Cruise part 2

After the glaciers, we went on to Juneau. We all got off and took a tram partway up the mountain. We all hiked around a little. Ryan and Darice hiked all the way down. Rebecca and I decided to hike further up the mountain. It was a good hike, and took us a couple of hours. We made it to Gastineau Peak, which is about 3 miles from the tram station.

This is Rebecca singing "the hills are alive" at the first peak we reached.

The views into the valley on the other side were really pretty.
Here Rebecca is at the top of Gastineau Peak. It got quite cold in the last stretch. We considered going on all the way to Mt. Roberts, but we had been told that the trail was not well maintained beyond Gastineau Peak. We started to try it, but then the weather got very cold and cloudy, and it was hard to see. We decided we didn't want to get lost, so we turned back.

In Sitka, Ryan, Darice, Andrew, Maren, Rebecca, and I went kayaking. The kayaks were sea kayaks, so they had steering pedals that controlled a rudder in the back. Sitka Bay is really pretty, and it was nice to get to see so much of it.
This is us just prior to taking off.

Our guide took us to a little bay where we picked up starfish (we put them back before we left).
Rebecca tried some kelp. Looks like it was tasty.

We also got to see a stellar sea lion up close. This picture isn't all that close, but when he popped up a few yards from our kayak, I was too zoomed in and didn't get a good picture.

We played a fair amount of ping-pong on the trip, so I thought I ought to include at least one picture of that.

Cruise part 1

This fall, my mom took all of her kids and their spouses on a cruise to Alaska. It was a fun experience. It was a week long, and I can't capture everything in this blog, but perhaps I can show some of the highlights.

Rebecca and I flew up on Saturday. We got to walk around Seattle. We saw the Space Needle, but decided not to spend the money to go up it. Mount Rainier is really impressive. We saw it on our flight up. We are planning to go camping near it this next summer.

We met up with the rest of the family on Sunday, and caught the ship. The first few days were at sea. We read books, or just hung out. We watched for whales from the observation deck, which was also the library. On I think the third day, the ship cruised around the glaciers. The whole area was very scenic. The glaciers, as well as the mountains and rocks, as well as the water.


This picture shows the blue ice of the glacier. I read about the blue ice, and what causes it to be blue, but I don't think I ever really understood why. Not all of the glaciers appeared blue like this. I'm not sure what the difference is.We also got some good pictures of us and Mom.


This next picture is of a house on an island in Sitka Bay. There were lots of these little islands, many with houses on them. Very pretty.

This last picture is of the parliament building in Victoria, BC. We got there near sundown, and you can see the lights on. It creates an interesting effect in the picture.

Yellowstone

I'm attempting to catch up again. Rebecca and the kids went to Rebecca's family reunion at Yellowstone this summer. They had a good time, enjoyed being with their cousins, and got to see some cool things.

Here are our girls and some of their cousins hanging out in a tree.


Here are our kids and the Troutman kids.


Here the boys are acting as the girls' arms to apply makeup (I think that's what it's supposed to be).

And the girls returned the favor by helping the boys shave.
They got to see some of the geysers, and Rebecca said the Grand Tetons were very impressive, so we're going to try to visit with just our family this next summer. There was a river running next to the campground. But I think what the kids enjoyed most was just being with their cousins.

Girls camp, seven peaks, and garden

This week Jessica had girl's camp. They went to a cabin near Heber. All the girls slept in one room that had a bunch of beds. Some of the girls had to sleep two to a bed, but Jessica got her own bed. The whole upstairs was one room where they slept, and it had a ping-pong table and an air hockey table. There was also a swing that Jessica enjoyed playing with. There was a jacuzzi, but it was dried up. They made bracelets and hairbands, and they had a devotional every morning and evening. Overall she had a great time.

On Saturday we went to Seven Peaks again. We went early, getting there a little after 10 in the morning. There were a lot less people and it was a lot more fun. Jessica and Katie hung out together for a while, riding a double tube. They played in the wave pool and went on several tube runs. Rebecca was generous and mostly stayed with Matthew. They played in the kids pool, the wave pool, and rested in the sun. Brent and Josh and Dad went on several slides with single and triple tubes, and also some without tubes. Josh and Dad went down one of the slides where there is a steep drop off, and you get air and feel like you are in free fall.

