What to do with leftover pumpkins:

So, Halloween's over, the pumpkin seeds have been eaten, and there was our old jack-O-lantern ready to start rotting. Do we throw it away? Not in Alaska. Last week I went downstairs to answer the phone and happened to look out our front window, and saw this!

The moose hung out and chowed down our pumpkin, minus the candle, for about 10 minutes before he headed down the street to look for some more treats. I guess moose absolutely love pumpkins. Some of our friends' pumpkins were eaten too. The moose had eaten most of our pumpkin except for the base that day, but the next day we noticed he must have come back and finished that off too. I felt pretty good about recycling our pumpkin this way--it was enjoyed by more than just our family!

Halloween

Halloween was a lot of fun here this year. The kids are starting to be old enough to be excited about wearing costumes and look forward to trick-or-treating. And the whole week leading up to the holiday they loved trying to scare anyone they could, either by sneaking up on an unsuspecting victim, repeating flipping the light switch, or disguising themselves as ghosts using whatever piece of material was handiest at the time (sheet, older sibling's clothes, towel, whatever). The kids also enjoyed painting their own mini-pumpkins while Joshua carved our big one to spooky perfection.

For Halloween itself, we went to the tri-ward Trunk-or-Treat held inside our church building held the weekend before. There was a haunted house, a cupcake walk, and some hot dogs and hot chocolate outside, if you were tough enough to hang out in the below freezing weather to eat them (we were, kind of, if you count sitting in the car toughing it out). Then on Halloween itself we did a little trick-or-treating at the mall and then down a street by our house. Unfortunately a snow storm hit that evening, so the escapade was shortened a bit by that.

A Bat, a Pirate, and Snow White

The bat didn't want to stand around for any more pictures after he finished his apple.

Berry Picking and Hiking

To close out summer we have been doing a lot of berry picking and hiking. Around the middle of August it seemed that all of the berries were ready to be picked. In our yard we have a row of raspberries and we did get a few from there; additionally, not too far from our house there is a forested trail where they grow wildly in a few large sections. We went a few times as a family and Rebecca took the kids alone a couple of times too. I think in total we ended up with about 20 cups or so. Most have made their way into our freezer, but we have already had two raspberry pies. This year we also discovered high bush cranberries which grow wild around here. On the father and son camp-out some of the members of our church ward showed us what they looked like and I was surprised to discover that they are really all over the place around here. They taste very similar to regular cranberries only they are about half the size, their outer shell is much softer, they are juicier, and they have one seed right in the middle. One day we gathered a couple of cups of them and made some cranberry bread. We also tried, unsuccessfully, to find some blueberries again this year. Last year we had managed to find a few on "blueberry hill," but most of the plants were already picked over by everyone else. This year we tried a different spot that we had heard about, but we still didn't find any.

Here we are looking for the blueberries. There was a slight drizzle and it was probably only about 50 degrees out so we all tried to bundle up.

I didn't get Julia in this picture because she was sobbing at the time. I think all of the children really wanted the blueberries and so they were not in the mood for hiking and picture taking after we couldn't find them.

The road up to this spot is just rock and dirt. Somehow a rock the size of a golf ball got stuck in one of our tires. Luckily we had a spare and a 80,000 mile Costco warranty on the tire.

Rebecca's brother Ryan and his friend are now up here visiting from Nevada. They will be traveling all around, but they were here in Anchorage with us yesterday. It was pretty clear outside and so we decided to seize the opportunity and hike Flattop mountain. Flattop mountain is about 3,500 feet and it is only a 1.5 mile hike from the parking lot to the top; it is actually the most frequently hiked mountain in Alaska. The hike does have some difficult spots though. We have gone a few times by ourselves and with our parents when they visited in June and July; and while Julia had made it to the top on one of our previous trips, Ethan and Christian had not. At the start of the summer I set a goal that I wanted to be able to make it all the way up as family this year. So, with Uncle Ryan and his friend here to help, I was able to convince Rebecca that we should give it a try. It was pretty hard: Christian had to be carried the whole way and Ethan was carried for some of the parts (the last quarter of a mile or so you have to scramble up rock and there are some steep drop-offs), but we made it. It was freezing on the top due to some strong wind so we only stayed up there for about five minutes before heading down.

View on the way up.

