Alaska: The days in which Rich and Jeanine go on some dates

Wednesday, July 21

We had planned a double date to play tennis with Rachelle and Gordon... but then it rained.  So instead we made a fresh cherry pie (a first for all of us).  I was the lucky one who found the one pit left in the cherry.  Thanks Gordon.  And then Rich and I dominated at Pictionary.  Overall... a good night.

Thursday, July 22

My mom was kind enough to watch the boys in the morning while we went to the Anchorage Temple.  I think it's always fun to go to the nearby temple and see the little differences.  No pictures though! Darn.  As we were leaving we were greeted by the temple president who, as it turns out, knows a good family friend back in Oklahoma!  Small world!  Afterward, we stopped by FireTap for lunch.  It was pretty good. (Although their drink choices had unusual names... the only one I can remember was called "Duck Fart".  That's for you, Rachelle.)

While we were gone the boys went to the park and did experiments with Grandma and Jacob.

 
Later that night, after the kids were in bed, Rachelle took Rich and I on a hike to Winner Creek.  The great thing about Alaska in the summer is that it doesn't get dark until really late... so you can do fun night hikes!   On the way out there we saw an awesome rainbow that stretched from the freeway, across the ocean, to the mountain!  I tried to get a decent picture but couldn't!  This was the best I got... and you can barely see the rainbow.

This hike was really nice and short... once we found the trailhead.    We were using a guidebook which told us to start down at Girdwood... so we did.  We parked and started out.  Rachelle and Rich were convinced we were on the right trail and I wasn't so sure.  We hadn't gone too far when we dead-ended into a man-made "tree house".  It looked as if they were living there.  And when we crossed the stream again we saw that they were keeping some drinks (or something) cool in the water.  A little disturbing.  So eventually we all got back in the car and called Rachelle's friends to see where it was we needed to start.  By the time we started hiking it was around 9:00 pm... and we still had plenty of daylight.

Rich and Rachelle think they are hilarious together.  We had a great time talking about--among other things--Rich's buff legs, wolf t-shirts, and Rachelle's love life.  When we got to the tram we found that some of Rachelle's friends were there!  It was fun to meet them.  Now the tram is why we did this particular hike.  You have to pull yourself across a deep canyon above the river!

We weren't very nice and made Rich pull all three of us across.  Rachelle's friends were already across and were nice enough to help Rich at the very end.

Once we got across Rachelle's friend's asked if we wanted to hike a little further to a waterfall.  It was beautiful.

Rachelle... never without a flower in her hair!

On the way back we decided to be a little nicer and help Rich pull us all across.

It was a great night!  Rachelle, we owe you one!

Coming up: Rich's last day in Alaska :(

Alaska: Days 3-7... parks, parks, parks, & MOOSE

My mom was so worried that Rich wouldn't see a moose before he left--it took her over a week in Alaska to spot her first one.  So on Saturday we drove up Northern Lights to see if we could spot one.  We were in two separate cars and my mom said to me, "Up here we're going to get to a place that is restricted access.  Dad will keep going.  I'm going to turn around."  Sure enough, when we got there my dad went on without hesitation... and Mom paused.  I convinced her to  follow him just a bit further because it would be a little easier to turn around.  It's a good thing we did!

We spotted our first moose!  We ended up seeing many more before we left but Rich was the only one to spot a bull moose!  He went out walking one morning and was looking at the ground.  When he looked up he was just feet from a bull moose.  Good thing he looked up when he did because he would have literally run into it!  And for Sunday dinner my mom cooked us a moose roast that someone at church had given to her.  It was delicious!

It rained a lot while we were there so anytime it was dry and/or sunny we made sure that we went outside.  The boys loved playing in the backyard.

And on the hammock.

I enjoyed the hammock as well... it was a great place to read a book or take a nap.  I liked to sneak out there when the boys were watching a show or after they were in bed for the night.

But we really loved going to all the parks that were nearby.

Monday, July 19th

We went downtown to see if we could see the salmon... but we didn't see any, except for the ones being carried off by the fishermen.  We did get lucky enough to find a free trolley ride.  And what's better than that?

Oh my goodness... I just love this picture.

 

After the trolley ride we decided to check out Kincaid Park which is at the other end of the coastal trail.  It was fun to see where Jacob went sledding in the winter... and we also discovered some dinosaur bones!  Pretty cool.

Tuesday, July 20

While Rich went running along the coastal trail (well, he was supposed to be on the coastal trail but took a wrong turn ended up running by Chester Creek, but that's okay) we played at Lynn Ary Park.  It had a great pirate ship playground and a tire swing!  While we were there we also took a little walk along the coastal trail.

Wednesday, July 21

After lunch we decided to head to Goose Lake.  We saw several people "swimming" there... but really it looked more like shivering in the icy water.  My mom commented that it's sad that these kids don't know how refreshing it is to jump into nice cool water after being hot.
We played a little badminton,

  Jacob up in the crow's nest

walked along the beach,

checked out the ducks,

 (One of the ducks came right up to us.  After realizing that we didn't have any food he wandered off to a couple laying on the beach.  A few seconds later I heard the girl screaming.  It seems that the duck had waddled up and was nibbling on her shorts!)

played on the playground, and even found a trail to hike (where William found an awesome hiking stick).

