LOL. The wedding was at a church (Julie and her kids are Catholic)..I finally got to see Jordan, yay! I'm glad he remembered me. :P His bride Sara was absolutely gorgeous. They did Mass (I think that's what it was) as part of the wedding, which was a little tedious, but interesting (I didn't know they bowed as much as they did!). Julie's ex-husband and Jordan's birth father was there, which must have been really awkward..he's not really a nice person, and showed up to rehearsals yesterday drunk..eesh. Jordan and Sara looked completely shocked when they were pronounced man and wife haha. The other people stood around in the church and talked, but me and the others had to drive the 30 minutes back to Loveland (the wedding was in Longmont) to go to the venue and set up everything. We had like an hour and a half, which was just enough time, phew. By this time me and the others were starving haha. I finally got to meet Sara..I couldn't have said something normal like "hi, I'm Heather, nice to meet you!"..noo, I said "I've been waiting to meet you for hours!" *cringe* She was nice though, and Jordan thanked us for coming so far from home. We had food and cake and then it was time for dancing. Mom and I were just like "mehh" haha (especially since mom wasn't feeling well), but I had to go up when the Macarena came on! (The glass of champagne I had helped too LOL.) I had to teach Gina how to do it haha. I didn't know the moves to the other songs though, and I feel like I'd look stupid compared to everyone else, so I didn't go back, even though it looked kinda fun. After an hour or two of that mom and I were bored and tired of the loud craziness, so we left..yeah, we're lame LOL. I'd much rather be sitting here in my PJs (sorry Jordan :P). It's nice to relax after a long day. :) I took a couple pics, but my phone's battery is lame and died early, so maybe the others can send me theirs, so I'll wait to post them

Tomorrow we're going to Denver to see an exhibition of Monet's art..Cindy is very into art, otherwise I wouldn't really care lol. Maybe we'll go out to eat at a nice restaurant too ;)

( a shiny new 366 day meme, yay! )

Merry Christmas! Yesterday it snowed like crazy..beautiful, but I'd still rather have warmth and sun lol. I got a quilt mom made with cats on it (her very first quilt, it looks awesome! I'll get a pic one of these days lol), a wallet, and an Amazon gift card from Dana (I've been saving up books there till now, since I knew I'd probably get a gift card haha. Must add to my polar exploration collection :P)

Tomorrow we're driving to Cindy and Dean's house in Santa Fe! Not only will it be nice to see everyone again, but I'm also very tired of being cooped up in the house lol. Hopefully we'll get lots of pics!

Speaking of pics, I looked at a lot of old pics today..it's so weird, and sad since I can't remember a lot of the events in the pics (or very little). I'm taking some back to Alaska with me, I like having them around lol. Here's one of me and Snowy when he was a kitten!:

Aww. I wanted to take a pic of this picture (haha) last time I was here, but didn't for whatever reason. I made sure to this time! Mom made that cat outfit I'm wearing LOL..as you can see, I've always loved cats :P

Yesterday we went to REI to get me hiking boots to leave at the house in Payson. We were gonna go hiking, but I got a scrape on my ankle from tripping off this grate thing at Zane Grey's house and the boot rubbed against it, so we went to the dog park instead. The animal shelter is there too, so mom and I went there while Cindy and Dean exercised Blanca. I got to pet and cuddle with kitties hehe yay. :D One was very friendly and loving and purred like crazy when I picked her up. It was nice to get a cat fix hehe. For dinner we went to an African restaurant..interesting flavors! I'd never been to one before. We found a couple caches too

Today it's been cold and SNOWING. Not like a few flakes, a true snowstorm with accumulation. Ughhh..I went on vacation to get AWAY from snow haha! Mom and I still found a cache (must keep our streak alive! Haha..we've had 9 straight days with caches. :D Everyone has a stats page that keeps track of stuff like that) and went to another used bookstore (Cindy was at an art class and Dean just stayed home). It was so weird, it was literally across the street from a place we found a cache yesterday!! Wow, being observant fail. :P The bookstore wasn't as nice as the other one, but I still found some books to read (I think I'm gonna need a separate suitcase for all the books I've bought so far haha!). Then we just went back to the house..we went to dinner after Cindy got home and now it's relaxing time!

Tomorrow mom and I drive back to Payson..I hope the roads will be ok..