Place to stay in Sydney...check

Last night was my night to look for places to stay while we're in Sydney. I was getting a bit nervous because most of the hostel reviews were scary....one person said they had cockroaches in their room...another complained of bedbugs....the list just went on and on. PLUS, these were for hostels that were about 100 bucks a night!!!
So, I decided to try Priceline.com and see if I'd have any luck. I started my bid at 70 bucks/night on a 4 star hotel. I figured they'd come back and say no and then I'd bid a little higher. HOWEVER, the Marriott in downtown Sydney accepted our offer! I am super excited and have looked at their website and even priced their rooms at the regular prices. It looks very fancy-shmancy and the prices were around 230/night.
I LOVE getting a good deal! Yay for Priceline!
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sydcc-sydney-marriott-hotel/

Perfect way to end a wonderful weekend

First of all-today was BEAUTIFUL! The sun was out and it was warm enough to feel like spring! Here's what we did today....
*Slept in!
*Drank coffee
*I Read part of my book
*Tried the new Eucalyptus sugar scrub Charisa made! It's awesome!
*Snuggled with my boys (that'd be Adam and the dog)
*Drove out to North Douglas.
*I went to the pool for lap swim
*I walked home from the pool (it was such a sunny walk!)
*Adam moved his book case out to the school (now our guest room has lots more room!)
*Applied for our Electronic Australian Visas
*Ate dinner and relaxed for the rest of the evening

Oh, I think I might have snuck a couple mini-naps in here and there ;-)

Folk Fest '09

We started the weekend off right! Friday night we had about 8 people over to our place for a pre-folk fest potluck. There was SOOO much good food and it was nice to unwind with friends after a long week. After we stuffed ourselves we headed down to Centennial hall to check out Folk Fest. Folk Fest is a free music event that takes place each year here in Juneau. Musicians from all over fly here to play for the locals. All musicians pay their own way here and some only get to play in 1 15 minute spot. These guys do it because they love the music.

The next day I took Dude to the airport so she could go home to daddy. She almost didn't get on the plane since one of the employees was being a bit rude. I was supposed to be there at 8:40 but they didn't open until 9. Apparently I was just supposed to pound on the doors until someone came to help me. How I was supposed to know this information I have no idea-but, the lady at AK airlines was adamant that that's what I was supposed to have done. Fortunately, they ended up taking the kitty and she is now re-united with her daddy. =)

After that I went to help my friend Mindy with her garage sale. She's moving to Craig at the end of the summer. Yay for Craig, BOO for us!!! It was so interesting watching people who come to garage sales. Some are very picky about the product they will be spending A WHOLE DOLLAR on and want to zip, scrunch and test everything on it! But, it was a very successful garage sale and she ended up selling almost everything she had out.

Today is going to be a lazy day. I might go to the swimming pool this afternoon while Adam is out at the school. I'm on to researching hostels in Cairns, Australia and hope to be able to make reservations next weekend. There's only a month and a half left of school! This trip is going to come sooner than I think!!

productive saturday

I woke up fairly early this morning and spent some time relaxing and reading my book for book club. After that I made reservations for Dude to go back to Ketchikan with dad. (For those of you who don't know, Dude is my dad's cat and has been staying with us for the winter). It's a little more complicated than just dropping the cat off at the front desk. Apparently, you have to call cargo and give them the kennel dimensions, name, phone number & address of the sender and receiver as well as the weight of the cat.
After that I did some more research on our Australia trip. Brisbane is our first stop and I wanted to figure out where we'd be staying while we're there. We have free tickets to the Australia Zoo (this is the zoo Steve Irwin's family started) so I needed to find a place close to some type of transportation that could get us there. After reading A LOT of reviews (apparently some hostels are pretty gross) I found one that seems to be a good fit for us- small, cheap and not too crazy. It's called Kookaburra Inn feel free to check it out if you want
( http://www.kookaburra-inn.com.au ).
The rest of the day was spent taking a drive, letting Rosco run around the University, shopping at Costco and Fred's (BAD idea to shop the day before Easter!!!) and doing a little cleaning around the house.

Adam says it's officially spring...

The VW van has been dug out from under the snow! Adam says that is the true sign that spring is here...I"m not sure that I agree with him. I'd like a little more sunshine and some warm weather.

Sun, Sun, Sun, Sun, Sun, Sun, Sun

Juneau has had some pretty amazing weather lately. I can't remember a time that we went this long without Ra**!!!
This week I took most of my classes outside for the lesson. It's good for the kids ( and me!!) to get out of the classroom everyonce and a while.
Yesterday I proctored the SATs so I rode my bike to the high school. It was pretty torturous for the kids to be stuck in a room testing when it was so beautiful out. I was able to work on Matt & Danielle's wedding ceremony a bit while everyone was testing. I still need a good poem/blessing so if anyone knows of one I'd love to hear it. Luckily I still have some time before I need to have that ready.
Last night we had a bonfire out at Eagle Beach. It was nice to get together with friends and just sit around the campfire enjoying the weather. I hope there will be many more bonfires and sunny weather this summer!

JDHS Dance Show

I just came home from JDHS drill team's annual dance show. This is the second year Molly and I have gone. They always do a really great job. They put on a few different performances and invite different dance groups to perform as well. This year they had appearances from the Hip Hop group, the Phillipino dance community, an elementary school and many others. The BEST part of the show though is when the drill team dads perform. This year one of the guys that we coach basketball with has a daughter on drill team and got sucked into performing. It was pretty funny watching him show off his dancing skills...I think he needs to stick to basketball.