I will preface this entry with: Beware, the story is told in pictures. Just keep scrolling, just keep scrolling...
Boarding the plane to Alaska this last time felt different. 1. It was a last minute trip. 2. Andrew was not meeting us at any time during the stay. 3. I had no idea what I was about to get myself into.
It was so nice to see my family, have the cousins play together, spend Thanksgiving with relatives I hadn't seen in years, and just get away for a little while. Little did I know Peter would spend the ENTIRE time sick with something, the kids would barely sleep more than a 2 hour stretch without waking, I would get the flu and have to extend our stay, and Ella would start her extreme 4 year old attitude and opinion throwing the day before we left. I did get to do the 5am shopping Black Friday which I haven't done in years, visit my favorite little coffee stand (Kindred Spirits Coffee), knit a few hats, have a night out sans children with my parents, brother and sister in law, and gain a new favorite Anchorage store (Ozarks). It was cold, snowy, and very memory-filled.
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| Renee reading to the kids. Ella, Emerson, Levi and Peter. |
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| This is what happens when your tupperware cupboard is accessible to toddlers. |
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| Regan playing in a box. |
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| The kids making a train with all the cans from the shelf. |
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| Holy snow! This is the view from my parents back window. |
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| My dad playing with Ella & Peter outside. He threw this snowball at me, missed and it landed in the house. |
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| This was the front yard tree at 5am when we went shopping Black Friday. |
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| We went to the Museum art show and they had a Christmas tree decorated with dolls from around the world. |
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| Starting the gingerbread house. |
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| The finished product, the kids were pretty proud of themselves. |
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| This is what happens with Gramma decided to play "fix the roof." |
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| Uncle Dan & Aunt Arlitia came for a visit. It was great to see them. |
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| Regan wearing the hat I knit her. It matched her jacket! |
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| Regan liked to look out those binoculars at everyone and say, "I see you!" |
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| My cousins with John. They called him "squashy." |
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| The rolls! Butter the rolls! |
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| Great Aunt Millie made the turkey. Yum-O. |
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| My brother with John and Emerson. |
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| Cousin Michael is becoming a favorite with the kids. They call him Uncle Michael. |
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| I think the kids watched the movie Cars 100 times when we were there. |
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| The totally botched effort to get the kids to all take a picture in the Christmas clothes. |
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| But we could get them to all look at the tree pretty effortlessly. |
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| Grandpa Jim. |
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| Round 2 of the gingerbread house creation. |
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This one stayed standing and the kids were so proud of that.
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We ended our trip on a good note and we were mostly all healthy by the flight home (3 days late). Ella was sick on the flights (good thing she knows how to use a sick bag), and Andrew drove with a friend to pick us up since the weather was bad and I was exhausted. I'm thankful for our time there, but you can bet that I won't be making any more last minute trips to the iceland any time soon. Thank you mom for flying us up to spend time with you all.
