Pictures and stories from Alaska, Iowa, Missouri, and Hawaii
"I will pop corn to string upon the tree"
"We will bake a fresh fruit cake."
On to Shell Knob, MO, Table Rock Lake to see Adam's family.
ATV's, tractor, golf car, and lawn mower rides galore!
The weekend after returning to Alaska, I came down with a sore throat and tested positive for COVID. I had mild cold symptoms, the absolute worst 2 days of constant, unmanageable headaches, and......loss of smell and taste. UGH! Luckily, I was the only one with symptoms. Adam and Josie also tested positive. Ashton continually tested negative and didn't have any symptoms. If only COVID could follow some rules and have some consistency.
This threw a curveball in the plans for Erin and I to take a trip to Hawaii to celebrate her 40th birthday. We weren't sure if we were going to go until the very day of our flight. Thankfully all of my symptoms (except loss of smell and taste) were short-lived and with the newly updated CDC guidelines, we were able to go! Hawaii had a lot of steps to follow for flying in. Also, we had to show our vaccination cards at each public setting, even outdoor settings, in order to go in.
They also had kick sleds, which was a huge hit but I didn't get any good quality photos due to the darkness and speeeeeeeeed of the kick sledders! :)
So even though Ashton escaped COVID when his other 3 family members had it, he somehow caught it somewhere else 3.5 weeks later! He had mild cold symptoms,
Unfortunately, this meant Ashton missed out on the celebration of the 100th day of school in Kindergarten. We had a 100th day celebration for him at home. Here he is dressed up as a 100 year old man! (we sent this photo to his teacher who showed the class. They then sent him a video from the class to say they missed him and to show him their 100th day looks)
Counting out groups of 10 with delicious snacks. 100 yummy bites of treats!
And Ashton's favorite..... shooting 100 nerf darts at mommy and daddy!
Oh yes, he shot all 100!
I love this journal writing of Ashton's.... "When I grow up I will be a ples (police)" Taking after his Bapa
Next up- Figure 8 Lake, snowmachine and icefishing trip. Adam (and I, but also a bit hesitant due to a scary past experience at this lake with just Adam, Tundra, and I) was eager to get the kiddos out to Figure 8 Lake. I hadn't been there since before Ashton was born but Adam had been back every winter with Kevin. It's a 20 mile (1 way) snowmachine ride into a lake to catch some nice pike. Pike are invasive up here and have taken over this lake. So if you catch them, you are to either keep them or leave them on the ice. (however, there is no other species in this lake, so yah) Pike are delicious but very bony and a pain in the booty to clean. We took the kids for their first trip. Kevin, Fred, and Hartney went too.
Kevin and a nice pike
Beautiful day for icefishing
Sleeping lady in the background
Jos was strapped to me via Ergo, in case she fell asleep. And she totally did
Checking tip-up flags, walkie-talkie ready
Student of the day!
My boys on the chairlift at Hillberg
Through the tunnel he goes!
Daddy with Josie. This was a rough day for her, but a couple runs on the skiis is better than none.
This dino mask is the best, the chin/mouth moves with his! Camo, trapper hat, dino mask, revolver, and rifle!
Headed to Shawn and Erin's cabin after several dumps of snow. This is usually a two-lane road. We were just hoping nobody was headed our way, as we were towing the trailer with the snow machines on it.
SO MUCH SNOW!! check out this tunnel path to and from the cabin and outhouse!
Deck jumping!!!
Snow tubing down the road and getting pulled back up with the snowmachine
Snowmachine ride, checking out the trails around Willow and Nancy Lake area
Moose on the path, had to find another route!
Sweet Tundy boy. This is the hike when I realized he had officially slowed down and would not be able to keep up at the usual pace.
Chocolate legos! Made these for Ashton's birthday cake
Lego/Mandalorian cake for his 6 year birthday.
That is suppose to be a worm hole, Ashton got to dig the lego mandalorian out of the worm hole (it was wrapped in plastic wrap to keep it clean)
Legos in the chalet. We rented the same chalet as the last couple years
Gigantic snowman! Perfect for jumping off
Sledding, icefishing, snowman building in the fresh snow continuing to fall
Epic nerf gun fight in the chalet
Our sweet pup went in for surgery to have his spleen removed , due to the concerning mass on it. He had been slowing down starting in summer of 2021 and even more so in the fall. We felt it was more than just getting old and took him in for all the tests in November. Everything came back looking good, he was just showing his age. In February it was even more drastic with the additional symptoms of panting and pacing. A mass on his spleen was discovered. Surgery went well with the good news that the mass on his spleen was not cancerous. However, they found another area that was cancerous. From what they could see, it had not spread. The surgery was 2 days prior to Ashton's birthday celebration and everyone at his party was amazed at how well Tundy was doing......he looked and acted better, 2 days post-op, than he had for months. We felt so much relief since we were given all of the scenarios and had to have some tough conversations prior to his surgery.
