Alaska - Here We Come

After spending 4 hours on the computer I was able to utilize free miles from various family members (THANK YOU FAMILY - you know who you are) and get all 7 of us on the same flight, seated next to each other. Total cost (I did have to rearrange miles and purchase some) $300 vs. $4200. Whew! That's a lot of miles!

When I tried to rent a car, or rather, some vehicle that holds 7 I found that costs range from $1600 - $2000. Yikes! I used Live Search to find an off airport rental and found a motor home instead. We opted for an "older" 2006 - 30 foot motor home that has 9 seat belts. Total cost, including taxes, $1498. It has a generator, all linens, pots and pans, etc.

This will free us up tremendously so we are going to take the kids all over AK and do some touristy type activities. Aunt Meri - Would you like to join us or send 2 girls (remember 2 extra seat belts) along?

The real purpose of this trip, at this time, is to see Greatmother. She will be 100 the day our 4th son turns 9. We want to wish her an early 100th birthday. We are trying to talk my mom into flying (without J) up to AK on Greatmother's birthday. Positive peer pressure needed here. :-)Perry and I will take turns staying at her house and keeping J occupied while she's gone. I'm hoping some friends will go up to Anchorage and stay at a hotel with her and laugh. She needs laughter in her life.

Today, I'm going to figure out a time table for our trip and reserve some camping sites. The kids are beyond excited about going to AK. I just pray that the flight will be okay for Little Miss. She had a panic attack (claustrophobia) on the last flight. I can talk her down, but 3.5 hours of talking is a lot, even for me, to come up with and it's simply hard to see her struggle. Hopefully she won't be sick this time and maybe that will take care of the whole issue.

We're looking forward to seeing all of you Alaskans.