Finally, Spring!

 It's still chilly, but new green shoots of grass are finding their way to the surface. Also, we had our first bear sighting right outside our living room window! A couple of the island dogs tend to hang out in our front yard. They started barking (which they don't do much). I told Spencer to look out and see why they're barking. He looked and yelled "BEAR!" The pictures aren't great as they're through the rainy window. Spencer had just come in from outside not 10 minutes earlier. Now that the bears are coming out of hibernation we have to be back on alert. Even though there isn't green on the trees, you can't see the bears hiding in the brown of the landscape. Usually, they don't wander through town in the middle of the day, but they're probably hungry. I am thankful for the dogs. They really do alert us and chase them off. We watched them chase this bear up the hill, and then stand on alert for about 5 minutes to ensure it wasn't coming back. 

I was starting to wonder if nature would get exciting again before we leave on May 23rd. After sighting the bear we were sitting down at the beach and I said "I just want to see the whales migrate through!" Lo and behold, 5 seconds later a whale breached! And then we saw a sea lion! We never see sea lions. This one was HUGE! However, it all happened very quickly so no pictures. He looked like the one from the Seward Sealife Aquarium in my previous post. 

We had a fabulous weekend. It was Principal's Day and Teacher Appreciation Week. Friends had invited us for dinner Saturday. I got a text right when we were supposed to be there saying come to the Rec Center instead. We pull up and all 6 cars on the island are there. I was all "what is going on? I don't want to be social tonight." I changed my attitude really quick when we walked in and everyone yelled "HAPPY TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK!" They had some cool presents for us and of course yummy food. After dinner we went and played dominoes at our friends. It is so nice to be included and accepted. Especially, when outsiders said we wouldn't be. I received the nicest warm hug from Carleen thanking me for being her friend and teaching her children. She might have been quite drunk, but it was still really sincere. I love her, her husband Shane, and their sister Melanie. They are good people. 


He thinks he invented leg warmers. Haha!


A nice email from my superintendent that included a $75.00 Amazon gift card.


He loves sticks and posing all serious for pictures.


A cold drizzly evening, bu perfect for a walk. See the green shooting forth?!?!?!



Ignore the ugly in the foreground. We drive to the dump often,
 because the animals are there rummaging for food. The rainbow on the water was stunning!





The first bear sighting of the season right outside our living room window!




Sunday was perfect weather and we spent a good portion of the day outside. We sat at the beach and then the pier watching for whales. There was one we watched breach quite a few times. It was pretty awesome!


This fox wasn't shy at all! He just walked right past us without a care.


Happy Mother's Day to this wonderful mother of mine!
She is currently serving another mission in Cody, Wyoming with my dad.




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