As my mom told me a few months ago, "Man Wendy, you guys just don't do things the easy way do you!" Nope, Team Bolen does not. Since November 2012 we have built and purchased our first home (with intentions of staying for a number of years), five months later was offered a job transfer to Alaska which we accepted, found out I was pregnant with twins two months after that, sold our first home after living in it for only 10 months, purchased a home in Anchorage, spent 3 weeks road-tripping while our stuff went up to AK via boat, flew up to AK and moved into our new house, picked up Atlas at the airport a few weeks later since he couldn't fit on our flight, started the girls in preschool/daycare, started Lex potty-training and finally are within that scary window where the twins could actually arrive any time. Nope, not really the calm, easy way for Team Bolen! But that's OK!

Its been a month now since we stepped off the airplane in Anchorage with the plan to call this place home. So far its working out nicely! We've been in our new house (with all our stuff finally!) for about 2 weeks and its pretty much unpacked and pictures hung. A few things here and there but its close to being a finished home! As I type this, I can't believe its only been a month or so since we got here (we landed 21 Oct).

Its been a little strange for me to get used to legitimately cold weather even though I grew up in CT. Since I moved in with J.E.B. about ten years ago, we have lived in warm climates due to the military. Texas, Florida, San Diego, Okinawa, Arizona, then Texas again for BP. Winters tended to not dip below 50-ish on any regular basis! Anchorage? Not quite the same thing! We are in some warmer weather currently (28 degrees outside right now) but it was in negatives and then single digits last week.

Snow and shoveling driveways/walkways/decks is something I've forgotten all about! Not to mention driving in that stuff. Luckily me for J.E.B. has been the one shoveling the driveway and I don't need to do much driving on a regular basis. Still its a slow re-learning process for me. Especially when they don't plow the roads really, if at all.

Moose have been sighted by us both and man are they large creatures! Atlas hasn't seen one yet and I am hoping that when he finally does it will be with J.E.B. I don't know if my 7 month pregnant self could handle him going crazy. But then who knows, he may freak out and not do anything. Will be interesting to see. Oh and when I say we've seen moose, it hasn't been out hiking. Its been in our suburban neighborhood!  When we first moved into our house there was no snow yet. Looking out our dining room window I saw a brownish pile of something on the grass next to the fence between our house and our neighbors. What was it you ask? Moose poop. Yup, moose poop not a few feet from our house. And another pile of it on the sidewalk across the street from us. I guess I should be impressed that it was using the sidewalk instead of walking in the road! And, the other morning when I took Atlas for a walk around 8am, I saw a moose trotting out from between the houses two doors down. Well I only saw its hind end, but really, they are huge creatures. I just can't get over how common it is to see moose in suburbia.

Everyone has been asking about the darkness and sunrises, etc and overall its not all that bad. It is currently 9:20am and the sun isn't up yet but its starting to get light out. The actual sunrise today is 9:34am and sunset will be 3:54. So its not a lot of light but its fine to me so far. The girls are still fascinated by the dark on the way to school. They aren't used to being out when its dark and headlights are needed or seeing front-porch lights on. When I glance back at them, Lex always has her eyes glued to the window taking everything in.

So now on to us. I'm doing well for being 28 weeks pregnant with twins. It is both easier and harder than I thought it would be. I've been quite tired lately (I fell asleep last night on the computer) but the twins are doing great, gaining weight and active. Too active for me at times, but I am not complaining! I am still in some denial about being pregnant with twins but that is slowly disappearing as nesting starts to kick in and I look at the needed gear and getting their room set up. Right now a major part of my denial is in the fact that in 10 weeks we'll have two more babies, if not earlier! Yikes!!

The other kids in the house are doing very well. They both started preschool last week, three days a week this time, and seem to enjoy it so far. It's strange for me to give them both backpacks with outdoor clothes since back in Texas no matter what time of year, they just played outside in what they wore to school. I guess snow on the ground and 10 degrees dictates more clothing than a sweatshirt! :)

Both girls seem to have adjusted well to the changes the past two months. They did great on the 3 week road trip to see family while we waited for our stuff to arrive in AK. And they were amazing on the long plane ride from Baltimore to Anchorage. We had a bit of a break in Chicago for a layover and they got to play in a kid zone area in the airport. Perfect outlet for energy right before an 8 hr flight! Now that I'm a mom of independently mobile kids, I wish ALL airports had multiple kid play zones!! Such a wonderful idea!

Neither of the girls nor Atlas have seen snow before, so we've been taking them outside to play and sled. Yesterday we spent part of the morning sledding near the school in our neighborhood. Man, they had a fun time! Atlas was so excited too! It was great to watch! The first time it snowed I had the girls and Atlas out in the yard. Atlas excitedly ate so much snow that he started shivering! What a silly dog!

