Our Life in Alaska and Beyond

After spending the night at Alyeska we woke up and wasted no time in getting out the door and onto some more adventures! I had heard of this pretty park where I wanted to take some pictures, Moose Meadow Park right by Alyeska, so we made a quick stop there first, but it ended up being pretty marshy and I didn't want the girls to get all wet and muddy so just Scott and I took some quick pics while Kay stayed in the car with the girls. It worked out great. It was a big open grassy area with surrounding views of beautiful mountains and glaciers. The lens I had with me is not the best at shooting backlit (my favorite way to shoot) when it's really sunny, so these pictures aren't the greatest, but it really was so beautiful! 

We've just had the most fun couple of weeks with Grandma Hadley! She mainly came up to watch the girls while Scott and I could were working, but we managed to fit in a lot of fun stuff too! Grandpa Hadley stayed home and stayed busy with their mission, but I'm sure he'll make it up next year. 😊

The first weekend Grandma was here we re-painted the exterior of our home! It has been fading the past couple years and we finally decided to paint it this summer. I'm so glad we did! It looks so good, and so much better! Scott and one of his co-workers pretty much did it all in one Saturday, and then I helped a little bit on the railings when I got home from work. It definitely wouldn't have been possible without Grandma's help in watching the girls. Thank you, thank you!

After the weekend of painting was over, we had some fun and went down to Girdwood and spent a night at Alyeska. The drive along Turnagain Arm was beautiful, the girls had a blast swimming in the pool, and Scott and I enjoyed a nice evening date walking around the grounds of Alyeska. Before checking into the hotel we took Grandma on the Winner Creek Trail hand tram. The hike was absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed picking ripe salmon berries all along the trail. Enjoy these pics!

After spending the morning at the AWCC, we hiked the hand tram in Girdwood. Grandma and Grandpa had not done this before so it was so fun to show them! It's definitely one of our favorites. The weather was perfect and sunny, and we had a good time. :)

Giving a thumbs up to Scott taking the photo below :)

Cute little squirrel :)

This was on our way back. The first time across Grandpa was with Noelle and I had forgotten how scared of heights he is! He said he was definitely a lot more comfortable going with Grandma on the way back. Sorry Dad!

We spent Monday night in Girdwood. We stayed at an Air B&B, and the girls absolutely loved it! Our room had bunk beds, which they really liked, and it was a nice, clean place too. On Tuesday morning we hiked the Winner Creek Trail to the hand tram. It is such a pretty hike (one of our favorites), and we had the hand tram all to ourselves! It was so fun! After the hike we headed home, but stopped at Kincaid Park in Anchorage to let the girls run around. Scott had been here with the girls before, but it was my first time. It's such a pretty park, and the girls loved the playground. The moose is so fun! We also loved the sunshine!

This hand tram is so cool!

View from the hand tram :)

Scott pretty much did all the work in getting all of us across :)

To break up the drive on our way home from Homer we stopped in Girdwood to hike the Winner Creek Trail. It was a first for us, and we've always wanted to try the hand tram. It was so fun and so pretty! The actual tram was a little scary, but definitely something we'd like to do again. The next time we hike this though, we'd definitely want to go on a weekday. The wait to go back across on the hand tram was over an hour! We had fun though. We love Alaskan summers!

We spent Wednesday night at Alyeska. It is such a beautiful hotel! We went swimming that night and the next morning, had breakfast at the hotel, rode the tram to the top of the mountain, and then made our way back home. Mike and Kay left for Utah the next day. We had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa Hadley! We always love when visitors come to see us and spend time with us. We're loving living in Alaska, but it sure does get hard being so far from family. Having family come visit us is the best! :)

The view from our hotel room <3

These girls running around our hotel room in their swim suits was the cutest! (cell pics)