Day 5- Paper Airplanes and Denali Deodorant

Today Asa and I spent a lot of time with the little kids. Our options were: 1. Go on Denali Wilderness Tour for 7 to 9 hours. (Translation- Corinne get car sick no less than 3 times). Or 2. Stay with the kids and let the over 30 crowd (plus Calib) enjoy their little bus tour. Asa and I chose the later.

Currently, it's mid-afternoon here, and I am sitting out in the hallway, with our door and Cort and Holly's door open just a crack, while Garrett naps, and the other kids watch a movie. I figured I'd get a jump start on my blog and write it in two pieces today. Mom chose to go on the wilderness tour, they are still currently on it as I write this in the hall way. I told her, I'm hoping she doesn't get car sick on it, and if she did, I hope she seems a Moose to make it worth it. I'll report back on how that went when I finish the blog later tonight. I say 2:1 odds on at least tossing her cookies once.

Everyone left so early, I had gotten up to go to Cort's room so his kids could keep sleeping, and I eventually fell back asleep too. When I woke up, Gwen was right in my face, staring at me, and she says 'Why are you sleeping in here, Aunt Corinne?' It was pretty funny. We got the kids up, got them breakfast. I haven't changed a diaper in awhile, and narrowly missed getting peed on. Thanks for that one, Garrett. We took the kids out to the visitors center in Denali. They had some neat things to look at. Some mittens you could try on made out of different animals furs, and a giant magnetic puzzle of a moose that the kids enjoyed.

We decided we wanted to do at least one trail, so we followed one away from the visitors center. There was a sign there, indicating bears often roam the area. I said 'hey guys, go stand by that sign and look scared of the bears'. I turned around to notice my kids were seriously scared of the bears. Gwen was happy to oblige with a picture though.

We walked a trail. Asa said if you come across a Moose, you are supposed to run. (Of course only AFTER you take a picture). If you run across a bear, he said to wave your arms, yell and walk away. Apparently, he didn't listen very well when my mom was giving him the moose and bear survival skills, because after the trip I read 'talk calmly- do NOT yell'. Good thing we never actually saw one. Although, all the kids were scared to death. Hayden just kept saying 'there's bears in here, I want to go home, why would we walk here? THERE'S BEARS!' Poor kid. Everytime a bird flew by all the kids would duck and look like they were about to have an accident in their pants. They were seriously terrified, but on my end it was just hilarious.

After we walked around for a little, we took the shuttle into the town. It's not really much of a town. It's a couple of hotels, restaurants, and shops. It's REALLY expensive though. To give you an idea, there's a subway. You know the $5 footlong? Here it's a $9 footlong. We got the kids ice cream, we had some fudge and Asa got some coffee. I think we are now Garretts favorite relatives since we loaded him up on ice cream and fudge before lunch. We tried to limit gift shops, because you know how kids are, being grabby and all. But, Peyton wanted to check some stuff out, so I took him in. Mom said she was looking for some really unique moose stuff, because, well, there's moose stuff everywhere here, so you can't possibly buy it all. I got a pasta/salad serving moose antlers. I deemed that unique enough to make it one of my purchases.

After that we came back to the hotel for lunch, and naps. When we got in the bus to come back the guy was shocked to see four kids. His exact words, I kid you not, 'I see more moose around here than kids'. Of course he does. Because, as we previously discussed, moose apparently push carts around at walmart here.

That brings me to sitting out in the hallway. There is a laundry room here, and it's FREE! We all know how much I enjoy that. But I'm so glad to see a washer and a dryer, since we've been wearing the same hoodies for a few days now without being washed. By the end of the trip, I may be grateful I have no sense of smell. We'll all be wearing dirty, sweaty clothes. We haven't seen anyone in the hotel all morning, and while I was in the laundry room, a guy came in. I was wearing my BGSU sweatshirt, (or Big Sue as Ben would affectionately call it) and the guy was like 'Did you go to Bowling Green?' He was from Toledo. Of course I can find the one guy in all of Denali, possibly Alaska, who would know what that sweatshirt was, but I still can't find a moose to take a picture of.

