July and Awesome Alaska

What a July we had! Especially the 10 days we spent in Alaska! What a wonderful experience we were able to give Jake and Allie. Particularly for Jake who will always remember this trip and Allie who loved going on vacation with her BFF.

We flew Jet Blue to Anchorage with a stop in Long Beach. The trip was really surprisingly easy and everyone did really well! I think Allie & Hailey watched Frozen at least three times!

We got to Anchorage in the middle of the night and easily found our house. The girls were thrilled to share a room (what they did through out the trip, even though Allie managed to end up in our bed most nights.) I can't say we caught up on sleep but for the time difference everyone slept pretty well.

Our first real day out was July 4th so we went to Anchorage's 4th of July parade and celebration and on top of that they were celebrating Anchorage's 100th birthday as well.

At the celebration there were all kinds of carnival games and rides that Jake was all about! 

The next day we took the train for a day trip to Talkeetna! It's a very small little village at the base of Mt. McKinley (Denali). The cute little village had one main street with restaurants, shops and tourists. 

Off we go! 

We were so excited that the kids would love the train but in the end I think Mollie and I liked it most. The scenery was amazing!

Jake making his (toothless) bear face!

The town of Talkeetna as seen from the patio of the Denali Brewing Company

The art of finding the perfect stones to throw into the water!

While we were in Talkeetna (and out in the open) apparently we missed a fairly significant earthquake. This didn't mean much until they stopped the train and delayed us for an extra 3 plus hours. Considering that we had 4 kids with us, including two 3-year olds who hadn't slept and had been up since 6 a.m. we did pretty well. In fact the biggest ones may have been the crankiest!

The next morning we headed to Seward. Seward is in the Kenai Peninsula and it was a beautiful drive. The city was named after William Seward, Secretary of State and who fought for the U.S. purchase of Alaska from Russia. (Thanks Wikipedia for the history lesson). 

I must say I was surprised and impressed by the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. We were able to see so many amazing animals in their natural habitat. They've done amazing job and Jake particularly loved it! Jake kept a running list of all the animals we saw on the trip. Here are a bunch of them!

Baby Reindeer

Feeding time!

We saw brown and black bears!

 Big Bison!

Elk

His long lost brother, perhaps?

More of the drive to Seward!

In Seward there was a playground down the street from where we were staying. Not many playgrounds have this kind of scenery. 

At dinner at the Seward Brewing Company! A few beers may have been consumed.

The next morning we were ready to get to the Seward Sea Life Center, well, some of us were ready! Wake up! Jake. Wake up!

At the Seaward Sea Life Center. I'm partial to the Newport Aquarium but there were some cool things here too. The kids all loved the tide pools and getting to touch different animals and the seals were a big hit too!

Up close and personal with the Puffins!

The very beautiful drive to Homer!

A stop at Fred Meyer for supplies! Loved getting to go to the PNW staple store!

 The vista right before getting to Homer is so incredibly beautiful.

 The view from our house we rented

Our first day in Homer and our ride for the day & Halibut Cove

 

Allie loves babies! She had so much fun playing with Hailey's little cousin. So darling. 

As I remember, Halibut Cove was a fishing village but is now a very cool but slightly strange destination across from the Homer Spit. It is a floating town of sorts and is home to a restaurant, art galleries and other businesses. We were joined by Mollie's mom, sisters and their kids. It was a great lunch and a super fun day.

All sorts of unexpected things at Halibut Cove!

Jake and I spotted this otter chilling out and followed him as we walked around Halibut Cove. 

That night just the four of us went for dinner and on our way home we saw an actual moose crossing the street. It was so super cool! 

Thursday we headed out to Mollie's sister Leeann's and her now husband Jeff's house. They gathered all their friends and family in town for a pre-wedding celebration (and the reason we were lucky enough to go to Alaska). They live about 15 miles outside of town in the house where Mollie grew up.  

The kids had a wonderful time running around and being outside. 

After we left we headed to the spit. If I haven't mentioned it the spit is about a 4 miles long piece of land jutting out into Kachemak Bay. There are tons of shops, restaurants, bars and of course the Homer Boat Harbor. At the very end of the spit is a hotel and restaurant with a wonderful outside deck called Lands End. It actually reminded me of the Adobe in Yachats, Oregon a bit. 

It was the perfect day to sit outside with bloody mary's and enjoy!

The spit's most famous bar!

We took turns in the Salty Dawg (since no kids allowed) except somehow Mike and Alex were in there much longer than we were. 

It was fun to join the bachelorette party to celebrate the bride and to get a night out for me and Mollie! 

Our selfie at each stop!

 

This picture was taken at midnight! The all-day light was crazy and impossible to really explain or understand until we were actually there!

Alex and Mollie ventured out a few times to run! Not bad a bad view for a morning run. 

Saturday morning before the wedding festivities we were really excited to take Jake out for a special adventure. We took a "flightseeing" tour of Homer. It was awesome!

The views did not disappoint!

Mollie's sister's wedding was lovely and a very sweet day for the bride, groom and their families. 

 

My favorite picture from the wedding! Best friends push each other on the swing even after fighting about who gets to swing first!

We took all four kids home from the wedding to let Mike & Mollie enjoy the rest of the wedding. The kids were so good but four kids in a mini-van was a great moment to confirm that we're perfect as a family of four, thank you very much!

Sunday we headed back to Anchorage and met the Gray's later that afternoon at the Anchorage Zoo. But before we met up with them we went to the Anchorage Museum. We saw just a small part of it but it was great and the kids section was really fun.  

Making bubbles! 

 Negative imaging! 

I had to tear Allie away from this dollhouse! Someone's birthday is coming up fairly soon! 

The zoo was nice (mostly that it stayed open so late) and a great stop before the flight. 

I must say that they did have some very cute animals!

 In addition to our crazy animals, these baby bears were the cutest! They had just finished dinner and we being so playful. Adorable!

As we were leaving Anchorage for the airport! Thank you Alaska for an amazing trip! And thanks to the Gray's for letting us tag along on your vacation! 

It really was a great trip and these three plus Ry-guy did great. I'd say the four grown-ups did great too! 

And these besties had the best time! They were so excited to wear their matching PB & Jellyfish shirts! Love them so much! 

This sums up the flight home! So happy we were able to give these two nuts such an amazing experience this summer!

We were happy to be back in Austin with one exception...the heat! Ugh...but we've been trying to stay cool. Lots of popsicles, splash pads and time in the pool!

Love these pictures from school of Allie & her sweet friend Sophie! 

Swimming lessons have been going great! Jake passed the swim test and is getting to be a stronger swimmer and Allie is very comfortable in the water and loves jumping in!

We had a fun family movie date to see Minions and brought Jake's friend Avi and Penelope and Clara joined us too for Penny's first movie experience. 

Love them!

Enjoy August...See you soon!