The 1st Adventure

I hope you're not expecting to read about this great adventure on our first weekend here. This is what we had to overcome...

Boxes, Boxes, and More Boxes

And more boxes

The little surprises you get when unpacking. Nothing like an opened package of gummy bears that have been sitting in a box for a month #theypackeverything #nothingleftbehind

We didn't do anything truly rugged. Hopefully that will come at some point. But we did get out and enjoy a little Alaska the first weekend after we arrived. Actually Ward made me. It was my 30th birthday so he tied my hands up and forced me not to unpack anything that day. It took lots of restraint. (Hint: Don't move on your birthday, or the week before your birthday, just trust me on this one)

We went to Girdwood/Alyeska to have dinner at 7 Glaciers restaurant. It's a really nice restaurant at the top of the tram of the ski resort. I don't think I've ever worn a dress on a chair lift, but I think Alaska will be full of lots of firsts #didntdressfortheweather #freezingcold.



The Fam

Nothing like seeing snow in the middle of summer

How cool is this tram?

So for my actual birthday, we drove down to Seward for the day. Seward is about 2.5 hours from Anchorage so we spent a lot of the day in the car. We actually celebrated my birthday in Seward back in 2008 so we tried to relive my previous birthday. Well 7 years later and a kid in tow, it definitely wasn't as adventurous. There was no sea kayaking, no man smoking in my face, no camping, no s'mores or polar bear drinks (Baileys and Hot Chocolate). But there were a lot of things that were the same. It was still raining and cold in Seward #theweatherthereneverchanges. Despite the nasty day, we went to lunch at the same place we had been before (well kind of, the same area at least), we walked down the marina and we hiked (almost) to Exit Glacier.

Places to Try:

Girdwood

7 Glaciers Restaurant - The food was amazing. They had the best crab cakes I've ever had and I've tried a lot! The views of the 7 Glaciers (get the name now) were fantastic. And who doesn't love that you can't drive there. You have to take a tram or somehow hike up the mountain in nice clothes. You've got to try it.

Seward
Chinooks - We had lunch at Chinooks and it was really good. The seafood is just as fresh as it gets since they are right on the marina.

Things to Do in Seward:

Exit Glacier - It's about a mile hike to the glacier itself, but we didn't go all the way back there. We went to the lookout point which is about a half mile hike. If you go, hike all the way to the glacier, you can't see too much from the lookout point. If you just care about a picture then the lookout point will be your best friend.

That's the weekend wrap-up.

Xoxo,
W, M, & Em-Kat

The Adventure Begins

Houston, we're off...

After lots and lots and lots and lots of tears (it was like an episode of the Bachelor), we boarded a plane from OKC-Houston-Anchorage. Good thing Em-Kat is so cute so no one would get upset if she cried a little on the plane. She cried a little bit, but we think she was sad to leave all of her friends and family #thatwasjusthermomma. Overall, Em-Kat is going to be a great little traveler and she did awesome on the 7+ hour plane flight. Few kids her age have ever racked up half of that time on a plane #frequentflyer. We were so thankful once we got our feet firmly planted on the ground in Alaska.

So excited for our new adventure

Finally sleeping :)

Xoxo,

W, M, & Em-Kat

Paving the Way

Jehovah Rohi - The Lord is our Shepherd

An Alaskan Shepherd 

We have a little catching up to do.  Two weeks,  after the Lord blessed us with a wonderful home, we said "until next time" (no Good-byes) to our wonderful friends in Houston, packed up the home (400 boxes, wow we're blessed), sent Meghan and EK to Perry and Ward and Kenai to Alaska. #wemissourcitygroup

The first few weeks were a little bumpy for Ward and Kenai. They started in a Motel 6 (told you it was coming), spent four nights in a Microtel on the 3rd floor (yes, Kenai is still scared of stairs), moved to an apartment complex that Ward lived in as an intern (which has not changed in 7 yrs aka rundown) and learned about the joys of apartment life all over again. Owning a home is a blessing that is easy to take for granted.