All of us on the summit. Christian was in a Snugly inside my jacket. He managed to squeeze in a nap during the hike.

Julia only needed someone to hold her hand. She was a great hiker and climber.

Ethan was a great hiker too. I think we only carried him as much as we did because we were a little worried about him falling.

Maybe next year Rebecca and I will have to try it with four children age five and under?

Father & Son Camp-out

A couple of weekends ago our church ward had a father & son camp-out. It was a great way to end the summer before I had to start teaching for the Fall semester again. On Friday afternoon Ethan, Christian, and I headed out to the site; it was by a glacial lake back in the mountains about 45 minutes from our house. We all had a great time. That night, we played some games with the other fathers and sons, took a walk to the lake where Ethan tested out a homemade fishing pole, and roasted marshmallows by the campfire. We had our huge tent just for the three of us to sleep in and I was surprised at how well Christian did for his first time in a sleeping bag. The next morning we ate breakfast (bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes with wild cranberries, and Costco muffins), played around a little more, packed up, and headed home. We were all exhausted by the time we got back.

Our huge 10 person tent got quite a few comments from the other fathers and sons.

Here is Ethan playing with some of the other boys. I think there were three boys that were about his age and then probably five or six more that were right around 12 years old. Ethan loved playing with them all.

Christian was definitely the youngest one there. He had a good time though. There were some huge puddles right next to the campsite (you can see them in the picture of Ethan) and I frequently caught him making a dash for those. Sometimes I was quick enough, other times I was not. Luckily we brought a few sets of clothes for him.

Our Children

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Some of you may have already heard, but for those of you who have not, we are expecting another baby! The due date is January 12th and according to the ultra-sound, it is a boy.

What does this sign mean?

The other day, Joshua was reading the kids a book about learning to read, and there was a section with signs to learn. When Joshua asked the kids what the Stop sign read, they got it pretty quickly, as they did a few others. Then they came to this sign (below).

When Joshua pointed to it, Ethan immediately shouted "go potty!" Joshua and I were so surprised by the resemblance that we just laughed and laughed. So of course Ethan had to try the line about 50 more times that night to see if he could evoke the same reaction. He has been working hard lately to perfect his potty training skills (he has been doing great for a long time now), so the subject must have been on his mind.

End of Summer?

It is only the middle of August, but it already seems like summer is coming to an end here in Alaska. The weather is starting to change. The past couple of weeks have been pretty rainy and a few degrees colder. On the warm days it still gets up in to the mid 60s, but on the cold days now it sometimes only reaches the high 50s. We have even had to pull out our jackets again. Today, someone in the ward told us that last week there were some snow flurries in the mountains that border the city. :(

A sign of the rainy season

Also, school is back in session. Tomorrow, I am back on contract. My classes don't start until the 29th, but as of tomorrow I have to officially start preparing for those classes and start doing all of my other work duties. All of the elementary, junior high, and high schools also start school tomorrow and it is exciting to see all of the youth and kids in the ward getting ready for it. It is scary to think that next year Julia will be starting school. At least scary for me and Rebecca - I think she is really excited about it.

Even with summer coming to a close we have had a lot of fun the past couple of weeks. Last weekend I had another conference in Washington, DC and this weekend Rebecca had a camp-out with the ward Relief Society. In between those times we have done some bike riding and some trips to the library and park, in addition to all of the regular routine. One thing we have been enjoying around the house is working in our garden. It has been fun because we have been able to start harvesting some of the plants. So far we have gotten a lot of rhubarb, basil, parsley, mint, some raspberries, and some carrots. We are still waiting on our potatoes, squash, zucchini, the rest of the raspberries, and the rest of the carrots.

One of our other fun activities that we do every week is Family Home Evening. When I was growing up my Dad often dressed up as scripture characters for his lessons. We have started this tradition with our children and they love it. Here we had a visit from King Benjamin and the kids built a tent to listen to what he had to say.

End of July

We know, another post from the Swift family already? We got a new camera for our combined birthday present, so we are ready to be back to our regular posting routine. We are loving being able to take pictures again.

Christian is also very excited about the camera!

So the end of July is always a very busy month for us. We have our anniversary and both of our birthdays. We also managed to squeeze in a ward camp-out, a trip to the lake, and lots of trips to the library and the park throughout the last couple weeks of the month. Here are a few pictures of our adventures.