The nice part about the hotels is they put all of us together. Housekeeping is coming around, and we've been going in between moms room, Cort and Hollys room, and our room. When she got to Clint's room, I told her he isn't in there, she could go ahead. When she got to the room after all of ours she said 'are you related to the people here to? I laughed and said no. She said, 'there is a lot of you traveling together'. Yes, there is indeed.

So here I am quite a few hours later. Everyone didn't get back from the wilderness tour until about 6. It was over around 4, I think, because we saw some people from our bus come back. Peyton had made friends with a little girl, and she was talking to me about all the things she saw. She went on about bear, and caribou, and a coyote. I said 'did you see any moose?' And of course, she said 'no, it's the only thing we didn't see'. I spent the next couple hours entertaining the kids with paper airplane flights off the bridge in our hotel building, red light green light, mother may I, and go fish. We did have a moment where I thought the Hayden Gwen alliance was done. Gwen was on the balcony dancing around, singing, and having a great time. I look over, and Hayden (on the other end of the balcony) is staring at her, hands over his ears, screaming at her to stop. Luckily, this was our only incident today. We did later joke with Cort and Holly that the people at the oceaneers club on the ship are going to tell us we can never bring Hayden and Gwen back together again.

When everyone else got back (they were much later because they went out to the visitors center after the tour), they reported back that they had also not seen a moose. Lots of bears, but no moose. Mom is pretty convinced that dad's moose repellent rubbed off on to her. I'm convinced dad's up in heaven saying 'screw you guys for finally trying to find a moose on my insurance money', and is now calling in favors to make sure we don't see one. I mean, now that I see how 'hard' my kids are looking, I have a sneaking suspicion that perhaps I was just as much of a help as they are. Oh, and I was wrong, mom didn't toss her cookies. But apparently, she was pretty close. She found it worth it even though she didn't see a moose.

All of us (sans Clint and Jess) went to eat at the lodge. We had a various array of dishes, and all kind of shared. I ate halibut, which I was really proud of myself for, since I hate the thought of fish. I couldn't bring myself to eat the salmon though. Mom sat at dinner and said how nice it was that we were all eating together and went on about how wonderful it was. Welp, guess we know next vacation we don't have to bring Clint and Jess to make mom happy.

However, while we were eating Clint and Jess were taking the shuttle from the visitors center back to to the hotel. And, guess what they saw AND got a picture of? A Moose! It was just hanging out on the side of the road eating off some bushes. They didn't stop the shuttle, and they still got some decent pictures. I contend I still deserve the dollar for finding the first moose. Dad would have given me one, picture or not. Then, I can frame it. Along with my almost moose picture.

After dinner, Mom and the older kids went over to get some ice cream. You know, because Garrett especially needed it, after his fudge and ice cream earlier in the day. Then she took all the younger kids for a sleepover. Peyton, Calib, Asa, Cort, Holly and I went on a hike up a mountain, while Jessica and Clint laid in bed (lazy people those two). The hike was pretty steep, but the views at the top were pretty awesome. Eventually, Cort, Holly, and Calib went up ahead and we headed back.

We climbed down a really steep hill to be able to walk along the river. Asa took Peyton down the hill, and came up with quite a unique safety measure to ensure prime safety. They had their hoodies tied together around their waists, then Asa tied them together, a la kid leash. It actually worked pretty well, until he couldn't get the knot undone. I did take my shoes off to put my feet in the river, and the water was super cold. All my Florida friends- think about the gulf in the winter. Then think of that as a hot tub, because compared to this water, winter water in Florida is super hot. I had some awesome pictures, but I won't get to post them until we get back to civilization in Anchorage tomorrow. Then I'll add them to my last couple blogs too.

I would like to take a moment to tell you about our rock competition, organized by our good friend Justin back in Florida. Justin collected rocks from places he traveled to as a kid, and has requested a rock from Alaska. He has two conditions: 1. It must be a cool rock 2. You must risk your life for said rock. Thanks a whole lot, Justin. I have now had to fear for my families lives, and I have about 15 rocks I have to pack. My baggage was already at the top of the weight limit for the airline, so I hope you're prepared to reimburse me for the overweight baggage fee.

