Update on the Shaffer's

Toby Graduated!!!!! I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished. He is truly such an inspiration to me. I can not even begin to imagine how much of a struggle it was for him to get through school with the loss of his father and not only that the loss of a close classmate. Toby never gave up and pushed as hard as he could until all his requirements were met. He is so strong and so amazing! I can't say it enough how proud I am of him graduating. Not only that but he looked totally handsome in his cap and gown. Everything about that day was perfect. We were so fortunate to have all of Toby's siblings and spouses present for the graduation. I can not tell you enough how much that meant to Toby and I. Lucky for them they got to go on a cruise with us afterwords! :) Thanks to Momma anyway! We love you mom for that, and just can't thank you enough!!! After the graduation we all got to go to the Caribbean for some much needed R&R!! Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of either the cruise or Toby's graduation. We left those pictures in Boise.

We got back from our vacation, packed everything we own into a Penske and headed for Idaho. We dropped everything there but essentials and drove to Alaska. Yes we drove to Alaska! It was so beautiful, we got to drive through British Columbia. What an amazing place, full of pine tree filled mountains and elevation, elevation, elevation. We have missed the elevation, being in Texas. It was a little different driving because they are on the metric system. They drive using kilometers and the gas is charged per liter, which, by the way was really expensive! We even saw a black bear on the side of the highway, stopped and got a picture.

Since you can't drive all the way to Ketchikan, we took a ferry. It was a 5 hour ferry ride from Prince Rupert, BC. It was pretty exciting driving our car on and off the ferry.
So we are now here in Ketchikan, Ak and are loving every minute of it. It is so beautiful here, and our house is on the ocean, so you can't get much better than that! We get to watch the cruise ships go by, watch the eagles soar past, observe all kinds of sea life, and did I mention we get paid for it too!!! We are definitely glad we got the opportunity to come up here. We miss everyone miserably though!!!!!

Hopefully as soon as we get internet at our house we will post more updates and pictures. We love and miss you all.