Day Six

Kayleigh driving the boat.

Kayleigh by a puffin.
A puffin.

Seal

Sea Lion
Star Fish
Cute Kayleigh overlooking Seward, AK
It was kind of windy!
Anna, Kayleigh and Miriam watching the sea lion.
Jelly Fish
Kayleigh and Anna outside of the sea life center.

Me and Kayleigh (with her eyes closed, of course) overlooking the ocean in Seward, AK.

View from Exit Glacier.

Michael and myself on our mile hike up to Exit Glacier.

Exit Glacier

It was so blue, and dirty.

Exit Glacier from afar. It was so neat!

We headed into Seward on Day 6. It took us a little over 2 hours to get there with our stops on the way. Once there we went to the Alaska Sea Life Center. It was a very cool place! We got to see sea lions, a seal, puffins and other fish and birds. There was also a place where you could touch star fish, urchins, and anemones. They were in water that was 42 degrees, it was so cold! It was amazing to be able to touch them though. Some were sticky, while others were hard and rough. One of the highlights of this visit was the sea lions. The male one was amazing! They are so big and I can't believe how they can get around on land.

I also enjoyed the observation deck overlooking the ocean in Seward. It was kind of cold and rainy the day we went but it wasn't too bad. On our way back to Anchorage we stopped at Exit Glacier. Since 2 of the 3 girls were asleep in the car, Katerina said she would stay at the car while Michael and I hiked up to the glacier. (She has already hiked to it.) We were grateful that she would stay with the kids so we could see it. It is really neat because you can get pretty close to it. The hike is kind of steep in places and I wasn't sure how Kayleigh would have done. We were sad she didn't get to see it though, I think she would have liked it. It was so pretty! Glaciers are hard to explain unless you have seen them in person, it's truly amazing.

The day ended with us driving back to Eagle River. The kids were worn out from all the driving, but it was well worth it for what we got to see. Thanks, Katerina, for taking us there.

Dentist and Flu Shot

I thought I'd break the cycle of only posting Alaska posts today. Yesterday we had a busy day with doctors! In the morning I had a dental appointment at 8. I hated getting up that early to be ready and there by 8, but I survived. Thankfully, I don't have any cavities from what they could see. I didn't have x-rays since I am pregnant. The dentist did seem a little concerned with my permanent retainer on my top teeth. He said that my gums are receding away from it on the backs of my teeth. He said that once the baby is here I should consider having the retainer taken off and just doing a retainer at night. If too much gum recedes, my teeth won't be stable. I really don't want that and it's making me kind of worried, but I'll just have to worry about that after the baby I guess.

Later in the day I took Kayleigh to get her a flu shot. I was nervous, of course, but she did great. She didn't even cry! She just sat on my lap, they did it fast, then it was over and she got some stickers and a sucker. Of course that made her happy!

Next it was Kayleigh's turn to see the dentist. She didn't really need to be seen until she is 3, but with a new baby coming when she'll turn three I wanted to get it done before all that. When I called to make they appointment, usually they are booked out a month or two, they had two open appointments for the next day. So, figuring I might as well get it over with I took them.

Anyway, once again, Kayleigh did awesome! She layed right down in the chair, let them count her teeth (she has 20), clean them, floss them, and put fluoride on them. The hygienist was very impressed! She said for a 2 yr. old to do that well is great. Usually they can't do anything till they are 3 or 4. I had prepped Kayleigh by telling her all the things they would do and I think that helped. The hygienist was also very nice and talked to Kayleigh while she worked on her teeth. Kayleigh did have a hard time keeping her mouth open big enough though. The hygienist kept saying, show me an alligator mouth, and Kayleigh's eyes would get really big, but her mouth would stay the same, it was funny!

From what they could see she has good, strong teeth and no cavities. I was so happy! Success at the dentist, at least this time.

Day Five

We headed to church with my brother's family on Sunday. I always like being in a different ward. I think it's fun to see the different people and how the church is elsewhere. I guess the church is the same, it's the members that make it a little different. The chapel in their building was really small, so that was kind of funny. Also, it was Fast Sunday and the bishopric all wears the same tie on Fast Sunday. I thought that was a funny tradition they have.

Kayleigh did great and went right to nursery with Anna. Every time the door opened in Relief Society and Sunday School I was expecting it to be someone from the nursery with Kayleigh. That never happened though and she did just fine. I always worry way too much about how she'll be in different situations and she ends up doing just fine.

