Berry Picking

I have truly fallen in love with Alaska summers. Now I know why everyone kept telling us in the many months of winter, "Just wait 'til summer!" The summers here are beyond beautiful with plenty to do.
Today we went out with some friends to go berry picking. Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, salmon berries and many more grow wild all around base. We just pulled off on the side of the road and picked and ate and picked.I can't imagine life any better in the summer. Good friends and delicious berries!

Yakisoba

You know life must not be too thrilling if all there is to post about is food!

In honor of Curtis being in Japan(and because Nick has been begging for it!) we decided to make up some Yakisoba. It is one of our family's favorite Japanese dish. We are all quite a bit out of practice with our chopsticks, but somehow the food always found a way to our mouths.

And for those who have been asking, here is Indie's brown bag and whip. I am sure that he has a rope and gun inside the brown bag. He is always ready for adventure.

All Washed Up

I wanted to get some sewing done so I left out some paper and markers on the table. I know that markers with little children mean messes, but she normally draws only on the table and paper. This time she got her face. So when I saw her I told her to go wash up.

I guess she didn't quite understand that I meant to wash her face, not the markers. She successfully washed pink and black to the point that they no longer work. She was also sweet enough to leave the towel hanging in the sink to make a nice little bridge for the water to travel to the floor and helped wash the floor.But...I finished my sewing and Megan had fun!

The Beach and Wildfires

There is a lake nearby (the warmest lake in Alaska!) that has a great little beach. It is our favorite spot to go one these hot summer days. I think the water is cold but Curtis and the kids don't mind it.

We have also been having quite a few wildfires in the area(within 100 miles). The smoke just settles like fog. So it may look cold and dreary but really there is just a lot of smoke and haze.

Indiana Jones snuck into the water and "saved someone". Needless to say, those were clothes for the trip home. Indie needs to listen to his mother!

Indiana Jones

Caleb has been in love with Indiana Jones lately. He really gets into him as a character. Notice his unbuttoned shirt. He has even convinced his brothers and sisters to play parts in his little game. Curtis decided that he needed a brown bag instead of a pink My Little Pony bag, so I got out some brown scraps and made him one. He now looks more authentic.We went fishing the other night. We retired Jake and Nicks's kiddy poles for real ones. They have been 3 times this week with some success.Indiana Jones gets real dirty. According to Caleb, he even eats sand. Yummy!Nick lost interest in fishing and decided to come play.

4th of July Parade

The community of North Pole holds a 4th of July celebration. It was a hot, sunny day(which kind of surprised me!?!). We took the kids down to the parade and carnival.The Elders of the area were in the parade along with their bed which they raced in a race during the carnival. They took 2nd place. I was glad to see them having some fun while doing missionary work!The Jed Clampett truck. The sign said that it was the old working truck in Alaska held together by nothing but rust. Of course, who could have a parade in North Pole without Santa and Mrs. Claus. It is Christmas even in July here!And the star of our show....Jake's cub scout troop marched in the parade.

We stayed a while for the carnival and when we left the boys were wondering why there weren't any fireworks. Reminding them that the sun never really sets right now, we settled for watching them on tv....which really isn't the same.

Trampoline

When we got orders to Alaska we decided to get rid of our old trampoline because "Who in Alaska has a trampoline???" Well, summer here is much more than we ever would have planned on, and the appropriate question should have been, "Who doesn't have a trampoline?" So when we saw someone getting rid of theirs, we quickly bought it. And it has been the best money that we have spent all summer!

Here is our friendly little squirrel. We might just adopt him as a family pet! He runs up the fence right up near our kitchen window and sqeaks at us.

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!