Family Weekend

For my Dad's birthday, he, my mom, sister, Oma Yvette and Gpa Jack came up to celebrate a long weekend.

 It was the first time my family got to see our new home and plus, we had to walk down the street to Great Gma Sara's old home.

And because it was so hot, we had to stop at a popular nearby snow cone place: Bob's Brainfreeze.

Then we went on a hike to the Temple Quarry.

And Taylor got to show us his work at the Utah Lyons Eye Bank.

On Sunday we celebrated my Dad's birthday with gifts and a birthday cake.

And the best thing about making a cake, is sneaking some icing!

 Happy Birthday, Dad!

Taylor has the gift to see into the future. He was doing his best to express his thoughts in picture.

The whole family got to participate in the fun. Even the grand-daughter Tannin.

We also had fun showing everyone our backyard amenities:

All the fruit picking, hammock sitting, lizard cuddling fun.

And it was fun to show my family how to use our nifty fruit grabber:

The Claaaaaw! The claw is our master. The claw chooses who will go and who will stay.

Vancouver, BC

Wednesday July 27th
We took a red-eye flight at midnight out of Alaska to Vancouver, BC.
We took a nap when we arrived at Uncle Rob and Aunt Lee's home.
When we woke up, we got a late brunch near Kit's Beach, and then took their cute little dog Bella on a neighborhood walk .

The first night in Vancouver, we went to see the big annual World Firework Competition. This day was Australia, and it was beautiful. The fireworks happen in the harbor, and light up the whole city. The reflections of the fireworks off the city buildings was really beautiful.

Thursday July 28th

The next morning, we went to Deep Cove to kayak on the ocean. 

Hanging out in the VW Westfalia

There weren't enough single kayaks, so Taylor decided to paddle board. 

He kept up with us pretty nicely, even for his first time!

We kayaked 3-5 miles to a little island called Twin Island. Super fun!

Scenery of Deep Cove.

Our first stop at an island in the ocean cove. 

The lens is wet because I was attempting to take a video of the many jellyfish in the water.

So cool to see wild jellies!!

The Island was small, but it was super beautiful.

Tay getting back on the paddle board to paddle back to the dock 2 miles away.

We also saw the most curious little seal as we paddled along.

Friday July 29th

The next day, we decided to exhaust ourselves some more and bike all of Vancouver. Biking is a part of the city. There are bike lanes with their own traffic light. Super nice!

We biked 30 miles!

During the ride, we saw the set for Supergirl!

Stanley Park.

Saturday July 30th

Our last day in Vancouver was Uncle Rob's birthday. We went up north to see glaciers and the great outdoors. 

Here we are eating lunch at Howe Sound while watching wind surfers. Some of these crazy dudes reached 20 feet off the ground!

 Glaciers sure are pretty!

Brandywine Falls

 We just love the color of glacial rivers!

Uncle Rob and Taylor:

Uncle Rob chose to go to a Greek-style restaurant for his birthday. It was delish!

Alaska Part 2: Otters, Whales, Seals, Puffins, Salmon, Burgers, Kayaking

Sunday July 24th

Taylor and I took a ship out of the Seward harbor to explore the Kenai Fjord.

A cute little otter waved us off.

It was a cold day, but the fog held off so we could see the mountains as we went through the Kenai Fjord.

We also go to see lots of glaciers!

Bear Glacier

And there were so many humpback whales playing in the water near by us!

And we got to drive up half a mile away to Aialik Glacier! It was huge! We heard it calve and saw all the ice fall off into the ocean.



The ice burgs were really interesting to see!

There were a bunch of cute seals hanging out on top of them!

I didn't take this picture...but this is how cute they are!

When we came back, we went to go see the salmon jumping in Bear Creek.

And Taylor enjoyed an elk burger from Red's Burgers, while I enjoyed a caribou burger.

Then we took a stroll down the historic Iditarod Trail after Taylor stopped at a store to buy an Inuit YoYo

Monday July 25th

Was a constant raining and foggy day.

Can't really see the mountains anymore!

We went kayaking around Fox Island in the 57 degree weather!

Luckily, we prepared well and had waterproof jackets and waterproof coats. Also, I was thankful for our baseball caps so we didn't have water constantly dribbling down our faces.

Happy faces because even though we soaked through our waterproof coats and pants. We got 10 feet away from puffins, and touched purple and orange star fish.

Just wan FYI. This is a puffin.

Adorable.

This is a puffin running on the water. They do it to get away from boats or predators. We chased them in the kayak to get them to run away. You could hear their feet go pitter patter on the water. haha!

The fog and rain made it mystical.

We kayaked a total of 8-10 miles. Saw 8 bald eagles, beautiful waterfalls, and the funny pigeon gilmon and puffins run across the water to fly.

To warm up we went to the Alaska Sea Life Center and got to play with the harbor seals and get even closer to the funny little puffins!

These star fish were all found and rescued from Resurrection Bay. They were probably below us while we were kayaking!

And this anemone was so cool! I can't believe we kayaked right over these things!

Getting up close and personal with the cutest bird around.

"Oh, me? You're too sweet!"

Then the funniest seal saw me and decided to play tag the hand with me. Taylor also got a chance to play! We probably played with the seals for 30 minutes.

Tuesday July 26th we took the scenic road to Anchorage.

There was a salmon viewing stop that Taylor almost passed, but I thought would be really cool to see.

There were so many Red salmon!

So close....

Dinner!

Portage Glacier

Portage glacier and iceberg

Mountain Man Tay just loves his glaciers.

We stopped at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

One of the boys showed the sport that the Inuit people liked to do.

And we also saw the different type of homes that each nation built.

And it was also really cool to see the different dances be performed!