Christmas 2012

Happy Christmas! We hope your family is healthy, happy and looking forward to 2013. Here's a quick synopsis of what's happened in 2012:

Roger: Spent most of this year in Europe working for Southern Air, which underwent a massive reorganization when the CEO and investment board decided to gut the company and sell off its routes. It declared bankruptcy last summer, resulting in 70 percent of the workforce being laid off. Roger was pink slipped Oct. 1. While a huge blow to our income, it has been a blessing since his job was increasingly stressful and political. Roger started with the Alaska Dept. of Corrections last month...a career change we never saw coming. The schedule is week-on, week-off, with great benefits. For the second time in 20 years, Roger actually lives at home!

Me: I finished my master's degree last summer!  I'm teaching seventh grade math and advanced language arts, as well as K-8 P.E. Mary Grace is in my LA class, and it's been fun to reacquaint myself with her fellow students. Our school is about ready to move into our brand-new K-5 addition, which was built right next to our gym, and will replace our decrepit portables. Later this year, the middle school addition will be built. It'll be nice not to have to endure the weather every time we change classes.

Luke: He turned 16 this year and hit the road in his own car. His hockey team finished strong last year taking the Regions III championship for the second year in a row.  This year, Luke is a captain, working hard to keep up morale and enduring a grit-your-teeth-and-bear-it season. He's taking all IB/AP classes, including AP physics - and managed a 4.0 this semester. Last summer, he worked two jobs at Carr's grocery store and as a host at Local's pizzeria. 

Mary Grace: She said good bye to her Girl Scout troop leader last summer with a farewell kayaking trip to Valdez, although she's still working toward her Silver award and active in a new troop. Grace got braces last summer, played soccer and starts volleyball in Jan. She participated in theatre camp and just turned 13. Her class went beaver trapping (along with Roger) and spent a week at Kennicott copper mine for a unit on mining.

Nate: is a big first grader now! He is soaking up school like a sponge, playing hockey in the winter and soccer in the summer. He's convinced the Big Nate books are written about his life (Nate Wright is the main character) and is the Angry Birds champion in our house.

We're looking forward to 2013, with an upcoming trip to the east coast in June-July. Do drop us a line at rewrighter@gmail.com and let us know what's happening at your house!

Nate at Halloween

Grace at Halloween

Grace's class on the way to Kennicott

Grace at Kennicott

Going beaver trapping

The intrepid Ron Bergey, 7th grade science teacher,
showing the class how to set a beaver trap. His hat always cracks me up.



 

Luke's team after winning Regions earlier this year - photo courtesy of MatSu Sports

 

vs arch-rival Wasilla - both photos courtesy of the Frontiersman newspaper

Nate with Crabby, the world's largest cabbage

End of summer 2012

Spring/early summer part 2

Nate and Jada by the giant brain. Kindergarten class did The Five Senses for World Fair thsi year.

Grace's group after their presentation about the monarch migration for World Fair

Luke in Palmer blue, doing the 300 hurdles

Grace's last patch ceremony with Michelle, who's moving this month. *sniff* We will miss her so much.

Nate after finishing kindergarten

Taking the ferry from Valdez to the cabin, on the final girl scout trip

Leaving Palmer to head to Valdez

The kayaks on the beach by the cabin

Thousands of Kittiwakes nesting nearby

The crew at the cabin

Grace just got back from her trip with her girl scout troop. She took some great photos but she isn't in many of them, of course. The other moms took plenty (since I couldn't go) and I'll post them as soon as they send them. Luckily they had a sunny day while exploring via kayaks on the water and all came home sunburned, despite all the snow. Valdez got even more snow than we did - this cabin must've been covered before break up.

Spring/early summer 2012

Part One - blogger has called a halt to uploading here so I'll post the rest separately.

