Saying goodbye to workmates and community friends

My coworkers threw a little low-key reception on my last day of work.  It was fun to see so many friends who dropped in to say goodbye to Rich and me.

 Rich and Tammy

Chrissy and John

Cute cake and cupcakes made by Helen Hammond

 Erica from the CVB

 Cute baby Asher

Lennyn and Alysha

 Shawna, high school English teacher and singer with "Our Band."  And Carpenters fan, but I forgive her that.

 Suzi, Ingrid and Kyle

 Irena and Juliette

 Erin, Debbie, Billie Jo and Erin

 with my boss Lauren and reporter Greta

 My awesome coworkers, Pipa, Lauren, Greta, Chrissy, John and Billie Jo

CVB Director Cathy and her husband Patrick, Ass't City Manager

Lottie from the Oonalaska Wellness Center--I worked with her at my former job.

I missed getting pix of several more friends.  It was bittersweet to remember many fun times in this little community and to say goodbye to people who have been a part of our lives for so long.  I was happy to have a chance to see them one last time!  Thanks, friends!

Ready or Not, Here We Come! Dallas Bound!

The last month has been a whirlwind. We've both been winding down at work and trying to sort, pack, discard, give away, and clean. In the middle of that, we have lots of people we want to see and many goodbyes to say.

 So proud of my friend and former ESL student, Juanita, who became an American citizen!

Rich's friend and boss Laurie took us out to dinner with her husband Art and some of Rich's lead cooks

Rich, Paul, Willie and Vinnie

 Then Kelly, Elaine and Steve had us over for a delicious dinner and lots of great conversation.

We're sad we never got to hang out with these friends more often!  Hoping they'll come see us in Dallas!

Getting ready for my last radio pledge drive.  Love, love, love working in a largely female organization! Well, we do have some part time guys but these are my gals.  Pipa, Chrissy, me, Greta, and Lauren.

It was a long day and night but made lots of fun by our fabulous members and volunteers like these two, Prestan and Carlos, who stuck it out to the bitter end at midnight with me. I'm gonna miss my job--it's been a lot of fun!

Jack and Tammy came over to help us haul boxes down to the UniSea hangar and get them loaded into totes to go on a boat back "down south." Now, that's some good friends!

If that wasn't enough, they then cooked dinner for us (and Jack beat us all in a tough couple of games of Scrabble, darn him!)  Tammy got me this shirt that says, "Claustrophobia: Alaskans' morbid fear of getting stuck in Texas."  LOL

 Kyle and Ingrid came over to our house and cooked brunch for us on Sunday morning. These two are leaving also, getting married and moving to France.  Can I say we are just a little bit envious?!

We ended up with five large totes full of our belongings, mostly boxes of stuff since we are not hauling any furniture or anything too big.  Amazing how much one accumulates over time, even when you don't have a lot of room or a need for too many things.  Arnold helped us make the most of the space and said he is really good at puzzles. We agree!

Of course, now that the totes are gone, we have found several more things we intended to take so we will have to ship some boxes through the Post Office after all.  We've been selling things, including two vehicles and the few pieces of furniture we actually owned.  Living in company housing has its perks, including the fact that our apartment was furnished other than things we wanted to add to the mix.

 Lunch with Juanita

Two of my favorite servers at the hotel, Marisa and Maribel. They know my order before I say it.  :)  Plus they are super sweet.

 We met Tammy and Jack to watch the Democrats debate (and we are feeling the Bern!)

I did my last "Flash!Unalaska" TV show and announced the winner of an Alaska Airlines plane ticket which was a membership incentive.  It's always fun to do the show and was a little bittersweet.

 Pipa hates to have her picture taken but she consented to stick her head out a little bit for me.

 Behind the scenes at a small town TV station.  Such a blast!

Although I am ready to be closer to family and am looking forward to the next phase of life, there are many people and activities I will miss in Unalaska.  It's been quite the adventure the last 11 years...and we're not quite finished yet!

Happy First Birthday, Jack!

Jack actually turns 1 tomorrow but we celebrated his birthday a week early while I was still there.  We had quite a crowd for burgers and dogs, swimming, playing and cake!  So much fun!  This little boy is well loved and such a sweetheart.  And you'd never know he was a preemie who scared us to death this time last year!  We love you, Jack!

 Jack and Mommy Sarah

 Cake time

 Pretty good stuff!

Some of Sarah's friends and their babies.  I guess bigger families are becoming the norm once again as many of her friends have 3, 4, or more kids!

Jack and his two girlfriends Charlotte and Addie

 Presents are fun, too!

 Jack and Daddy Miles

 Gigi's 8th grandchild!  :)

Back to Dallas for a few days

I had a few more days in Dallas before flying back to Alaska.  Sarah and I went back to one of the apartments we'd visited and I rented one for Rich and me.  Move in date: October 22!  Very exciting! We also went to her bank and I opened a new account. And we went to look at furniture.  I have never furnished and decorated a house from scratch before so it's gonna be lots of fun!

 Hanging out with Jack at the house

Elle is quite the little soccer player and continues to get better and better every time I visit.  She always plays really hard!  She made a goal in this game.

 With Elle and Beck

 Elle had a game at 9 and then another one at noon.  Beck had one at 11:45.  We all went to Elle's first game, then Miles was going to take her to her second game while Sarah and I went to Beck's. We came home in between and Jack went down for a nap. Since he was still asleep, I stayed home with him while the parents went to the kids' games.  Beck was also on fire that day and made three goals!  Sorry I missed that!

I'm looking forward to being in the same town so I can participate in more of the grandkids' activities!