Lake Louise trip! We took the kids and Tundy to camp, icefish, snowmachine on Lake Louise for a long weekend. Kevin came too! This was in lieu of the annual Crosswinds trip. We were planning to take the kids to Crosswinds for the first time but due to the challenge and danger of overflow on that lake, we went to Lake Louise instead to get our burbot for our annual culdesac fish fry.
Tube ride out to the ice hut
Lake trout
Burbot, Josie helped pull this one in from the tip-up
Nice burbot in the comfort of the hut!
Overflow was pretty bad here too. It was pretty tricky to get off the main trail, especially with kids riding and not being able to ride as technical with little passengers. I somehow managed to get out of a gnarly area with both kids on the machine with me. However, Kevin and Adam weren't so lucky as they went further on the lake and explored a bit more. They got stuck and endured some hard work getting both machines out.
Ashton's burbot he caught with his pole all by himself! Biggest one of the weekend!
Tundy looking so good, his happy puppy face and behavior was back. We had missed this Tundra so much and it was so shocking to see him this way again.
Girl's weekend to ski and board Alyeska!
Goodness we love this camper! I drove the camper down (with only 1 or 2 mishaps on the snow/ice) and we were able to camp out right in the Sitz parking lot for the weekend! It was AMAZING! Angele and Brittany shared the top bed. Erin and I cuddled on the lower bed. Beki and Taylor stayed in the family condo (which was right on the freaking mountain by the way. I never thought I'd have the chance to step foot in one of those dream-like condos that we always drool over!)
We also got some XC skiing in
So much fun with these ladies! A much needed weekend away for all of us! I had been skiing all season(and last season) with the kids, so it was very exciting to get back on my board!
Our baby boy graduated Kindergarten! So bittersweet to see him grow up!
Britt, Erin and I were introduced to Fizz by Beki and Taylor. How we have skied/boarded this mountain for 13 years and not known about Fizz is super confusing and disappointing to us. Fizz is this magical, alcoholic concoction that only the creator knows the recipe to. He use to make it and sell it in the restaurant at the top of the mountain. He now has his own space, sign, stickers, etc in the cafe at the top. You are limited to 2 Fizz drinks (to be sure you get down the mountain) and nobody can figure out the ingredients. The first drink is awful, but leaves you wanting more. And then it tastes better and better! All we know is that it is white, blended, contains Vodka, has a dairy taste- yet citrusy, and is topped with cinnamon/nutmeg. Gotta love Alaska and all its quirks!
Another Alyeska weekend as a family, with the Nabers
Adam, Ellie, Ashton on the lifts!
Adam and Jos at the magic carpet
Ashton skiing with sissy for a bit
First family ride up the chairlift! Jos' first time up!
Did we say how much we love our camper?!?!? Well Nabers got one too, so it's double the fun! Camping with a fire at the end of a road.
Josie has discovered pigtails, but she prefers 3. :)
Goodness she's cute!
Another ski weekend coming up.....
We headed out to Skeetawk in Hatcher's Pass for our first visit to their new ski area. They are in phase 1 of a 3 phase plan to create another resort here in Alaska. We were suppose to stay in a cabin, but were not able to get to the lodge or cabins due to avalanches that had not been cleared. So...camper for the win!
We had camped in a parking lot of a popular recreation area (gold mint trail) for back country hikers, skiers, snowmachiners, etc. We saw one of these intriguing machines..... a dirt bike for the snow! Looked like so much fun!
Josie got a nice shiner, but I don't even remember how or why!!! ?!?!?!? I guess because her next injury was so much more shocking and concerning....
Ashton and Josie had an accident in our culdesac, involving Ashton on his ATV, racing Josie on her feet. I had run to the store and daddy wasn't able to stop them and give the reminder of NO RACING fast enough to prevent the collision. It was a very sad situation as I'm not sure who was hurting worse.... Josie's physical injuries or Ashton's emotional trauma. 
She is one tough girlie though!
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