Perspective

 This summer certainly has been filled with many great adventures which has given me much to think about. Between hiking alone or with friends, to day trips with the family, to my summer school teaching position, to whatever else may come I have grown and changed into a stronger woman this summer. Facing challenges can be a very difficult time, but when you break through and can see the positive growth on the other side, it makes the journey memorable.

As the seasons begin to change in my neck of the woods, I plan on walking forward with a new found strength not only in myself but in my relationships with friends and family. 

Before fall fully takes over, we are making the most of every last day of summer!

We enjoyed our local "Bear Paw" Festival 

especially the cotton candy after having two very good listeners and no complaining about what rides they were not big enough to ride yet!  I definitely have some thrill seeker children as they wanted to ride the "Zipper" 

We've done a couple more camping trips to Whittier hoping to stock our freezer with shrimp and halibut.  I couldn't resist snapping a photo of their early morning snuggles. 

Enjoying sunshine and just running around - I love that these two can make any situation fun. Papa and I were busy helping our elderly friend with her garden and house projects and I over hear these two making up a game about the store was by a big tree and they were pretending to grocery shop with the different things on the ground.  I love their imaginations.

We also had a visit from our cousins! Nothing serious with them of course - great to see family!

All this time this summer with Papa's family, has me missing my family.  So, with summer school coming to an end this week, the kiddos and I will be boarding a plane late Friday night to head to Wisconsin for a week!  Crazy!?! A bit - yes... but looking forward to one more summer adventure before we settle back into the regular school year.  

I hope you all are enjoying your summer adventures!

Happy 5th Birthday Sweet Girl!

Can we say that someone is very proud and exited to be 5 years old! 

Yes, our sweet little girl is 5 years old today. She is full of life. It doesn't matter if she is working on a project, practicing her school work (because you know she's going to be starting school this year - just ask her ;) ) or being outdoors - she is always giving it her very best. 

She was surprised this morning with opening her big gift from both grandparents and Momma and Papa - a bike!  A little adjusting with the length of training wheels and handle bar position and she was off...

maybe a little to quick for my heart.  

As I took this photo with my phone, I couldn't help but tear up a bit.  My babies riding away from me... each day a new level of independence is gained, which should be a celebration and is... however, this Momma's heart just wants to hold on a little bit longer.  

After a fun morning of riding her bike, we had a special lunch at her request... Carl's Jr. (Gag, blah.. who's child is she? ha,ha,ha)   Papa and I could recall one other time we had been to Carl's Jr, and for Sister to be so confident that is what she wanted for lunch.  Papa and I just laughed. After lunch, we burned some more of that 5 year old energy off at one of our local parks...

You'd think our day was done, but we invited a few friends over for a taco dinner, birthday cake and presents of course.  

(Taco dinner in the lawn of course!)

(Sister made the 5 and then supervised Momma's position of the other decorations)

The grand finale for the evening...

holding a real baby!  She's held this little guy many of times, but just loves it every time!

I'd say this sweet girl had a wonderful day of turning 5! 

(She was asleep before her brother - which almost never happens! HA!)

A Week of Summer Adventures

This past week, I had the week off from teaching summer school and my goal was to have an Alaskan staycation kind of week.  Monday we packed a lunch and invited some friends to join us at Lake Hood to watch the float planes.  This has become our Monday routine it seems this summer, but it was nice that I didn't have to put some time in at the school before we had lunch this week! 

Tuesday we made a trip to Girdwood (it's only about an hour from our house) to go hiking on the Winner Creek trail.

I had read that this trail was mostly flat and wide - perfect trail for a family hike.  

Papa and I were both very pleased with our little hikers. Their enthusiasm for the outdoors just warms my heart and I hope that it will continue to be a source of enjoyment for them as they grow up.

After hiking in 2.5 miles, the real treat was taking the hand tram across the Winner Creek Gorge. Sister loved this adventure while Brother was a little less sure.  Either way, it was a great experience that the kids have continued to talk about throughout the week.

After hiking in on their own will power, we gave the kiddos a ride on the way out.  It was definitely a great family outing that created fond memories for everyone.

Next on our Alaskan Staycation week was a trip to Seward (About 3 hours from where we live) to the Alaska SeaLife Center. 

The kids really enjoyed being able to see the different types of sea life.  One of their favorite parts was waiting for the Stellar Sea Lion to swim by - he is huge! 

They also enjoyed the touching pools and thought it was great to gently touch these animals.

Thursday found ourselves invited to join some friends for a hike near Eklutna Lake.  The kids were a bit bored with all the walking and not being down by the water to throw rocks and so decided to make dust angels.  Silly dirty kids...

There was more dirty to be found as we had to leave the group early for other plans we had for the day and Momma went the wrong way...

Yep - we some how found the muddiest path back even with all the dry ground around us.  The kids thought it was hilarious and well, I did too. 

The afternoon of this day was some alone time for Momma to hike another mountain top.  My friend, Heidi, and I decided a little cloud cover was not going to stop us from reaching the summit of Flat Top Mountain. 

I will definitely be doing this hike again in order to see all the amazing views. However, it was also an experience to just hike in the clouds. 

It was awesome to reach another mountain summit this summer and be able to share the experience with my amazing friend!

We ended our hike with a visitor! We were so thankful this area formed a circle and we were able to keep ourselves a safe distance from this little guy as he was munching away. 

It truly has been a great week of quality time with family and friends.  I return to summer school teaching next week but not before we celebrate Sister's 5th birthday on Monday! (How can this be?) I'll be sure to post all about her special day.  

Happy 4th of July!