Friday, April 30, 2010

3 Bears

On my drive home yesterday I saw three bears in the tree. A momma and her two babies who were just 3 blocks from our house. The bears are coming out and while I like seeing them I prefer for them to be a little further away from my house. Last year one walked down our street while all the kids were corralled into one garage. Now that Molly is a big girl and out riding her bike with the big kids I will have to be on bear watch.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Easter/One year photoshoot

Luckily for Molly her Aunt Kaitlin is an amazing photographer and she happened to be here for Easter so we got some photos of Molly taken. For the parents/grandparents in our life please don't feel like you need to get them off the blog - they are coming for your upcoming holidays in May and June.
Our impromptu session before Easter lunch.
Molly doing a McPherson pose - when the arms go up that means they are tired. Her grandaddy and dad both do this.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

We climbed to the star!

We joined our hiking buddies for yet another fun adventure this weekend. William (who is 3) told Valerie last year he wanted to hike to the star overlooking Anchorage so yesterday we put on our hiking boots and went to the star. I called up our friend Tina to see if any of her kids wanted to go with us and we did an even trade - Molly for Olivia. Molly got to stay inside and play and Olivia got the adventure of a lifetime. The hike up was actually pretty nice - I thought the snow was deep and annoying while hiking up but that was before our final descent to the star then I knew what deep snow was. It was a 3.5 mile hike and with Jon's handy dandy Garmin watch I can tell you our pace, how many feet up we climbed, his heart rate and any other detail you could imagine but instead I will just show you pictures!

Early on - here is when I thought the snow was a little deep and annoying b/c my whole foot sunk each time.
Group shot! Vince, Jon, Olivia, Ashley, William and Valerie - Titan is once again running around somewhere so he can hike it 3-4 times when we are done.
Right before the final ascent.
The last push to the star - uncharted walking. We are glad we did not cause an avalanche.
That is right - my entire leg sunk. Too bad it happened at least 80 more times and I started crawling on my hands and knees.
WE MADE IT!!
The best part - sledding straight down the mountain and not hiking the regular trail.

Mid April and this is what the mountains around us look like. I don't know what will be the reward for hiking once the snow melts.

Monday, April 12, 2010

We climbed Bear Mountain

*there are 2 posts today - scroll past this one to see Jon's birthday post.
We climbed Bear Mountain. Our friends the Myers live on a lake at the bottom of Bear Mountain and it was decided at Jon's birthday that it would be fun to hike it on Sunday. So at 2pm on Sunday we started the trek up the mountain. They tell us it is a 2 mile hike up the mountain. About 1.5 miles into the hike I was having some questionable thoughts about our sanity and my ability to finish but I DID the first .5 miles down Jon was questioning his ability to get down the mountain without hurting himself or Molly but HE DID. Our group of 4 girls, 2 guys, 2 dogs, 1 preschooler and 1 toddler made the trek in close to 3 hours with no major injuries.

Molly getting ready with a big breakfast - after eating her meal she came and let Jon share his breakfast with her.
Getting ready to start the hike. William and Molly got free rides up the mountain.
WE MADE IT
Ashley, Jon, Molly, Ashley, Valerie, William, Rachel and Duke - Moose was taking the picture and Titan was probably running around. The hike was hard for the humans but the dogs must have climbed the mountain 3 times each with the amount of running around they did.
We were viewing the Myers house at this point - if it wasn't so foggy there is supposed to be an amazing view.

On the way down instead of walking we sat on our butts and slid most of the way (on purpose) and I must have hit a rock or two and torn my pants. Didn't realize this until we were in the flatter spots and having to walk again - luckily I had on long johns underneath.
Molly and I post hike - some amazing hat head going on here. We are so thankful for adventurous friends who let us join them. I don't think Jon and I would have thought to do this on our own!



Jon's Birthday

This week we celebrated Jon's birthday by going on a family hike and then having a party on Saturday. Here are some pictures of the fun Thunderbird falls Hike and the Mexican food /game night!

Our friend William earned a reward and brought his new racetrack to the party. I don't know who had more fun- the "big boys" or him?
Our snowball fight. It might not have snowed for a week or two but we have had snow in our yards since November so there is always plenty around for a fight or two.
Molly watching the fight from the safety zone - after one near miss we moved her close to the house since she doesn't understand DUCK yet.
Moose and Ashley - coming up with our strategy.

Jon talking to his mom on our hike - Molly is trying to get over to say HI grandmommy but she wasn't allowed off the bench. We were also geocaching which is why he is on the wrong side of the railing.
Molly enjoying the view of the falls and the beautiful weather out. It was a blistery 44 out that day and it really did get hot in the sunny areas.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

McP/Roten Visit

This past week we had the McPherson's and Roten's in town and we took them on some fun adventures. We ate, hiked, ate, drove, ate, went sight seeing and ate some more! Molly got some great time with her grandparents and aunt and uncle - with only 1 small one around she was pretty spoiled. Jon and I started the week out with a marriage conference and his parents watched Molly then we picked up the Rotens and hit the ground running. The last few days we just chilled around the house and played games. It was a great visit!!

Geo caching on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail way with Kaitlin and Thomas

On our hike around the lake we found a random set of bowling pins and ball - so we bowled a few rounds on the mostly frozen lake. Ashley thought it would be a fun adventure to walk from one side of the lake to the other - we found that the warmer days had caused a few spots of the lake to be not as frozen as it used to be.
Strike!! OK more like a split but there were no bumpers.
Thomas setting up for the next person
Thomas and Kaitlin in Talkeenta - we had a view of Denali as the clouds moved.
Molly enjoying the view from Grandmommy's shoulders.
I was a little slack on the camera since Grandaddy had his camera and so did Aunt Kaitlin so we will just have to get a few pictures from them.
Molly and her most favorite person in the world - DADDY! After being gone for a year Molly can not stand her dad to be gone for even a few minutes of her life and she lets it be known each morning as he leaves for work. The video below is what those first 5 minutes are like until I can get her distracted. Then it is out of sight out of mind and she doesn't worry about Jon again until he comes home and she races towards the door as he takes off his boots.