Alaska: July 7th, 8th and 9th

July 7th

 I'm not sure who snapped this picture but it's so funny.  This is how the 4 older girls slept the whole 2 weeks we were there.  This was Sydney's room, so she slept in her bed while the other 3 squished on the floor.  Looks pretty cozy.  

In the morning, we helped clean up some and Garrett and I went grocery shopping.  After lunch, we all went on a hike on the Sandy Beach Trail to City Creek.  I think we went about 2 miles, but it was a beautiful two miles.  

 Starting off the hike at this nice little shelter.  

 a gorgeous view of the ocean

 They had this nice boardwalk through a lot of the woods.  They were pretty slippery when they got wet though.  Noah stacked it a couple of times.  

 We found this swing a ways in.  Pretty fun!

 We made it to the creek.

 Walking back to our cars on the road.

 Playing pit before dinner

 Sydney and Alyssa (through a group at school) are able to DJ a radio show every Monday night at the local radio station.  They go in at 10 and play songs and make announcements, read the news and do the weather till midnight.  Mostly, they get to play their favorite music and have fun.  They took Lydia and Maggie each time they did it. (Plus some other friends)

 It was fun, because we'd hang out at home and listen to them while we played games or read or whatever.  We'd text them songs that we wanted to hear and then they'd be played.  It was pretty cool.

This is Sydney looking pretty professional. 

July 8th

 This is a ferry that passed by in front of Savann and Alex's house that morning.  There are numerous ferry's and they all pass through these narrows to the ferry terminal.  

 Later in the morning, we all decided to head out on Alex's boat to do a little "jigging" for herring and to attempt to find a whale.  

 Alex and Savann

 Maggie fishing

 Lydia "jigging"

 There are multiple hooks on each line and you can catch these little guys pretty quickly.  We caught quite a few, but threw most of them back.  

 We passed these buoys and saw quite a few sea lions.  

 Lydia got this close up shot.

This huge yacht drove by while we were watching the sea lions.  As it was passing, they all dove off into the water.  When the yacht was gone, we were so entertained by watching the sea lions try to get back on the buoy.  They are so big, but they would jump out of the water to get on.  There were some really fat ones that had to keep trying over and over.  

 Alex and Noah driving the boat

 Lydia and Garrett enjoying the boat ride

 It started raining on our way back in.  We didn't ever see any whales while we were out this day.  

 Passing by their house on the way back into the harbor. 

 Noah and Garrett getting WET!

 Getting our picture taken in front of the famous Petersburg sign where you hang up your halibut after fishing.  

 Lydia helping with the boat.

When we got back home, Garrett, Jim, Georgia and myself went to lunch at a little sandwich shop downtown called Helse.  

Then the afternoon was spent playing, reading, laundry, blogging and watching movies (for the kids).  Then Garrett, Alex and Jim took the kids to the community pool to go swimming.  Savann, Georgia and I went to the pizza place to put our order in and then the guys and kids met us there for pizza.  

Yum!

July 9th

 Today, we drove out to the end of the road and went on a hike to some rapids.  I can't remember the name.  This beautiful shot was taken from the parking lot at the start of the hike.  

 There was a nice boardwalk to walk on because the ground is muskeg and not normal grass.  Muskeg is a spongy material--like a bog, which is a mixture of water and partly dead vegetation and covered by mosses.  You don't really walk on it or you sink into the water.  

 Noah found one of Devon's wooden guns (at the house) and fell in love with it and brought it on the hike with us.  

 Getting down to the water.  

 Climbing on the slippery rocks. 

 Jim and Georgia and Paige

 Alyssa, Maggie and Sydney with random fishermen in the back.

 Cutie patootie Bella Blue.

 Bella and Noah exploring

group shot

After this hike, half of the group had to leave.  Maggie went back to help Savann with dinner and the other older girls had to go and prepare for their YW activity that night.  Jim and Georgia stayed with us.  

 We drove to a different place and went on a different hike.  This was called Ohmer Creek.  Garrett's Eagle Scout project was making these benches throughout this area and along the trail.  Still looking good.  

 This tree was huge!

 I loved the moss covering all the branches of the trees. 

 Trying out daddy's bench

 Jim and Georgia went to sit in the car while we went on another hike.  

 

We came across this cool bridge that spanned the water.  Bella was a little freaked out about it and didn't want to cross.  (Which is why she wouldn't look at the camera.)

This one felt like we were deep in the woods.  There was no one else around and we were worried about running into a bear--so we let Paige loose and she sang at the top of her lungs.  I'm sure she scared off any bear that was in the area! She can be pretty loud!!

 It was so beautiful and peaceful.

This is the bridge--coming back again.  We thought the trail went in a big loop, but we kept going deeper and deeper into the woods, so we turned around and went back.  

Once back into town, Garrett and I stopped for some fish and chips and then walked around downtown looking in some of the shops.  The girls went to YW that night and the adults just hung out.