Alaska Fun Part 4

We went a little trip on the Riverboat Discovery. This was only my 2nd time but all the Christensen's have done it many times because many of the kids worked there over the summers while they were still at home. Our Captain knew Brian and Rob so the kids were able to go up to the wheel house and help "steer" the boat. They all loved it! 

Rain or shine we were still going to go to Alaska Land with the family to have some fun! We rode the train, played at the parked, walked through museums, rode the carousel, and was able to meet up with my cousin Bret and his cute family. They live in Delta(about 2 hours away) and came up to see us. Grandma and Grandpa bought all the kids a little airplane flyer thing and it was a huge hit with all the kids.

The girls were twins today. It was cute! And they are playing with the flyer things from Grandma and Grandpa. 

Bryson and Easton(my cousins boy) rolling down the hill.

Brecken, Easton, Reagan and Carson. And guess what? Bryson refused to take a picture. Nothing new there. 

This is the best we got of all of them. HA! 

Fun night at glow put!

Kids brought Twister out and the "big kids" got in on the fun. It was entertaining to watch!

Dinner at Silver Gulch. Yummy!!

Hot Licks ice cream one more time before we head back South. 

Kids playing outside before we take off to airport. About 11pm. 

Great view and great cousins! We had a blast playing with everyone!!

Alaska Fun Part 3

Brian, the kids and I took a drive out to Eielson Air Force Base to see the changes and see the old houses I lived in as a kid. The kids really enjoyed all the air planes! We had a little extra time before we were meeting some friends for a BBQ so we drove through North Pole and found all the houses I lived in there as a kid. It's fun to see how things change! 

Another great activity we did with all the family was ride The Alaska Railroad to Denali National Park. Grandma and Grandpa drove down and met us so they could ride the train back and we drove the cars back. Although the weather was really wet, we still enjoyed ourselves! We only saw a couple moose and a porcupine. 

Waving see you later to Grandma and Grandpa. 

I just love this picture! This was their favorite part of the train and rode here for almost the entire time. 

Hard to see but the girls are up there waving back to the rest of us. 

Our little porcupine friend. 

Yummy pizza for lunch before we got on the rode to head back to Grandma and Grandpa's house. About a 2 hour drive. 

The kids loved to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's to play inside and outside. They were able to help cut down a tree, plant some trees, water the garden and go get water from the water hole. 

Alaska Fun Part 2

Yay for family coming into town! We had a blast hanging out with so much family that we hadn't seen in awhile. First up....Midnight Sun Run! Brian, Rebecca, Ashley, Emery and I ran the race. This race is a lot of fun. It's a 10k and it starts at 10 pm. You run through all kinds of neighborhoods and there are drinks, kids squirting water, music blaring and all sorts of people screaming and yelling. Emery was my little running buddy and boy did she kick my butt! Ha! 

Awesome running buddy! This picture was taken at Midnight. Crazy how much daylight there is in AK in the Summer. 

Grandma and Grandpa have a great yard for playing soccer and boy did we play lots of soccer! Adults and kids got out there and played almost every night. 

We brought out the hula hoops and Brian had to show the kids how its done. I love his hands! Haha

And apparently Carson was thirsty...they have buckets sitting around to catch the rain so they can water their garden with it. Carson thought it was there for drinking. 

A couple other activities we were able to do with all the family is Gold Dredge 8, playing in a lake and the Santa Claus House.

Gold Dredge 8 is a little train ride you get to take back to a little shop where you can pan for gold. On the there, you stop at different places and guys are explaining how planning for gold and mining work in the olden days.

Stopped by the Alyeska Pipeline on our way to change before we headed to the lake. 

Since we left, almost 4 years ago, they have made these lakes known as the Tanana Lakes. There was one for swimming and then one for boats and such. And the water was freezing! Reagan was the only brave one in our family to get all the way in. 

Our kids did not believe us when we said we are going to the Santa Claus House. And when we pulled up and they saw the reindeer, they were very excited!

And since we were already in North Pole, we decided to take a little drive to Salcha and hit up The Knotty Shop for ice cream! Yummy!