How is Alaska Treating You?

If I were doing an FAQ of things people have asked me in the past week the number one question would be some variation of, "What's Alaska like?"

So far Anchorage is like a majority of major cities in the United States: diverse, freezing cold, terrible roads, crazy drivers, good food, and unfriendly people. Despite the internet buzz about how outgoing Alaskans are it is apparently a seasonal thing and getting an Alaskan to make eye contact in January takes nothing less than a Papal decree engraved in marble and gilt.

The kids aren't taking it well. After a year of being in a small, tightly packed neighborhood with kids in literally every house and a slew of playgrounds within sight of the backyard the wasteland of Alaska is a lonely place. We're suffering from cabin fever and the stresses of living out of four suitcases because our boxes are still en route from Kansas.

Other than that, we're doing okay.

Hubby is back at work. It's a new kind of job for him, a new office, and he's not really sure what he's doing other than being there. The other supervisor said two was really too many and suggested they each work every other week. If nothing else, hubby will catch up on his reading.

The older three kids (Eldest, Miss Pink, and Bug) are enrolled in school. The classes are a good size and the teachers are friendly. There's a hockey rink on campus and ice skating is part of gym class. Instead of football the local high schools have hockey, ice skating, and ski teams. It's different, but in a good way.

Bunny is turning three in a week and still not old enough for even pre-k so she stays home with me. She had a reading nook in the study and a music and playgroup that meets at a local church on Wednesday mornings where they use the gym to ride bikes indoors.

The light isn't too much of a problem. I'm a night owl. The sun going down at 5pm doesn't both. The sunrise not happening until 10am throws me off schedule a little on the weekends because I wake to the sunlight, but I get plenty of sleep.

And, much to everyone's dismay, I have yet to have a single werewolf stumble out of the woods begging for help. I promised the first one to a Twitter-friend, but for some reason the werewolves are avoiding our house. We have seen moose tracks, but no actual moose yet. I'll let you know when that changes.

How are all of you doing?