I'm sure I have mentioned before that I'm not really a huge fan of Sam's Club or Ryan working there. I'm grateful that he has the job and he has coworkers that he has fun with, but the management isn't that great and Walmart doesn't really care all that much about it's employees. However, one perk that I DO love is that when we have a baby, Ryan gets 6 weeks of paid paternity leave! and he doesn't have to take it when the baby is born, it just has to be within that year. Because of that, we were able to take an amazing trip this summer to spend a whole month in Alaska with Ryan's aunt and uncle and their kids!
Ryan's wants to settle in Alaska, which isn't going to happen because I'm a southern girl and Alaska is too cold and too dark and too far away from the rest of the United States, but I've always wanted to go for a trip there in the Summer and since he can't live there he should at least get to visit. So, we did!
Ryan's cousins live near Anchorage, Alaska on a beautiful piece of property with lots of trees, a beautiful view of some mountains, and a big garden with LOTS of raspberries (which Rose was thrilled about!)
A lot can happen in a month so there is no way I'll ever be able to write about everything. But some of the highlights were:
- Getting to know Ryan's cousins better and spend so much time with them. Their youngest is the same age as Rose and they had so much fun playing together. Rose calls him Tayswon (It's Taysom) and he called her "Hose". They were the cutest little duo to watch all month and we are all sad that we don't live closer for them to play together all the time.
- Hiking! There's this place nearby called Hatcher's Pass and it's just so so so beautiful. I would not be upset if I had a Hatcher's Pass nearby to go hiking in all the time.
- We went boating once and I got up on a wakeboard for the first time in 5 years! And Ryan did too! We were both feeling very proud of ourselves....and super duper sore for the next week. So, I probably won't be doing it again any time soon. But I proved that I could!
- We took a trip to Seward, AK one weekend. We went on a boat tour where we saw some sea lions, one whale (who was shy and just blew some water but didn't come very far out of the water) and some eagles. I did see an otter in the water while we were driving later though! We spent the night camping and I was nervous that the girls wouldn't sleep at all, but Lucy slept great and Rose did sleep, but she didn't stay in her sleeping bag. So, Ryan put her in his sleeping bag with him and he didn't sleep very well. We also went to a sea life museum while there and had some yummy sea food for lunch.
- Another weekend we drove to Denali. I didn't see any bears or moose, but I did see one Caribou through the trees. We went on a hike that was a little exhausting (almost all of the hikes we went on I carried Rose on my back and my camera and Ryan carried Lucy on his front with the diaper bag on his back. We are weak. haha I felt pregnant all over again!) But the view was beautiful. (I'm planning on doing separate blog posts for the weekend trips to Seward and Denali so I don't end up with a blog post that is a mile long with pictures. So, I'll write more about Denali in that post.)
- The best part of the trip was just getting to spend so much time with Ryan for me and the girls. Normally he works so much and is so tired, but for a whole month we got to seem him throughout the day and go on fun trips with him and him and I were able to go on mini dates and hiking after the girls went to bed. It was just so nice to take a break from reality for a little while and enjoy being together as a family before going back to real life where there are lots of bills to pay and health insurances to call. I
Below are a bunch of pictures that I took with my phone (and some that I took with my camera) while in Alaska. But follow these links to see more specific pictures: Boat Tour and Camping in Seward, Hatcher's Pass Hike and Lake, Another Hatcher's Pass Hike with a Beaver, Back to school party, Denali
