Alaska Trip June-July 2010

I'm afraid this is the post.  This is the whole reason I have not been blogging.  I have been extremely overwhelmed with how to approach documenting a 13 day vacation with at least 2,000 pictures to cipher through.  Yes, that number is not an exaggeration, we took about 1,600 ourselves, and with the pictures from my sister-in-law, it's quite a bundle!  We didn't have this many pictures of our Europe 1 month vacation (probably due to having to buy film), but this is quite the hall and feel free to to hurry through or skip!

Here we are packing for our BIG trip!!!  I think the kids look a bit excited, don't you?

The very exciting airplane ride.  I was just so grateful that the first longer leg we got to watch movies/shows.  Now while some of these shots may look foggy, it is mainly due to the dirtiness of the airplane window...just so you know...

So what should we do while some people have to be at work (so sad for them...), we go to the park!  Although we didn't have that much time to kill, lucky for us, Kordel's sister (Janell) only had to work part time and Troy (her hubby) had a real flexible schedule too.  It was soooo spoiling!

Well, next it was time to break the Braley's in on the normal adventures of hiking.  I think the kids did fairly well.  Corinne could walk most of the time, and everyone was willing to help carry the little ones.  It's so handy having teenagers around, I must say.   Might have to have me some of those one day.  Corinne's favorite part of hiking was picking all the wild flowers along the way.  This hike took us through a beautiful meadow and ended at the ocean. 

 Enough of Valdez for now, time for a break to go to the cabin.  Hopefully a little sunshine, 4 wheeling, yummy food, campfires, kids playing in the dirt, and of course, more hiking!  Please don't notice too much that Kordel and I are always wearing the same clothes.  Our suitcase didn't make it for yet a few more days at this point, so we had very limited wear!

After a fun long weekend at the cabin, it's back to Valdez.  Not that that could be boring!  Hiking, Rafting, going on Bear hunts in the Van, movies on their projector, out to dinner, shopping, museum, and more!

 

The Adamson family so nicely entertained my children for a whole day so that Kordel and I could go on a cruise to see a Glacier and icebergs.  The bonus that we weren't expecting was all the wonderful wildlife we got to see too!

What the kids do while Mommy and Daddy are away.

RIVER RAFTING!!! OH BOY!!!

Between driving to and from the cabin, going on Bear Hunts, and the long drive to Anchorage (so we could fly home), we got to spend a lot of time in the van.  Here's some fun moments.

Not that we're homeward bound yet!  We still did a lot of fun things!
Now it's pretty hard to go somewhere and not go to a museum.  Kordel and I love museums AND it was a great opportunity to learn the history of Valdez and more about the spill and their big earthquake.  It was a must see!

The crazy Adamson's are not always playing, they also work alot too!  We tried to help, Corinne even got on the roof to clean the solar panel, and Kordel had a blast helping pull out tree stumps and burning them.  Shane took it upon himself to explore everything.

After leaving Valdez for the last time to head to the cabin, we of course needed to go on another hike so the kids could see a glacier up close.  It was so fun and beautiful!

We had to have some time enjoying the machines.  Kordel and I both at least tried dirt bikes, and we all had fun four-wheeling some more.  My nephews were more than happy to "show me their best stuff" so that I could get a picture.  Doesn't quite do them justice I'm afraid...

We went on a scenic drive to check out where the natives fish.  It's amazing how much fish Alaska has, you may notice, no pole, just stand in the water with a net in a good spot and fish.  The birds also are aware of the abundance of fish....I feared for my hair and having poop all over my head! 

We had the pleasure of spending the 4th of July holiday at the cabin.  It was quite the experience lighting fireworks in full daylight.  (It may look like the middle of the day, but I promise it was night time and well after dinner)!  Shane absolutely adored the fireworks.  The more they smoked and the higher the scream it made, the happier he was.  He's quite good at imitating a firework sound.  Corinne got to help a little and was quite excited and proud of herself.

Some final fun shots of us at the cabin.  I know this may sound shocking, but our trip was finally nearing it's close.  (is anyone still reading this?)

We began our long drive to Anchorage. The kids did great, and we were able to stop and help everyone move around a bit with another hike.  Shane finally was able to walk the whole way.  The kids were pretty good hiking pros by now.  

We finally made it to Anchorage and were lucky enough to spot a Moose!  What a wonderful trip and we got to end it by spending a day with my good friend Ann Reed.  She was such a good friend in college that I worked with at Catering and really helped inspire me and fill out the application for the dietetic program.  She was so sweet to offer her home to our whole family.  Her cute little boy Kai was fun for Shane and Corinne to play with and her little girl was adorable.  They took us to the beach, made foil dinners for us, saw a mommy and baby moose on the drive, and had so much fun talking, reminiscing, and looking through her German cook books.  It was so much fun!  We just feel so blessed to have wonderful friends and wonderful family to be able to visit and vacation with!  So early in the morning with very tired children, we headed to the airport and made our trip home!

So did you read this whole thing?  Kordel thinks I need a give away if you made it this far, but I don't know what to give away.  So you get a big  CONGRATULATIONS!  You made it through 27 collages and who knows how many pictures and my rambling!