rachel and i are up in alaska visiting rachel's sister karen and husband jason. right now we are staying in a loaner house overlooking the mountains and the ocean. i haven't seen it in the light yet, as we got here after dark last night. i just took Bell, who is the dog of the house, on a long walk along the ocean front. it's raining and about 45 degrees. very nice and extremely quiet.
yesterday, we showed up at karen and jason's house with jim and susan (rachel's parents). mostly we played with and took pictures of keanna, the new baby girl addition to the family! now rachel and i are aunt and uncle two times over. she's cute and although she was an extreme preemie, she has made up for lost time and filled out nicely. i will post some pictures in due time. my new camera takes great pictures and i have been able to get some more "artistic shots" than i was able to get with my point and click.
they almost didn't let us on the plane in walla walla, TSA people can be a huge pain in the ass. i know that they are just doing the job that they were hired for but it does seem to create some sort of power complex. when we showed up the gate to the boarding area was closed and they told us that we had to be there 30 minutes early as regulations prevented us from boarding the plane if we were late. after we pointed out that we were indeed there 37 minutes early and a better trained employee checked out the situation, they opened up the gate and let us on, which was good because i was getting pissed and there is nothing worse than being pissed about a situation that you have no control over (i.e. starting to involuntarily mutter profanities under your breath like a nut). other than that, the flight through seattle and up to juneau was uneventful (and i had some really good tangerine chicken and rice in seattle at an asian restaurant in the airport.)
greg and lydia (joshua's parents) are house-sitting for us and watching our cats which is nice of them and that way they're only blocks away from joshua and natasha at christmas.
which reminds me, merry christmas everyone!
timothy