We're alive... and at HOME!

Hello from Kodiak!!!!! (FINALLY!) I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get to this post, but I was waiting until our internet was up and running.

We arrived in Kodiak on Saturday night, and were welcomed by a big group of neighbors, friends and online friends! Between all of them, we were supplied with enough baked goods to last us a couple weeks, along with dinner Saturday night. It was absolutely WONDERFUL to come to such a far away place and have friendly and helpful faces waving at us from the pier!

Fred HATED the ferry, and we felt terrible for putting him through that! They don't let pets out of the car, so he had to sit in the truck on the noisy cardeck (below decks) for about 12 hours between the loading time and the trip itself. Jason tried to walk him about halfway through the trip, but Fred wanted nothing to do with "going" on a metal deck, so he just wandered and then got back in the truck. By the time we got to Kodiak, poor Fred was shaking like a leaf, and desperate for the nearest bush! The three of us greeted all the people who were there to meet us, and then Fred and I waited on the pier while Jason waited on the cardeck for his turn to drive the truck off. Although I didn't have to sit in the car and wait, I think Jason might have gotten the better end of the deal on that one - at least it was dry and warm in the car!!!!

Yes, that's right, we were welcomed to Kodiak with some typical Alaska weather - drizzly and about 45 degrees! Of course, last week, it was in the upper 70s and sunny - we just missed it! We decided, though, that it was only right to have the REAL Kodiak weather when we first arrived. We finally saw the sun for the first time since Saturday today, so we definitely got our taste of Kodiak right away!!!!!

The house is everything I was hoping it would be - Jason definitely did well in picking this one out! We picked up our first room's worth of paint today (a lovely sage green for one of the spare rooms), and will probably get the rest of the colors picked out by the end of the weekend. The entire house, with the exception of one room, is still stark white, so we have a blank canvas to start with - a very exciting prospect!!!! I've changed out the lighting fixture in the eat-in side of the kitchen, the knobs on the closet doors, and picked out hardware for the kitchen cabinets already, too! I can't wait to get our stuff so that I can start REALLY figuring out how this house is going to work. While our living room is fantastically big, it's also a hard room to figure out for furniture (it's 17' by 33'!)... it might be the biggest challenge, but it's going to be great for Kodiak entertaining! My other favorite room in the house is definitely the kitchen - I don't know if I'll ever figure out how to fill all the cabinets! For those who saw our kitchen in Duxbury - it's EASILY 4 times as big as that! I LOOOOOOOVVVVVVVE it!!!!!!!!!!

So tomorrow afternoon, I think, I head back to work (it'll definitely be Thursday), but Jason will be free until Monday (well, free from the air station, just not from his list...). I have relief stuff to do to get ready for the new job, and my official Change of Command will be on Tuesday next week. I still can't believe I'm really going to be in charge of a fisheries training center - my absolute dream job for about the last 10 years or so! I'll be sure to post pictures from the ceremony.

Until then, I think we'll be pretty busy around the house. We have a yard to tame (the back yard is scary!!!), paint to buy and apply, and HOPEFULLY, household goods to unpack! We were hoping those would've gotten in on the barge yesterday, but it looks like they didn't make it, so now we're crossing our fingers for arrival tomorrow with delivery on Friday... we'll see!!!

Thanks for following our trip, and be sure to check back regularly for updates! Love you all!
Becca and Jason