James 1st Moose

Moose Season started Monday night at midnight, and by 2:30 Tuesday afternoon, James had killed his first moose! We are so excited, we love moose meat, and it means no buying hamburger for the next year:) As you can see it is a 3 brow tine and measures 41".

This is the view the guys had from camp.
Greg and Tim went with James. Neither had ever been hunting, and I am not sure how much camping and 4x4 they had done before, but they sure had fun. Unfortunately I do not have a photo, but while skinning the moose Greg managed to put his knife through James' thumb. James is ok, it is a blessing that it did not hit any of the nerves or tendons.

Not the best photo, but as you can see James drove the deuce and a half up to camp, and then they set the tent up in the bed and put a big tarp over everything. It sure was nice taking the Deuce all of the gear, the two four wheelers and all the meat fit in the back, meaning there was only one trip home. And on top of all that, the Deuce is street legal.

Independence Mine (part two)

It is hard to see, but about 2/3 up the photo there is a building that has fallen over and crumbled with time. We stopped hiking just below the remains of the building to have a snack. It does not seem quite so steep or so far while you are hiking. It was absolutely beautiful and a lot of fun. We went with some friends and while hiking my friend asked me "What do other Mom's do during the day?" I have no Idea, but I think it is only the crazy ones who bring a 2, 3, 5, and 10 year old on a hike like this. Oh well, I guess that makes us true Alaskans?

Joshua had so much fun climbing up the big rocks and wanted to do it all by himself.

Hiking behind Indepencence Mine

I love how Joshua's nose gets squished when he drinks from Water bottles!

Joshua had so much fun hiking, and did such a good job. It was so nice that he actually hiked almost the entire time, I am so proud of him, he has come a long way since the beginning of the summer when I had to carry him most of the way.

Joshua loves to try on my glasses, and always scrunches up his face to try to keep them on.

One of the few 4 wheeler trips this summer

Since I am pregnant, we have not taken the 4 wheelers out much this summer, but we did manage to get one good trip in earlier this summer.

When we stopped for lunch Joshua was so cold without his "helmet" on that he had to borrow my hat. Goes to show just how big his head is, or maybe how small mine is?

We had to show our friends the willow side of Hatcher, because it is one of our favorite places to go ridding.
Joshua's all bundled up and ready to go!

A quick family photo at the top of the mountain.

Joshua fell asleep on the ride back to the cars. Lucky James the kids were constantly fighting over whose turn it was to ride on the back with him. For some reason this always happens, he just attracts little kids, I guess it is a good thing that he loves kids so much.

I cannot find the photo, but somewhere we have a great one of James stuck in a Big puddle, and I had to rescue him and push him out. Okay, okay, really he was just high centered since he was on the smaller machine, but it is not very often that the woman has to get the man unstuck.

Tram Ride at Aleyeska and Reed Lakes Hike

I wish I could figure out how to get these photos bigger, but I guess they will have to do.

Joshua and I got to go up to Aleyeska (sure hope I am spelling that correctly) and ride the tram up to the top, he loved it, and kept calling it an airplane because we were up in the air.

At the top of the Tram ride we had lunch and then went into the little museum. There was one of those 3-D maps of the mountains that show you where you are and stuff, the kids thought it was really cool to see where we were.

A great Photo taken by Jack-Jack on one of our hikes on the Reed Lakes Trail up Hatcher Pass.

One of the few Photos taken with Joshua actually in it, and somewhat looking.

Rainy Day Cookies

So I have to say Thank You Thank You Thank You to my friend Kelli, not only for all of the fun we have had together this summer, but also for remembering to take photos. For some reason I have become horrible at remembering to pull the camera out.

About two weeks ago we had quiet a few drizzly days in a row and we got tired of it and ran out of ideas, so Joshua and I invited Kelli and her two kids to come decorate sugar cookies. Of course this is while Joshua was still in the phase of running from the camera, so I do not have a photo of him.

I think Kenna's cookies had more sprinkles and candy than there was cookie, but who cares, She had FUN.

Some of the finished products. We had circles and dino's and little people. I have tons of cookie cutters, but could not find them. I guess that means I still have a lot of organizing to do in this place.

This is am old photo, but I still think that it is cute! One day while I had an appointment Kelli took Joshua and her two kids to the swimming pool. Thanks again Kelli!

What happened to summer?

So I have to apologize for not posting anything for such a long time, but with out photos I don't like to post, and Joshua was going through stage were he would turn and run whenever he saw a camera. So here we are with a few of the rare photos I have from the last few months.

Joshua has some fish bath toys, as you can see, and the other day he was pretending to be a lion and eat his fish.

Joshua and I on our way to hike part of the Reed Lakes Trail With some friends.

A quick photo by the river with "Auntie Jess" and Jaden. We had so much fun visiting with them while they were up here, we wish we lived closer.

Chocolate Lilies on the side of the trail. It was funny Tisha had just finished telling us of the really pretty flowers that she had never seen (neither had I), and what do we see, but a lot of chocolate lilies.

We have had Carlie and Bryce stay the night twice this summer. Joshua loved having them over, but he always ended up going to his own bed right after bed time stories.