Snow bunny

My girl loves some snow! She got her first pair of skis for christmas this year. We took her out today for her first ski lesson. She told Mike she wanted to go faster. Ha!

I heart cross country skiing!

Am I good at it, absolutely not. But it's so much fun! I didn't run into anyone on the trail to witness my lack of "conventional" skills anyways. Ha! 

Snowy hike

Went on the South Fork trail on Friday afternoon. What a fun hike! We got some snow while we were out and at several points I was up to my waist in snow. I now understand the importance of good gaiters! A few months ago I had no idea what those were. I also didn't know there was such a thing as snow shoeing. I know now! Here's the view (pretty rad, right?): 

We have snow!

Better late than never...I hope it keeps up so I can get my skis put in use soon.

Fire-making Lessons

Father-daughter bonding over an important skill: making a fire.

Magical Alaskan Sky

While I am [impatiently] waiting on the snow to arrive, I get to enjoy views like this:

I am 99% sure I will regret my snow wishes once we have a few feet. But we shall see because I am excited to cross country ski!!

Busy times

It has been a few weeks since I posted (the post about the family fall fun run that just went up was from a while ago, just forgot to hit publish, oops!). Anyways here is what we have been up to...

Hiking with uncle Rob at Kincaid (above). And seeing the snow with Grammy and Granddaddy at Hatcher's pass (below).

Having an awesome fire in the fireplace (below).

Going to Ace's hockey games (below). 

And carving pumpkins with Uncle Joe (below).

Lots of fun! We love Alaska!

Family fun at the reindeer farm in Palmer, AK!

Here are some pics...had so much fun despite the crazy cold wind. We saw bunnies, horses, ponies, reindeer, a moose and a bison. Stella got to hold a bunny, pet a horse, take a pony ride and feed some reindeer. She was pretty pleased with herself by the end of the visit!

Brennan remained "chillin" in his snuggly stroller seat. Not much impresses this dude.

Hiking Baldy

No sweating the government shutdown up in Eagle River...at least not yet. Because I get to do sweet hikes with awesome girls and a million dogs. Runking (run-hiking) is the BEST. Much, much appreciation for the organizer of our hikes!

And having Grammy and Granddaddy in town means I get to go for post-hike drinks!

Family Fun Run at Reflections Lake

Had a great time with a bunch of other families running around Reflections Lake this morning. Well I didn't run so much as walk while carrying Stella on my back. She apparently doesn't understand the concept of running yet...except when she runs away from me in parking lots. It's weird how that works.

Fall

We have had some beautiful fall weather lately! Made for some good vistas and hikes. In short, Alaska is awesome.

Above are two views from my hike last night at Mile Hi.

The is the sun's last ditch effort today. Bright like fire.

Unknown precipitation. Really TWC??

My Weather Channel app says there is 20% chance of precipitation today and that currently, the precip. is unknown. This is interesting. It is so because here is what we actually have going on today...

Unknown precipitation my foot! 

First snow 2013

We got our first snow today, September 22, 2013. I was so shocked to see it that there may as well have been pigs flying around or aliens landing their spaceship in our yard or my dad high-fiving Obama. Nothing stuck but it was snowing most of the day. It made for a GREAT day to lay around and be sloth-like. I got no pictures (too lazy) but there will be zillions of chances in the near future. Tomorrow night's hike should be chilly! 

Mt. Eklutna & Bear Mountain Hike

I know, I know, hiking "Bear Mountain" might sound a little scary but since we had 6 girls and 5 dogs, we were loud enough to scare away any bears. No sightings! Plus it was a warm, amazing sunny day so there were tons of hikers. I was hiking with some very in-shape Alaskan girls and was definitely last to reach the top. But the huffing and puffing was worth it! Here is proof I made it...