Playing on the Beach (part 2)

Charity's in her element :)

Our good friends that we went with

Bradley and I-ick

Here's Bradley, Luke, and Big-T throwing rocks into the water- as always!! Even when the water is only a few centimeters deep- they still find this fascinating---BOYS!!

Everyone's just having fun in the sand- pay no attention to charity's evil eyes- my red-eye wouldn't do anything with it. I'm not sure why the pictures look so dark- it really wasn't dark then at all.

Camping and Clamming Trip :) (part 1)

This is a mountain in Kenai- it's SO BEAUTIFUL there!

This is a picture of (I think) Mt. Iliamna. This is where we camped out- it's on the Kasilof Beach- the view was awesome, the tide was out, but as you can see we were right next to the ocean, and what an awesome sunset!!

Here's a picture of Mt. Redoubt (again, I think) it was pretty cool to look at.

I just thought this picture was pretty.

My handsome boys!

We got to go camping this weekend! Yesterday we drove down to Kasilof (Kuh-SEE-lawf for anyone that wants teh pronunciation) Beach- it's about a four hour drive, but thanks to the slow-pokes we were with it did take us a LOT longer than that :) (we still love them) We drove through Girdwood, Kenai, Sterling, Soldotna..... SO MANY rivers and lakes along the way- the view is incredible almost the entire way. But we got to camp out on the beach. It did rain on us a little here and there throughout the night, but we still ended up getting a little bit of sleep regardless :) It was really neat to hear the ocean waves when the tide came in during the early morning- it was SO LOUD! The kids loved playing in the sand on the beach - this was the first time for them!! I took these pictures around 11:30 PM, can you believe that's when the sun was setting!!!? It's fun to camp in Alaska because it never gets dark-- No flashlights necessary :) Anyway- we had a great time.

The Coolest Playground EVER (Forest Fair Part 2)

here he goes

doing his cool new thing!

Luke's such a cutie!



making music!



that's charity at the top- this just doesn't do it justice though

Here's a few pictures on the cool playground, the only decent one I got of it doesn't have my kids in it, so I didn't put it on here, but seriously- that place was AWESOME!! (have I made myself clear yet :) ?)

Going to the Girdwood Forest Fair

This is the view of the ocean on the Seward Highway, driving down to Girdwood- I LOVE this about Alaska!! (not a good picture though- we were driving)



We stopped for hotdogs at the gas station there in Girdwood- me and Luke played in the car while Kelly and Charity went with Daddy- Bradley was sawing logs.



Here's the girls on the bus- they were seriously having the time of their lives- how funny is that!



here's the sign (not sure why I think you would want to see this :) it's late)



I just thought these benches were cool and I was trying to get the kids to sit on them all cute for a picture, but they were ornery- didn't quite turn out how I wanted :)

Saturday was a pretty fun day too. We drove down to Girdwood (about an hour south of here) for the Forest Fair! The Forest Fair is basically a tree-hugger's Saturday Market. I guess they have it once a year. It was pretty fun though. We had to park about 2 miles from the entrance and be shuttled to it in a school bus. Then we walked around and looked at all the crafts and food and things that the vendors were selling. There was SO MUCH STUFF!! It was all in the Forest (hence the name), so it was really kind of fun. Then there was this HUGEMONGOUS playground for the kids. This was like the MOTHER of all playgrounds. I wish I could have gotten a picture that does it justice. It looked like a castle. This playground was worth the hour drive all by itself. The kids played on it for about 2 or 3 hours. It was way fun. There was even a little toddler area for Luke so that he wasn't getting trampled by the millions of kids.
On the way home we asked the kids what their favorite part was and of course the girls answered right away "The two bus rides!!!" I could have guessed. They did add the playground too, but not till after they reminisced about the bus ride :) Cute kids. Fun day!

Friday (Part 2 1/4)

Luke finally got up the courage to go down the slide ALL BY HIMSELF (that's all the way UP TO the level of the slide, and then scooting his cute little rear all the way over to the slide itself, and then sliding down). He makes the cutest little "I'm so stinkin' cool" face right before he goes down, I'll have to see if I can get a picture of it next time.