Now, I'll leave you with a nerdy Cort story. Because who doesn't enjoy one of those?
While walking in the hall Cort pops out of his room to proudly show off his deodorant. He's all 'hey, look what I have'. Great, Cort, I'm glad you won't stink on the bus tomorrow. Then he clarifies 'look what KIND it is'. He bought Denali deodorant to bring on the trip. I took his picture, made fun of him, and his reply was something to the effect of 'you're going to post this on your blog aren't you'. Indeed, Cortlund, Indeed

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Up Next: Headed back to the booming metropolis of Anchorage. (Yea for internet where I can post some more pictures!

Day 4- Our First Noise Complaint.

Today the land portion of our cruise tour began. Let's go through the pro's and con's of this land tour. Pro- You don't have to carry your luggage from place to place. You don't have to know how to get from place to place. You get all kinds of interesting information. Con- you're on a time schedule (with a couple of 5 year olds, and a 1 year old). Also, I fear it's going to feel like constant packing and unpacking. Overall though, it's pretty cool.

We had to have our luggage outside the door at 7:45, which was earlier than I wanted it to be, when last night I just thought 'I'll repack stuff up tomorrow morning'. Then tomorrow morning came, and I thought 'crap, I should have repacked that stuff last night'. Our cruise tour director is Matt. He seems friendly enough, even though our family throws his counts off every single time. We don't just put two people in a row. We've got some little ones, so sometimes there's three of us in a row. We thought we could turn it into a fun little game and hide Garrett every time he came around. Maybe tomorrow we'll try hiding him in the luggage compartment.
Our first stop was a Riverboat tour. They had free donuts, which I found super yummy. Plus, it was free- bonus! I was a bit skeptical of a 3 hour boat tour with the kids, but it was super entertaining. We got to see a sea plane demonstration. They lifted off, and landed right in the water beside us. Hayden thought this was the coolest thing ever. He said to me 'wait, it's a boat, or it's a plane?" It about blew his mind that it was both. Kind of like that time he discovered what a spork was. Then they took us farther down the river, and we stopped for a demonstration from some sled dogs. For these, they would stop the boat, and while you would stay on it, the people on land were hooked up to a sound system so you could hear them on the boat. We also got to see this crazy contraption they use up here to catch fish (kind of like a big circle wheel that scoops them out of the water), and a demonstration on how they cut and dry salmon. Eventually we ended up at a village where they showed us traditional Eskimo wear (yes, one of the stereotypical coats), and learned about how they were made, with the hides and fur and everything.

It was really rainy and cold today (which made me grateful it was an inside boat ride). When we got to the village, everyone got off the boat but me. I was the designated bag lady (hold your jokes people, I just sat on board and watched all the backpacks). But, Mom and Gwen waited in line to have the author of a children's book about sled dogs personalize and sign a book for the grandkids. Asa and the boys headed off to see the sled dogs. The boys (especially Hayden) are just fascinated with the sled dogs.

A couple of days ago my mom posted something on facebook about bringing my dads hat for one of the boys. It's nothing special, just a knit hat. When he wrote that, a friend of mine suggested we take pictures of the hat around Alaska. Light bulb moment: I then told my mom she should bring the moose I made out of my dads clothes, and we would document the moose's trip across Alaska. So, you'll probably be seeing more of the adventures of moose across Alaska. Here's him and mom at the river boat though. He's sporting a picture of both my dad and grandpa around his neck.

We took the bus over to downtown Fairbanks for lunch, where mom treated us all. Unfortunately, part of the con's of a cruise tour is that when one bus drops people off, there's a bunch more close behind. It makes for a VERY busy lunch time. Although, Matt assured us this is worse in Fairbanks than it would be anywhere else. While Mom, Cort, and Asa ordered lunch Holly and I took the kids across the street to a small park area. Gwen started jumping in puddles, and nobody really stopped her. Before I knew it all the kids were running through the giant puddles splashing water EVERYWHERE. They were soaked. Apparently, Asa sat horrified across the street in the sandwich shop thinking we were crazy letting the kids run through water, get totally soaked (including their shoes), and freeze their toes off, especially when we had a three hour bus tour ahead of us. When he addressed it, he couldn't believe we let them do it, mostly because he said if it were him he would have been in so much trouble. The funny part, that's totally accurate.

