Living with the Thompson's

"The Thompson's are coming, the Thompson's are coming."  I heard it for weeks.  There's been a rustling in this house for a while; everyone is excited. Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Vicki, Andrew and Mandy were coming all the way from Virginia (near D.C) to visit.

And finally the day came.  They took a trip to Denali before heading our direction and it was anticipation torture, knowing they were in Alaska but not in Kenai yet.  When they drove down our road honking all the way everyone came-a-runnin'.  Cori was in the camper helping me, and she kept saying, "Can I go, Can I go?"

It was really great to see everyone. I was a bit afraid they'd be exhausted however I think they were mostly excited to be out of the darn car!  It's a long way from Denali, especially doing in 1 day, just a couple days after flying more than 12 hours to get here. I'm not sure any of them sat for at least an hour after arriving.


I did manage to get some dinner made that first night. Some Alaskan halibut. YUM!  It was really nice to have such a big family sitting around the table eating together. I grew up in a big family (to me) that gathered often (every Sunday) for family dinners and I miss it. It's my hope and dream that some day more of both mine and Scott's families choose the quiet, Alaska life and move here! That would be heaven to me.Seriously!

I will catch every one up on all that we managed to do while our family was here in the days to come but some of the nicest moments came in just being together.

All the kids would watch movies together every night. They synced iPods, shared favorite music, face-booked while sitting next to each other on the couch and LAUGHED, lots! On of of the last nights here the all the girls were sliding down the stairs in sleeping bags, giggling all the while. That's what I love the most.

I really wanted to share with them the Alaska that I love and I did. I wanted them to leave feeling like they saw some of this great country we live in but I completely get how nice it is just to have them here. (Hence the reason I'd love nothing more than to have everyone live here.)

My girls have been asking since they left, when they will return.  We hope it's very soon!