deep thoughts by maggie

halloween candy is already waiting, lurking at my local grocery store.
it's that time of year again.
so my thought is: when did halloween turn from "ultimate kid fantasy holiday" into
"dress like a skanky......anything" day?
let's take back halloween people.

before september even starts.

grandma and grandpa's visit.....in random order

austin really believed he could hold back the tide


sow and cub eating blueberries, they have to eat 200,000 blueberries a day or 3 5 gallon buckets full.
see the moose in the background?
beautiful vista
teknilika river
walking along the touristy path
sand=fun
it was freezing and they all insisted on getting in the water.
isn't this a great picture?

top of artic valley area, near our home
jace was "hiding"


the payoff
the hard work dipnetting at fish creek. alaskan residents can fish for salmon with a big net, but it's not easy. mike spent a good 12 hours in this creek, he got 11 salmon!
mike looks good in neoprene waders.
austin tagged along on the dipnetting trip. he got a double cheeseburger that was the special of the day. he put the stickers on his jacket so it would say, "double special" oh and he sure is.

i heart dramamine

only 30% of visitors actually see denali because of it's insistence of being shrouded in clouds. but the cloud line parted for a bit and offered us a little glimpse of the top of mt. mckinley (largest peak in n. america) this pic is awesome, but just doesn't do the scene justice, you just can't imagine how big it is.
wonder lake, 85 miles into denali ntl. park (read below) and the end of the road.
jace, grandma and the sand, beach at kenai
granpa took lots of amazing pics, i will post them when i get my hands on 'em
our first blueberry picking! and probably our last.....sniff.
the kids on some windswept pines near the trailhead for flat top. windy there.

we've been carousing around alaska with grandma and grandpa judi! we've been to the kenai penisula, the beach and all the way up to denali national park where we took an 11 hour bus ride into the park. crazy i know, but with one kid per adult, it worked out splendidly and was the best most awesome thing we've done in alaska so far. we saw 11 grizzly bears (grizzlies live in the interior, brown bears live by the coast, same bear different name) several caribou, two foxes fighting over dinner, ptarmigan's (the kids called them chickens) a wolf that mike spotted, two bull moose, and lots of rabbits, grounds squirrels and golden eagles. one of the grizzlies was chasing and trying to eat ground squirrels, but they got away. denali is so wild, it is unlike any place i've ever been. thanks to dramamine, jace was able to bear the 11 hours in a moving vehicle, and he did awesome! we also hiked artic valley with grandma and grandpa, and hiked flat top, (this mountain IN anchorage that has a flat top, and picked blueberries a few days before they got here. we've been playin, and trying not to think about the inevitable end to this awesome summer. more denali pics to come.