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

Happy Easter

I know we are a week late with this post, but better late than never. Right? Our excuse is that Rebecca has been at her brother Tyler's wedding, so the posting job has been left to me. We are usually really late with our postings anyway, but at least this time we have an excuse.

We had a great time celebrating Easter this year. Almost all of the winter snow had melted off of the ground and so we were able to even do an egg hunt outside. On Saturday we got together with some friends in our church ward and did a potluck brunch and easter egg hunt. The kids loved this! Later that evening we had an easter egg hunt at home (see video). Don't tell them, but we took the eggs they had found at the earlier hunt and re-hid them around the house. We also hid a bunch of new candy and stuff, but we thought they would have more fun finding the goodies twice and we didn't want them to get too much candy.

In a few of the eggs we had some items representing the atonement and resurrection of Christ. In one we had some small nails representing His crucifiction, in another a stone representing his burial, and in another a small cloth representing the empty tomb. On Sunday we had a special family lesson on the importance of the Atonement and Resurrection and the kids really liked that too. We also heard some great talks, musical numbers, testimonies, and lessons at church. We know that Christ lives and that he has made it possible for all of us to live again after death. If you want to know more about the Savior and His missions on earth, our church has some great resources at www.lds.org and www.mormon.org

Here is the video

Spring Time in Alaska

We are so glad that Spring is finally here. The past couple of weeks the temperature has reached 40 almost every day. The snow is starting to melt and we are seeing some green patches again in the grass; it still snows every now and then, but in general more is melting than what is accumulating on the ground. On our walk today we even saw a 10 year old girl in a bikini washing her family's car, and several people out with short sleeves and/or shorts! I don't think we are that acclimatized yet to this weather, but who knows about next Spring?

The days are starting to get longer, so we've really been enjoying seeing more of the sun as well--it is 9:30 now and still somewhat light outside. We are also seeing a lot more birds and other wildlife about. Below is a moose that decided to hang out in our backyard a couple of weeks ago: he snacked on one of our bushes for a while, then laid down and took a nap in the sun.

Kind of Creepy

We got this postcard in the mail the other day. We thought it was both funny and really creepy at the same time. We decided not to tell our kids about it though (Julia and Ethan both sleep downstairs), so don't mention it next time you talk to them!

Sorry about the quality of the image. Our camera broke in the move.

Here is what it says:

"Dear New House owners! It's Mele a girl who previously lived here! Please take care of this home! It took care of 9 kids and two parents who later on divorced. My dead grandma lives downstairs. Please don't be scared if you hear noise. She's nice! -Mele-"

Christian's First Birthday

Christian had his first birthday last week. We had a great time celebrating as a family. It seemed like his favorite part of the day was getting to try his first sweets. Here are a couple of videos of him, Julia, and Ethan eating birthday cupcakes.

Our new home

We're finally in our house! We closed on the home February 24th, then spent the following weekend moving in. Joshua did most of the moving and I cleaned the apartment while some friends watched our kids. A highlight was Saturday afternoon when I got to watch Joshua muscle the refrigerator up the stairs virtually alone; his only help was a little direction pointing from me. We love it! It's an older four bedroom, two bath split-level, updated on the inside, and less than two miles from the university (nice commute). When we first started looking for homes here, we were really discouraged because house prices are so high in Alaska; but although this is not our ultimate dream home, it far exceeds all our needs and fulfills many wants, and we feel super blessed to be in it. The kids love running around in all the space, and I think there are more cabinets in the kitchen than in all our previous homes' kitchens combined!

Joshua took a video of the home before we moved our things in, so here it is--

Tour of the upstairs

Tour of the downstairs