This is Adam... I noticed we dropped the ball here on blog entries. I guess when you add a second child to the family, things get a little busier! Here are a bunch of pics and some captions on things that happened over the spring and summer.
(DANIELLE TO ADD PICS HERE) This is Danielle now... 5 months later....finally taking the time to upload some photos and captions! To be honest, it is very difficult for me to take the time to sit down and add to this blog. I need a solid chunk of time to do so and don't have such periods of time that are interruption-free for various reasons. However, the importance of completing this blog has shifted from being a way to communicate our adventures to family and friends to being a way to pass on the stories of our adventures, in detail, to our kiddos. So..... we are doing this for them and by golly, they better appreciate it one day! HUGE shout out to GG/Jeanette who also puts a lot of time and effort into passing on our stories by publishing on blog into photo books for us to pass on to our children. It is fun for Adam and I to look back as well! We both have terrible memories, so this blog and books have actually been helpful in remembering our journey in detail! Thank you GG/Jeanette!
I sorted photos from last winter/spring (same thing) and summer into a few themes. First up- fun in the snow!
We booked a cabin at Hatcher's Pass with Shawn, Erin, and the girls. The weekend included cross country skiing, sledding, downhill skiing, and Adam projecting a movie on the ceiling of the cabin for us all to enjoy at night! This weekend was also named poop-fest, poop-orama, or something similar. I didn't take photo evidence, but it was due to one of the dogs helping himself to a poopy diaper AND the resort staff dripping the ove
rflowing portable porta-potty liquids in a trail through our cabin. GAG. Nevertheless, it was a great time!
In the first photo, Erin is pulling Remi in the chariot while I skiied with Josie in the carrier. Nap time for the youngest while mamas got some exercise and the oldest went sledding with daddys.
Shawn, Adam, and the dogs taking a ride on their back country skiis.
Sledding! We also had an inflatable unicorn sled, but didn't get a good picture of it. This was a pretty chilly weekend, but the kiddos are Alaskan tough and hung out in the snow even at 0 degrees!
Another weekend was spent at Shawn and Erin's cabin near Willow, AK. The Keeners came out too!
We did some ice fishing and got the kiddos on some rainbow trout!
Did a little cross-country skiing. Josie was finally big enough to ride in the chariot and she fell asleep right away on her first ride!
Ashton got a speedy ride back to the cabin with Kevin and Brittany!
All the pups enjoying some snow and fresh air
Family photo in the fresh snow, Josie is tucked in the carrier in my coat! :)
Ashton had his first season of downhill skiing. The ski hill in Anchorage has a monthly military night that we took advantage of and met up with Shawn, Erin, and the girls. Ashton did pretty well learning to ski in our driveway, at Hatchers Pass, and at military nights!
We have yet to get him out this season. We didn't have any snow up until Christmas. Since being back from Iowa we haven't had a single day above 0 degrees. Our house has been -10 or colder! (it is January 18, we got back on the 4th)
Something I love about winter in Alaska are the winter carnivals and fireworks! It's a totally different experience all bundled up in the snow! This was from the Fur Rendezvous Carnival and the ceremonial start of the Iditarod.
Thank goodness daddy doesn't mind spinning rides, I couldn't even watch!
We love seeing the mushers and their dog teams at the ceremonial start of the Iditarod!
Another cabin weekend! Roasting moose dogs in the snow!
Ashton turned THREE years old! He chose popsicles as his special treat for celebrating with his daycare friends.
We rented a cabin on the military base to celebrate with our ice fishing buddies! Shawn, Erin, Ellie, Remi, Kevin, Brittany, Steve, and Sue, and the pups joined us for fishing and sledding.
Ashton wanted a shark cake this year! The next day he had leftover cake and bacon for breakfast!
These two goofballs made up their own game.... throw the frozen fish and see who can get to it first! The deep snow wore them out!
Had a few holes open for fishing and sledding from the cabin to the lake.
Josie's first time down in the snow
Birthday boy with a "monster fish!"
When it's too cold outside but we need to get some energy out..... we go swimming! The pool on base had a really fun St. Patrick's day party. They even dyed the water green! Ashton is becoming quite the swimmer and will start lessons this year after turning 4.
I think the only person who enjoys swimming more than Ashton, is Josie!
Ashton is seriously THE BEST big brother! It has been one of the most powerful relationships for me to witness. Josephine adores her big brother as well.
We held our annual burbot fish fry in the culdesac. We had the most amazing day of weather, fun, and food! Adam and Kevin brought back plenty of burbot from the Crosswinds trip. Our neighbors and friends brought way too much delicious food to go with it. So much fun!
Even better when some of the neighbors who have moved come back to join us!
We took Bob (Ashton named HIS canoe) out for a paddle and fishing on Beach Lake.
