dad's fish

Tom & dad enjoyed a few days on the boat just the two of them.  They limited out on halibut & had a good time.

halibut

The zipline has had quite a workout the past few days.  The kids have spent HOURS creating fancy moves on it and even name and document each different "stunt."  Pencil, dead robin, passenger, nightmare, pumpkin...you name it!  Fun cousin memories... 


Thomas is so proud to have matching toes with Grandma!!!

reindeer & hiking

Today we went to the reindeer farm and also hiked the Butte.  Another fun day!

mom, dad & lucas

My mom &  dad and nephew Lucas are here for 10 days!  It's so great to have them visit...Today we went to Hatcher Pass.  We had a picnic lunch and went for a hike.  Ella & Lucas are especially close so it's been great fun for them to re-unite & play, play, play.  Dad & Tom are on the boat and the rest will join them on Friday....no pictures of them though as they forgot the camera.  We're hoping that means they'll catch a few lunkers!

fish stink

The boys fingerpainted pictures for Father's Day 

and the girls wrote poems for him...

Otters float

and so does

Dad's boat!

Claire

Fish Stink, 

but I think

You'll never let us sink!  

Ella

the hazards of big sisters in the house.....boys with painted toes!!

15

15 years of marriage...wow!  Tom and I celebrated this milestone last night with our first overnight away from all 4 kids.  We splurged & stayed at Alyeska & had such an amazing time.  I drug along a box full of wedding/honeymoon pictures and we laughed and laughed as we looked through those.  Thanks for the memories, Tom...I love you!  & thanks, Aimee, for making this get-away possible!  

T

Thomas.  What a little character he is.  I think 2 1/2 is one of the ages I love best!  His vocabulary grows daily and I think the little mispronunciations at this age are just the cutest!

ose juice = orange juice      Cuh= Claire     cough cough = wash cloth  are just a few:)      Along with the cute comes the strong will though....Thomas got two spankings for looking at each of us and boldly shouting "NO!" when we asked him to do something today.  There's a reason God made 2 year olds so cute, isn't there?  Being in a family of 6, the kids don't get a ton of one on one time with Tom or I...or at least as much as I wish they did.  We try and it happens as much as it can, but yesterday helped remind me how important it is.  Thomas was SO EXCITED to leave the house with me.  So proud that the girls and Owen had to stay home, but he got to go somewhere.  I tried to prepare him that we were going to the dr. but I don't think he cared!  Ella walked with us down the stairs and he put his hand out and said , "stop!  you stay here!"   Big stuff to be going on a date with mom.  After the apt. we went out for lunch at Carl's Jr.  Thomas has never been there so he was so excited!  It has a huge playcenter so that was fun for him.  Fun until he got stuck way up high in it and I had to crawl up there and rescue him:)!!!!! After crawling through those tunnels myself, I got freaked out that I had let him eat without washing his hands, but we both survived the experience:)   Then we went to Target to look for some sheets for his new bunkbed.   He is so proud of his "big boy bed" and happily sleeps on the top bunk.   Our first mommy-son date was sweet, but the reason for it not as much. He has another abscess on his bottom, so we are in process of finding a pediatric specialist to tell us what is causing these things.  On Tuesday, we met with the surgeon who removed his other 2 abscesses.  We've been referred to the Mayo clinic in Minnesota this time and are anxious to get some answers.  Thomas is a trooper and will sail through this as he has the other times.  I look forward to our next mommy-son date that will not involve a trip to the surgeon's office:)

hawaii in alaska

Oh how I love these little blues
We spent last weekend boating in Prince William Sound.  The weather was beyond amazing... At one point the thermometer read 79 inside the cabin of the boat and 79 outside!  We headed out fishing, but decided the waves were a bit bigger than we wanted to deal with with the kids. Instead, we went to the kids' favorite beach... They call it "Glittery Sandy Beach"  I call it Hawaii!  The sands are soft and white just like Hawaii.  We spent several hours here...having races in the sand, exploring, and burying eachother in the sand.  We stripped the boys down to their diapers & the girls down to their underwear!  (With no showers & one towel for all of us, we've learned this is the best way to enjoy the sand)  It is always so fun to come to this beach, and this time it was HOT.  It really was tropical & the girls even decided to go swimming.  Ella wanted to swim to the boat, but turned around because she was getting stiff due to the waters extreme cold temps.   Owen had so much fun slapping his hands on the sand as he crawled and Thomas couldn't get enough of the sand.  He would run and then purposely fall over in the sand and laugh!  

Another beach exploration...different place and this one was still snow covered!  Only in Alaska...

summer

swimsuits & sprinklers, tiny bare feet, 

lake time, flipflops, & flowers....

just a few of the things I love about summer!