It took about a week before they felt half-way settled and Kenai  (By the way, no one in Texas could pronounce her name and now that she lives in AK, every other dog has her name) learned that every noise in the apt was not directed towards her.  Then the road got a little bumpier....Kenai got kennel cough even with the bordetala shot, the closing date kept sliding further and further back, our house in Houston was not selling, and when the cars arrived M's had $5,000 worth of damage. However, as The Lord does in his time, he answered prayers and continue to pave the way for us.  Within a week, Ward found a vet that would board Kenai for his trip to OK to get M and EK, the Houston home went under contract, and the closing date was moved up by a week against all expectations.

As I (Ward, FYI he uses a lot less "#" signs), writes this entry we are headed to our new home on a one way flight.... Ready or not here we come Alaska

Buying Alaska

For all of the HGTV lovers out there we will just have to put our Buying Alaska story on our blog because the TV show did not renew for 2015. I guess they didn't get the memo that we were moving up there #HGTVyoumissedout #BuyingAlaska

We came up to Anchorage on May 6th - 9th. So we had 3 days to find a house. Did you hear me... 3 days to find a house to live in and the Anchorage market is HOT.

Like volcano HOT.

If a home comes on the market it's gone in a day. And if it has been on the market for a while, there's a reason why. We knew this coming up here, but we really saw this once we arrived.
The first day we saw around 10 homes and none of them fit the bill. We walked in the last one of the day and fell in love. It had an awesome mountain view, and it was going to be finished being built like the week Ward was supposed to arrive. But we found out it wasn't in the best area. It was kind of heartbreaking after the disappointment of the day.

Then the next day we went to about 5 more homes and we were literally trying to make anything work. The most interesting house of the day, we will call it the Asian Fusion house. It was in the neighborhood we loved, and had an amazing view of the inlet (please go ahead and start counting how many times I will post the word amazing on the blog. It might be more than they use on The Bachelor). It had a dropped floor in the kitchen so you could sit Indian style on the floor to eat of the kitchen bar (see where I'm getting the Asian influence). Then it had a drycleaner machine in the master closet. #nomoredrycleaningbills. The craziest part was the downstairs basement. They had cement pebble floors and cinder block walls. Talk about a cold dark dungeon in the wintertime in Anchorage. It was a cool house, but not cool for us and a little one.

Here's the front of the Asian fusion house

Please look carefully at the cement floors and cinder blocks

 And then there were 2... two houses that would work for us that is. The first was a new build #new and the second was an older home and way too big #oldiebutgoodie. We thought either of these would "work", but they weren't what we had thought of as the home we dreamed about living in while we were on this little Alaskan adventure we had ahead of us.

We went back to the hotel (no not the Motel 6 - that's coming a little later) and we were trying to decide which house to put an offer on. We decided we would sit down and pray knowing that we felt like God was calling us to be up here. As always he has a plan and we knew our next house was in that plan too. We finished praying and got on the computer to look at the houses on the internet again. Low and behold, a house that we had previously seen came back on the market. We didn't know how much we liked it from the pictures. You can never judge a house by the listing pictures #photoshopdoeswonders. But we picked up the phone and called our agent to get the low down.

She scheduled a showing for us the next morning (the day we were leaving) and wanted to make an offer on any house so we wouldn't be homeless in Alaska (what a TV show that would make). We got to the showing a little early and Ward was trying to talk me out of the house. He didn't even know if we would like it and he was already saying no. 

We pulled up to #thehouseonthemountain and saw all the charm in the front. We walked through the house for about 30 minutes. Afterward, I looked at Ward and then we asked our agent if we could put an offer on the house. Two engineers made a decision in 30 minutes with no excel and no charts. Mark that on your calendar cause that just doesn't happen everyday. During the showing we just fell in love with the house. No it's not perfect, but after doing a little house hunting in Alaska you have to overlook a few a lot of things. The view makes up for all of the that (you'll just have to come visit us to see). So we saw the house at 10am, put an offer on it at 1pm, had a verbal acceptance by 3pm and the papers signed by 5pm. #allinadayswork. The coolest thing about the house is the fire pit to cook s'mores (my favorite thing). And we will have lots s'mores for y'all if you come visit (Can we still say y'all now that we live in Alaska?). Please keep in touch and stay tuned for more Becoming Alaskan.