I'm not sure which Ashton enjoys more- catching the fish on his pole or helping to land them with the net!
Josie was closely watching and learning!
We also participated in releasing some trout and greyling in a local lake. It was quite the experience for all of the children to carry a fish in a bucket to be released in the water! We then got to see them empty the tanks on the truck by pouring out the rest of the water and fish into the lake through a tube.
We took the boat out for some king salmon at the Tailrace. We didn't catch any, but we had great weather and fun anyway. Ashton was glassing for dall sheep rams....his favorite!
!
This little one was a handful on the boat, but we wouldn't have it any other way!
Next up- HIKING!! The beginning of summer hikes are focusing on my training for the mount marathon race on July 4. This summer, Adam was in charge of both kids while I trained. This was Ashton's first summer of hiking and he truly impressed us! Of course a few more breaks and snacks needed to happen, but overall, his endurance is incredible! Future mountain hunter for sure.... and maybe a racer!
The first picture is Josie's first ride in the Osprey pack. She has yet to fuss in that thing! She loves being outside just as much as the rest of us!
Going up Baldy! Adam also took the opportunity to wear weight on his back while Josie rode in front. He was training for sheep hunting.
Our little mountain goat!
Up Flat Top for the first time in several years. With so many options for hiking, we usually stay clear of the tourist locations but it was good to hike this again. Just bummed we were clouded in.
Daddy is the strongest daddy around!
A little street training. My running companions!
Alaska's dandelions are the tallest, thanks to that midnight sun!
Picnic while looking for berries!
Adam and I celebrated 10, yes TEN years of marriage! We decided to take a family trip to Sanibel and invited our families to join us. All grandparents, one auntie, uncle and a few cousins were able to join us.
We had a date night dinner and beach walk one night!
Ashton's reaction to the beach and ocean was the best. To this day he talks about his favorite place being the beach. In fact, when asked what he was thankful for at Thanksgiving his first answer was, "going to the beach!"
Annnnnd, this was Josie's reaction! Dancing in the sunset!
We always see turtle trails and their nests being roped off/protected. One year, Adam was lucky enough to witness a turtle laying her eggs. This year, we were all incredibly lucky to see this turtle coming up to shore. She was HUGE! This was such a rollercoaster of emotions as there were several families at the beach and everyone had their own ideas and fears of what was "floating" in to shore. Adam started running out to the waves to medically assist in what we thought was a person /body floating in. Once we all discovered it was a turtle, we were super excited to have caught a glimpse of her because this is what we have hoped for each trip we go. But then instantly felt bad when she decided to turn around and go back out to the ocean since our presence scared her off. Hopefully it wasn't too exhausting for her to wait until dark to come back and lay her eggs.
I saw a manatee when crossing over the foot bridge one day. It had swam away before anyone else made it to the bridge.
Ashton LOVED the lizards and geckos. Daddy had to catch this one that snuck in our condo!
Ashton was on the hunt for creatures each time we walked to the beach. Lizards and geckos liked hiding in these light poles. We also saw hundreds of rabbits, which was new this year. Crabs, snakes, all sorts of insects, toads, etc.
Papa, Bapa, and daddy did some fishing of course.
Notice the water tornado in the distance!
It was cool to see Bapa catching this fish, but even more so with the crazy weather and tornado in the distance!
SHARK!
Cool, yet creepy to see these sharks caught not far from where we are swimming!
Sydney flew down to join us too!
Thoroughly enjoyed the cousin time! Owen, Delainey, and Emma love the water, shells, creatures, and exploring too!
Daddy took his throw net, which enabled us to catch bait fish. I only have video of Adam throwing it, so I guess, here is a picture of me throwing it. Ha! Adam is much better at it.
But mostly, catching small fish with the net gave Ashton the opportunity to play with/catch them in his bucket with his hand net! He spent hours doing this!
Papa and GG brought this shower curtain so that we could dig a hole, line it with the shower curtain, add some water, and cover with a shade umbrella for Josie to have a toddler-friendly place to enjoy the beach! It was PERFECT!
We all enjoyed the pool as well! Especially being thrown by daddy/uncle Adam!
Ash spending some time with his GG and Papa!
Low tides at sunset are the best!
Game nights! Woot woot!
Pool time with GG
Loving on Bapa and Nana
Love my sweet family!
I ran/climbed this mountain race, called Bird Ridge in preparation for Mount Marathon. I was hoping it would relieve some of my anxious jitters. Well..... it kicked my butt. I quickly realized I had not trained enough this year. But that's how it goes with a baby! The first picture is my looking up to the finish of the race, at that tippy-top point. The second picture is from the same location, looking down. The start of the race is at sea level. The race is uphill only...2.5 miles, 3,255 elevation. I haven't decided if I will enter the lottery for it this year-- it was brutal!
