Year in Review - Alaska

We have been visiting Alaska about every other summer for 5 years now.  We honestly thought before our first trip that we would go and "check Alaska off" the list of all fifty states we hope to visit together BUT WOW!!!  These friends of ours are just so incredible and the four of us get along so well and we have so much fun!!!  AND have you ever been to Alaska??  Oh my, it is simply amazing and beautiful and absolutely wonderful!  Yes, it can rain quite a bit and be pretty cool but who wouldn't like to escape the heat a bit in the summer?  Alaska has found it's way into our hearts and I don't see us stopping going anytime soon.  The hardest part is finding time to visit all of those other 49 states!  :) 

Here is my friend Betty at the Fourth of July parade!  She got a pink fire hat for Cora and a red one for David.  Unfortunately we were at the local hospital ER during the parade because David had an asthma attack.  Poor guy but he was an amazing trooper and we were super impressed with their ER and doctors.  

Betty and I know each other from college and this year one of our other college friends and her family came too!  We had so much fun!  It was so neat to get together 20 years after meeting each other!!!  And in Alaska at that!!! 

My sweet traveler boy pulling the carseats

The girls minus Betty's daughter Ruby, although if you look closely you can spot her name on her mama's belt buckle!  

Marla's son Grant holding a little crab!  I love all of the wildlife that we have been able to experience on our Alaska trips!  

In Totem Park

Peering into the foliage at a bird's nest!

The boys minus Betty and Cliff's Quinn climbing this gigantic tree stump

Caden, Rosie and Betty enjoying the backyard

Two of my favorite things in Alaska are the bald eagles and the bears!  I feel so very blessed to have seen both in the wild!  The above two bears are actually not in the wild but at a place called Fortress of the Bear where they help cubs whose mothers have been killed and are left on their own.  Isn't it fun to see these two guys playing?  

The guys and brave Ruby with a banana slug.  This is not one of my favorite things in Alaska but they are interesting just not as pretty or cute as eagles and bears!  

our group enjoying the hike of the Thimbleberry Lake Trail

part of my very favorite trail, the Herring Cove Trail

This is a long and strenuous trail and the kids were troopers big time!  The little ones got carried a good part of it.  

I love this shot!  This is how I feel when I am out there as well!  

One night we had a picnic/potluck and hymn sing up on top of Harbor Mountain.  It was SOOOOO windy!  At one point while we were eating a huge gust blew through and Ruby starting crying.  We realized that the wind had completely blown her delicious garlic chicken that her mama made straight off the bone and all she was left with was the drumstick minus any meat!  Poor girl!! 

We had another picnic/potluck on the beach with the church after Sunday services and one lady made this AMAZING cake!  Isn't that fantastic??!  

This picture is out of order but here is our sweet girlie sleeping on her daddy on the plane on our way to Alaska.  

Last time we went the twins were only 4 months old and Cora wasn't born yet.  David was so sweet with the twins but it was even more fun watching all of our kids play together this time and I look forward to the friendships they all will have as they grow up!  God's blessings abound!  

jammies, rainboots and a vest . . . what more could a boy need or want?  

playing at the beach!!

I get sort of freaked out/excited that I might see a bear on a hike.  I know what to do if I do encounter one and honestly we travel in groups and are not very quiet so the likelihood is not great but still . . . oh and for reference, we were at this trail where the sign is posted on 7/7  

keeping an eye out for bears and soaking in the beauty all around!  the flowing water, the cove, the towering trees and tiny ferns, moist earth so different from our dry sandy desert trails . . . I love all of it

coming around the corner I thought this might be a bear . . . have I mentioned that I have a very active imagination?!  

salmon berries - very similar to raspberries/blackberries and delicious, plucked fresh from a bush in the wild

enjoying a game of memory on a rainy afternoon

yummy Mexican dinner in the home so graciously loaned to us for our stay

the kids all watching out the window - when your pant legs get all wet walking outside in the rainy weather, you just strip them off when you come indoors!  At least if you're under five years old!  

trying out blue fingernails . . . 

getting to make paleo cookies that he could eat with his allergy with Mrs. Betty!  A treat!  These two are buddies!

Betty and I got some time away to enjoy one of our favorite pastimes together . . . digging for treasures in the thrift stores!

I cannot even tell you how many copies of this Little Golden Book we saw that day!  They kept popping up everywhere it seemed!

I love the book plate in this old book!

Some of Betty and Cliff's extremely gracious friends kept their two kids plus the four of ours - six total!  So that we could have a double date!  This delicious meal was eaten at none other than Pizza Express!  I know . . . Better Mexican food than we can find in Colorado.  

Reading on the couch 

Isn't this path in Betty and Cliff's backyard nicely done?!  David really enjoyed playing with the wiffle ball and bat and he got pretty good at it!  

Ever the daredevil, Cora enjoyed crawling along this "boardwalk"

Oh these two friends!!  It just melts my heart!!!

hiker boy

I love this man!

Devil's Club - it has stickers on it

sweet sleeping hiker

lakeside picnic

showing off his muscles

so happy and thankful that I get to do life and amidst such rich blessings with these three!

We are so thankful for our friends!!!

Can't wait till the next time!!

Kelly

thanks to all the friends for contributing photos!