July 2018

Another super busy month! Probably our busiest yet.  My good friend Jennifer and her family came to visit.  We went to Schlitterbahn and had a blast!

Our kids got along just great.  Kate and Cole were reunited as best buddies.  Kate is my little flirt.  She loved chasing Cole around the house. 

We went to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch together as well.  It is fun having company visit because you do the touristy stuff in that area.  Unfortunately, we have been so busy with home repairs and work, we have hardly done any touristy stuff.

Kate hanging out the window hoping to see an animal.  They were sparse with the temperatures already so high at ten o'clock in the morning!

Jane feeding the goat.  She wasn't too sure about it at first.

Jennifer made it to an Orange Theory Fitness class with me as well.  I think I got her hooked! Wishing Fort Hood had one or were in the process of building one. Boo.

Finally finished our fixer upper in Kirby.  It looks really good! Bryan did an awesome job.  He put in all new windows, tiled the kitchen and bathrooms, carpeted the three bedrooms, applied vinyl flooring to the living areas and hallways, painted the kitchen and bathroom cabinets, repainted all the walls on the inside and outside of the house (after putting up new siding).  We changed out the light fixtures and counter tops. Practically brand new house!  Now on to find some renters...  

After I finished my last day of work and Bryan cleared from Fort Sam Houston, we made our way towards Utah.  We stopped at Arches National Park.  Kate already asked to go back! Yay!

Balancing Rock

Love that my kids enjoy being outdoors.

My courageous mother and father took on watching the girls for 10 days while we went to Seattle to Portland race and Alaska.  The girls were in great hands.  They got lots of toys at the store, loads of attention, lots of macaroni and cheese, pool time, cousin time, baking lessons, and riding bikes around the neighborhood.  Both have asked to go back plenty of times since!

Started our 200 mile one day ride from Seattle to Portland with Bryan's sister Becky.  It was a pretty cool morning and super light at 4:45am!  Bryan stood by my side the whole time.  The farthest I had ridden over the past few months was 80 miles, so this was going to be pretty tough.  Good thing most of the ride was in the shade and the weather is much cooler than Texas'.  It was tough, but quite the accomplishment for both of us.  

Unfortunately, this is the medal we got for our hard work.  It is a patch! I was hoping to add something cool to my collection.

Our total time was about 14 hours, but our riding time was about 11.5 hours (I think).  The group: Melanie, Anna, Audra, Becky, Bryan, and Rebekah.

After the race, we took a bus up to Seattle to catch our flight to Alaska! See the Alaska post for more details.

When we got home, we made sure to have a birthday party for Jane.  She turned three while we were away, but I told my mother to not do or say anything so we could celebrate when we got back.  Before we left, we told her we would have an ice cream birthday party.  She LOVES ice cream almost as much as her daddy, so she was so excited!

Then we celebrated my dad's retirement.  We rented a boat up at East Canyon Lake with all of the immediate family.  It is the first time all the siblings have been together at the same time in a LONG, LONG time.

The girls LOVED tubing!

My whole FAM DAMILY!! We are actually missing Joan and the kids, but so glad Brandon was able to join us for the day.  Here is to a fun month and retirement!

Alaska

After our bike ride Seattle to Portland, Bryan and I flew up to Anchorage Alaska for our camping adventure.  We spent the first night in a hotel because we arrived late at night and weren't able to pick up our camper yet. We went for a run two days after the big bike ride to loosen up our cramped up legs from all the sitting around on buses, cars, and airplanes.

Our awesome camper van.  We slept in the tent on top every night.  There is room for two adult sleepers inside, but we preferred the outdoors.  It had all the necessities- stove, refrigerator, and sink.  No showers though! Luckily, we found a few along the road.

We went on many hikes.  It was so beautiful.  Our first hike was in Anchorage- flattop mountain. Pretty steep, awesome views.  Then we headed down to the Kenai Peninsula, where we did most of our exploring.  We spent our first night in Whittier.  To get there, you go through this one lane tunnel that opens or closes at various hours depending on traffic.  The next morning we headed to Soldotna to fish for Salmon.

No fish were caught.  Apparently the runs were late this year.  Go figure.  Either way it was pretty fun and the water was freezing.  Then we headed down to the Homer spit.  This is where we saw our first black bear and hiked to Glacier Lake.  We took a taxi across the Kachemak Bay or some may call it Halibut Bay.  We saw lots and lots of sea otter and bald eagles.

After a good nights rest, we headed to Hope for white water rafting on six mile creek.  Probably the coolest part of the trip!

Neither one of us fell into the water, although Bryan was close.  The other rafts full of high school kids were pretty entertaining to watch on the Class III, IV, and V rapids!

We saw a ton of moose in Hope.  This video is pretty cute.  Poor little moose was so scared of us!

Beautiful picture of Lower Russian Lake.  Our plan was to hike to Upper Russian Lake, but we found out that the 2.1 miles was actually 21 miles. Apparently there are many brown bears located there, so maybe it was a good thing we turned around! We did see salmon jumping up the Russian falls. 

This is Upper Russian Lake.  We saw it by plane.  We saw so many brown bear catching salmon from up high.  We also saw seal sun bathing on broken ice from the glaciers. 

Hiking in Seward to Exit Glacier.  Behind me is the Harvey Ice Field.  Forty miles of ice across the tops of the mountains.  It takes people 2 weeks to hike across the field.  It was a great hike. We saw a marmot. 

Our last stop was Girdwood.  I could totally live here.  It is close enough to Anchorage, but far enough to be a hippie town.  We went 4-wheeling and spotted a few brown and black bears along the way.  So fun! I think Bryan liked this the most.  If we moved here, 4-wheelers for sure.

We also stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center on the way back up to Anchorage.  We saw moose, porcupine, elk, caribou, black bear, wolves, lynx, and bison.

Such a fun trip.  Loved the camping.  Loved being alone with Bryan for 10 days.  My parents are the best for taking on the girls for that long!

Jane turns 3!

Our sweet little Jane turned 3 years old.  As requested, we had an ice cream party with all the toppings.  The cousins enjoyed, especially the older cousins.  It was so fun to have a party for her with family as we rarely get that opportunity.  

The best part was present opening, of course.  Kate was super cute and took control.  She gathered all the cousins together so they could get started.  Jane got smelly crayons with a coloring book, apron, PJ mask figurines, Elaina of Avalor figurines, Peppa Pig house and figurines, cash register, a living puppy (batteries included), and lots of love. 

Our little Jane is quite the character.  She is really good at using her pouty lip.  She is the cutest when she smiles though.  She has the deepest brown eyes that just melt your heart.  She stills hold on to some of her chub and its perfect.  She has gotten so good on her balance bike.  Jane is always trying to keep up with her older sister.  She loves to play family, 20 questions, I spy, hide and seek, and drawing pictures.  Jane can talk your ear off! She has very good vocabulary and pronunciation. We just adore her and wouldn't know what to do without her bubbly, talkative self.  Happy Birthday Jane!