All Aboard!

It's no secret that Boo has been dying to ride the Alaska train. Everywhere we go, it's sure to follow.  So, we planned a great train adventure during BeBe's visit. We took the train from Anchorage to Denali National Park (7 hours!!). We got up early in the morning and headed to the train station. When Boo realized that we were going to be riding on THE Alaska train, he was literally trembling with excitement. He couldn't stop shaking. It was so cute. BeBe and I loved seeing his excitement.  So, here's a recap. Hold on folks, it's a long ride...

Waiting at the train station for the train to arrive.

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He just stood there at the doorway  waiting for the train, asking every 2 minutes, "when is the train going to come, mama?".

It's HERE!!!!!!!!!! All Aboard!

We got Gold Star seats and were in one of these amazing dome cars. The windows extended up over our heads. It was great!

Bit was ready to ride too!
Thanks to the end of summer and school starting, we had lots of room to spread out on the train.

We were in the first passenger car.
 Boo just wanted to stay right up there at the front window and look outside.

:)

Exhibit A as to why you can't trust the weather forecast, especially here in AK.
It was supposed to be a rainy day, but look at how beautiful it was!
The announcer told us that in the summer, you can only see Mt McKinley 20% of the time. We were so lucky to be riding the train on a day that we could see it. Because, really that's one of the main reasons to take this particular train ride.
This was our first glimpse of Denali as we left out of Anchorage (it's the one on the far right).

It just kept getting bigger and more majestic as we chugged on down the line.

I see it!

Bigger....

...and BIGGER!!!
20,320 feet

This was on the observation area at the end of our car. What a cool feature!

Bit enjoyed looking out too!

We had lunch in the dining car!!

This is Eldridge Glacier...the one we landed on in our flight seeing tour before Brian left for Louisiana.

Tickets!!
Getting our tickets punched! Boo was so excited to hand over our tickets.

Cool pic of the train from our viewing platform as it curved around the bend.

This was at the Denali Park train station. We made it!
Boo originally said he did want to ride the train all day, but after a few hours, he informed me that he didn't really want to ride it all day. Too bad, buddy! Too bad. Lol!



The next morning we went on a Wilderness Adventure.
We stopped at Cody's cabin here and he talked to us about his trapping business.
When the river outside this cabin freezes over in November, he heads north on the river about 50 miles and stays in a cabin up there from Nov-March and traps for furs. He was THE nicest guy and was great with Boo. He told us so much about the various furs, and I just can't remember it all. It's hard to pay attention and retain info when you're wrangling children.



Trivia question: What animal is Boo petting here?

Cody let Boo play with this skull and pelt while he gave his presentation.
Thank you, Cody!!

After his presentation, Cody let us take pics with his pelts.
Bit loved this fox fur!!
She is such a happy girl. Thank you, Lord!

We then took the bus over to Mr. Bill Cotter's place so that we could meet him and his Iditarod dogs.

He's run the race nine times, I think! He was so nice and was a gentle spirit.

We got to go on a ride!! The dogs were so excited to pull us in this cart!
It was so fun!

Oh yeah, BeBe posed with the fur too!

This dog was named Sally...she was one of the leaders!
Of course she was!

We got to meet the pups too!

BeBe and her grands.

This was our cabin outside of Denali National Park.

We took a motor coach bus back to Anchorage...it was a lot quicker than the train. Only five hours. It was a fun ride. We had some nice people around us who didn't mind the children. Whew!

Boo slept for a few minutes and then played and partied the rest of the of the trip back to Anchorage.

She wanted to lick the window the whole way home.
She thought it was hysterical when I would pull her away.

Boo napped. And boy did he/we need it!



She finally crashed when we got home.



It was a wonderful and exhausting adventure. Let's just say that Boo presented me with a LOT of parenting opportunities. Forget terrible twos. Terrible threes is more like it! Maybe subconsciously it takes me so long to get the blog posts up so that I forget all of the disciplinary actions and only have the pics to remind me of all of the good times! Ha!

Really, we couldn't have asked for better weather and we really did have a good time. And truth be told, we had several people along the way tell me how well behaved the children were. It sure didn't feel that way, though! Lol! But, I'll just focus on the positive...