Friday (Part 2)

Charity was doing the rings like a pro


Kelly even did pretty well with a little help from Daddy.


Bradley obviously got into the hanging business as well.

So after the long day of babysitting we went on the world's longest walk. First we walked to McDonald's to redeem our "free ice cream cone" coupons that we got at the parade. That was yummy. Then we decided to take a different way home. We ended up at Charity's school (that's what we call it now) and so we of course had to stop and play there for a while. When we got home it had been FOUR HOURS from when we left. We were very tired, but it was such a fun evening together!! Thank goodness the rain let up long enough- we didn't get wet.

Friday (Part 1)

On Friday we had 2 extra kids- a little boy Brad's age, and a one-month old baby. The kids absolutely ADORED the baby! I couldn't believe how much Bradley just sat there and LOOKED at her! I told him no touching, so I thought he would lose interest pretty quickly, but he sure didn't!!! We had them all day though so it was a pretty long day- once Dad got home and they were gone, we had to get out of the house and have some fun!!!

One good thing about all this rain

While Daddy was grilling up the hotdogs and salmon- the boys made good use of the free time

they tried out every puddle they could see



Here's Luke coming in to bonk heads

Fourth of July Carnival

we got to play in all the big army trucks


way cute Kelz!


After the parade we went over to the carnival on the strip. No helicopter this year :( But there were lots of things to see and do. We went over to an empty area of the park and played with our frisbees- the kids LOVED it and we found out that Charity is actually REALLY good at it. It was a really nice Fourth of July!

Fourth of July Parade

waiting for the parade to start

still waiting :)

Luke really got into the clapping

here's the "cool reindeer"

picnic lunch after the parade

We went downtown for our parade hoping it would stop raining long enough, and luckily it did! The parade here was really simple, but very patriotic. It's nice to be in Alaska and not have to get up early to go to the parade. It started at 11:00, we got there around 10:30 and found front row seats right at the starting point with no trouble at all.

Another cute little wild animal

He's just so cute- I couldn't resist sharing these. He does love putting on the girls' sunglasses (unfortunately these ones are PINK!) He even has toothpaste in his hair and on his hands- how cute is that :) !!

Our new little moose friend

So, we have this new moose that has come through our yard- just making the rounds- two days in a row now. Both times it was while the kids were in the backyard playing and they all come running in screaming, "A MOOSE!!! A MOOSE!!!" So I think they could pretty much take care of themselves with how loud they were- they pretty much scare the thing away. But when he came by yesterday he was RIGHT NEXT to our fence. He goes so fast though, that we didn't have time for a picture. (you can understand the moral dilema- my children are screaming for some adult supervision at a time of panic, and I stop to grab the camera- not a good idea right?- maybe next time.) Anyway- they are still such FASCINATING creatures!! Annie- at this point, I'm pretty sure the moose were conspiring against you and Austin and that's why it took us SO LONG to see one for you guys!!

Ward Barbeque

Kelly's fishing!

She's becoming a pro!

A cute pro :)



This was the highlight of Charity's evening. She figured out how to go across the monkey bars ALL BY HERSELF! She also WOW-ed us all that evening with the Dragonflies that she was catching. Too bad no pictures of the dragonflies. But I do have videos of her going across the monkey bars :)



Don't try to adjust your monitor, this picture is very crooked- I was taking it out the car window though, so sorry.
Our Ward Barbeque/Campout was Friday. It was on Post at Fort Richardson, right on Otter Lake. We decided not to go to the campout (it was a little pricey), but we had a
really good time at the Barbeque. Nate brought his poles and let the kids cast a few times. Bradley got really good at going up and down the slide and swinging with underdoggie :) he hasn't ever requested it before, so that was fun. While we were there we were told to watch out for 4 bears that were within the area there. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see them, but fortunately they didn't crash the barbeque. On the way home we listened to Luke do his Dinosaur "RRROARRRRR" he's way good at it!! He can also do his kitty "meow" pretty well, but he has a hard time not wanting to roar for the kitty sound :)