Rebecca and the kids also did a lot of work on the yard this week. They put in 5 fruit trees (2 apple, and a peach, pear, and apricot). We now have a total of 7, and we only have to wait several years before they produce fruit. Rebecca's also done a lot with the garden, planting corn, and she's also working on planting tomatoes, pumpkins, and other stuff. We haven't had much success with gardens here, but we're hoping this year will be different.

Bosleys, Munns, Youth Conferences, and Seven Peaks

We had a busy week, with a lot of cool things happening. Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of most of them.

On Monday, Ryan and Darice and their family came over. They helped us put together a trampoline (our old one was falling apart) and the kids got a chance to jump on it. It was nice to visit, and it was nice that they took the time to come over. We were going to do a campfire outside but it was too windy. Instead we cooked the hot dogs inside (and fajitas for the adults). We did let the kids roast marshmallows over the stove, and made smores out of them. It was a lot of fun.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the Munns came over. They were our neighbors until a few months ago when they took a job in Texas. Our kids enjoyed playing with their kids. Katie particularly missed her friend Kassie. We thought they weren't going to be able to come over, and Katie was very sad. But on Wednesday they called and said they were coming over, so that was nice. They came over both Wednesday and Thursday before they had to take off to visit family in northwestern Utah.

Brent had youth conference starting on Thurday, but he didn't end up going that day. We lost track of time until after it started. Since he missed Thursday, he was embarrassed to go on Friday, so that didn't happen either. We were able to convince him to go on Saturday, and I think he had a good time. Several people commented on his good testimony on Saturday night.

Jessica had a Beehive conference on Saturday as well. She spent the entire day with her leaders and fellow Beehives, and it sounded like they had a good time.

Jessica was gone all Saturday, but Brent had a few hours break in the afternoon. We decided to go to Seven Peaks (a waterpark) in the afternoon. We've been trying to get there for a couple of weeks, but bad weather has prohibited it. We promised Jessica we would go back soon so she didn't feel bad missing it.

We recently invested in a waterproof point-and-shoot camera. The Seven Peaks waterpark was the first test of the waterproofness, and it seemed to pass, thus far at least.

Rebecca stayed with the two younger kids for most of the time. They played in the wave pool, and the kids area, and the lazy river. Here they are in the wave pool.

Katie also went down a smaller slide. Here she is just after splashing in.

Brent and Josh spent most of their time on the slides. Eventually I joined them, and we got one ride down together on a 3-person tube. This is a picture of us most of the way through the line, just before we were told "you can't go down this slide with single person tubes", and we had to go backwards through the line to trade in our 3 single person tubes for a 3-person tube.
Overall, it was a really good week. We appreciated the visits from the Bosleys and the Munns. Thanks for coming!

Hawkslandapaloosa

Yesterday was our neighborhood's second annual carnival, Hawkslandapaloosa (we live in the Hawk's Landing neighborhood). There was a 5K race that Rebecca ran in (2nd place for women), and a fun run that Katie ran in (second place as well).

In the afternoon, there were face painting and rock painting, both of which Katie and Jessica took advantage of.
There was a live band (a family band that included someone from the ward). There was also a bounce house. I think only Matthew went in that, and Rebecca and I manned the door to it for a while.
There was also plenty of free food. Hamburgers, hot dogs, sno-cones, and a dessert table. There was also a pie-eating contest, but we didn't get to see it because we were monitoring the bounce house. Josh chose to eat his food on top of the slide.
Brent and Jessica were a little bored, and spent a good amount of time just hanging around, but they hung out together for quite a while, and it's fun to see them enjoy being together. At one point, I found Brent resting behind the bounce house.
Overall, it was fun. The temperature wasn't too bad, and it was partly overcast for a while, which in this case was very pleasant.

Lake Mountain Hike

I guess we haven't done anything interesting since last summer, based on the status on our blog. However, Rebecca and I did something interested today. We climbed Lake Mountain, which is behind our subdivision. It was about a 3 mile hike up, with a climb of about 2800 ft. We went up the ridge, making our own trail. Rebecca and I have climbed partway up for the last couple of weeks, but this time we went all the way up.


At several of the sub-peaks, we found piles of rocks, placed there by previous climbers.


It was cloudy part of the time, which made for interesting light patterns on the lake. This is from partway up the mountain.


Here is Rebecca looking very cute.


Here is a view from the top of the mountain.

On the way down, we walked down the dirt road, and that was about another 6 miles. Tiring, but cool. We've wanted to see the top of the mountain since we moved here, but none of our vehicles can make it up the dirt road. We just had to use our off-roading legs.