This bench is located along the trail. This 16 year old boy was fatally mauled by a black bear when descending from the race in 2017. He was raised in a family of avid mountain racers who still compete and honor him and his story at the start of this race each year.
My parents came up this year for the big race on July 4th. Mount Marathon is the name of the mountain behind us. The race is one of the few mountain races that is both up and down. I know I have written details about it before, so I won't again. Google it if you are reading this, interested and missed it in a prior blog entry! This year was a bit more challenging due to the heat and poor air quality due to wildfire smoke. In fact, they cancelled the junior's race and said adults could submit a waiver if they chose not to race due to the smoke. I did not meet my goal place/time, so we will see what this year brings, if I am able to get out and train a little more. I got up and down in 1:25 and placed 116th out of 215.
Shawn! The one who started this madness!
Ashton ran his first street race! They ran this during my race, so I missed it. They think he got 3rd out of the bunch. He enjoyed it!
I was very thankful to have my parents there to support me, just as they did all those years of sports! They drove up to Alaska this year! Adam bought a truck in the lower 48, since it is much much cheaper than buying up here. Long story short- the truck was driven to Ankeny (Adam's parents). We also bought a pop-up camper in Des Moines. Adam's parents got the truck and camper to my parents along with some items they were storing for us, including a grandfather clock! My parents drove the truck, camper, Adam's stuff, and a few things they had been storing for me up through Canada! The camper was purchased as a convenience for them to be able to stop anywhere and camp for the night. Unfortunately, it was raining most nights they stopped to rest so they mostly stayed in hotels! We are very thankful they took the time to help us out by making the drive. We were able to use the camper a couple times over the summer and sell it for profit since everything is so much more expensive up here.
This picture is from Seward. We spent some time exploring the tide the day after the race.
Kiddos with nets, buckets, and creatures= so so happy!
Starfish!
So colorful!
They found starfish, mussels, urchins, jellyfish, eels, water insects, etc. So much fun!
We stopped at the wildlife conservation center on the way back home. Bapa and Ashton got up close to this brown bear!
We love Bapa and Nana!
Next up was Papa and GG's visit! We took Papa out to a children's hike at the Eagle River Nature Center one morning.
We have this same picture taken with GG on a previous trip!
You can tell it was a nice day, Papa had a t-shirt on!
Beach baby, even in Alaska!
He takes fishing and netting very seriously!
Daddy and Papa's little helper
Next up-- bonking the fish!
Kevin and Brittany joined us for a couple days of fishing/camping. The sockeye salmon almost jumped right into Brittany's arms!
GG's girl!
Papa and GG's turn to get their limits. It only took GG 15 minutes to hook and land 3 salmon!
Kenai reds!
Our fans!
Pretty BA softball team again!
I mentioned it before, but holy moly, this past summer was HOT HOT HOT! We had record high temperatures all summer long. Houses do not have air conditioning up here, so it was pretty miserable to have 70-some degree weather outside, which made it upper 80s inside! We had fans all over the house and the least amount of clothes possible! The kids spent some time in our wading pool every day we were home! Also keep the length of our days in mind- since we have so much sunlight, the peak of sunlight and temps is at like 6pm! Whew!
So it was insanely hot.....and DRY! We had hardly any rain all summer which meant LOTS of LARGE wildfires. We often had poor air quality due to the smoke, yet weren't able to get a break from the smoke by closing windows! It was pretty crazy! This is the view of our mountain out our window.
We got daddy to go to the Alaska State Fair this year! Our kiddos were most entertained by the animals and food.... like this live alligator that we held and eating an entire bag of cotton candy! hehe!
We celebrated Josephine's 1st birthday. We kept the Kucera family tradition of baking a lamby cake for her 1st birthday. (minus the coconut shavings)
This was her second shot at the cake. Neither of our kids were very interested in eating the cake the first time we tried. It was the second night that they actually dug in. Josie didn't care for eating it, just tearing it apart and throwing!
Our cat Angel has always tolerated the kids, although she mostly kept her distance. Over the summer she took a new interest in both of them. Ashton loved it and always squealed with happiness when she would rub up against him or sit next to him. Josie was aggressive and Angel's new affection to Jos usually resulted in me prying Angel out of her hands (but Angel never bit or scratched her). It was interesting to see. Angel turned 19 years old this last September and took another turn for the worse that we weren't able to bring her back from this time. We said goodbye to her in October.
After getting a taste of the "glamping" life this past summer, which to us means having a camper instead of a tent..... we decided to purchase a cab-over camper! AND IT'S FREAKING AMAZING! Tenting with kids in Alaska's craziness is doable and even enjoyable but WOW, having a simple cabover camper is a whole new experience and 100x more enjoyable! We are so excited for the adventures to come!
Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading!
!
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