We also stopped briefly at the Alaska Pipe Line. While, the adults thought it was a neat little stop, I don't think the kids quite got it.
Cort: "We're going to go see the Pipeline'
Gwen: Look of confusion
Me: 'Whoo-hoo.. We're going to see PIPES!'
Gwen: Continued look of confusion

After that we headed out to Denali. I was glad we took that drive yesterday, because today it was so rainy, cloudy, and foggy that the views weren't nearly as good. The ride was bumpy and windy though, it got us thinking we should have stolen some air sick bags from the plane. Luckily, everyone kept their lunch in their tummies. Some of us were really rethinking that salmon chowder we had for lunch, though. We got to our hotel a little after 5, and have the evening on our own. The hotel is nice, log cabin style, and we all have balconies. Although some of us have better views then others. (Ha, ha-- clearly that translates into I got one of the good views).

Since we went out to lunch, I made PB and J for everyone for dinner. The kids got to eat out on the deck of mom's room. Apparently though, we were making so much noise, the kids running around and all, that the people below mom's room complained, and the hotel staff had to come up to tell us to quite down. Less than 24 hours together, and we already have a noise complaint. That's not a good sign.

After dinner, I took Hayden and Gwen out around the lodge to run off some steam. I took some pictures of them playing nicely together. I figure in a few days we can look at these pictures and reminisce about when the two of them still liked each other, and were getting along. We're already headed downhill on that one, anyway, as Hayden has purposed a 'No Gwen's Club'. Everyone else went out on a trail. They came back drenched and freezing, so I'm glad I didn't go. I have no idea how cold it is, but a hoodie and jeans aren't really cutting it today. I find myself longing for some Florida sunshine. They all had a good time though.

I do find myself completely forgetting about the time change. I've lost all track of day and time. This sunlight all the time thing really throws me off. It's 5 am, and it's light. It's 8 pm and it's light. It's 1 am and it's light. It's very strange. Thank god for blackout curtains, or I'd have some serious sleep deprivation. I have a fear that because of my complete incompetency when it comes to calendar date, I'm going to forget Peyton's birthday this week. Also, in case I forget, HAPPY HOUSE OWNING DAY, Justin!!!

So, as tonight's bonus feature lets talk random things I've seen in Alaska. Their signs are really strange. We've seen 'Rocks', and 'End'. Apparently no need for words such as 'falling' or 'dead'. Just, there's some random rocks. And here's the end. Also, extremely random: a couch, with a bunch of stuffed animals sitting on the side of a cliff. Not to be forgotten, the taxidermy signs, coupled with something really weird. Like a bar, or a cafe. Really? Taxidermy cafes? Yum-my, I am suddenly famished. Then, we're driving through a town, except it's not a town. It's two buildings, off in the middle of nowhere. And these buildings are a funeral home, and a medical clinic. I'd be skeptical of any medical clinic next door to a funeral home, but this just seemed very random to me. Also, the size of some of these house is ridiculous. They're smaller than my bathroom! Today, I found a sign that said 'Canada my Ass, Its Alaska's Gas'. Oh, Alaska. you're so not the rest of America.

Also, filed in the today I learned category: 1 out of 10 earthquakes world wide occur in Alaska. I learned this fact, however, painted on the wall of a place called the fudge pot. Which, makes it only slightly less reliable than Wikipedia.

Lets total up the count today.
Members of our party: Still 12. We haven't gone all 'home alone' yet.
Moose: Still just the blurry car moose. Really? Did you think there would be more? Sattlers apparently are natural moose replant.
Curling Clubs: One, but seriously, I was intrigued.
Internet Access: .5 (yes, as in 1/2) It's really spotty at best. Lets cross our fingers and hope I can post this one. I guess I won't be able to post pictures with this one tonight. This internet is SLOW.

Next Up: Denali National Park

Day 3- A Flock of Moosen

Today we drove from Anchorage to Fairbanks and saw all the things in between. The ultimate goal of the day was to see a moose in the wild, but we'll get to that. We started out the day packing things up at our first hotel (which was an AWESOME place to stay, by the way) and heading out.

I planned to stop a lot along the way. I had posted on reddit (a great site for anyone who doesn't know it) how we were going to be doing the drive, and asked for advice. Alaskans answered, and gave some great detailed advice.

