Homecoming!

Homecoming week was a blast!  We had the parade on Monday and then dress up days all week.  We hosted a ton of families over here for dinner before the football game on Friday.  Fun week!  

 

Sports and School Fun!

It was busy when we got back......they celebrated me that day we flew in.  That was a tired day....trying to get back to Texas time!!!  Fun day just begin with all my kids again!  They were so sweet and wanted to see all the pictures and listen to us talk about our trip.  That is SO different from anything in the past.....it was fun to be able to tell them all about it.

Daddy's hair....or maybe Lucy's hair.....

Lunch with my cutie pies at school!!

And we found out someone needed glasses!!!  Isn't he the cutest!

my little brainiac and his Calculator.....

Cat on a leash in the wagon and dog on a leash tied to the wagon.....and she's in charge.  crazy girl.

She got to stay at daddy's office for awhile while brothers got haircuts.....he said it was the best day of work he's had....

Volleyball and football time!

#19 and #82 are my favs!

We got to have a tailgate party with Lucy's class.  Her teacher is adorable and Lucy is loving this year already!

Her and her sweet friends.....

 

ALASKA!

Our life is definitely anything but boring....ha!  I contracted C---vid somehow right after the kids started school....literally their first week of school.  It wasn't fun but I made it through.  It was 2 weeks before a trip (we had planned way back in the Spring) to Alaska we were supposed to go on.  We were back and forth about it for a long time.  I didn't want to feel tired or weird or anything.  Well, thankfully I got all the way better and my AMAZING sister offered to keep our kids because she wasn't afraid of being around them.  So here's our crew right before we left! 

It was a FULL car for them!!!

So off we went!  

We really aren't readers so it's funny when we actually get to travel and we are both glued in a book because it's so NOT the normal......

Amazing scenery everywhere.....just repeat that phrase over and over....

Our first hike was in Girdwood behind the Aleyska hotel.  It was the Winners creek trail.  You gotta love that this was the first sign we saw....

It was a beautiful waterfall/gorge area.

Next up we did a very short trail to a neat waterfall....

Then we kept driving down and headed to Cooper Landing where we stayed at a fishing outfitter called Drifters Lodge.  It was beautiful!!!  It sat right on the Kenai river and the water was turquoise and so amazing!

Sauna!  We are weenies and didn't last long at all....

We ate at Kingfisher for dinner.....I sadly didn't have my taste back so I made him describe every flavor in detail.....it's most definitely NOT the same.

We got up SUPER early and headed out to salmon fish with our guide, Kale, on the Kenai river.  Amazing isn't quite the word to describe it.  It was such an amazing experience.  

And I caught FISH!!!!  First a few trout.....

Then a SALMON!!!!  It was so awesome.  

Logan caught two too!

And then he literally cuts and guts right there on the river.  I was amazed learning all about this fish!  Such an amazing journey they all take.

We got to have a picnic lunch by the river while he got everything packed up!

Then we headed down to Seward.

We stayed 2 nights at the Nauti Otter Inn....it was a group of yurts and quite an experience!

We ate that night at a local place in Seward called Los Charrones.  It was tacos/burritos and super yummy. We were pretty tired by evening!  The next morning we got up and made some eggs in our "shared" outdoor kitchen.

This day we went ice hiking on the Harding Ice field on Exit Glacier.  It was another amazing experience!

We hiked about 4 miles to the glacier and then got all geared up!

We got on ice boots, harness, helmets and crampons.  I've never done anything close to this before!!

Then we took off on the glacier.....heavy stomping to make sure your feet stick.  Once we got to a big crevasse they set up the anchors and we got to repel down in the crevasse.  We used our crampons and ice axes to climb back up.  Amazing!!!

After the crevasse, we went over to a mulan...which is a big hole in the ice.  It was so cool!!!

What a day.....definitely a day like NO other!  And the weather was perfect that day.

Our guide....Tatum!

Moose on our way back....

We went out to Ressurection roadhouse that night for dinner....probably the best dinner we ate on our trip.  So fun.

We walked down to the bay after dinner and saw 2 kids that had caught a huge salmon and were taking it back to their RV....kinda funny!

We got a yummy ice cream bar and watched all the locals snag fish....basically its super involved with your whole body with NO bait....you just use a huge treble hook and snag the salmon!  It's crazy but they catch them!

Next day we got up and did a LOOOOONNNNGG hike at Lost Lake.  It was so fun and beautiful but it was a long day!

my berry picker....

lunch break at the top.....it was gorgeous!!

his very own self-made selfie stick.....he was quite proud.

yep...that says 15 miles!!

We checked into our Purple door little cottage....it was so cute!  We went out that night and at Thai food at a place called Woodys.  It was yummy and we didn't even really care because we were so hungry and tired!  Ha!  

We were supposed to go kayaking that next day but they called and said the seas were too rough for the little boat to transport us.  We thought they just didn't want to go out (the bay was like glass) but we found another bigger boat that did a tour of the glaciers so we decided to do it.  Well boy were we wrong....once we got out of the bay and into the gulf of Alaska it was CRAZY rough!!!!  I got sick but never puked thankfully.  There were definitely others that were sick.  It was so fun to see all that we saw though!  

Orca whales!!  and we saw sea otters....

The glaciers....Aialak and Holgate...were amazing.  Heard calving...which is big pieces of the glacier breaking off.

purple door!

This day was actually my birthday!  We got pizza that night and just stayed at the cabin.  It was a fun night of relaxing in our cute little cottage.

Saw a male moose on the side of the road the next morning!

We were heading back to Anchorage and did a hike along the way....Ptarmigan Lake.  You could see the salmon swimming upstream in the water.   So the hike was a bit crazy because no one else was on it really and we definitely saw evidence of bears.....tracks and poop!  And the tracks had a big print and a tiny print.....not good.

But THIS is what we got to!  AMAZING!!!!!

We drove on to Anchorage and flew up to Fairbanks.  We got to rent this beauty....

After we landed that night we went immediately on a tour to try to see the northern lights......sadly it was super could and we couldn't see much :(

You can see a little in the clouds behind us but that's about it.  The next night was amazing.....oh well!  We can try again!

We got done super late from that so the next morning was our last day.  We got up and drove down to Denali National park.  It was about a 2 hour drive.  We really wanted to see Denali.

So we found a little airplane that flies you around the mountain!

It was quite an experience.  Logan was in the front and I was in the very back. 

Pretty amazing views!!!  And the weather was so clear and perfect to see everything!

I almost got sick but thankfully I made it!

Then we went into the national park and hiked a very short trail and saw the sled dogs.  It was fun!

We flew back that evening.....flight was through the night.  I definitely was missing my kids badly by this point.  AMAZING trip!!!!  Loved getting away with my favorite person in the world!