Why Not Tri Sprint Triathlon

 On June 16th I swam, Biked, and ran in the Why Not Tri? Sprint triathlon. I had great intentions of doing lots of training when I first decided to participate in this race....only with 3 small kids and a pilot for a husband...I basically just kind of exercised when I could....but I finished the race and had a blast while doing it!

Nancy Lake Camping Trip

We had our first camping trip of the year last week and headed to Nancy Lake, which is only about 40 minutes NW of here. There is a canoe trail called the Lynx Loop...and it involves some crazy portaging! We made it about 3 lakes in with the kids...it was so fun! Bella was hilarious on the canoe! I was honestly pretty sceptical about canoeing with her this year, but she proved me wrong! She was awesome and stood at the front of the canoe pointing at and shouting all that she saw. 

We passed several beaver huts along the canoe trail. We floating outside this one for a while and were treated to a beaver popping out of the hut and swimming right under the canoe! The boys loved it...so did Brian and I...

Summer Outings

It is starting to feel like summer around here...well, kind of! We are still sporting coats...rain coats that is! This time last summer it was 70 degrees!! Yes, that's right last year....we have lived in Alaska for one year already. I can hardly believe it!  We have hit the ground running this summer season. Our homeschooling year has come to an end and we get out on adventures ever chance we get! Here are some pictures of the kids an I (and Bailey) hiking an area called the Butte.

 Here is a recent hike we did to Thunderbird Falls

We went out boating with some friends a couple of weeks ago...here we are hanging out on a bank on the Little Su. The kids had a blast playing in the mud along the bank, catching minnows and an assortment of other little critters. It was so fun getting to spend time with other families...usually the men are working and us women get together, so this was a fun day!

This picture of Bristol cracks me up! Our little wild man :)

Nanna and Pappa in Alaska

We had so much fun with my parents when they came to visit!

Here is our day at the zoo.

 .

Bella walked the whole zoo...she is getting so big!

The kids loved spending time with and playing with their Nanna and Pappa!

We spent a day in Talkeetna and did a jet boat ride. It was really fun to be out in the water and see some of Denali!



The Boys Flying

 The boys got to go on their first flight in a little airplane today. It was the talk at dinner tonight! They were so excited to go up and down and back and forth! They even got to fly over the house...I was waving like a crazy women off the back porch=) A friend of ours was nice enough to take the kids up!

 Bristol and Bella have been little buddies lately, or partners in crime, whatever you want to call it.Here they are playing with the counting bears very nicely...this was right before the bears got scattered all over the floor.

Bella

Isabella has been pretty hard to keep tabs on lately! She is climbing on everything and into everything! She is also super sweet and loves to follow us around and "help"...she is also starting to talk and has Mom, Dad, Dog, yes, Uh oh, and maybe some other words too...but these are what come to mind!

Bristol is 4!

 Bristol has his 4th birthday last week! We had to start off the day with our tradition of birthday donuts....this has become something that we all look forward to! Bristol was so sweet all day he just kept saying, "Thank you for my birthday Mommy!"

 We had some friends over for lunch and a party in the afternoon. It was so fun seeing all of the kids running around and playing...the weather has been really nice and warming up, so we were able to spend a lot of time riding bikes outside.

 The boys helped me make a pinata...I was worried it wouldn't last one hit, but it did pretty well. All of the kids were able to have a few whacks at it! Brian made a wooden pirate sword to do the whacking with!

Bristol loved playing with all of the "big Boy" Lego's he got for his birthday! He also spent a long time doing some of his new puzzles. He will sit until he figures them out! He can now do a 68 piece puzzle by himself and loves to put together 100 piece puzzles with help. He has also recently taken up bike riding...and peddling. He wouldn't peddle at all last summer he just scooted along...it must be because he is 4 now!