I enjoyed going to Sunday School and Relief Society since I haven't been in years. I've been in Primary for over 5 years now, which is fine, but it's nice to go to the other meetings, too.

Day Four

Kayleigh playing a game where she had to "fish" out a ducky and on the bottom was either an S M or L. On her's was an S so she got to pick out a small prize. She picked out a little frog, it's cute.

The huge cabbage.

146.5 lb. watermelon that has water in it, imagine that!

My brother's family had the idea to go to the Alaska State Fair and so we thought we'd tag along. Now, in Alaska, the state fair is a HUGE thing! My brother says it's because there isn't anything else to do. Either way, it was packed! We waited in line forever just to get a parking spot. I haven't been to a fair in Utah that's ever been so popular.

Once inside and Kayleigh saw the rides she got so excited! She loves anything with a carousel. Each ride was 3-4 bucks and I quickly decided that Lagoon is a great deal, 20 bucks for kids for the whole day! After doing a few rides and eating some pizza for lunch we headed to see the vegetables. The cabbage in the above picture broke the world record! It was huge! I liked seeing the watermelon, too. The best part about that watermelon is that I heard some lady walk by it and say, that must have a lot of water in it to weigh that much. Well, duh! It's a watermelon, they are full of water.

Kayleigh slept in her stroller for the vegetable part. We also walked through the bunnies and ducks. We ended the afternoon with some cotton candy for the drive home.

Day Three

Sorry, this is out of order, thank Blogger for that. Me and the boat.

Sea otters, or seals, not sure, they weren't ever really close to us.

Surprise Glacier

When we got this picture taken someone asked us if we were on our honeymoon, it was funny!

Sea lion

Michael with his lunch!

We stopped at a lookout point over Turnagain Arm on our way to the cruise.

This day was probably our favorite day, for sight seeing anyway. Michael and I did a Wilderness Explorer day Cruise out of Whittier, AK. Our route went through Prince William Sound. It was amazing, to say the least! I can't believe the wildlife and scenery we saw. The glaciers were so cool! We saw an eagle, a bear, a sea lion, lots of birds, sea otters, and on the drives to and from home we saw beluga whales and dall sheep.

To get to Whittier we took a bus that we caught in Anchorage (my brother dropped us off). The bus driver was really nice and he talked to us the whole ride. He spotted animals for us, told stories and history of AK. We got to go thru the one way tunnel into Whittier, which we thought was pretty neat.

Once in Whittier we boarded our ship, the Nunatak. The crew on the ship was also very nice. We would recommend their company to anyone. Our cruise was a 6 hour cruise with lunch (crab cakes) and a cookie. We saw many glaciers, but the main one we went right up to and even got to see some of it fall off was Surprise Glacier. I loved seeing the chunks of ice in the water. There were so many water falls coming off the mountains just from run off from the glaciers, they were very neat, too.

We had great weather for our day out on the water. When the boat was up to full speed it did get cold, with the wind, but we were prepared and were mostly warm.

Thanks to my sister-in-law, Katerina, who entertained Kayleigh for us that day so we could enjoy ourselves. She kept them busy with a bath, dishes, and going to a park on the Elmendorf Base. Kayleigh was pretty excited to see us when we got back, we had missed her, too.

It's going to be a...

BOY!

We found out today that come January we'll be welcoming a boy into our family. We are kind of shocked, as we all thought it would be another girl, but we are excited. Now we have our work cut out for us, lots of shopping to do!

Day Two

This is not the moose we were able to pet.

Kayleigh and Anna ready for the ride home.

We woke up ready to start seeing the sights, but Michael realized that he didn't bring a white dress shirt for church/temple so we began our day with a walk to Fred Meyer (very close to my brother's house). Here we found a shirt, among other stuff, and on the way home we stopped at a local duck pond so the girls could feed the ducks. They of course loved that! I like feeding ducks too, it seems they are always hungry.

Once my brother got home from work we headed in to Palmer where there is a reindeer farm. At the farm you can pet and feed the reindeer, pet a moose, see a buffalo (we couldn't pet or feed him) and there were also elk but we never made it over to them.

The reindeer were really neat! We learned that caribou and reindeer are basically the same thing. Reindeer are domesticated caribou. They are mostly called caribou in Alaska and Canada. Reindeer are pretty safe because they won't bite or kick. I really liked seeing them up close and personal and learning about them. Michael and Kayleigh had a great time feeding them, I took the pictures. Kayleigh would just squeal as they would eat off her palm because it tickled. I wish we had a video of her feeding them but we don't.