We started off the month with a wild adventure to mud creek. We thought we would go and try our hand at dipnetting. We packed a cooler, the nets, and all the gear we figured we would need and started our trek across from the parking area to the shore. It's not called mud creek for nothing! We dumped our gear along the way as it was all we could do to get our people to the beach. When we arrived we had long since missed the fish and ended up spending an hour or so playing in the mud instead. It was very memorable and quite a different adventure than we expected but there was a lot of fun to be had anyway. The only casualty was Kabe's glasses which were lost in all the fun.
The house went from a hole in the ground to something quite different this month!
We had some wonderful visitors this month - Grandma Cox and Aunt Darla came to see what the Alaska fuss was all about. They were the life of the party while they were with us.
Of course the girls all needed a new "do" with Aunt Darla around. We had so much fun watching Leisl's face when she saw the first hair fall!
We took them blueberry picking up Hatcher's pass and it was a really beautiful day - the fireweed is one of my favorite things and it's the peak of the season right now so there are blossoms everywhere.
Then we took them to Seward (one of our favorite places)
And of course Grandma had to go to the chocolate factory to see the chocolate fountain!
They were the babysitters while Dad and Mom (Tyler and Toni) went on a real Alaskan bow hunt. We headed with a friend (Dan Fritz) to Purchase Creek which was quite the trek on side-by-sides just to get there. We made camp and were surrounded by signs of moose (they use the trees to scratch the felt off their antlers so you can tell when there are big moose around). It rained the whole time and Tyler had his first run-in with a bear in the wild (in the middle of the night and no bear was actually seen). That was more than enough.
I think I prefer shooting targets with my bow and hunting animals with my camera but it was an incredible experience to be out in the wild and be quiet for a few days (usually we are with the kids so there's no quiet to be found).
The house hole is turning into something else!!!
How we love this spot and love sharing it with everyone we can.
We also got to take a weekend and go to a cabin in Willow (Dr. Foster who Tyler works with let us stay at his cabin and enjoy the beautiful lake it sits on). The kids loved playing on the dock and we all took turns going out in the canoe.
This is the first time I'd ever seen and heard a loon. At first I thought it was wolves and then we spotted it. What a beautiful sound it makes and the sound echoes across the water.
I was fascinated at how many different types of berries we found. I also found salmon-berries which aren't pictured here.
Another evening (middle of the night) we floated the Knik river with our friends the Ivey's. It was so quiet and beautiful. It's strange that the sun doesn't really go down and that we can be out doing things so very late at night.
At one point Tyler said, "Those are bear tracks on the beach." I laughed and called him out. "Of course they aren't, they are probably just big moose tracks." Well, he wasn't going to be argued with so he steered the canoe right over to the shore and we got out to investigate. Sure enough - he was right and that bear couldn't have been far because the tide was close and the beach was wet. We quickly returned to our canoe and kept paddling, me feeling a little uncomfortable and him feeling very good about being proved right.
We went on a date. I can't even remember where we went but it felt well worth documenting. Don't we clean up nice?
Aunt Darla's visit also included some cooking lessons and the big girly loved that part!
Ksenya has been playing with photoshop and all things filters and fills my phone up with creative shots of all the kids. They will spend hours out in the trees just coming up with interesting photos. I loved this one - they have a special relationship and he has her wrapped around his little finger!
Happy birthday to Darla. 7 years old never looked quite so good!
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