Independence Mine

Joey and I took April and Michael up to Independence Mine a couple of weekends ago since neither of them had seen it in the summer. They, of course, loved it and were in awe of Hatcher's beauty! :) Here are some photos!

Valdez...again

We made a very spur of the moment camping trip to Valdez while Alex and Julia were here. We took two cars because we had so many people and stuff!

Only in Alaska do they have one of these signs! Haha!

Somewhere in the Alaskan wilderness.

Ahhh, brotherly love!

Alex and Julia at Worthington Glacier

April and me at Worthington Glacier.

Al and Julia

An otter playing around with a fish.

Poor little salmon

April trying to represent! Southside!!!

Sisters!! April, Joey, the dogs, and I all rode in one vehicle together. Michael, Alex, and Julia rode in the other.

We camped at the military campground in Valdez. I just want to point out that camping was Al's idea and he was the first one to go to bed...30 minutes after we got set up!

Unfortunately, the dogs didn't keep April too warm so she was a little chilled in the morning!

Even though the trip was very very quick, it was a lot of fun!

Alex and Julia-Anchorage Area

Michael's brother, Alex, and Al's girlfriend, Julia, came up to visit us this past weekend! We did lots of stuff around Anchorage the first two days they were in town. (Please excuse the lack of photos from Al's trip...I am still waiting on Al and Julia's photos).

While we waited for Michael to get off of work, Alex, Julia, and I went to Eklutna Lake. Luckily, their first day was gorgeous and sunny! Once Michael joined us, we hiked to Thunderbird Falls!

Michael had never been to the falls either, so it was a nice treat for Michael to be able to go, too!

After the Falls, we headed to the Eagle River Nature Center.

There were some salmon spawning. We also heard there was a bear in the area, but we were too slow and didn't get to see it! The boys were pretty disappointed, but I was glad we didn't run into a hungry bear!

Kayaking

April and I went kayaking with my Stroller Strides ladies a couple of weekends ago. We just went up the road to Eklutna Lake.

I HATE kayaking and canoeing with other people, so I paid a little extra and got a single kayak. I really believe that a lot of divorces start from riding in a kayak/canoe together! I know that I am somewhat of a control freak, so I told April that I needed my own kayak and she would have to share a kayak with a complete stranger. Haha!

The weather was somewhat crappy, but we still had a good time!

April had a GREAT time, even though her and her partner were all over the lake because they just couldn't seem to master paddling in a straight line!

We only kayaked for two hours, but almost everyone was soaked by the end! Unfortunately, it had started raining during the last 3o minutes of our trip, so by the end, we were all ready to be done!