Our first stop was a Reindeer Farm in Palmer. It was about an hour drive from the hotel. I would say it was out in the middle of nowhere- but here, just about everything is 'out in the middle of nowhere'. The only way to distinguish is where you can get one cell phone bar, and where your phone goes into power saving mode because it hasn't had a signal in so long. The boys loved the reindeer farm. Filed in the 'today I learned' category: The only difference between caribou and reindeer are that reindeer are domesticated. Otherwise, they are the exact same animal. This is me now feeling even worse about that reindeer sausage I ate yesterday. We got to feed the elk long grass. They were really docile sweet animals, they weren't aggressive at all. Which was good considering Hayden and his refusal to understand the difference between long grass, and grass about as long as his fingers. Luckily, he left with all ten.

One of the coolest parts of the day for me was feeding and petting the Moose they had there. Keyna and Denali are the resident Moose, and they were also really friendly. Then we got to head out to feed the reindeer. It was like feeding the goats at the zoo, except way cooler because we were feeding REINDEER in ALASKA! The lady there knew all their names. Asa asked her who her favorite one was, and she said there was one in particular, Mary, who she had to bottle feed last year, and now when she comes out to see her she'll lay down in her lap and fall asleep.
After we were done in the pen with the reindeer, we had to scrape our shoes off on these grates they had, to dispose of any grossness you might have stepped in.

When we left the reindeer farm we headed for the Iditarod Headquarters in Wassilla. Just an fyi, I couldn't see Russia from there. We did get to see, pet and hold little puppies there, and the Iditarod trophy. Plus, we got to go dog sledding. The dogs were really anxious to run, and they were really fast.

For lunch we went to Talkeetna and took on a Man vs. Food Challenge. (Not actually a challenge, but he did go there). We had the Sewards Folly. Here's the discription from wikipedia: a 4 1/2-pound double-stacked burger made with Caribou meat (in the form of two 1-lb. patties) and topped with American and Swiss cheese, 12 slices of bacon, a pound of ham, "FatAss Sauce" (made with mayonnaise, horseradish, bacon, and balsamic vinaigrette), caramelized onions, lettuce and tomatoes, and served inside toasted sourdough bread. The burger is held together with a small Alaskan flag and served with a pound of fries. Yes, it was as absolutly massive and ridiculous as it seems. But, oh was it delicious. Even splitting it between the three of us (Calib, Asa, and me) in the battle of Man vs Food... Food won. But we were famous for a bit, everyone wanted to take a picture of the burger. We had like 5 tables get up to come see it and take a picture. Overall, Talkeetna was a cute little town, much more like I expected Alaska to be like. There wasn't any chain's or anything commercialized. It was cute, and quaint, and tiny. It was like Northern Exposure or something.

After Talkeetnea, we decided we had better get a move on, because we hadn't made it very far on our trip, and we had left Anchorage 6 and a half hours ago. We drove and drove, really hoping to see a Moose. We kept our eyes peeled, I offered $2 to anyone who spotted a Moose.

Here's how our conversations went:

Me: Is that a Moose?!?
Asa: No, it's a person.

Calib: Is that a Moose?!?!?
Asa: No, that's a log

Me: Is that a Moose?!??
Asa: No, that's an empty barrel

Peyton: Is that a flock of Moosen?
Hayden: Peyton, you know were not allowed to joke about seeing moose.

At least the scenery on the drive was amazing. There are mountains everywhere, big gorgeous green mountains. We stopped at a few overlooks to take pictures, and I took a lot from the car. The farther we drove the more frustrated I got that I hadn't seen a Moose. Everyone we talked to in Anchorage was like 'Oh, you'll see Moose, of course you will. I see them all the time'. The guy who took me to pick up the rental car was talking about how he saw a Mom and a baby Moose out by the airport just yesterday. Another girl talked about how she saw one downtown. DOWNTOWN! How hard could it possibly be to see a Moose?

Eventually we stopped at this really pretty picture spot. A nice lady with some dogs stopped to take our picture for us. We asked her about seeing Moose. She looked at us confused. We said we had been looking in valleys and out by rivers, streams, and ponds. She continued to look at us weird. So we said 'where do you usually see them?' She says 'On the side of the road'. *Sigh* So everyone see's Moose all the time, and we couldn't find one. They're like pushing shopping carts at walmart, and I can't track one down. She was shocked we hadn't seen one yet, and said we probably would.