Nate, wearing his b-day crown from school

At Happy Hoppers singing Happy Birthday

On the way to Alyeska March 30

Nate on the bunny hill

Going Easter egg hunting on the ice

At Tae Kwon Do testing

Grace at Tae Kwon Do testing

Grace's 6th grade class at the state capitol building

On the beach at Gastineau Channel in Juneau

Grace's class on the beach for our barbeque, on the Inside Passage in Juneau

Grace talking to Rep. Keller (in glasses) in the House of Rep. Next to him is Rep. Bill Stoltze, who got us $2 mil for our school

With Gov. Parnell

At the Shrine of St. Therese

The walk to Mendenhall glacier

Grace at Mendenhall Falls

My boys

Winter 2012

So here are are, the last day of March with five feet of snow left on the ground. It has been a busy winter and everyone is soooo ready for spring.

Nate finished his second (and last) IP season. He'll be a mite next year and will start to play regular games. He graduated to the chair lift our last trip to Alyeska and wiped out only once on the chair 7 run. He had a fun 6th birthday party at Happy Hoppers and got some great presents but I think the highlight for him was wearing his birthday hat in kindergarten and being the center of attention all day. He has lost two teeth - his adults are huge and coming in crooked, which does not bode well for the future :( He is currently the Angry Birds champion, which stumps Roger, who can't figure out how a 6 year-old can outwit some of the levels.

Mary Grace has started up swim club again twice a week and is considering joining another Girl Scout troop when our current troop - the one she's been in since kindergarten - dissolves after our troop leader moves this summer. We just finished cookie sales this week and will dive into another round of fundraising for an ocean kayaking trip to Valdez in June. The girls hosted our annual Birthday Box drive for all the area girl scouts, and we had our best turn-out. (Birthday boxes are equipped with everything to host a party - favors, food, decorations, etc. - and donated to Alaska Family Services for kids who need them.) We also celebrated 100 years of Girl Scouting with a bonfire and huge gathering. At Christmas, we created our final holiday float that gave 150 little girls places to sit during the Colony Christmas parade. Her class at Academy just finished Community Profiles where they interviewed various movers-and-shakers (she got the police chief) and then painted their portraits. There was a grand gallery opening at a local restaurant and the portraits are now hanging in a coffee shop in Palmer. Grace also had oral surgery to remove 8 teeth (!) in Feb and will get braces in April or May.

Luke's high school hockey team successfully defended their Regions championship before falling in the quarterfinals at the state meet. (There are great photos of him and his team at www.matsusports.net) His competitive hockey team lost in the crossovers at their state meet and it is a HUGE relief to be finally finished for a few months. He's participating in track right now, and also working with the high school coaches to develop next year's high school team. We lost 8 seniors this year so Luke is coordinating orientation for incoming eighth graders, organizing practices, etc. to get a jump on a cohesive team for next year. He will either work at Vanderwheele's farm this summer or in Nova Scotia, should a job open up there. He got his license a month ago, which is very nice for me as he has to work for gas money. My kitchen has never been cleaner. :)

Roger is working out of New Hampshire on his 20 day rotations. He's taken a short vacation right now as Grace and I head to Juneau for her class trip the second week of April. We are replacing the carpet on our stairs with oak treads and repainting both stair wells and a lot of wall, so that's his project while he's home. He seems to enjoy being a mechanic again - a lot less stress and now he gets paid overtime (yay) - although the time away from home is hard on all of us.

I am looking forward to spring and gardening and being outside, although I'll miss my students. I've had such a blast this year at Academy and honestly can't wait to do it all again next year. I wrote a nice grant that included a Wii Fit w/ electronic dance pads for an entire classroom, as well as enough $ to do a XC ski unit with my 3-5 graders. If all goes well, we'll break ground on a 10 classroom addition this summer, meaning most of our classes can move out of their ancient portables and into the main building by next spring. That also means we'll have room to permanently set up our Wii Fit with a projector or big screen TV, so the kids can earn passes during lunch to come work out as well as during PE. Construction will adjoin the gym - which will be noisy and a pain - but once it's finished, it'll be really great.