The ward camp-out was a lot of fun, but Christian had a huge accident. On Friday night he fell down one step at the little amphitheater at the end of the ward variety show. He must have hit his eye just right because he got a huge cut that gushed out blood. Joshua ran cleaned him up and put a bandage on and the bleeding stopped but he was still really fussy and had a rough night as well. The next morning when we woke up he had the worst black eye that either of us had ever seen. For the past week everyone has either asked us what happened to him or has given us dirty looks. The picture doesn't do it justice. Now, after a little over a week it is finally starting to fade. We are glad to report that it hasn't permanently scarred him because he still climbs all over everything and seems anxious to replace the old bruise with a new one.

Not knowing that there would be a lake at the campsite we did not bring our swimming suits. However, that didn't stop Julia and Ethan from running into the water with all of their clothes on. It is amazing how slow they can be when it's time for bed and how fast they are when it comes to something like this.

At the same lake (before the swimming incident) we were able to take a nice canoe ride.

Here we are at the school playground. As you can see Ethan loves to wear his superhero cape. His current favorite superhero is Batman (although he really knows nothing about him except that he wears a mask and sometimes flies), who he learned about from a Pez dispenser he received from one of his uncles. With the red cape, he gets mistaken for Superman, and it kind of upsets him. A black one is in the works though.

Doesn't she look so big?!

The kids both completed the library's summer reading program and read 1000 minutes. They got big signs that say "A Library Champion Lives Here," which they put up in their bedroom for display. We're glad they enjoy reading because that's one of our favorite things to do with them.

You can't tell from the picture because some levels are cut off, but it boasts to be the largest chocolate waterfall in the world! It didn't look very appetizing though--we think it's all the original chocolate? Not quite as enticing as Roald Dahl paints in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Grandparents' visits!

For the last few weeks, we have been enjoying some fabulous visits from both sets of our parents. First my parents came in June, then Joshua's followed up in July. We had such a fun time! I wish they could have stayed all year. However, we savored the time we did have together, and explored a lot of Alaska. We generally went to the same sites with both families, which gave us a chance to check out some neat places in depth. Unfortunately, our camera has been broken (our big excuse for not updating our blog for so long), so most of the following pictures are borrowed from parents.

So here were some of our expeditions:

Camping at Denali State Park--beautiful lake, thousands of mosquitoes (I'm not exaggerating); it was our maiden camping trip with our awesome new 10 person tent, and went pretty well. Unfortunately we didn't get a good view of Denali because of cloud coverage directly over the mountain, but we did get to see some trumpeter swans and a moose on the drive back. More unfortunately, our car broke down mid-drive. Luckily a good Samaritan came to our aid and we got home the same evening.

Camping in Seward--great location for camping! Seward is south of Anchorage on Resurrection Bay and is a big fishing/tourist town. It was fun to explore the town, see huge fish, otters, and bald eagles.

Glaciers--we got to hike up to Exit Glacier, took a boat to Portage Glacier and saw others along our drives. They are pretty amazing, and I think their blue tint makes them look a little mysterious.

Around Anchorage--we hiked Flattop mountain (3500 ft), which was a great hike, and pretty challenging. There are three saddles, and the last is mostly scaling rocks to the top; on our second time up, Julia was able to make it all the way up with just a little help from Joshua coming back down. We went to the zoo and wildlife preserve, which both highlight mostly local species; the kids especially enjoying the petting zoo area. We went to various parks, including Potter's Marsh, Campbell Creek and the Coastal trail. In some of the rivers we saw groups of huge (3 ft.+) spawning salmon, which was super neat. We also went to Lake Hood and watched seaplanes take-off and land (supposedly it is the busiest lake for seaplanes in the world).

We had a great time with everyone! We look forward to their next visits and welcome any others willing to venture up here.

Finding a nano geocache

On top of Flattop

Dall sheep right off the road on the drive to Seward

The tunnel to Whitter -- it is about 2 miles straight through the mountain. They can only send cars through one way at a time and have to time it right with the trains.

An iceberg that has broken off Portage glacier

Fish cleaners in Seward. Imagine if that was your job!

A large Halibut

Mt. Denali (Mt. McKinley) is in the background somewhere

At the top of the second saddle on Flattop

Petting zoo