J.E.B. is really liking his job at BP up here. His office is about 9 miles away, mainly highway and just one stoplight. Very different from his Houston commute! He hasn't made a trip up to the north slope yet but plans to within a week or two and then occasional trips up there for work will be the norm. All to ensure that the wells he's designing are running smoothly and no problems are happening, or to find and fix any problems that do occur. Check out Deadhorse, Prudhoe Bay, AK on Google Maps if you're curious where he'll be going. It is rather north of here!

Since most years it is usually too cold and too much snow is on the ground for neighborhood trick or treating, the city has various indoor "Halloween Town" events like this one. They got to trick or treat in the first part then we went to a food-game-music-crafty section for the rest of the time. Pretty fun. 

It was actually warm enough to go around our neighborhood on the 31st. A little rainy but no snow yet

Checking out Potter Marsh Boardwalk

One of the signs at Potter Marsh. I had always heard about fish (koi?) doing this but thought it was fake!!! WOW!!

Yep, I posted a picture of moose poop!

He's pulling them on the sled in the middle of our street.

I love all the mountains around here. No matter where you go, its gorgeous!

I guess he missed his girls since he didn't move at all when V then Lex laid down next to him. 

It's been a while since I updated this and this time its not just about the girls! Shocking, I know!

As a pseudo-New Years' resolution, I started exercising regularly again. I say pseudo since it started after New Years but I didn't make it an "official" resolution since who honestly sticks to those anyway!? It started because after listening to how much fun J.E.B. had during his Rugged Maniac race when I was pregnant with Alexandria, I've been curious and interested in running one as well. However it IS a race and I have never been a running enthusiast.

So I decided at the beginning of this year to run a Rugged Maniac race. Houston is scheduled to host one in December and I figured 11 or so months was PLENTY of time for my lazy, procrastinating self to get into shape. J.E.B., rightly so, suggested that I pick a goal that was a little closer time wise. So I found a Color Run 5K in Austin on 4 May (last Saturday).

I had about a month to get into shape to run the 3+ miles and actually had a good time doing it. I found, to my utter surprise, that I actually LIKE running. I am still finding my rhythm but its a great release for me to go running without the dog or the stroller and to just enjoy the area we live in. Four miles was my longest run so far, but that'll change soon enough.

So last weekend we drove to Austin, met up with my cousin Nancy and I ran my first ever race. I had only a small idea of what to expect based on a friend's experience doing a Color Run but was excited nonetheless. There were more people than either of us had expected but it was still a fun morning. The race started at 9am with waves leaving every 5 minutes. I heard that announcer mention that there were something  like 14,000 or so people there. It was busy! :)

I didn't coordinate very well with J.E.B. so the only picture he has of me was by complete chance as I ran through the first color station (pink). Hindsight, we could have organized it better so he'd try to see me at each station but....oh well. He was going to meet me at the finish line but once we both saw it, we realized there would be no way of finding each other (I wasn't wearing my phone since I didn't want it to get dirty nor did I want to carry anything). So we met up near the color release stage area (check out the video J.E.B. took while I was still running. Very cool!). Every 15 min or so, they had color release parties as people finished the race. Fun! :)

While it was a race it wasn't in the typical sense in that there was no clock nor any winners. It was a race designed to be fun. There were more people walking than running and quite a few people pulling wagons or pushing strollers. And a whole lotta people dressed up. I saw a few groups wearing tutus and colorful knee-high socks. Even Batman was there.....although aside from the mask he was shirtless and wearing pink zebra-stripped pants. Even saw a rather large fellow with bright blue dolphin water-wings. Quite the collection of people!

The race was fun but I had a tough time deciding how to run it. Do I run it to get a good time? It is a race after all. Or do I run it with the sole purpose of getting as colorful and dirty as possible? I tried do to both and while I did run faster than I thought I could, I did not get as colorful as I'd hoped I would. So, lesson learned and next time I run one, I am going with the goal of getting COLORED! Not beating my own score! ;-)

 On that note though, Austin has another color run in September if anyone wants to join me! : )

Waiting in line to pick up my Runner's Packet the evening prior to the race

Its official. I've got a number an' everything! You can see my black packet of green powder to throw at the color release stage area

Before the run

I'm in the center of the picture, behind the lady in pink spraying someone. You can see my blond ponytail as I run past her

After the run. Not as much color as I had envisioned but I'll change that next time I run one of these! 

Elated, tired, dirty, ready to crash as the adrenaline and excitement  is wearing off

Passed out little Gingers on the ride home