So we keep driving and then..

Me: "Whats that?!? IT'S A MOOSE! IT'S A MOOSE!'

Asa: slams on breaks

First of all, my eagle eye vision, who I'll admit, failed me a few times today (with the barrel and the lady on the side of the road), had not completely let me down.

I was in such shock, it took me a second to grab my camera, but as I was doing so, Asa slowed down the car. This frightened the Moose and he began to cross the road right in front of our car! But then, a car flew up behind us, passing us, and narowally missing the Moose, sending him running faster into the forrest. I snapped a picture as fast as I could. But, I wasn't fast enough, he was gone. This is the picture. I'm not deleting it because I know a Moose should have been in that picture.

Asa was convinced he could still get a picture, so he got out of the car and crossed the road, but the moose was no where to be found. Plus, at his point the boys were terrified a bear or something was going to come eat Asa, so he got back in the car. And now I wonder. Am I going to be the new Rudy Sattler? This whole moose obsession started when he saw a moose, and couldn't get a picture. Now look at me. I'm posting blurry pictures of a road, and a car who swerved out in front of us. Here's hoping that isn't the last Alaskan Moose I see.

All in all, it took us about 11 hours to get to the hotel here in Fairbanks. Clint, Jess and Mom got here earlier this afternoon and were all settled in when we got here. I met Cort, Holly, Gwen and Garrett at the airport when I returned our rental car (my airport count is now up to three). Cort's rubbing all our noses in the fact that he's now his 50 states, and were all at 49. He even had a shirt printed, that nerd.

Here's a recap of todays events:

Moose sightings (wild): 1
Moose pictures (wild): None

Next Stop: Downtown Fairbanks, and back to Denali national park. Where, of course, we hope to see a (wild) moose.

Day 2- I ate reindeer today. I feel as though I will never get a present from Santa again.

We made it. We're actually in Anchorage, Alaska! We are a lonnnnnnng way from home.

Official travel time from our front door, to our hotel room: 23 hours and 20 minutes. (Nearly 25 hours of being awake-ick)

By the time we were in baggage claim in Anchorage, it was 4 am our time. Hayden was laying face down on the floor in front of the baggage carousel, and I just didn't have the heart to move him, despite how dirty I'm sure the floor was. However, we never had a single melt down. For as much trouble as some kids had given me the last two weeks, they sure made it up with the trip out here. I wouldn't have blamed any of them if they had a full on screaming, rolling around on the floor, total embarrassing fit. I would have just said 'welp, they're (insert age here, it really doesn't matter), and they've been traveling forever. How much can you really expect'. It was some kind of amazing feat, though, really.

It never got dark yesterday. The sun was setting as we finally left Phoenix, but we kept moving with the sun set, and by the time we got to Alaska at midnight it was lighter here than when we left Phoenix. It didn't really help the 28 hours that was June 25th feel any shorter. We were really lucky though, it wasn't really cloudy or overcast at all, and we were able to see all the scenery flying in. The mountains are awesome, the grass is so green, and they have GORGEOUS flowers here.

The good part about the disaster that was yesterday was we slept really well once we finally got here, and because it was so late our time, we've found ourselves totally time adjusted. I'm really surprised how easy it was. We got up around 9 Anchorage time, and had an awesome breakfast at our hotel, even awesome-er was that it was totally free. I had waffles with some kind of amazing berry topping. Yum.

In the lobby there's all these stuffed bears and a moose head. One of the bears has been turned into a rug, this has fasignated Hayden. He said 'whoa, look at this. It used to be a real bear! And now it's a rug!'


We walked around downtown for a bit this morning. It's really touristy down there, lots of gift shops and places to eat. For all of you know my families near obession with Moose, I don't even have to be on the look-out for Moose things. They are EVERYWHERE! I found myself only taking a picture of some of them, otherwise I would constantly be snapping pictures. Over by our hotel it's surprisingly just like any other place, there's an Applebees and a Friday's across the street, and a walmart down the road. I guess I expected a little more uniqueness. I'm assuming we'll find that other places?

