Down Memory Lane

Mike and I just took a photo trip down memory lane as the end to his first Father's Day. I think it's been a pretty good day for him, nothing too, a little yard work, a little Home Depot, a little coffee cake. (He made us omelets for breakfast.)

I have been blessed with a great husband and an even better Daddy for my little girl. 

He had just cut the cord and was holding his baby girl for the first time.

A few months back, she did and still does love being on his shoulders.

Ice cream making last weekend.

Off to the bath tub last night. 

Another Busy Weekend

This past weekend kept us pretty busy. We really are enjoying our life here in Alaska. There is always someplace to go and something new to see.

I spent most of Friday with a good friend of mine I haven't seen in a month. I was gone for 2 weeks and as soon as I came home, she left for two weeks. Tandy has two kids, Dawson is almost 2 and Jocelyn is 5 months. Lilly is starting to play and had fun with Dawson. I think though as they get older, she and Jocelyn will be good friends. It makes me happy to know that she will have some friends here.

Mike had heard about a flower festival in the park and new I'd like to go so off we went Saturday morning, after we stopped for coffee and bagels at some new-to-us places. It was a bit chillier than I thought so we had to stop at Penny's and get Lilly a sweater. I think I've learned to always carry layers here in Alaska. I'm surprised at how chilly it can be if the sun isn't out. (It's so cold today that I have a fire going) We wandered around for a bit and looked at what people were selling in the booths. Then we went to the weekly Farmer's Market, also in Anchorage. Nothing too exciting after that, off to the commissary for groceries. Blech!

Isn't this lovely? I have been listening to the Ann of Green Gables series and this reminds me of how she describes Green Gables in the spring with the cherry blossoms. 

The park isn't very big and there were more booths and flowers and planters for sale. I took this specifically for the colors. I would never think to put yellow with the fuscia. It's quite striking I think. 

Sunday proved to be the most interesting of the three days. After church we decided to drive up Hatcher's Pass and possibly go for a hike. We had heard that the drive is beautiful but hadn't done it yet. At the top there is an old mine, an adventure for another day. The weather was lovely and after getting part way to the top  we went back to the Mint Glacier trailhead. This particular trail is a 18 mile round trip easy-moderate hike to the Mint Glacier. We also read that further up past the glacier is the site of a B-29 crash. Supposedly you can hike all the way to the crash, spend the night, and hike out in the morning. We are talking that one over. We didn't make it to the glacier, we didn't have time nor are either one of us in good enough shape for an 18 mile hike, we were both pretty wiped out from the 6 1/2 we did complete. It was a lovely day, the sun kept us warm while the breeze kept us from getting too hot. Lilly did great and Hamilton and the best time of all I think. He got to sniff all sorts of things and of course lots of other dogs on the trail. 

The first 1-2 miles of the trail are not difficult and we think that anyone that comes to visit us should do at least the first mile. 

There were lots of these little waterfalls all along the trail. Hamilton frequented them to cool off. 

This is looking up the Little Susitna river towards the glacier.

Down River

Happy Vs. Sad

A restful night.

Wow, I have not been up at this hour by my own will in a long time.  In my previous post I mentioned something about my daughter not sleeping well, here's what I meant by that. She usually goes to sleep very nicely after being nursed around 7 PM, sleeps until 2 AM, wake up, nurses and goes back to sleep until a reasonable morning hour. I'm lucky I know. Well the last 5-7 days it's been a little different. *ahem* Attempt to get her to sleep in the evening for about two hours. If she is not literally attached to me, you nursing mothers know what I mean, she wakes up. Usually that task goes something like, nurse her until she's asleep, stand up and nurse her some more, make sure her blanket isn't stuck and that the blanket in her bed isn't in the way, then as fast as I can, when she stops sucking for just a second, put her in her bed, throw a blanket over her head and make a mad dash out the door. Praying that she doesn't open her eyes and get a glimpse of me leaving, if she does, repeat. Ugh! So after that task, it's time to deal with her waking up every one to two hours for an indefinite period of time. A couple nights, it was every two hours all night long. Once it was every hour for about five and then two times after that.

Lucky for us, these nights always see morning. Mike does not get up with her during the night, he lacks the right "parts" if you will to get her back to sleep. He has been quite faithful though, getting up with her in the morning, feeding her breakfast and changing her diaper. Lucky me gets to sleep in a couple extra hours, enough to make me functional in the morning. I'm a pretty lucky lady I think.