Coming up: a few dates and a night hike

Late breaking news

We interrupt this vacation update to bring you some late breaking news!  Today was William's first day of Kindergarten!

He was so excited!  He couldn't sleep last night.  Even though we put him to bed before 8:00 he was up until well past 10:00!  At one point he got up to go to the bathroom and while he was in there he decided to do his hair "just in case it stays handsome for tomorrow."  Hopefully school will wear him out so that he can't do that every night!

This morning Rich woke up early and made crepes per William's request.  Yum!  Then he was able to head to work a little late so that I could take William to class.

William did great!  In fact, I think he was getting annoyed that I hung around so long.  There was another mom in there that had to leave because she was about to start bawling.  I think the teacher was a little surprised that I wasn't crying when I told her that William is my oldest.  It sure makes it a lot easier that he loves school!

It will be weird having him gone all day long.  We'll miss him... butI am so proud of him and know that he will do great this year!

Alaska: Day 3... Portage Glacier

Saturday, July 17

Saturday morning we headed out to see Portage Glacier.  We got there a little early so we ate our lunch and tried to keep the boys entertained.  We also read lots of interesting facts that were posted on the walls about Alaska.  Some were pretty hilarious... I just wish I could remember them!  At one point one of the other people pointed to a bear they saw up on the mountain.  I looked... but it was only a little speck.  While everyone else in the building proceeded to crowd around the window to see I went back to watch our stuff.  An elderly man from Florida asked where everyone went and I explained about the bear.  He paused for a moment and then proceeded to tell me how he had encountered a bear when it put it's front paws up on the spare tire of his RV and looked face-to-face with his wife--with only the glass window between them!  Scary!

Eventually we all headed to the boat.

 A waterfall, as seen from inside the boat.

After a while we decided to brave the cold and head up to the top deck.

back: Mom, Jacob, Rachelle, Jeanine, Alexander, Rich

front: William and James (trying to escape)

Dad, William, Rich, Alexander, James (hiding in the back), Jacob, and Rachelle

It was a bit scary because James desperately wanted to touch the water.  I really thought that he would try to jump in. 

William about to go back inside because he is freezing.  Also, the spot where I really thought James was going to fall over into the water.

Thankfully the captain had a bucket of glacier water that he passed around for everyone to touch.  It appeased James--for a while at least!  He also had a vial of little worms that live in the glacier.  The boys thought that was pretty cool.

William and James checking out the worms.

The glacier itself was awesome!  They explained to us why/how glaciers form... and why they look blue.

We were hoping to see a piece break off... but we weren't so lucky.  However, the captain had everyone stand along the edge, facing the glacier and yell "POP!" in unison.  In return, we heard an awesome echo!

It was the perfect way to see a glacier with kids in tow. 

View from the boat

Afterward we stopped at The Bake Shop in Girdwood and got some delicious sweet rolls!  So good!  Thank you Mom and Dad for taking us!

While most of us went home after Girdwood, my dad took Rich and Rachelle to the shooting range to try out his new bear gun.

Apparently it's got some kick!

Still to come: Lots of moose, parks, and another hike

Alaska: Days 1.5 - 2... Arrival, Flat Top, & Sand Lake

Well, we arrived at my mom and dad's house late (for us) on Thursday night.  The boys were so excited to be there that they ran around looking at everything for a while.  Of course, it doesn't help that it's still daylight (even though it's 10:00 at night.)  It helped them adjust to the 3 hour time difference though because they slept in the next morning.

Friday, July 16th
Since there was no rain in the forecast we decided to hike Flat Top.  Rachelle and my Dad had taken work off so it worked out great!  First, we walked to the lookout to see the view of Anchorage.

Jacob sharing his binoculars

 The view of Anchorage from the lookout

 Alex and Jeanine at the lookout (during one of his happier moments)

The whole crew at Flat Top

We didn't hike to the very top because we had James and Alex (whom Rich had to carry most of the way... talk about super dad!)

We did enjoy the short loop that we ended up hiking.

 William was a great little hiker!

Rich and James went to touch some of the snow.

Later on, some fellow hikers gave William a snowball of glacier ice.  He loved it!

There were so many beautiful wildflowers!

Rachelle and I even found some little purple pine cones!

And we found the perfect tree for pictures.

This is take 2.  I like the other one better.

William, Jacob, James

 The girls: Jeanine, Mom, and Rachelle

Later in the day we headed to Sand Lake (which is across from my parent's house) for a little fishing.

Uncle Jacob is a pro... he doesn't need any help.

Grandpa helped James and William to fish for a bit.

There were some pretty noisy people (and dogs) there so we didn't catch anything... but it was fun to play around!

Coming up: A visit to Portage Glacier