Hike

On Monday afternoon we went out for a hike. We hiked the base cross country ski course. It was about 10K but we didn't hike the whole thing. We were hoping to see some wildlife but between Jake and Caleb, there was too much constant chatter! On the way out we did see some moose on the side of the road. Nick didn't even look when we showed the kids. He said, "I've seen those before." It may not be exciting to him, but I am still amazed by them!

Longest Day of the Year

Like we did with the shortest day of the year, we wanted to show you all the amount of sunlight throughout the day(or in this case, night). It is a dream come true for those of us who could stay up all night, but hard on those who need darkness(Caleb!) Curtis and I have no trouble sleeping through the endless light, but we have learned that we have to "tell" ourselves and our bodies that it is bed time. 12 am 1 am 2 am 3 am

5 am(sorry I slept through my 4 am alarm!)

The night was cloudy and made some of the pictures darker than what it really was. It is light enough in the house that it is unnecessary to have any lights on at all.

We have really been enjoying this unique experience. The Midnight Sun is another amazing adventure during our time here in Alaska!

In mid-May my mom flew up to visit for a few days. We saw some of the local sites and then got ready for our big drive down to the lower 48.

It took us 5 long days! But it was fun. And we saw some wild animals and amazing beauty.
We got to Wisconsin where the kids got to play with their cousins and meet a new one. We were only there for a few days.

We loaded up our pop-up camper(which was in Wisconsin) and headed out west. We picked up Curtis in Omaha, where he took over driving(thank heavens!) and pushed in on through to Utah.

Nancy and Kevin's wedding was on Friday, the 29th of May in Manti. We finally got to meet our new "uncle and brother-in-law". It is ok, Nancy, we approve!

The wedding was of beautiful, of course. The day was warm and pleasant.By the end of the day, we were all a ragged mess, tired and ready for bed.We got to spend another day with all our cousins and family. We even got to meet a couple new babies. We made rootbeer and smores.

Before long it was time to head back up to Alaska. It is too bad that the drive takes so long, it takes time from visiting family.In Montana the boys ran through the fields relieving some energy before back to the car.

Right inside Canada, there is a rest area/tourist area that shows off their land with lots of dinosaur bones. The drive was again beautiful. I definitely suggest that everyone does it once in their lives. It is something that you have to see.

There was a forest fire somewhere in the Yukon. We could see them putting out part of the fire that was near the highway. We made it through as one of the last cars before they shut down the road. In Canada they don't seem to believe in treating their guests with flushing toilets. It was always an adventure to have to go to the bathroom. Megan learned to hold it for hours at a time waiting for a gas station to appear.She also learned to entertain herself in interesting ways. Here she developed a way to eat with her toes.

But we needed some more excitement in our drive. So a rock flipped up between the camper and the car and shattered our rear window.We improvised and got back on the road.Megan doesn't like mosquitoes or any bug that flies nearby. She lives in the wrong part of the world for that problem.Finally, home sweet home, or at least the Alaskan border. Five hours later we were home and happy to be there. I don't know that I want to go anywhere for a while, so you will all have to come visit us!