Alaska- 2013

The girls and I left for Alaska on July 3rd.  We got home this morning at 8am.  We spent three wonderful weeks in Alaska with my mom and sisters.  The weather was amazing (and very un-Alaskan like) consisting of long, warm, sunny days.  The sky was so clear you could see Denali (Mt. McKinley) almost everyday.  The weather made it very easy to fill our days with fun activities.  My little sister, Kelly, is getting married next summer, so we were also able to get a lot of planning done as well.

We would start our day with breakfast, head out for some family fun, do lunch either out on the town or at home, get some nap time in (for kids and mama's), play, have dinner, play some more, bed.  It should be noted that I use the term "play" loosely...really, really loosely.  The girls could not wait to see one another and play, but we had a hierarchy of bullying on our hands, with each kid promptly and relentlessly picking on the next youngest to them.  Ahhh...it was loud yet beautiful at the same time.  We joked that they all loved each other so much it hurt...literally.

It was still super hard to be home and not see dad.  Amy had a hard time adjusting the first couple days.  My sisters and I did spend some time going through his things.  Mom wanted us to have anything that reminded us of him.  The four of us had a really nice time talking about him and what all of his things meant to us.  We still just can't believe he is gone.

Above all, the girls and I had a fun time visiting and exploring.  We can't wait to be back up there next summer to celebrate Kelly and Eric's wedding!!!

Here are a few pictures from our Alaskan adventure...

The girls packed themselves...so helpful.

They both did a great job flying both to and from Alaska

It was so good to be back with my sisters

Best friends!

Beluga Point

Potter's Marsh Boardwalk

Quality park time...

Shopping for the old ball and chain wedding rings...

Meg spending some of her vacation time catching up on her reading.

A trip to the zoo

Meggie insisted on doing her own walking which made for an excellent nap time that day :)

Lunch is always better when it's in the back of the car

Okay- I have never seen anything other than one skinny moose up at Flat Top in all of the times I have been up there.  Of course, I take Amy up there to hike, and the first thing we see when we get out of the car is this...

Even a screen can't keep these to slobbery girls from sharing the love

4 wheeler ride with Uncle Seth!!!

Leave it to our family to have friends who used to be clowns/magicians.  This stuff comes in handy, people.

So, it turns out Meggie is a juggling prodigy :)

Amy all ready (3 hours early, life jacket and all) for a day of fishing out on Big Lake

Kelly and Eric

Awesome day out on the water.  You could see Mt. McKinley!

Celebrating Amy's birthday with a Little Mermaid cake and a few presents!  Happy girl!!

Loves her grandma

We took the girls to the fire station our good friend, Jake, works at.  It was so much fun.  The girls are still talking about it.

We also took a 4 wheeler trip 6 miles off trail in Talkeetna to see dad's crash site.  It was very hard, but very good for healing.  We all had a nice time getting down and dirty in the mud and trenches on our way to and from the site.  It made a bad day a little better.

The memorial a few troopers put out at the site.  Absolutely beautiful.

Mom and Nikki Toll (Trooper Tage Toll's wife).  

So, so nice to see them smiling.

I also got Amy's hair chopped off.  I was getting so tired of her hair being in her face.  

She loves it. :)