Snowshoeing

We borrowed snowshoes from some friends and went bird hunting.  It was a lot of fun even though we never really saw any birds.

Nature Walk

Still catching up, but I have made it to 2013!  I skipped over the Christmas morning pictures.  It is just too dark here in Alaska at that time and the kids are moving too fast to get good pictures!  :)  Here we are out at the Eagle River Nature Center again.  Today we finally did the three mile Albert Loop Trail.  It was long, but we enjoyed the new view.

Hiking in Arctic Valley

Although it looks like we hiked up pretty high, we really didn't.  You don't have to go very far to get an incredible view in Arctic Valley.  The last time we came our hike was cut short when we decided to pick berries instead of going up the trail.  I'm so glad we returned!

Hiking and Berry Picking in Arctic Valley

I decided it was about time to get back to the blog and finish catching up!  Of course it looks like I already had about 8 posts already started with the pictures already uploaded.  If only I had finished them up, then I wouldn't be so far behind!

 

These pictures are from a trip to Arctic Valley last summer.  We set out intending to hike, but noticed a family picking berries and decided that was a better idea.  Blueberries can often be found in the Anchorage area, but these turned out to be crowberries.  None of us particularly liked the taste, so we ended up putting ours in a smoothie where they could not really be detected with all the other fruits.

 

Hiking Mt. Baldy

This day we took the family to hike Mt. Baldy.  Now, there are several websites that list hikes and give ratings on the difficulty of the hike.  This hike is listed as easy.  We soon discovered that is was anything but easy!  Although it is only a mile each way, it quickly gets very steep and rocky.  Even though it was the middle of the summer, there were lingering patches of snow and the melting snow made it muddy as well.  Of course, James and I know lots of people who have hiked Mt. Baldy and not one of them mentioned how hard of a hike it was until after we hiked it and said it was hard.  Then EVERYONE said it was pretty hard!

 

The trail starts at the end of Skyline Drive.  So, this is the view from the bottom of the trail.

 

Uncle Blake with Lucy.  Ready to start!

James with Eli.  I started off with Eli on my back, but once it started to get steep I realized I would not be able to make it to the top with an extra 30 pounds on my back!

Ben and Will seemed to be the only ones who didn't notice how difficult the hike was.  They zipped right up!  (Well, them and the one group of really fit ladies with a three legged dog that blew past us and made us all feel really weak!)

Getting close to the top!

The boys on the top of the mountain!

Eli and Mommy at the top!  We didn't think we would all make it to the top, but everyone did!  My camera battery died, so my last few pictures were taken with my cell phone.  (Turned out pretty good too!).  Luckily, after talking to some fellow hikers we got directions for the back path that was twice as long, but much easier.  We used that to get back down and it was really nice to see a different path.

Memorial Day 2012 - Mirror Lake

We went out to Mirror Lake to celebrate Memorial Day.  The lake really is a mirror when the wind is calm.  We played on the swings, cooked out, fished a little and took a short walk in the woods.  Pretty good day!

Nature Center

We made a quick trip out the the Eagle River Nature Center one day.  We've been out there in the winter before, but this time we saw a Mama and baby moose!  Even in the winter, the trails are well maintained so you can hike or cross country ski all winter long.

I love how they even dig out the benches along the paths!





The Mama and baby moose.  They were across the river from us, just sitting in the snow.

Project 52 - Week 34

Week 34 ~ August 21-27

This week we decided to check out a park near William's school.  It turned out to be mainly used for disc golf.  I was surprised at just how many people were there palying.

This is Peter's Creek.  The area we live in is called Peter's Creek.  I'm not sure it should be called a creek.  Looked more like a good sized river to me!  The waster was moving VERY fast and was quite loud!


Walking down the paths.

Taking a look at the river.  (Many of my first pictures are of the kid's backs because William was in a bad mood)

They loved playin g with the chains on the disc golf things.  (William got over his bad mood when they started playing with these)