Birthday Girl

Isabelle is celebrating her 9th birthday today. She is one of my very favorite people in the world. She's funny, smart, organized, happy, nurturing, kind, thoughtful, talented...the list goes on and on. We are so blessed to have such an incredible daughter! Happy birthday, Tiny :)

Stitches

While we were in Sitka, Fred (my father-in-law) got a message from Dylan's school. Bucky was in the office, bleeding, and needed to be picked up and taken to the hospital for stitches. Did I mention I was in Sitka? I honestly thought Fred was pulling my leg to get a rise out of me, but it turns out he was being serious. After a phone call to the school, a few to my awesome mom who stayed with my kids for eight days, and a couple to the doctor's office for a co-pay and consent to treat, I was left standing in Alaska completely helpless. Thank heaven for my mom. She got him picked up, taken to the doctor, and stitched up like the old pro she is. In all honesty, it was probably better that she handled it. It turns out I'm not so good with blood. Thanks, mom, for saving the day!

Alaska

We started our trip in Seattle on Friday. First stop, Starbucks. A raspberry hot chocolate with extra whipped cream...yum.


I had to stop and kiss the pig at the market for luck. Just the fact that I didn't get sick from touching my lips to millions of germs proves that indeed, I have been blessed with good luck so far.


I love Pike's. The flowers, the fresh produce, the people...honestly one of my favorite places. It has an energy about it that I just can't explain. Seattle is a way cool city, and I hope we can go back soon with the kids!


On our way to the market, we passed a little note in the sidewalk. Good advice.


I have a million pictures of Alaska (really just 200 or so), but I'll try to just hit the highlights. Our first stop was Juneau. We found a cool mountain outfitters shop and asked the guys working if there were any cool trails in the area. We ended up walking up a dirt road and past a killer old wood bridge (pictured) to the Mt. Roberts trailhead.


It was breathtaking! Both for the beauty and the steep incline. Luke powered through, but I had to take a break or two. We saw some bear tracks, but no bears. Luke was disappointed; I was relieved.


When we got just below the summit, we ran into some wild mountain blueberries. So delicious!


Back to the ship, and on to Hubbard Glacier. Emily and I took in the sunshine, which is apparently pretty rare at the Glacier, and watched the ice calving.


Pictures don't do the glacier justice. It was absolutely amazing. The face of the glacier that we could see was over 6 miles wide. It's not something I can explain, you just have to see it for yourself. Incredible.


Em and I finally found the rest of the group, and we asked someone to take a quick photo. Not a bad looking bunch, eh?


Our next stop was Sitka, which was gorgeous. We went for a walk on some trails in the Sitka National Historical Park.


If you look at the water, all the little black spots are salmon. I've never seen so many fish! It was really neat to watch them jump and swim upstream.


We also went to an old Russian cemetery, which I thought was beautiful.



It rained in Ketchikan, which was no surprise. They get 152" of rain on average each year. We walked through the old red light district and Fred took us to see some Tlingit totem poles, which were really neat. And we got really, really wet.



We weren't able to stop in Victoria due to the weather. The wind was pretty strong, so the captain couldn't dock the ship. We were a little bummed, but that just means we'll have to go back! We could see the parliament building and the Empress Hotel from the back of the boat, so we got out the old binoculars and enjoyed the fresh air and good company.
What an experience! We made memories that will last forever. We played games, ate a lot of food, laughed till our stomachs hurt, and flat out relaxed. Thank you, Fred and Kelly, for the trip of a lifetime!

Keeping Busy

Last week Luke taught Dylan how to replace a radiator,


and Izzy started a new ballet class (this is the first year I'm not her teacher).


We were busy having fun, and then school started and ruined everything.

Things to come...

Want to pack your bags? Something small
Take what you need and we'll disappear
Without a trace we'll be gone, gone
Moon and the stars will follow the car
And then when we get to the ocean
Gonna take a boat to the end of the world
All the way to the end of the world

Oh and when the kids are old enough, we're gonna teach them to fly

You and me together
We could do anything baby
You and me together yes, yes
You and me together
We could do anything baby
You and me together yes, yes

The other night, under at least a billion stars, Luke and I listened to Dave Matthews sing those lyrics live...amazing. It's funny how different songs hit you in different ways at different times in your life. I had started packing my bags just that day. And just like in the song, Luke and I are headed to the ocean. And we do want to teach our kids to fly. And we can do anything together. It was a perfect song on a perfect night. It's hard to believe it's been ten years since we got married. I wouldn't have wanted to spend the last decade with anyone else, and I am looking forward to taking a boat to the end of the world with him in just a few days. Awww :)

Back to the Lake

We headed back to the lake on Wednesday, but there was nothing quick about this trip. We relaxed and had fun, which was really nice. Summer seems to be slipping right through my fingers. School shouldn't be starting in two weeks, right? I had such big plans for summer, and now it's almost over.

We managed to pack a lot of fun into our 3 days of relaxing, though. The first thing we did after settling in at the cabin was head to the boardwalk and down to the beach. The kids were so excited that they got right into the water. In their clothes!


It was a long walk back to the car, but totally worth it. They all had huge smiles on their faces despite the cold, wet clothes clinging to their bodies. Hopefully they will always remember it.

For some reason, Bucky didn't want me to take any pictures of him. I guess he's getting too cool to have his mom following him around with a camera. I did manage to get a quick photo of him on the playground, though. I am so in love with this boy.


The day started out with a little drizzle of rain, but we didn't let it get us down. Who has time to worry about getting wet when there is a bounce pillow to jump on?


Too much fun! Even Sarah and I got in on the action, but there won't be any photos of that. We even tested out our teeter tottering skills. We're still pretty amazing after all these years...impressive. When the sun came out, we headed back to the beach and found a few sand monsters


as well as some sun kissed kids soaking in the last bits of summer.


There were buckets and buckets of water


and some serious engineering.


The next day we spent a little more time at the beach before heading over to my cousin Ashley's house to see...puppies!


There are ten of them (free to a good home), and I think the kids would have taken every single one of them with us if they could have. Each pup was so unique. And sooo cute.


Izzy hit it off with one of the big dogs. She loves all animals, and they seem to sense it. She wants to be a vet when she grows up, and I think she'd be a natural.


In a nutshell, we played games, stayed up too late, and ate raspberry shakes. We all got sunburned, and we are all exhausted. We laughed a lot, read a little, and looked at the stars. Sarah and I discovered Jerseylicious (are you kidding me?), and I ate my weight in muddy buddies. All in all, a great little getaway.

Quick Trip

We made a quick trip this week to Bear Lake with my folks. They got some wood permits and were nice enough to share so we could stock up on firewood. We got up at 5am on Wednesday morning...wow. So early. We wanted to get a good start so we wouldn't be working in the heat of the day. It was worth it to see the sunrise over the lake on our way to the canyon, though. Luke slowed down just enough for me to snap this photo (which doesn't even do justice to how beautiful it was).


We cut down five trees that were about 70 feet tall. It was so awesome to watch them fall. There was a really cool thunderstorm in the distance while we were working, so between the sound of thunder and trees falling, it was pretty spectacular. It was a lot of work to load them onto the trailer once they were cut up, but well worth it. Especially when I'm sitting in front of a warm fire this winter. Thanks mom and dad-we had a great time!