New Idea

Our time in Alaska has come to an end, so I have decided to use this blog as a place to post my favorite pictures from our travels and visits.  June has been an exciting month full of change for our family.  Unfortunately we are still waiting on Adam to join us on the East coast, but not much longer!  I have also changed the website address to disquefavpictures@blogspot.com!  So here are some of our favorite pictures from June.  Enjoy! 

We are having fun playing and running around Big Mama & Pop's back yard!

 

 

We decided to visit a ranch and meet the horses.

We also decided to go on a road trip to visit my best friend in Tennessee!  It was so fun to see the kids meet and play for the first time!

 

Finally last weekend my dad and I went to one of my favorite places to help clean it up a bit.  It was so wonderful to be somewhere so peaceful.

 

What a month!  It was fun and eventful and the kids and I are adjusting to being back on the East coast and seeing friends and family we haven't seen in so long.  It is wonderful!

Great Weekend!

Wow!  We had a great weekend and I could not be more grateful since it will be the kids and my last full weekend in Valdez!  We participated in the Bite Back 5k and Cooper actually ran in his first race, the Kid's 1 mile!  He ran the whole way, not stopping once, we could not believe it!  He was definitely one of the youngest but he kept up!  We should not be surprised because he is usually on the go, not one to sit around, so running seems to come pretty natural (as with most active 4 year olds!)  It was also Military Appreciation weekend here so a local helicopter company was selling trips out to Shoup Glacier for a reduced price and Adam and I decided to go for it!  We asked if the kids could go, but they said "no." So a good friend offered to watch them while Adam and I got a tour!  It was awesome!  Today was also my last day of work.  It was a little bitter sweet as I have really enjoyed getting back out in to the work force and this was the perfect opportunity.  We are really going to miss Valdez, the place and the people most of all! 

 

 

Okay, not a great picture of me,  I was pretty tired, but finished in 29 minutes.  Adam did even better finishing in around 23 minutes while pushing Cooper and Mariah!  Amazing!

 

The National Guard came out and set up some fun activities for the kids too!

Spring Flowers

May snow showers will hopefully nourish our Spring flowers!  About a month ago, the kids and I planted some sunflower seeds in some little Dixie cups and have been watching them grow.  However, they needed more space for their roots to spread out.  We tried patiently waiting on the snow to uncover our flower beds, but our patience is gone and Cooper and I grabbed the shovels this morning!  We spent some time removing snow and then got to do some planting!  It may be too cold still, but we will be hopeful that our flowers will flourish! 

 

Believe it or not, but there was grass growing under all of that snow! 

Cooper with our Sunflowers!

Fingers crossed they survive the cool nights!!

Fun in Anchorage!

We decided since our time in Alaska is winding down we should make one last trip to Anchorage.  This time we did not go with a list of things to buy, but the plan to really see Anchorage and to have fun!  We stayed busy the whole time and the kids had a blast!  We asked around before leaving town to find out what was good in Anchorage for a 2 and 4 year old and then set out to make it happen! 

First up:  After a long trip in the car (6 hours) we stopped at Bouncing Bear!  The kids were ecstatic!  When asked what was their favorite part of the trip, Bouncing Bear is at the top of their list!  It was hard to get a good picture since they were in constant motion!

 
After Bouncing Bear we made it back to the hotel for dinner and a swim!  They really enjoyed swimming every night before bed!

Our First Stop of the next day was the Anchorage Museum of Natural History.  They made sure to tell us they were very kid friendly with lots of safe things and exhibits to explore.  They also had a fun room at the back for the kids to dig for fossils! 

 

 

From there we headed to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center.  We had been told about the Imaginarium Discovery Center, and it was awesome!  The kids where running from one exhibit to the next having a blast!  Hopefully learning something in the process, but most importantly having fun and doing something different then our normal every day routine. 

 

 

 

Finally after a quick stop for a late lunch we went to the Anchorage Zoo!  They had a polar bear cub recently join their zoo, and we manage to get there in time for one of his daily outside times.  Mariah was very concerned about where his Mama was.  We asked and found out that his mother was in "Bear Heaven," a hunter had killed his mother before realizing she had a cub.  It is legal for some native groups to kill polar bears for food.  The zoo was happy the hunter took care to make sure the cub was taken care of. 

 

As we where leaving the Dall Sheep, Mariah said "Bye, I hope you find your horn!" 



 

Finally, before we got in the car on our last day we found the Artic Oasis on the Elmendorf AFB and let the kids run and play on their indoor playground and rock wall!  It was nice to let them burn off some of their energy before getting back in the car.  It was a really fun visit and so nice to see the kids having fun and doing some of the things we can't do on a normal basis since we don't live near a big city. 

 







Snowmobil'n

This weekend Adam was able to rent some snowmobiles for some fun in the snow!  He went out with a friend on Saturday, but the kids put in a request for a ride on Sunday.  It was funny to see the kids in the giant helmets, but they wore them with excitement as they went on their rides! 

 

 She looked like she could tip over at any minute!

This picture is from last week.  You can finally see our drive way after a lot of ice chipping through out the week, but we got another foot or more of snow over the weekend so it is gone again...