Fall is Coming...

It's almost September so who's ready for pumpkin spice everything and snow? Well, I'm ready for the pumpkin, but lets hold off on the snow for a little longer. Well, today we were driving to our hike and guess what we saw on the mountain tops... SNOW! #Notready

The first signs that winter is coming in Alaska are:
1. The fireweed has flowered to the top

The fireweed is flowering to the top #hibernationbegins

2. The mountains get the first dusting of snow #terminationdust

Termination Dust refers to the first dusting of snow on the mountains to signify the termination of summer #notreadyforwinter

If you were wondering the snow has since melted off the mountaintops.

So after I freaked out that summer isn't going to be here much longer (Alaska is currently about as cold as it gets in Houston in the winter so we have a big huge ginormous change coming our way), we went on a little hike up to Rainbow Peak. This is one of Ward and Kenai's favorite hikes and really a pretty easy hike to do with a baby on your back. Em-Kat enjoyed the hike too. Well, she enjoyed it until we got to the top and she realized she was really tired. Or maybe she was trying to keep the bears away the whole way down. #itworked

Loving going up the mountain #mommadoesallthework

Just a little girl and her daddy

Doing a little whale watching in Turnagain Arm

And then she decided she didn't need anyone to carry her up the mountain. She would just crawl up it all by herself

A boy and his dog

A little stream running through our hike

How can you not love Alaska with scenery like this?! And the endless hikes just a stones throw away from your back door! With all these hikes we are on our way to becoming Alaskans

So in an attempt to Become an Alaskan, I just found this little article that I need to study so I don't look like a Cheechako. If you don't want too either or you don't even know what that is, you can brush up on your Alaska slang by checking it out here.

Xoxo,
W, M, Em-Kat

Summer Days Part 2

Here's a little more from our first summer in Alaska. We didn't do anything too crazy, but we definitely had some fun adventures. Some that were expected and some that were not so expected. Like being stuck on the Seward highway for 10 hours on our 5 year anniversary.

We did have a couple of special visitors up here in Alaska. Gigi & Pops were the first that made the trip up to the Great North. We had lots of fun hiking and fishing with them. We went to Whittier, Hatcher's Pass, Palmer, Soldtna, Hope (where there is little hope), and just hung out in Anchorage.

Here's a little run-down of some of the fun things that we did in pictures.

Em-Kat enjoying her Gigi & Pops sandwich before the hike

Are we there yet?? #socloseyetsofar

10 glaciers in 10 months #spoiled

Mommy and me at the top of the hike. With a little peak at Portage glacier behind us

 Hatcher's Pass not as exciting as the glaciers, but beautiful!

Loving Thunderbird Falls and mom's hydration pack! 

Isn't she the cutest!

Let's talk about how beautiful that water is.. oh and there's a King in there too

Happy Anniversary! 2nd King of the year! #stockthefreezer

Chilling on the Kenai River! 

Enjoying the 10 hour road trip block. Just hanging out on the highway for 10 hours waiting for a wreck to clear. #notevenexaggerating #iwishiwasjoking 

Enjoying our 5 year anniversary dinner in the back of a truck due the highway being shutdown. #dreamsdocometrue

Xoxo,
W, M, Em-Kat

Summer Days

I don't know about you, but summer flew by for us! Maybe it was due to moving halfway across America, and unpacking, and trying to get life back to normal for us or maybe it's just life with a kid. #movingistough Our goal was to have you share in each of our adventures with us, but life got in the way. We will do better starting today! #pinkypromise

A little run-down of our summer:
1. Lots of fishing for Ward. He caught he tri-fecta (King Salmon, Sockeye Salmon & Silver Salmon) and a rainbow trout in there as well
2. We did lots of hiking on flat trails and not so flat trails. Em-Kat doesn't love hiking yet, but we are conditioning her. #nextyear
3. We did lots of unpacking not to be confused with backpacking, hopefully next summer the packing will be all backpacking!
4. We tried to soak up all the time we could with Em-Kat. They grown up so fast, it's true!

King #1 (more like a prince)

Hiking up Flat Top is a lot of work so Em-Kat had to take a nap at the top

The Family at the Top of Flat Top

Finishing our hike up Flat Top. This hike made us realize we needed a backpack carrier ASAP if we were going to enjoy hiking in Alaska

We have wild raspberries in our yard!

We also have peonies growing in our yard #greenthumb #iwishicouldtakecredit

Our first s'mores in our fire pit

My favorite part of our new home!

Em-Kat loving the fire s'mores pit

A little rainbow trout fishing on the Kenai

How can you not love Alaska with views like this?

Xoxo,
W, M, Em-Kat

The 4th of July

We didn't do a lot this weekend to celebrate the 4th. It's been so dry in Alaska that there were actually no fireworks in downtown Anchorage due to a fire ban. But it's not like you can see the fireworks very well in Alaska anyways because the sun never sets at this time of the year. #midnightsun

Our main activity on the 4th was to make sure Em-Kat was looking sharp so we dressed her up and took some cute pictures. She makes every picture look cute!

Always discovering new things

Doesn't Em-Kat make the American flag look even better!

We had to get out and enjoy that nice weather and step away from unpacking for a little bit. So we headed down to Kincaid Park to take a little stroll. And so did everyone else and their dog (literally there were lots of dogs too). There were so many people out, that all the moose were hiding. Well that's a wrap for the 4th of July weekend. Until next time, we will tell you more about "Becoming Alaskans"

Xoxo,

W, M, Em-Kat