Alaska Part III

A typical Alaskan city nestled up against a lush green mountain.

And a typical Alaskan dog, quite lushy and fluffy himself. Oh how Brenna would have loved to pet him.

These guys were checking out the sites as well.

Enjoying the gorgeous weather. I love blue skies with white clouds.

Totem Pole Park.

There's our Disney friends. This is the Disney Wonder ship that we cruised on earlier in the year down in Mexico. I LOVE that ship.

Outfitted for Pacific Ocean kayaking.

My view from the front, I think Robert did most of the work from the back.

A little seal friend. We saw lots of them, but it was hard to have the camera pulled out of the kayak and ready when they popped their heads up. It reminded me of a game of Wac-A-Mole.

You totally have to click on this picture to make it bigger. We saw tons of bald eagles throughout the trip, but this one was totally 'ripped'.

More Alaska

Alaskan Glaciers

The Alaskan Glaciers were amazing. This is something that I've seem so many times on PBS/National Geographics, but the experience is more than can be duplicated through media means. The anticipation as ice particles and formations start to appear in the water. Followed by the grandeur of the sights and hollowing echo of the sounds. It is an all-encompassing beauty that surrounds you.

And the seals, oh the cute seals. I knew the girls would love this one.

Glass Train Ride

From Anchorage, we boarded a glass-top train for a 4 hour ride to Seaward, where we would board our cruise ship.
The views from the train were amazing.

Alaska is a beautiful land - green, lushy, full of wildlife and water falls. It was great to be able to expereince by rail as well as ship.

Anchorage

It's been a 'Twlight Zone' type of day.
I got the 3 younger girls situated into their first day of school, tried to fill out as much gooble-gooblish paperwork for them as I could, packed my suitcase (that is without UN-packing my Newport/Arizona suitcases) and boarded a plane to Anchorage, Alaska with Robert. We made it to Seattle with no problems, and WE made it to Anchorage with no problems, but neither my suitcase or our bathroom bag carry-on, which had to be gate checked due to the small aircraft we were traveling on, made it. It was after midnight by the time we landed, but bright as day outside. The airline offered us a small travel bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, soap, and a school-picture day type black comb inside. It was late, I was tired, it was broad daylight outside, and I was headed on an 8 days cruise with nothing but the clothes on my back. At that moment, the whole ordeal was kinda surreal.

Then, the first view inside our hotel lobby.. .. I guess the 'bears' welcome you to Alaska. Still surreal.

After a few prayers, and a realization that there could be far worse things than not having luggage, we called it a night; but not before witnessing an amazing sunset in the wee hours of the morning. It was beautiful and reminiscent of our Savior and His creations. But thankfully, due to very dark curtains, we did not witness the possibly amazing sunrise that took place just an hour and a half later.

By the next morning, our prayers had been answered and our luggage delivered to our rooms. A very big THANK YOU to those who helped in those efforts. We were able to get a run on a beautiful trail along the coast before packing up (atleast we had something to pack) for our next adventure. We had hoped to make it to the Anchorage Temple, but didn't have time.

We did have time to get a reindeer sausage, but we passed. We weren't feeling that adventurous after just a few hours of sleep.

We did find this full-size moose stuffed animal. It was only $8,000, but how would we get it home?where would we put it? yeah, just wasn't meant to be. Sorry girls.

1st day of School

It's Back to School time already. Those 3 weeks go by really quick. We made it home from our Newport Beach/Arizona trip on Monday afternoon and the younger 3 girls started school Tuesday morning.

Lindsay our 5th grader.

Emily our 3rd grader.

These 2 are best of friends and it is comforting to send them off together.

As for me, I just can't believe how fast they are growing up.

Brenna also had a 'Back to School' morning for Kindergarten, though she didn't go at the same time as the other girls. Here she is working away on her worksheet. Our baby is in Kindergarten. If she weren't sooooo very ready to move on to new experiences and challenges, I might  be sad, but I am happy to see her progress and blossom. I will adjust to being home by myself for awhile.

Nathan's Farewell

We have always known that Nathan would serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we just didn't know the time would come so quickly. He was sucking on a pacifier at our wedding, and he is now 19 years old, and will spend the next two years of his life serving and teaching the people of Mexico City about our Savior Jesus Christ.

We were so glad to have Jeannette, my Grandpa Shields wife, come out from Fallbrook for the farewell. We do not get to see her much, but loved visiting with her again.

Brenna was happy to see her again too.

Our final goodbye's as we had to head back after Sacrament Meeting

Elder Holt will be a great missionary and we are so proud of him.