Blood, Sweat, and Tears

War wounds from substituting today at church (I have more bite marks, but they didn't break the skin). Luckily the regular nursery teacher will be back next week. I'm wondering if I should get a Rabies shot.

Winter pajamas from Grandparents (Ethan's are in the wash). Yes, winter is quickly coming upon us--we saw snowflakes this morning, and although nothing stuck here, there's a dusting on the mountain tops.

Christian's really enjoying food--he especially likes plums and broccoli

Finally, physical proof of what Joshua's been up to these last nine plus years

Adventures in Alaska

So we've begun our adventures here in Alaska. We have been enjoying the amazing scenery and searching for wildlife. Included in our adventures so far are a trip to the Alaska state fair and a couple of berry picking expeditions. The moose sighting count is as follows: Joshua--5, Julia--1, Ethan--1, Christian--0 and me--0.

Ethan has been enjoying pretending to be wildlife. He's recently started this thing where he sits at the dinner table and appears to almost unconsciously rub the food in his face, hair, and everywhere his hand will reach, without blinking an eye.

The Alaska State Fair was relatively small, but had some fun attractions still. Ethan's favorite was probably getting in the snowplow (top picture). Everyone loved the little petting zoo; Joshua liked chasing after the pigs and Christian loved grabbing any fur he could find.

This pumpkin weighed over 1100 pounds!
The cabbage was over 100 pounds! We heard that Alaskan grown vegetables can grow really large because of the long summer sunlight hours, so this was proof!

Blueberry Hill on Flattop Mountain, the most popular hike in Anchorage. It really is breathtaking--we'll have to try to take more pictures that truly do it justice.

These were in Arctic Valley, about 15 miles into the mountains. The views on the drive up were amazing. We were looking for berries, and ended up with some crowberries (or blackberries) which we mixed with some wild blueberries and made into a syrup. Some Alaskan natives pointed them out to us and told us they used the crowberries to make Eskimo ice cream. I looked it up on the internet and it sounds bizarre (a mixture of fish, shortening, sugar, and these berries), but haven't dared to try making it yet.