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

Talkeetna and Anchorage Downtown Market

So, if you remember, Boo's strep test was negative. We were hoping the antibiotic would attack whatever was ailing him. But, a rash that developed on his hand, feet, and mouth confirmed that he had hand, foot, and mouth disease (this was my diagnosis by the way, his symptoms fit the description to a T). 

And, it is a virus, so it had to run its course.

After a day or two, he was starting to perk up some and the sun was out, which was a good indicator that Mt McKinley would be visible. So, we hopped in the car and headed North to Talkeetna.

Can you see McKinley/Denali in the background?

It was a beautiful day!

BeBe's the musher and Boo is the dog!

We stopped by to have some homemade ice cream.
Cool John Deere ice cream machine.

Bit had her first taste of ice cream.
Do you see the lil cookie bits on her chin.

Birch syrup.
Ever heard of it?
It definitely has a different taste, but it was pretty good.

BeBe's first moose sighting.
A mama and a baby.



Eating some leaves out of someone's yard.


Every weekend during the summer months, there's an outdoor market in downtown Anchorage. I had not been before, and thought it might be nice to take Mom while she was here. It wasn't my best idea b/c Boo was just not patient while we shopped. But, in the end it turned out to be pretty neat. Like Mama said, I need to go by myself one day.


When I was in fifth grade, we had to do a presentation on the Iditarod Race. We each were assigned a musher and had to track their progress along the race route. Ever since then, I've been interested in the race, but never really thought I'd be in Alaska to experience it. The race is in March, so we'll miss it next year (we'll be in SC) but I am looking forward to watching the race the following year. Anyway, this gentleman here is Rod Perry. He's the only living racer from the first race and he is the designer of the patch on his coat. You are only allowed to wear this patch if you have finished the Iditarod Race. He's a great story teller too. I'm excited to read his book. It was a real thrill for me to meet an Iditarod musher.



If only we had found this stage earlier in the day!
Boo was in heaven listening to the musical acts and wanted to dance, dance, dance!
He was the only one out there dancing and then he asked me to dance with him.
Bit was just a pumpin' her legs too. They loved it!



Next up, tales from our Alaska Railroad train adventure!

We're Here

If you're still checking to see if we're around, we are!
We're all healthy now and have been so busy sight seeing while BeBe is here.
I promise, I'll update soon.

Rocky Start

Well, thank the Lord BeBe is here! But, I'm not sure she's going to come back to visit after her adventure thus far.


She began her journey with a delayed flight in Charleston, which led to a missed flight in Atlanta, and then a missed flight in Minneapolis which caused her to have to overnight in Minneapolis...without her makeup!


She finally made it here 12 hours after she was supposed to arrive, but it was raining.


Day 2 found us at the grocery store and out to enjoy the peeking sunshine by taking a walk and a stop off  at the park for us to make friends. We discovered a sick Boo that afternoon. Fever and punkish.


Day 3 and Boo is still sick. BeBe was a lifesaver and watched the children while I went to my already scheduled haircut appointment! I was desperate. I had not gotten my haircut since about a month before we left Texas. Thankfully, the children were awesome while I was gone.


I lost my ID card, we had a mix up with our urgent care referral for Boo which was necessary b/c there are NEVER ANY APPOINTMENTS AT THE PEDS CLINIC! They referred me to one place but gave me the phone number to another place and...yadda, yadda, yadda...Boo finally was seen. It looked like strep, but the test was negative.  So, a wide spectrum antibiotic was prescribed and we're hopeful it kicks in because Denali is out folks! After almost 10 days of rain, the sun is shining and it's beautiful. It won't last long, so I hope our lil guy is feeling adventurous soon.


BeBe did have her first moose sighting though! We saw a Mama and a Baby munching on some leaves in someone's front yard! Mama Moose had a beard! hehehe!


I'm so thankful that BeBe is here! These speed bumps would be mountains without her! And, she always keeps me giggling! Oh, AND she found my ID card in my vest pocket that I wore yesterday! Whew!