On Saturdays and Sundays, they have a downtown market. There's lots of vendors, and homemade goods. I found some buttons made out of caribou antlers. I'm not sure what I am going to use them for yet, but it seemed super cool, so I'm sure I can find something to do with them. I also got a guitar pick made from conch shell. The boys each got a little trinket, and Asa got some coffee, and some salmon and reindeer jerky (that he has not tried yet). They also had street performers (some really awesome violinists), and sidewalk chalk for the kids, so we all wrote on the sidewalk.

We also got a reindeer sausage. It was served just like a bratwerst would be. I didn't taste that much of a difference between any other sausage type meat like that. Asa said he definitely could tell. Peyton refused to try it, but Hayden and Calib did. We didn't tell Hayden it was reindeer though, I think it would scar him for life if he thought we were eating Rudolph or someone.

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Downtown is very pretty. It seems super green to me, maybe that's because it's summer in Florida and the grass is dying everywhere. The flowers are very unique and colorful. A lot of them seem really tropical almost. It's right on the water, and the mountains off in the distance seem absolutly huge. It was a beautiful day out, about 60 degrees and sunshiney. I was so happy to wear jeans and my hair down, since it wasn't 100 degrees outside.

The people here are SO friendly. To give you an example of the drastically different cultures when it comes to this:

Here's Florida: Oh, Stupid Tourists, I can't wait till they go back up north".

And Alaska: 'Oh, Welcome, Welcome, let me teach you some interesting facts and give you some free things. Is this your first time visiting? We hope it's not your last! Hope you have a wonderful trip!'

The picture is of us at the visitors center downtown. It's a log cabin with grass growing on the roof. Very cool. And the ladies there were awesome- Did you know it takes 10 Florida's to equal 1 Alaska? They even gave the boys some cute moose buttons.

This isn't just a few people either, it's everyone, everywhere you go. I love Alaskans. They are some awesome people.

I really wanted to walk around downtown more, and take the free trolley out to ship creek (I think that's what it's called) but the boys are a little more restless today. Since we'll be back in Anchorage as part of the cruise tour we decided to come back to the hotel.

Our hotel has an indoor pool. When we walked into the pool area, the guy told us the pool was 'so warm today'. Let me tell you, warm is a REALLY subjective term. I'm pretty sure the hot tub was about as warm as our pool at home. The boys, however, swam until their lips were blue. We just did some other lazy things, and watched a movie. Our hotel has a kitchen, so we got some things at the store downtown and are letting the boys unwind. I'm off to get our rental car tonight (we've been using the free shuttle to get around), and tomorrow we're off to explore.

Next Stop: Lots of cool places, en route to Fairbanks. Where we get to see Gwen and Garret! And, everyone else too.

June 25th- The Day that never ends

This is the current scene at the Phoenix Airport. We got up a little before 5 this morning to get things set at the house and get to the airport for our 7:30 flight.

When we got to the airport, we found US airways had not given us seats together like they said. We were all scattered throughout the plane- while that would be awesome not to have to sit next to the kids, I highly doubt the lady in 5F would appreciate sitting by an unaccompanied 5 year old. The lady at the counter said they would switch it for us when we were at the gate. That lady there seemed less than thrilled helping us. Grrr! Eventually, they got two, two, and one. Some very nice lady switched with Calib though. I sure hope she didn't pay for her window seat, she ended up in the middle of two rather large individuals. I hope karma treats her well- it was very nice of her.

When we got to Phoenix we realized they didn't check our bags all the way through because of our long connection. We complained about having to go to baggage claim, and re check in. But, I mean, hey, cool vacation to Alaska, lets not complain about a little added hassle. This 'little hassel' turned out to be a big one though. When we went to check in, they were missing Calib. They seemed skeptical if I even booked him. Which is a bit ludicrous, since I did book the flight all the way through to Anchorage, not in sections. They eventually got it straightened out, so good news: no kid is getting left in Phoenix. I mean, if I had to pick to leave a kid in Phoenix, it wouldn't be Calib, anyway. After all this they didn't have us seated together AGAIN. Plus they wanted to charge me baggage fees again. I pulled a lady all upset, as if my viewers came out looking like my family had no teeth (thats a Sneak Peeks nod for anyone who isn't familiar). I complained enough- pretty much refused to pay the baggage fee again, and they didn't make me. I did get a stern talking to about reading the fine print online. Really? Justin just bought a house and I guarantee he didn't read the fine print, why am I expected to in booking a flight. Ugh.


