Day Ten

Feeding the ducks one last time before we had to go.

Michael and I after we did sealings.


Kayleigh enjoying cookies and milk before heading to bed for a few hours.

All our stuff.

Me and my bro.

Matching shirts.

The flight home, everyone was a little tired, considering it was 1:00 a.m.

The sun rise as we flew home.

On our last day in Alaska Michael and I were able to go to the temple and do sealings. Katerina watched Kayleigh for us, yet again, thanks. Once we got home from the temple we knew we needed to pack up. I dread packing up to head home. It's just no fun trying to get all that stuff to fit in the luggage again. I eventually got it all ready, though.

In the afternoon we took a few last pictures and let the girls play. For dinner we had pizza and cookies for dessert. We decided to put Kayleigh down to bed for a few hours before waking her up to go to the airport for our red-eye flight home.

While she slept we played more games with my brother and sister-in-law (something we did frequently at night once the girls were asleep). Around 11:00 John drove us to the airport. It took us a little while to get through security and by the time we had bathroom breaks it was time to board our plane. Once again, Kayleigh did great! She slept for 2 hours of the flight home, watched shows on the DVD player and ate some snacks.

As always, it was nice to come home. We felt like we'd been away for quite awhile. Thanks to all those who took care of our house while we were gone. Thanks to John, Katerina, Anna and Miriam for a nice trip in Alaska. I don't know if we'll ever make it back there so we are grateful for the opportunity we had to go.

Day Nine

Kayleigh wanted to pet the porcupine so bad!

She loved throwing rocks in the puddles.

Elk

Elk

Moose

Muskox

Reindeer

Kayleigh wanted to hold all the animals there, I told her she could hold this bear.

On our second to last day there we stayed quite busy. We headed out kind of early in the morning to drive an hour to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. We were glad we made the trip because the animals we got to see were pretty neat. Although the weather was overcast and a little rainy, it was still gorgeous.

We got to see elk, muskox, reindeer, bears, a bald eagle, owls, a porcupine, moose, and buffalo (from a distance). I was thrilled to see the eagle, since I really wanted to see one on this trip. Michael LOVED the bears that we got to see. There were three that we saw, a black bear, a brown bear, and a grizzly bear.

On the drive back we actually did see a bald eagle in the wild, too. Michael spotted it so we pulled over and got out the binoculars and sure enough, it was a bald eagle up in a tree. Also on our drive back we stopped at the Anchorage Temple. We would be going there the next day but we thought Kayleigh would like to see it as well so we stopped just for a few minutes.

For lunch that day we went to Gwennie's, a local place in Anchorage. It was pretty good. We got to try some reindeer sausage which was really good. After lunch we drove right into downtown Anchorage, did some souvenir shopping, took some pictures, then drove back "home" so my brother and sister-in-law could go to the temple. That night we watched all the girls and were pretty tired that night!

Day Eight

Ready for our walk to the park.

Hangin out in a tree!

I love this picture.

A sweet looking mushroom.

After getting ready for the day Michael and I thought it would be fun to go on a walk. By my brother's house there is a nice trail that we took. After about an hour we got off the trail and went to a park so that Kayleigh could play. With the weather changing to fall there, the walk was beautiful! The leaves are all changing color and it was a nice, cool day.

Kayleigh had a great time burning some energy on the playground. After we walked to Taco Bell for lunch, then headed back. Once my brother got home we all got in the car and headed to Thunderbird Falls. It's not too far from their house. It's about a mile hike in to the falls. The bummer about the day we went is that the observation deck was closed for renovation. So, we decided to still go and see what we could see. The trail ended, but we walked along the "shore" of the runoff of the falls and Michael and my brother walked further in to get pictures of the entire fall.

I thoroughly enjoyed the walk, it was so pretty! Kayleigh and Anna had a great time throwing rocks into the water. I would have liked to see the falls from the observation deck, but what we got to see was neat and it was nice to be out enjoying the day.

Day Seven

Kayleigh HAD to take my picture here in the car.

On Tuesday of our trip we headed onto the Elmendorf Air force Base in Alaska. There is a big indoor play place for kids and so we took all the girls to play. Kayleigh had a great time running around, going down slides, etc. Walking to and from the car we got to see a huge airplane flying VERY LOW on base. It was really cool! Seeing all the military people on base and women with their children (husbands deployed) makes me very proud of our country. I'm so grateful for those people that sacrifice so much for me.

For lunch we went to Wendy's and had some really crappy service, but we survived. It's crazy how everything is more expensive up there. No dollar menu at Wendy's and all the value meals were like eight dollars.

Once my brother got home that afternoon Katerina and I headed out to go shopping. We figured the guys could watch the kids and we could do some birthday shopping. Both of our birthdays were the following week. Normally we end up shipping something or sending money to each other so this year it was nice to be able to pick something out for each other that we wanted. We were gone for about 4-5 hours and it was nice. I ended up getting a hat and a necklace for my present and Katerina got a pair of new shoes. Happy Birthday to us!