Washington Trip

A couple of weeks ago Julia, Elliott and I headed down to Washington for my cousin Juli's wedding while Joshua held the fort with the boys here.  It was wonderful to see everyone--all of my brothers and families were there, along with many cousins on the Little side.  I got to relax while people passed Elliott around and Julia loved the attention from aunts and uncles and everyone else there.  We enjoyed some time with the Swifts too, and Julia got to meet cousins Andrew and Mallory, and also got to do a date with her aunt Talitha for her very first pedicure.

Joshua, Ethan and Christian lived it up here going camping, hiking, doing building projects at the home improvement stores, and visiting the library (reading 200+ books for the summer reading program), with unlimited treats and movies to boot.

Julia and cousins with Juli the bride

Julia and Elliott with Grandma and Grandpa Swift and Andrew and Mallory

At the temple with my immediate family

Summer Activities

For Memorial Day we tried a new hike as a family up in the mountains east of Anchorage called Wolverine Pass.  It was a great trail, but long and really muddy near the end, so we stopped after a couple of miles, had a picnic, then headed back.  Julia and Ethan walked almost all of it, and Christian would have loved to, if he hadn't been strapped into the stroller.  All of the trails around here have signs at the beginning warning hikers of bears, and so we are always on the lookout but haven't seen any to date.  We are glad.

Ethan's Birthday

Ethan turned 4 in May!  As a family we went to a kids' bouncing place, and a couple days before his birthday he had a superhero party.  It was a lot of fun--Joshua planned it as a scavenger hunt where the superheros (all the kids) had to follow the clues and do different heroic activities to be able to ultimately find a stolen treasure.  The activities included popping balloons, sending parachute guys off the deck, musical chairs, and looking through superhero sunglasses.  Everyone had a lot of fun, and there were only minimal fights, mostly in the last 15 minutes of the party, so I would say it was a success.

The Birthday Boy and siblings (minus Elliott)

Eating Batman cupcakes at the party with friends

Looking super handsome in his new suit!

Record Breaker

It's official. We beat the record for most winter snowfall this year! So finally we have bragging rights as compensation for our hours and hours of shoveling the driveway. Below is a picture out our winter yesterday as the record breaking last three inches fell, bringing it up to 133 inches to date.

In essence, we got twice as much as average seasonal snowfall. We can't wait for spring!!

Easter fun

Who would have guessed that we could enjoy not only a white Christmas, but a white

Thanksgiving and a white Easter as well! We began some Easter festvities yesterday with a lunch/Easter egg hunt at the church. Luckily the lunch was indoors, but after we all headed to the parking lot for the hunt, or should we say mini Mt. Everest climb. It was quite a challenge, and more than a few eggs got lost in the snow, but the kids still had fun.

The terrain:

The Easter bunny also visited our home yesterday afternoon during quiet time. The kids were really excited to hunt eggs, even the second time around.

And this picture is from this morning, with everyone in their Easter best!

IDITAROD

One of the unique perks about living in Alaska is getting to be part of the Iditarod and other cool winter events. This was our first year getting to watch the start of the race because we were closing and moving into our house last year at this time. So FYI, the Iditarod just has a ceremonial start through Anchorage; after riding through town, the dogs and mushers are flown to Willow, where the race officially starts. The race is from Willow to Nome, and has an interesting history. It commemorates a rescue trip made by early mushers to bring medicine to dying children in Nome when bad weather prevented any other form of transportation to the city. In Anchorage the race goes through the town, and people cheer all along the way. Here we are watching the dogsleds about a mile from the starting line.

The Iditarod coincides with Fur Rendezvous, which we posted a little about earlier. Fur Rondy started with trappers coming together around this time of year from the villages to trade and sell their furs. This week we went to the snow sculptures, which were pretty amazing. The first prize was a giant-size polar bear playing a piano which was balanced on top of a walrus. Pretty creative, and I don't know how they managed to balance the snow just right so the whole thing wouldn't collapse. The one below is one of the simpler sculptures, but we liked it because we were celebrating Christian's second birthday and it seemed appropriate. We also went to a fur auction, and watched it for a while. The bidding ranged from about $200 for fox skins up to $650+ for bear skins. I didn't know this kind of thing still went on, but I guess people have to acquire all their animal furs somehow. We see furs on the walls of many of the homes we've been to up here. Check out some of the characters we got to rub shoulders with at the auction: one guy had a white wolf hat, a fur coat, and then two wolf heads for gloves. These are actual dead animals! His thumb went in the lower jaw, and the other four fingers were in the nose section, kind of like a puppet. And...they wanted to picture with us! Actually they thought their grandchild would like Christian's froggy hat. Maybe they thought it was a real frog. :) Honestly though, there were quite a few sporting the furs, and it was a unique experience being part of the true Alaskan crowd.

Christian's Birthday

Last week we celebrated Christian's birthday. I can' t believe our baby is two! Of course, he hasn't been the baby of the family since Elliott was born, but sometimes he still wants to be, and he definitely still has plenty of baby chubs to squeeze. A little about Christian: he loves to do whatever his older sister and brother are doing, even if his little body can't quite do it at their speed; he is a pro-climber, gives great hugs, likes to look at books, and loves anything to do with Cars (note the huge Cars swimsuit he is wearing--Ethan's, but he insists on wearing it all the time, even to bed). He has some awesome facial expressions, likes to throw things, and loves to help cook and go outside. Here are some pictures of the birthday celebrations, including his train cake and a few presents.