As I mentioned on the previous post, Matt was down on the Kenai for a fishing trip. Somehow in the midst our summer of vacations, this one got missed. Matt generously stepped up to the planning plate and put together weekend plans to ride his motorcycle with Sam. But of course, the wives and kids would drive down to a campsite near Seward and meet them for camping fun.
Unfortunately(?) the fishing got cancelled due to bad weather - so the boys had no option but to get started early on their trail riding. Poor guys...
Caitlin and I stuck to the original plan of getting breakfast at our usual diner and then hitting the road. I figured if we timed it right, the boys might even get a nap in before we got to Seward.
Of course, we had to stop at the Girdwood playground for a little fun first! I think Girdwood is the first playground we discovered when we moved to Alaska and it's so convenient for an attempt to wear the kids out before a road trip...
Thomas bee-lined for the sand box to play with the excavator this morning. Not surprising, because:
They are apparently working on the park and the first thing Thomas saw when we pulled up was the excavator ripping up the old tennis courts. I would say a good 40% of the time at the park today was spent watching the excavator. (By all 3 kids!)
And no park visit would be complete without riding on the wooden sled dogs!
Henry was all over the park today! Thankfully Thomas and Abby were happy to hang out together, so I could chase Henry while Caitlin watched the older two. He "hid" from me in the train for a little while - he looked so funny when I "found" him. I have no idea what this expression is!
Finally made it down to Seward and the SeaLife Center! I tried to convince the kiddos to stop playing for a second for a photo op. You can see how into it they were...!
At least Abby was happy enough to sit for a photo with her momma!
Back to playing on the boat! The center is full of sea life (obviously), but their favorite part if always this boat right at the entrance. Abby was apparently concerned for her safety with Thomas being the Captain. She ran over and put the life jacket on without prompting. Ha!
"No, I'm the captain!"
*Screeech*
"I am...!"
Brotherly love...
The attraction for the summer was all about the prehistoric Buzzsaw Shark! I didn't exactly get to read all of the signs about the reasoning for the circular saw teeth. I do know that one of the fossils of the teeth spiral was found in Alaska - so that's pretty awesome.
We somehow managed to time it to see the Sea Lions being fed - a first! The kids were just as enthralled as the moms. So fun!
Thomas actually touched something in the touch tank! Another first! He then asked the lady overseeing the tank what something was. She couldn't tell what he was pointing to, so he explained he wanted to know what the black tubes were - part of the filtration system. She said in all of her time there, no one has ever asked her about the tank system.
That's my boy - the engineer!
We started to lose them about halfway through, so we took a short break on the deck upstairs. Henry was occupied by a mini-dance party. He's got some pretty interesting moves... Not sure where he learned them!
Abby and Thomas raced bak and forth a few times to burn off some extra energy. No one out there seemed to be giving us the side eye, so I will assume they found it cute and not annoying. The two of them were giggling and laughing, so they were being pretty adorable. :)
One more trip back to the boat! This time both kids were concerned for their safety. :)
When we finally left, Thomas ran straight for the circle of benches outside and yelled "Train!" I was so confused why he was talking about the train until I caught up with him. Pretty impressed he recognized the train emblem so quickly. That boy does love his trains!
We set off on a quest to find cookies for snack time. We knew there was at least one place down the street that usually had them, so we headed there first. And these two were still pretty intent on being adorable. I'm glad they get along so well!
Now if we could just work on getting them both to look at the camera at the same time... I didn't trust Henry at all to stand up there for a picture. These two were bad enough - they started trying to climb the bear. Picture time is over! "/
Off to the playground to eat our cookie snack! Henry didn't finish his cookie quite as fast as everyone else, so he and I hung out on the dog sled (these parks are all very similar!) so he could finish. Unfortunately, right after this super happy photo, he started to fall over. Instead of catching himself, he held on to his cookie and ended up face planting into the bench in front of us. His cookie fell to the ground and his tooth went through his lip. Traumatizing all around!
I got him cleaned up and established that he wasn't seriously hurt apart from a bleeding lip. But I couldn't get him calmed down. I finally decided to call Matt back (he had called in the midst of the chaos). He didn't pick up and his phone went to voicemail. As soon as Henry heard his dad on the message he was all smiles and "Dada!!" Good trick to know for the future!
After the guys caught up with us and we had dinner at the bus in town, we headed out of town to find our campsite. Apart from our tent being a little big and the tent spot being a little sloped, it wasn't so bad! Matt was really the only person complaining since Thomas and I were both sliding in to him all night. Ha!
Oh and we need to reevaluate our blanket situation, it was a little chillier than I expected. "/
I was super stressed over getting everything packed up without help since Matt was going out before we were. Especially what to pack for food - I haven't camped in a while! Luckily, Matt packed up most of the big stuff before he left and the guys gave me a grocery list. But the best part was when they informed me that Sam was going to do the cooking. Well that's a welcome change! :)
Of course, I probably should have asked how much my risk of a heart attack would increase after this breakfast. That's a *lot* of butter in those eggs! I will admit, they were pretty darn tasty though... The road to a heart attack is paved with butter...
I kept trying to get a photo of Henry's fat lip, but he was not in the mood for cooperating. Usually he just sucks on two fingers, but this morning he was stuffing four of them in there. At least he was in a great mood! :)
Abby was such a ham for the camera, it was hard to get a non-cheesy photo of her. She did have to take a short break from the ridiculously big photos, so I managed to get a serious one of her. Such a cutie with her pigtails. Much cuter than I looked after a night of camping!
Thomas found her pink camera and we didn't have to worry about entertaining him for the next ten minutes. I should probably be better about packing his camera for trips!
Before heading back home, we decided to walk down to the river on one of the trails. Anything we can do to wear them out before a car ride is a plus in my book.
They even got a chance to practice their balance beam skills!
Henry didn't get the chance to walk - he's so heavy that if there is a chance you might have to carry him for more than a short distance, it's better just to put him in the backpack carrier. He crashed pretty soon in to the walk anyhow. Not picture are the other two kiddos who ran out of steam on the trail down and had to be carried as well (on the shoulders, of course!).
Turns out that Thomas gets pretty heavy too. Ugh - I was sweating pretty bad before we got back to the car... Freezing at night and burning up on a short walk - I thought I lived in Alaska?!?
All-in-all it was a great trip and motivation that we can do tent camping with the kids successfully. I've been dreading the first trip because it just seemed so stressful - turns out it wasn't all that bad. Car camping added back to the list of family activities! Also, thanks to Sam, Caitlin and Abby for hanging out with us - it was a great time!