Alaskans Now?

 As we've walked this path of moving to Alaska, I have found myself asking myself from time to time, "Can we call ourselves Alaskans now?"

Of course, not yet... but moving to a new place, we don't know what we don't know.  So, what traces must we navigate before we can claim this as our home?

We drove the Alcan highway... are we Alaskans now?

We've seen a moose in our neighborhood, just down the street.. are we Alaskans now?

We've caught halibut and cooked it for dinner... are we Alaskans now?

Ten Hours

Monday, we had about ten hours at Grammie and Papa before we had to hop back in the car... and our kiddos made the most of that time.

We'll be back there later this week, but our kiddos sure know how to have fun in Michigan at Grammie and Papa's, even if its just for a day.

Valuable Time

 Given how much work Hubby and I returned to, I have to remember how valuable our trip was (and it was!)

Fish in Michigan

 When we were in Michigan, our kids fished like CRAZY!

They fished off my parents' dock any minute we were home, and they caught dozens of fish.  Hunter and Lee Lee both caught their first fishes of their lives!

Also, Hubby and Howard had a chance to fish on Lake Michigan with friends and they caught some big salmon.

What fun!

Camping Day 1

We spent three nights and two days cabin camping in Grand Mesa National Forest and we had such a great time.

I took a TON of pictures and I will only share some of the best... but there are still so many, I'm going to break it up into two parts.

Camping Night 1 and Day 1

As we were unloading the vehicles, Lee Lee wasted no time making herself at home... and making a mess by the firepit.

First breakfast

Howard peering out the window by his and Caroline's beds

A glimpse of the upstairs -- Tracey and Lee Lee slept closest to the stairs, and then Howard and Caroline slept through the door way.

We found a great fishing spot and the kids waded while we waited for Daddy who was getting day passes for our vehicles.

Fishing time

Can you see here that Caroline is holding a long worm?  She's also showing me her dirty hand and asking where she can wash her hands.  She usually puts her own worm on the hook.

Howard caught several fish and kept fishing longer than the girls.

Hunter and Lloyd were happy to watch.

After Tracey caught two fish, and Caroline had about a dozen fish nibble on her bait but couldn't catch one, the girls wanted a snack in the car and then they changed into swimming gear.

That's me with Lee Lee on my shoulders and Hunter in the stroller.

We ran into one of the kids' favorite baby-sitters who was camping with her family and they had two paddle boards they had on the lake.  The kids were THRILLED that the baby-sitter and her mother offered to take the kids on rides on the lake.

Howard with the stringer of 11 fish -- Hubby tried to take a picture of Howard holding the stringer, but it was too heavy and kept hurting his fingers.

Playing with MagneTiles upstairs before dinner.

Hubby cleaning the fish and teaching Tracey and Caroline about the parts of a fish -- Howard fell asleep after an exciting day fishing and had to be awakened for dinner.

Playing "Headbands"

Hunter's dinner

Fish and asparagus on the grill and watermelon.

The fish were cooked with skin and bones so the kids had the experience of peeling the skin off and pulling the meat away from the bones before eating it -- Caroline did better with that than anyone else.

Chewing on some asparagus

Roasting marshmallows after dinner

Believe it or not, the store had no graham crackers when I shopped for our camping trip... so I decided that striped fudge cookies would work as a substitute.  The kids had the choice of striped fudge cookies or ginger snap cookies to make s'mores.

 

Cozy after a shower.