Springtime

Spring has begun to show it's true colors during this month, Flowering trees have blossomed (finally) and wildflowers are everywhere!!! I enjoy taking walks through the woods just to see all the flowers and the many shades of green.

This month we were fortunate enough to have my Uncle Milt and Aunt Barb visit for a week. They stayed with his sister who also lives in Kenai. We took them to Homer for a day to do some much needed shopping, a little sight seeing and lunch. The Homer Spit which has many very cute shops opened Memorial day and will be open until Labor day. We walked the spit, shopped some very cute gift shops, went to the visitors center and had lunch on the Kachemak bay. Below is a picture of Milt of Adam, the sign says it all!

Adam and I with Kachemak Bay behind us.

Adam and I went for a walk on the property this weekend, I got this great shot of him and Butch!

I don't know what these flowers are but they are everywhere and are very cute!

Walk through the woods, the bright green ferns are covering the forest floor in every direction.

Adam has decided to try a few new facial hair techniques. This one is my favorite, I wonder if I could braid it!!!

Wild sideburns!

The mustache, very 80's! This hair which actually looks very real is a moss like material that grows on some of the trees!

Adam's 26th birthday was June 22. We went to our favorite mexican restaurant in town for dinner (amazing salsa). After dinner we met Brian and Brenna for the movie 'The A-Team', it was actually very good. In between dinner and the movie we had some time to kill and decided to head down to the beach in town, up the hillside behind the beach is a steep trail that leads up to a very nice park. It was perfect weather, Butch was able to tag along as well since he goes everywhere with us. I could not believe how many wildflowers we saw on the trail, it was so beautiful, and the whole trail looks over the ocean and the mountains to one side.

One view from the top, looking out to Mt Redoubt.

Grove of Birch trees at the top.

One of the many flowers along the trail.

I'm assuming these are wild roses, very pretty!

Lupines. These flowers are literally everywhere here, they are in full bloom too and so pretty.

Since Adam does not like cake, I made a New York cheesecake with strawberries and real whip cream instead, it was so yummy! We celebrated with Scott, Estelle, Brian and Brenna.

(The new sunset picture at the very top of my blog site was taken 6-22-10 at 11 pm, still very light out.)

Spring Has Arrived!!

So spring has sprung and moose calves are being born. In one day we saw two sets of moose twins, one set out by the cabin Adam is building and the second set right in Kenai (pictured below). This particular set of twins and momma have been seen numerous times grazing on this patch of grass, they are normally seen in the morning and at dusk. This first picture was taken at about 1030 in the morning.

This second picture was taken at about 1145 at night on the same day, and YES it is still very light outside! (See at the end of this post for a very cute video of the moose babies.)

Adam and I went on a local hike to Kelley lake (about 1 hour from Kenai), for memorial day weekend. A popular spot for campers and fishermen with boats.

Butch can never get enough of the water and fetching sticks.

Kelley Lake hike. The hike is about 9 miles and goes around the whole lake.

The work of local beavers!

And beavers finished product!

Watch below the super cute Moose babies!

Seward for the Weekend

Adam and I took a trip to Seward Alaska this weekend. Seward is about a 2 hour drive from Kenai, and is an absolutely gorgeous drive!! We were blessed with perfect weather which enabled us to have a wonderful view of all the mountains. (I apologize in advance for all of the pictures of the mountains, I am obsessed with the mountains and the pictures here don't do them justice.) A majority of the drive follows along the world-famous Kenai River, which is a beautiful turquoise color and I am pretty sure has something to do with the glacial melt-off. The first three pictures are of the drive to and from Seward, which is the same drive from Kenai to Anchorage, so anyone who comes to visit us will take part in the beautiful scenery as well!

Kenai River, the turquoise color of the water unfortunately does not show up in this picture. I guess you will have to come and visit us this summer if you really want to see it! (By the way, plane tickets from Portland to Anchorage are still only $400 round trip, they are never that cheap!!!!)

Isn't this beautiful?

Coming into Seward, many cruise ships and ferries dock here since it is nestled right off the ocean in Resurrection Bay.

Adam and I originally decided to go to Seward to go on some great hikes. We got all prepared by buying bear mase (pepper spray), since all of the bears are waking up from hibernation and are very grumpy. Our first hike was to Exit Glacier, about 8 miles out of Seward, it took us about an hour to hike up and back.

This is a picture of the glacier.

Another pic of the glacier.

View from the top (well almost the top) and me...

...and Adam.

I thought this bridge was really cute!

We decided that this tree would make a great Christmas tree this December! Just kidding, it was sooooo fat and short, it would take up our whole cabin!

On the way back down Adam spotted a black bear way up on the hillside. I wanted to take a picture of the hillside just so we could remember that we saw one, I think it is the tiny little black speck in this picture, although I am not 100% sure, our camera doesn't zoom in very far. We also saw many mountain goats!

Our drive into Seward from Exit Glacier, I took a few photos of the mountains.

They look much bigger in real life!

Downtown Seward, not much to it, but it is very cute.

Downtown Seward.

I couldn't resist.

Adam and I thought it would be more fun to rent a tiny cabin for the night instead of staying in a hotel, especially since they are about the same price. It was soooo cute, and so much fun!

The bedroom.

Sitting area.

Entry to bathroom.

Adam always studying the architecture!

The bathroom.

We of course brought Butch along for the ride, he stayed the night in the car since they didn't allow pets inside the cabin. Butch is patiently waiting for Adam to start our campfire that was already set up outside in the picnic area.

We roasted hot dogs on the fire and had a picnic for dinner Friday night.

Picnic.

It was a little cold, but nothing we are not used to by now.

Butch found a treat for himself while we were cooking our dinner. He found a rabbit foot out in the woods and munched on that while we ate, let's just say that we aren't letting Butch give us any kisses for a while, it made his breath even worse!

On Saturday Adam and I went to the Seward Sea-life Center/Aquarium. They had a big room full of different Alaskan birds, lots of really cool fish, a seal and a sea lion.

These are Puffin's, aren't they cute? They have funny sideburns that remind me of a mustache.

More birds.

Lots of Sea stars, this was part of the aquarium where they let you touch the stars and different anemones.

This seal was playing with Adam, chasing his hand around, it was very cute!

Resurrection Bay from the Sea-life centers balcony, beautiful!

Resurrection Bay again.

We walked along the beach with Butch, mountains surrounding us!

The company that we rented the cabin from also runs a huge dog kennel that houses over 50 sled dogs. The family that owns the kennel competes in the Iditarod dog-sled race every year and places within the top ten! Because we rented a cabin we got a free tour of the kennel and education on the actual Iditarod race.

Adam and I didn't know this but Siberian huskies are actually not used for sled dog races like in all of the movies (Eight Below, Iron Will, etc.) It is a special breed called the Alaskan husky and they are specifically bred just for endurance and racing. They really aren't very pretty dogs, they are very lanky, and are basically mutts, but can run over 100 miles a day during the Iditarod!

Pictured here is one of the very few Siberian huskies that were at the kennel. Her name is Mya and she was very friendly!

One of the Alaskan huskies at the kennel just had a litter of 9 female puppies, they were only 8 days old and there eyes hadn't even opened yet!

We had a great weekend in Seward and can't wait to go back! Just remember, the summer's are beautiful here, the plane tickets are cheap right now, and we are learning about all of the great spots to see in Alaska so that when you come to visit you will have a great time!!! (Hint-hint)