We did have a nice day in Phoenix though. Amanda (one of my best friends) and her family came to get us from the airport. They showed us around a bit, we ate lunch, we went out to the Cardnials stadium (I'm one stadium closer to my goal of seeing all the stadiums), and we took our picture in front of a giant cactus. We did have one forgetful moment, and left Haydens booster seat in the car, so Amanda so generously went to get us one, and brought it to us. Way to save the day on that one Amanda. I was so prepared, I'm almost ashamed to admit I forget something. Even worse, I had a note in my pocket NOT to forget the booster seat. Can't win 'em all. Then we went out to an early dinner (though it was lunch for everyone else because of the time change) with Don, Barb, Philip and my Aunt Karen. It was really nice to visit with them for awhile, then they dropped us back off at the airport.

This should have been the end of the blog. Unfortunatly, since there's no wifi in the air on US Airways, you know by now, this is not the end of the story. We got to the gate, boarded the plane, and then sat.. and sat... and sat. First, we were waiting on a conecting flight. Then we were waiting on some air vent to be fixed. But, apparently while said air vent was being fixed, they had to cut the air to the plane, which meant de-boarding the plane, since it's somewhere around 112 degrees here (which, by the way doesn't feel as hot without the humidity). So, they told us to leave our carry on's on the plane. A little while later, they told us to go back and retrieve our carry on's, as we had to change planes. Ok, so we did, went to the new gate. End of story right? Obviously not, or I still wouldn't be here blogging about it on the floor of the Phoenix airport. THEN our pilot had a family emergency, and had to leave. We are now waiting on a new pilot, which will take up to two hours.

Now, all this wouldn't be so bad if the travel time (from stepping on the plane in Tampa to off the plane in Anchorage) wasn't already 17 hours. They just told us they are going to try and board at 7:15, leave by 7:45 or so. This will hopefully put us in Anchorage at midnight ANCHORAGE TIME. Which, makes it 4 am our time when we are grabbing our luggage in Anchorage. Then, hopefully we will be off to the hotel, and the rest of our trip will go WAY better than this part. I'm hoping to be asleep before I hit the 24 hour mark of being awake.

Here's the good news:
I paid for the ticket, EVENTUALLY I have to get to Anchorage.

Meltdown Count: ZERO (I know, you're as shocked as I am)

About to Meltdown Count: FIVE

Lesson of the day: Never fly US Airways again

Dear Bears, and Chickens, and Things

We are nearly all packed up and ready to go. Someone told me I should make a blog documenting our adventures in Alaska, and a couple people concurred, so here we are. Just under 24 hours until we'll be on our plane. Unfortunately, the travel time is then 17 hours. Send your prayers/good thoughts/whatever it is that you do, that we make it there without too many melt downs!


Some funny thoughts from the boys on Alaska:

Hayden: Oh my gosh... are we going to see BEARS?!?!!? (makes frightened face)
Calib: Yes Hayden, lots of them. In the wild. Where they like to eat people. Especially 5 year olds
(Hayden trembles)
Me: Yes, we will see bears, but they will not eat you.
...Peyton: Cuz we'll feed them Gwen and run! AHHHHHH!
Calib: wait, there's really REAL BEARS RUNNING WILD?!? (Calib makes frightened face)

After totaling up the boys vacation funds:
Calib (to Hayden): I like to save my money. I just pretend I don't have any, so I don't spend it. Hayden:"I don't, I just like to spend it and get more later"

Peyton: Are we going to see penguins in Alaska.
Me: No, there's no penguins in Alaska.
Hayden: Duh Peyton, Penguins live in Madagascar. And the New York Zoo.

While trying on pants for Alaska (Mind you, Hayden has been wearing shorts for a good 5 months):
Hayden: There's something wrong with these shorts. They're really long.

That's all.

Next Stop: Phoenix Arizona en route to Anchorage Alaska