This morning though, I can say I'm now more awake than I was 15 minutes ago and I'm a lot less groggy though my coffee has not been made (Mike does the coffee around here). Lilly went to bed at about 8:15 last night. She woke up at 2 and 4 and is still sleeping at 7. This I can tolerate.

In case you were wondering, all of the awake hours in this house have not been in vain, Lillian now has two teeth. So you see, there really was something bothering this poor little girl and after feeling the tops of these little teeth I have to say that I probably wouldn't sleep well and would want to be attached to my mom too if those little things were ripping their way through my tender tissue!
I am amazed at how, just when I think I have no more patience and can't get up one more time, I still manage to take care of her. Motherhood.

This was from a few days ago, Mike is really good about letting Lilly get into anything, and I mean anything in his office. Obviously, shredded paper is a great way to keep her entertained while Mommy sleeps!

Walking around Anchorage

It's a quiet morning in my house today. Mike went to Anchorage to run some errands and Lilly is napping, something she hasn't been doing much of lately, napping or sleeping for that fact. We've had a wonderful long weekend. A nice thing about the Air Force is something they call "family days," essentially a day off, usually combined with an already given holiday. For example, they were given Memorial Day off, so to make it a four day weekend Friday was a "Family Day." Pretty cool right. I love four day weekends! 

We started this one out by meeting Mike in Anchorage for dinner at a new-to-us restaurant/pub/brewery The Moose's Tooth. We were pretty impressed, for those of you familiar with Rock Bottom, Moose's tooth beer is, well, I hate to say it, better! There main food is pizza, pretty good too, as well as their wings! Wings that will have to suffice as Buffalo Wild Wings doesn't exist up here in the Last Frontier. But enough about that, how about something with photos.

Friday, we had to go back to Anchorage to pick up Mike's car and get groceries. So off we went. Instead of doing just that boring run we decided, at the recommendation of our guide book, to do a walking tour around Anchorage.  Now I won't show you every photo, mainly because it wasn't really all that interesting. It was a beautiful day however and we enjoyed walking and being together. The walk itself has 24 stops I think and is supposed to take a couple hours. It includes stops at local breweries for those that need a rest, though some of those planned stops are right around the corner from the last stop, needless to say, we didn't do any stopping. A few historic buildings here and there and several bronze sculptures as well as the starting line for the Iditarod. (none of which I took photos of) During this trip we discovered our soon-to-be Sunday adventure but that has to wait for another day.  A brief photo tour of a few of the things we saw in Downtown Anchorage.

This is where we started, notice the fuscia plants? I have never seen any so big, seriously these things have trunks a good inch in diameter. Yes I know, most people don't care too much about such things but I do, I really do! Also if you look closely in the window you can see our reflection.

Another stop along the way. Mike let me take the camera and he pushed the stroller. If we keep it up, maybe my photography skills will improve. Ha! There is a history lesson for most of this but, well, I honestly don't remember it and don't feel like looking it up in the book. So if you are just dying to know, the name of the building is on the sign and I'm sure you know how to use google :-)

I'm not going to guess how many of these stands we saw. Kind of like hot dog venders in New York's central park I would assume, as I have never been there. Only difference is, here they sell Reindeer sausage. One of these days I'm going to try it. It certainly smells fantastic. 

Yes, I just had to put this in here, isn't it lovely? There was a huge bed of these in one of the parks on our walk. I could have stayed for hours. Such perfection and it all starts in one little seed!

Lil tolerates her stroller, hat, and seat belts, complete with shoulder harnesses (a bit extreme right) quite well for a little one. Mike figured out yesterday that her straps convert to just a lap belt so she doesn't have to have shoulder the harnesses. I can't imagine being shoulder harnessed into a stroller for hours. ~The reason for such torture though, she wants to turn around in the seat and climb up the back and that could very easily result in a face plant on the concrete~ Anyways, she's happier now that she can lean forward as we explore. 

I had to put this photo in! It's a stop on the walking tour and is described in the guide book as "unremarkable" they are right, not much to look at. The Pope did visit there in the '90's. 

And last but not least, one of Lilly and I. In this photo, we are on the opposite side of the bay from one  taken months ago. The ground was covered in snow then and I'm pretty sure the bay was mostly frozen. At one point in time they were going to connect the shores with a bridge making another way into the Valley. I'm not sure what is going on with that project but so far it hasn't happened.

So that is the end of your walking tour of Anchorage. For those of you just dying to go, let me know I'm sure we can take you. For the others, like me, a couple photos is plenty. Besides, there are prettier, more interesting places to go when you come visit. We really did have a wonderful time, even if the sights were pretty much well, "unremarkable" if you will.