Alaska According to Marie

A couple weeks ago my good friend Anita came to visit. It was soo great to have her here for the evening! We went to one of my favorite places to experience (you can't just "go" to Clyde's, it's an experience). I kind of felt like Anita was what I brought for my turn at Show and Tell. And she was a hit! I had such a great time with you Anita and so appreciated just the quietness of conversation with a true friend. Thank you.

Last weekend I went to Tampa to see my grandparents. I got to visit their church, be a tourist in Tarpin Springs, wade in the ocean, spend time with my Uncle Bruce, Aunt Diane and their kids Kira and Gunner in Clearwater. It was so much fun! Matthew came along and I was thankful for the company for that 10 hour drive. We stopped in Orlando on the way to Tampa to see my brother-in-law Tony. He was there on training and we were able to get there in time to have a nice leisurely dinner and strolled the sidewalks of that crazy busy place. Even the businesses on the sides of the street look like attractions in Disney World.

Hopefully I will have pictures to add soon.

The Fall colors are getting bolder. I think I heard on the news that the temperature here was actually in the 30's this morning! It's been in the 80's for so long that I was starting to wonder if I would ever get a deep breath of cool fresh air before going back home. It felt good outside this morning. I loved that crispness. My mom sent me a shirt that says, "you can take the girl out of Alaska, but you can't take Alaska out of the girl".

Next weekend I may be going up to Virginia to visit my cousins in Lynchburg. I'm looking forward to that. I was able to go see my Uncle Dave and Aunt Susan and my cousin Bronson over in Mooresville (near Charlotte). We spent some time in the boat out on Lake Norman and I saw how low the water was with this NC drought. We've had some rain last week that everyone was so grateful for, but I am not sure how much it helped the overall situation.

My nieces and nephews are celebrating diversity with their costume choices for Trick-or-Treating this year. I can't wait to see the pictures. My niece, Raegan, has started crawling! I have been missing everyone at home! Ya... I've been missing home.