My friend Dan who I originally came to Alaska with over 14 years ago, took us flying last night all the way around "The Mountain".   He flies twin engine Navajo's with the best air tour company in the area.  Reid looking out at Denali and the surrounding glaciers.  These kids have no idea how lucky they are to have such amazing experiences that people never get in their whole life time. 

 All those dots are tents and people at one of the camps on the mountain.  It takes people an average of 3 weeks to climb Denali.  Right now there is a 100th year expedition going on.  The descendents of the original climbers of Denali are trying to summit the mountain using the route that the original climbers used.  We actually got to see those climbers last night! 

This is Dan being goofy with the kids! 

 We have participated in the local "Trahin' Fashion" show the past few years.  The idea is to make an outfit out of recycled trash.  This year I made Amelia's dress out of recycled topo maps of the local area.  Someone had given us LOTS of maps when they moved and this proved to be something good to do with them.  Reid's outfit (he is a hunter by the way! ) is made from recycled calendar pages with wildlife photos.  His hunting rifle is made from papertowel and toilet paper rolls.  They both won a trophe and a $25 gift certificate to local businesses. 

Amelia and Ayla adore their teacher, Mrs. Martin.  We had her and her husband over for dinner after school was out. 

 I had to throw in at least one photo of us working...I like to try to block those times out of my memory.  Lance always says I don't like to work...all I want to do is play...  OK...I"ll admit to that!  This is us washing the cement floor of the shop the night before we moved in....our new home.

This is our friend Quentin.  He was basing his helicopter out of our hangar for a while back in the Spring doing some research work here locally.  He did us a huge favor by swinging a big fuel tank up a stand and into place for us.  (I only got video of that...no photo but it was impressive)  He let the kids sit in the helo while it was running and they were excited about that. 

I took the kids skiing a few times this winter.  They are able to go so much further on our adventures without complaining too much!  This is a truck parked in a friend's yard....glad all that snow finally melted!!! 

I took the kids on their first backpacking adventure.  It was windy and cold the first night but cleared off to be a great time!!  Reid carried his sleeping bag and water purifier.  amelia carrried all of our food!  I carried the rest and that was just about right....I was actually having to catch up to them. 

 Amelia taking a break from hiking and reading a book.  Reid looking at Caribou
 Amelia posing with Denali in the background and with her shed antler finds!!!

 The kids really enjoy purifying water for us to drink.  There was alot of little streams from all the melting snow.

 It is so cool to see how high the kids hiked!  Look at Piper's ear blowing in the wind...it was really windy and cold up there. 

Cantwell is in the background.  What a great place to live!  It can be difficult but the rewards are great. 

I love cooking with the camp stove...things seem to taste better in the mountains when you're camping!!  pasta and hotdogs....yum!!!

 The cabin we went to is right off the Denali Highway which is well travelled this time of year by snowmachines and dog mushers.  This was our water hole in the creek.... 

The cabin the kids and I stayed in was tiny but cozy....you could see daylight through the logs and the wood stove was tiny so I was up every couple hours adding wood to the fire but we were very thankful to have a cabin and wood.  It dipped to -25 the second night we were there!!!  That is a caribou skin on the wall....the old timers used to sleep on them to stay warm but this one was too stiff so we hung it on the wall. 

Loading up for a great adventure!  Dogs...snowmachines....kids....bikes....skiis....sleds and snowboards.  It takes a lot of stuff for a winter trip.  Cynthia and I pulled sled loads of stuff out to the camp. 

 The cleanup after a trip like this is huge but the prize (and winters feast) is all worth it.  Plus...it really is a lot of fun!!!  I love that the kids really know where there meal comes from and helped get it to the table.

 Alaskan clothesline!  I fell in the creek with a load of Caribou meat on my back.  Luckily most of it dried out. 

We finally had a chance to go hunting this Fall.  We had a Caribou tag to fill and either Lance or I could shoot the animal.  He was nice and let me be the gunner.  This was our only hunting for the Fall as we have been so busy getting the house and shop pads ready to build.  We flew out to a special spot and spent three days full of family fun!!!

 Reid was really interested in helping cut up the Caribou with his pocket knife.  I look forward to the day that Amelia and I are off picking berries while Reid and Lance butcher the animal!

 

 My good friend Ken Curtis gave me this .270 rifle.  I am so comfortable with this gun and it is always nice when the shot is accurate.  We were only about 85 yards from this Caribou when I shot

  The velvet was shedding off the antlers so we took it down to the creek and washed it up. 

MY BOY!!!!   Here is an example of how the kids handle using the bathroom when we are camping if possible.  We cut the bottom out of a 5gallon bucket, dig a hole....insert waste....burn paper....cover hole with dirt when done....AND.....  a midnight snack!  Smore's with an oreo......   below are some of the photos from a recent camping trip with some friends over July 4th weekend. 

The weather in Alaska is always unpredictable.  On this trip it was particularly so....we had sunshine, lots of rain, driving wind and rain!  and even some snow....   We found a place out of the wind to hunger down and make hot chocolate and wait for the rain to quit.  I was relaxing on the hillside trying to soak up one of the only sunny moments.  The kids enjoyed the huge snowslide that we encountered while hiking......  

It was great to have Collin and Karen's boats on the trip to play on the lake.  The water was so clear and beautiful!  We rowed the kids across the lake and went for a hike at the other end.  Collin is here in the boat with Amelia and his son Jake......one of Reid's best buddies!!   There was  alot of snow still around the edge of the lake...here Lance is fishing from a snow bank....only in Alaska in July!!!!

Camp-life is so much fun to me. Waking up and having coffee and making breakfast.....doing dishes by the edge of the lake.....  some would say I'm camping on a daily basis...but to me....this was it!!!   Reid and Amelia both are proving to be quite the hikers......Amelia seemed like she had a motor attached to her feet this day.   The kids were wearing their life jackets boating across the lake and then kept them on to keep them warm.  It was windy and rainy.......

We wintered over 6 mallards in our chicken coop this winter.  Three of the hens decided to sit on eggs and delivered us many ducklings in the past couple weeks.  It has been so exciting for the kids (and me!) to have this experience.  This mama had 12 !!!  babies...   We have been able to experience predation  close at hand.  A raven was stealing duckings for a while and ended up taking 7 total.  We now only have 12 ducklings which is more than enough!!!   Not really sure what is going to happen to them this winter as we also now have 26 chickens!!!   This place has gone to the BIRDS!!!!