Our little Alaskan cabin

Xoxo,

W, M, & Em-Kat

Our Adventure

We have been given a 3-5 year timeline to "Become Alaskans" and then we will be shipped back to the Lower 48. So we have a lot to learn in a really short time frame. We are hoping to enjoy every minute of the adventure and yes we are even looking forward to the winters. Pray for snow (it sounds crazy but if it's going to be dark and cold you want to have a snow adventure too)! #prayforsnow #snowbunny

Please follow us on the amazing journey to become Alaskans. Our bucket list is below and we will check everything off as it happens. So check the blog and check back often to see what our next adventure holds

1. Mine for gold

2. Go mushing #iditarodherewecome

3. Hike on a glacier #iceicebaby

4. Go to Katmai national park

5. Try cross country skiing

6. Go dip netting for salmon #stockthefreezer

7. Drive our own car in Denali National Park (there's a yearly lottery you have to enter so pray we get picked)!

8. See the northern lights

9. Go to the hot springs in Fairbanks

10. Drive to Valdez and take the ferry home

11. Fish the Kenai

12. Go to Homer

13. See a whale

14. Go deep see fishing to catch Halibut 

15. Go snowshoeing

16. Ice fishing #coldbeerallday

17. Play 72 holes of golf in one day #pgatourneyinoneday (Brandon this one's for you!)
18. Catch the trifecta #king&sockeye&silversalmon (Misson Accomplished)
19. See the start of the Iditarod
20. Visit southeast Alaska

What we've previously done (you can refer to Asher Griffins previous blog from the summer of 2008)

1. White water raft Six Mile

2. Caught king salmon #38pounder

3. Been all the way to wonder Lake at Denali National Park

4. Portage our canoe through Nancy Lakes

5. Four wheeling in Chugach national park
6. Kayak in Blackstone Bay to see the glaciers
7. Fly fished on the Kenai #twiceandcounting

Our story

To get the full enjoyment from the rap, sing it to the fresh prince of Bel-Air. If you don't know it, please skip this section.

Now, this is a story all about how

Our life got flipped-turned upside down

And I'd like to take a minute

Just sit right there

I'll tell you how we got sent to Alaska to smell the fresh mountain air

In Texas and Oklahoma born and raised

In Houston was where We spent our previous days

Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all trying to stay cool (especially in the hot Houston summertime)

And then we had a little one and we had to start cleaning up all her drool

When Ward's supervisor who was up to some good 

Called and ask if he would move to the "Upper One's" neighborhood

We got one weekend to think over and we both were scared

The Ward looked at me and said "We're moving to Alaska to get some fresh mountain air"

We saw our friends and said goodbyes day after day

Then the movers packed our bags and sent us on our way

Ward gave me a kiss and then he and Kenai (Ward's dog) left with their airplane tickets

I then packed the rental minivan and looked at EK and my mom and said "we might as well kick it"

So a month later he flew back to Oklahoma to pick us up and all that

And was he excited to see EK, our cool cat?

I think so

He gave her lots of kisses and hugs everywhere

And told her how excited he was for her to smell the fresh mountain air

Well, our plane landed in Alaska and when we came out

There was lots of luggage and the sun was still out

We weren't used to that yet

We just got here

Then Ward ran to get the truck and with the quickness like lightening he disappeared

I whistled for his truck to stop and when it came near

The license plate still said Texas and everyone thought that was weird

But then we both looked at each other and realized we were here

And then we thought "Yo this is our new home, smell the fresh mountain air"

We pulled up to our new house around 7 or 8

And we pulled out the key  and said "yo, this our new home and we will trim all the plants later"

We looked at our kingdom

We were finally there

To sit on our new back porch to smell that fresh mountain air

The rest of our story... Well that's what this whole blogs about. 

The last family picture in our old home!

All our belongings in one large truck. Pretty weird to watch it drive away with everything in it knowing you won't see it for a month. But the best feeling was to see it arrive in Anchorage.

Our wonderful first home. I miss that place and those wonderful neighbors.

Em-Kats first swim in Oklahoma! I miss pool weather already.

Xoxo,

W, M, Em-Kat