Some of your questions...

The Hoover Dam from the top. This is the river side.













This is me and Avery and my best friends two oldest kids at the Hoover Dam.








Ok, so...lots of people have emailed me and asked me questions and I am finally going to try and answer some of them.

What's the weather like? The day we got here was really nice...about 80degress and sunny. Then it was cold (60's) and rainy for about 10 days. Then we got about two days of nice weather, 80 and sunny. Then it would be cold and rainy for about 10 days. Then we had about 3 days of nice weather, then 10 more days cold and rainy. It has been really nice (high 70's and sunny) for about a week, then today it cooled off and started to rain. Everyone says that aug/sept is the rainy season so we'll see. There were a couple of days that the wind blew really hard, but not too many. there is usually a breeze though.

When do you start school? Yesterday was the first day. We had 4 contract days for the entire staff the week before and teacher new to the district had 3 days the week before that.

Can you put a brick in your toilet? Actually, no. the toilet has a water efficienct, high pressure flusher in the tank. When you lift the lid on the back of the toilet all you see is a tank, no water.

Can I come visit? Absolutely, YES! PLEASE! I would love to have anyone who wants to come. I would be more than happy to lend out my sleeper sofa to anyone who wants to venture to Bethel. If you prefer, there are lots of hotels and bed and breakfasts all over the city.

Is it what you expected? Yes, it really is. Although I commented that it was very different, it is what I was expecting. I had done so much research and talked to so many people who lived here before I left that I knew exactly what I was getting my self into.

What is the scenery like? Bethel is in the middle of the tundra and a part of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. It is very flat, sandy, and treeless.

How about that midnight sun? It's wild! When we first got here, the sun officially set about about 1am, but it didnt really get dark untill about 2am. The official sunrise was about 5am, but it started to get light at about 4am. so there was only about 2 hours of true night, but even then it wasnt REALLY dark. I have yet to see the moon at night. I've seen it during the day once, but that's it. Back in July the sun was rising and setting about 3 minutes later/earlier...which meant a loss of about 7 minutes everyday. THAT'S HUGE! In Ohio, we lose about 30-45 seconds a day, maybe a minute. one thing that really got to us about the sun is that it all looks the same. the sun at noon and the sun at midnight...it looked the same. I never knew what time it was. Avery and I would be hangin around thinkin it was about 6 or 7 in the evening and we would look at the clock and it would read 10 or 11 at night. I had to start wearing a watch at all times. No way you can guesstimate the time here. Nowadays, the it is dark at midnight and still dark til about 6am.

How much is gas? $4.97! enough said!

Do I have daily internet access? Yes

How was Vegas? In case some of you don't know...I spent about two weeks visiting friends and family in Vegas before coming to Bethel. Vegas was good. It was good to see everyone, but mostly it was HOTHOTHOT. It was 114 degrees that last couple days I was there. We visited Hoover dam and my sandles were literally melting to the sidewalk.

How are you and Avery handling the change? We are handling it fine...really good actually. Like I said, I had done alot of research and we had talked about it alot. We knew what to expect. We are settled in quite nice. It's really the people who have made us feel right at home. everyone is sooooooo wonderful here.

How is Avery adjusting? He's good. He has made some friends right away and we've kept ourselves busy. He seems to really like it here too.

No taxes, right? sort of...there are no state sales taxes, but Bethel has a city sales tax of 5%. As far as income tax...I'm not sure yet...I havent got paid, but I do not think there are any income taxes besides federal. I'll let you know more about that when I get paid. We only get paid once a month here! wow! that'll be a change.

ok, that's it for now. take care all.