It's Been Raining

...a lot here lately. So, we've been doing a lot of indoor activities. It's so tempting to just let him watch TV, but I try to limit TV time. Don't get me wrong, some days I just have to get stuff done and unfortunately the TV is my friend. I know, I know.  I need to add to my metaphorical box of fun for indoor days as I'm sure we'll see more than our fair share of them with cold temps and dark days. Any ideas??

I love these two so much!

This is us playing "jump out of a helicopter like Daddy".

The blanket is his parachute.
There is an airborne countdown as you're getting ready to jump out of the chopper.

I can't remember it all, but right at the end of this last jump it was...

" 1 minute....30 seconds....STANDBY....Go, Go, GO,GO!"

The jumpmaster is yelling this as you're preparing to go out the door.
So, I was telling Boo about it and he wanted to try the countdown himself.
Too cute!



Lil Bit has moved on to finger foods.
Well, the kind that instantly dissolve in her mouth.
Boo used to love zwieback toast, but I can't find it anywhere.
So, she's getting these rice cake thingys. Mmm.

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday!
BeBe arrives soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The High One

Whew! I think it all caught up with us. All the traveling and sight seeing, that is. It seems we've been pretty sluggish since B-man left. I've been trying to update the blog, but have found myself lounging on the couch after putting the kids to bed at night. But, I'm feeling renewed now that Lil Bit is SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT (knock on wood)!! Hallelujer!

So, we made it up to Talkeetna to do the flight seeing tour. I just kept checking the webcam of Denali and the weather and it looked like we were going to have a clear day, so I called and made reservations. It wasn't really the best time in the world, but we wanted to get it in while we could. So, the movers came on Thursday and we dropped everything and drove up to Talkeetna on Friday. ha!

Our flight wasn't until 5 p.m. so we took our time getting up there and enjoyed the tiny town before we checked in for our flight.

Mt McKinley
AKA Denali
 AKA "The High One"
AKA  The highest peak in North America!
Elevation is 20,320 ft!

Pikes Peak has nothing on this one!

Resident Mountain Man in Talkeetna! With his ale from the lowing brew house.
Remember him from our last Talkeetna post?

Dog sled photo op.

There's the Alaska train, again!

Happy Bit!

Happy Boo!

Pre-flight warm up!

Boo Bear!
Boo did really well on the way out. But, got sick on the way back.
I must say, I was on it! He started getting whiny and I was thinking, "what's up with this??"
And then I thought...Oooh! I bet he's going to get sick! So, I quickly fumbled for the air sickness bag and put it in front of him. He immediately tossed his cookies, but IN THE BAG!! Not a drop got on him or the plane! It might be my proudest parenting moment to date! I rocked it! hahaha! And, he was totally fine after that one toss.

Bit fell asleep before we took off!
This is not her new carseat...just a loaner from the airport.

Beautiful views!!
The clouds did roll in, so we didn't get a good view of McKinley from the plane. But, it was still awesome and we had already seen McKinley earlier in the day as shown in the previous pics.

We took a TON of pics, so this is just a sampling.
This pic is taken from the plane and these look like little puddles, but they are more like ponds, on the glacier.

Landing on the glacier.
Umm...mountain ahead! :)

Standing on Eldridge Glacier

She's awake!!

Skis and wheels!

Boo had a blast!

And got to go up and touch the wheel.

Bit squealed and played with her socks on the way back to the airport.

Afterwards, we ate supper at this place. The food was soooo good!

B-man took this video of another plane landing while we were on the glacier.
It was a busy place!

Flightseeing!

Boo went out to dance with some little girls at the pizza place.
They're not in this video, but this was the cutest video of him dancing.

It was a great day!!! Something I'll cherish forever. I feel like I'm forgetting something I wanted to say. Hmmm...If I think of it, I'll add it later.



In other news: Lil Bit has another tooth and Lil Boo is officially signed up for preschool on post. B-man is doing well in LA. They've been doing a lot of language training this past week. The inside of the house is unpacked and I haven't even touched the garage! haha! I did cut the grass though. I don't think we'll be winning yard of the month anytime soon. ha! It's been a LONG time since Mama's had to cut the grass.