Borrowed Glacier Pictures

I couldn't resist posting more glacier pictures. One of our employees gave me a copy of the pictures she took when she went on the tour. Some of the other pictures below are hers too (grizzlies and two view pictures). Enjoy!

Pair of Grizzlies

Dyea Flats

Looking South

This is one of the northern-est parts on the Inside Passage.

The Grizzly

We drove down to Dyea on Sunday to look for bears. The area is pretty flat and the rivers are shallow so it's a perfect combination to see them when the salmon are running. At first there was nothing, so we just watched the salmon (a ton of them) swimming upstream in the river. We thought it was too late and were about to leave when we heard the dogs going crazy. (We were just outside the camp where they keep the dogs for the dogsled tours.) A while later I spotted this yearling (not full-grown) grizzly coming out of the camp area and it just stopped and looked at us, then went to the river. We watched it splash around catching and eating the fish until it got to where we couldn't see it anymore. None of my pictures really turned out, but that's okay, I just wanted to see a grizzly before the summer was over. Check. Next on the list is tandem bike rental....

Slurpee Heaven

Kids in kiddie pool

This was from our trip to Washington. It was over 100 degrees in Tri-Cities so we set up a kiddie pool for the girls and put a sprinkler under the trampoline. One day we went boating too. Lexi came but after a while kept telling Grandpa, "This is not fun Grandpa! This is NOT FUN!" She didn't like how bumpy the ride was when everyone else was going crazy on the tubes. So she and I got off and got slurpees instead. All was well after that.

Lexi on the trampoline

3 1/2 Weeks

The girls and I just got back from a 3 1/2 week trip to visit family in Ketchikan, Washington and Montana. John got left behind to work (poor guy) but hey, we had fun (minus the "I miss my Daddy" meltdowns).
The girls and I hopped on a ferry for a day and a half and arrived in Ketchikan. We stayed with John's family and had a fun weekend there. They took us on their boat to another island to Silver King Lodge where we walked the new walking trail and ate a delicious dinner. It was fun to go church the next day and see friends too.
Then the girls and I flew to Tri Cities and then left two days later to go to Montana for a week. We stayed with my family for a week at the cabin at Swan Lake.
Another drive to Washington where we stayed for a week and TC, Ashley, Savanna and April were there most of that time too. We had a great time and it was so fun to spend time with family.
Here are a few pictures from Montana. I'll post more pictures later.

Beach Baby

Kaytlin loved playing with the rocks on the beach

Mother/Daughter time

I took Lexi out on the rowboat

Out to sea

This is where we spent a lot of our time at the lake. My dad bought this sailboat (we took the sail off) for $99 when he was 12 or 14 and it's still in use now. We had it anchored about 5 feet from shore and would float around on it. Lexi was taking a turn pushing us out deeper.

Mom!

I thought this picture was funny. I must have done something Lexi didn't like (like telling her to smile for a picture).

Cousins

Lexi and Savanna chillin on the floaty. (TC was supervising) Savanna loved floating on the water, she was so cute!

Slalom

First successful attempt. I only lasted a few seconds but am proud of it!

Summer Joys

I was sitting outside on my parent's back porch in 100 degree weather (and loving it) drinking a slurppee and watching my girls and my niece yesterday. I'm on vacation visiting my family and getting a tan (first time in 3 years thank you very much). John is pretty much dying since we left him behind, but it's kinda fair since he works so much we don't see him most of the summer anyway.
Anyway, I was watching the girls play when I heard an ice cream truck roll by. That has got to be the most joyous sound to a kid on a hot summer day. If we didn't have slurppees already I would have raced to find some money and indulge in some cold dessert, but instead just took in the moment.
I love hot summer sunny days!