Seward Arrival...

We arrived in Seward the evening of June 30. We did not make it to the historic down town area this trip and stayed in the boat harbor. Dylan, we've discovered does not like veggies or seafood; so dinner was at Subway. We actually received about 2 hours of darkness. It was odd to wake up in the middle of the night and to have it actually be dark! I am sure in about 2 more months we will miss the sun!

Exit Glacier

Just before arriving in Seward, we detoured to do a hike up to Exit Glacier. It is possible to hike to the face of the glacier but part of that path was closed due to bear activity. Landon enjoyed the climbing on the rocks around the glacier, even though it was difficult to drag him out of the car! In the last picture you can see the glacier coming down the mountain.

Seward Highway

From Anchorage we traveled down the Seward Highway to Seward. Pictures are from the Turnagain Arm, Moose Pass (float plane), Kenai Lake, and a lily pond. Our next destination was Exit Glacier....pictures to follow.

Aleyska Resort

We started Honey and Dylan's Alaskan adventure with a trip down to Seward. Layne couldn't get off work, so he had to miss this trip. Our first stop was Aleyska ski Resort where we took a tram to the mountain top. The tram ascends about 2000ft in just over 5 minutes. It is a pretty smooth ride. The mountain top sees an average of 900 inches of snow each winter. During the summer it is literally a jumping off point for vacationers. We caught a few doing tandem paragliding. Dylan said he would go if Darren was here...but not with me.

Honey's Rainbow

This weekend we welcomed Honey and Dylan for a visit to our home. Today, we did a little hiking on the hay flats....but I didn't take my camera. Oops....I will head back down later in the week because there are a few wild Iris's blooming. We are going to be traveling some this week so I will try to update with pictures when we return. Hopefully, we will be blessed with good weather and a few whale sightings. Grayson has started to finally feed himself! I plopped some crackers in front of him and ran outside to move the hose. When I came back the crackers were gone. (Oh no not another cracker boy!) Landon has almost lost his first tooth...look for pictures soon.

In other news, please pray for the 14 year old girl who was attacked by a grizzly while riding her bike on a trail in Anchorage. She was able to use her cell phone to call for help but is in critical condition. Her bike helmet may have saved her life.

Final Homer Pics

The glacier is in the first picture below. It looks like an avalanche between the two mountains. The other's are just pictures of the land surrounding homer, a float plane landing, and of course Grayson! We took some pictures (first two) of the salmon fishermen lining the Russian or Kenai river on the way home the area was a little congested and the kiddos were tired. We will get better pictures on our next trip down (when Layne hits the salmon run). Look for lots of pictures in the coming weeks as company begins to roll in and we begin to travel some more!

Homer Eagles

Layne and Landon did some salmon fishing on our second day before Layne headed out on the halibut charter. Grayson and I took the time to watch the resident bald eagle population. They are fun to watch and always on the move. It would be fun to go back in the winter when the population of eagles is supposably even higher!
After we dropped Layne off for his fishing trip the boys and I toured town...it didn't take too long. We did get to see some bluebonnets, a glacier from a far, a baby sandhill crane, and plenty of rocks and logs.

Homer Trip

Last weekend we traveled down to Homer, it was sort of a damp and dreary weekend but we had a good time. Landon was a little scared of bears at the "Welcome to Kenai" sign. His willingness to smile faded the further I got away from him. He and I spent the first night tide pooling on the beach while Grayson and Daddy hung out in the room. The tide varies by up to 33 feet so it was really neat to watch. We didn't find too much, but Landon enjoyed walking on the dead trees! The last picture was taken at midnight on the night of the summer solstice. It actually got dark in Homer, while it doesn't really seem to at our house.

Homer Halibut

A couple of pictures from Layne's trip on the charter boat. He caught 5 halibut (threw one back) and one large pacific cod - largest halibut only weighed about 25 lbs which was alot smaller than the 100 pounder he was hoping for. The record this year is 252 lbs. He saw humpback whales, octopus, sting rays, etc. A couple pics are included with an active volcano smoking in the background. Only in Alaska!!

At the Zoo

We took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed to the zoo yesterday. Note that Landon, not yet acclimated to the weather is wearing sweatpants and a jacket while his good friend Caleb (born and raised in AK) is wearing shorts and a t-shirt! Grayson and his good friend Eli have one thing in common...FOOD! We love our new friends and are probably keeping them busier than they'd like!