Zac is Three!

Zac was very proud of the cowboy hat Uncle bought him

This post is a week overdue, Zac's birthday was actually Sept 20....but I'm lucky to have this spare moment to write at all.  We spent his birthday at the Puyallup Fair with Uncle Scott, Auntie Nikki, Cousins Bree and Max and Grandpa Wayne even came from Oregon.  It was a gloomy, rainy day to be at the fair, but we all braved thru six hours of it and had a good time.  Lots of junk to eat and rides to ride, plus the animals and exhibits.  The boys were pooped by the end of the day.  We attempted to do a cake tailgater afterwards, but it was late, dark, rainy and the last thing I wanted the boys to have was a piece of cake after eating fair food all day.  So we sang, blew out the candles and I sent half the cake home with my brother and family!  Nice way to end the day :)  Can't believe he's only three, seems like he's much older at times or maybe its just that my days are so long!!  My wish for him to be potty trained by age three came true and that in itself is a HUGE accomplishment.  Yay Zac!

Fearless Zac on a roller coaster

Whenever cousins get together, 

Bree is always matched up with Zac and Max with Scotty

The Cousins

Presents the next morning, Zac loves to roller skate

The Big Red Invasion

For those of you who know Jay, you know he's a huge Nebraska Cornhuskers fan.  So much of a fan, we named our son after Trev Alberts, one of the greatest Linebackers in Husker history. 

Nebraska retired Alberts jersey #34

So when Jay learned that Washington was hosting Nebraska September 18, we had to get tickets.  Not realizing what a hot ticket this was, I didn't get them early and the game sold out.  As a result, we paid more than we wanted to for them, but it turned out to be money well spent.  The "Battle in Seattle" began at 1230 pm, the clouds parted and the sun shined down on this blessed event....it was a great day and my first experience with what Jay refers to as "Husker Nation". 

Beer at 9 AM (hey, it was 5:00 somewhere....)

I was floored by the amount of Red pouring into the stadium....for a visiting team to have a fan base so big that it filled almost half the seats in Husky Stadium, that is pretty amazing.  And then for Nebraska to totally dominate Washington with a 56-21 blowout, that was the icing on the cake.  In fact, when Washington fans had enough and started leaving in disgust, Nebraska fans took over the stadium chanting "GO BIG RED" and even attempted the wave!  It was quite a scene. 

Red on the inside, Purple on the outside

A Sea of Red

I am by no means a serious football fan.  I only started taking an interest in the game last year and I still need a little coaching from time to time to understand all that is going on, but football fan or not, you can't help but admire the devotion the Husker fans have for their team.  We talked to many people who traveled all the way from Nebraska just for the game.  It is easy to understand why they are considered the best fans in college football.  Seattle was definitely colored in Red this weekend.  It was so much fun to be a part of and I hope someday I will get to have a true Husker experience at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.  GO BIG RED!!

They had a section all to themselves...no Dawgs allowed

Well, most Husker fans are classier than this, but it was worth taking a picture

Husky Band made the Nebraska 'N'

Even the boats out on the Lake were Red

Forgot the flash...but what a view!

Alaska 2010

A picture of a brown bear I took right outside our cabin!!

no, not really..... 

This was actually taken at the zoo on our last day

We took our annual trip to Alaska and spent four days 40 miles outside of Anchorage in a cabin at Knik River Lodge in Palmer.  I'm not even sure how I stumbled upon this place when I was planning the trip, but I took a gamble and reserved it because I thought a cabin all to ourselves would be much better than sharing walls in a hotel with three small kids.  We were pleasantly surprised.  It was everything we could hope for in a "cabin out in the woods" - peaceful and away from the city, but not too secluded to where I would be freaked out the whole time. 

Scotty got to sleep in the loft

The cabin served all our needs, was comfortable, clean and cozy and we would definitely stay there again.  The "lodge" consists of about 18 cabins situated on a chunk of property way out in the middle of nowhere.  It is owned and operated by a very nice Dutch couple who live on the property during the summer months. 

View from our cabin

They delivered breakfast to our door in the morning upon request, but serve lunch and dinner every day out of a small kitchen, with a yurt serving as the dining area.  It sounds odd, but the ambiance was great and the food was excellent (Peter, the owner, is also the head chef but he has a small staff to help). 

Kitchen to the left and "dining" yurt to the right

They also coordinate with one of the local helicopter companies to offer tours right off the property, they even keep a helo on hand.  The first thing the boys did when we arrived was check it out and they got a big kick out of watching it take off and land every day.

Last year we road tripped it throughout the Kenai Peninsula and MatSu Valley, this year we decided to stay in one place and relax a little more.  The first full day we were there, we headed into the town of Wasilla.  No, I did not stalk Sarah Palin this time!  But the thought to go over to her neck of the woods did cross my mind :)  I resisted.  Later that evening we headed to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer.  We ran out of time to see and do everything at the fair, so we actually headed back there the next day.

Matt, the lumberjack - the boys really enjoyed this logging show 

These cars were so cute!  Scotty actually got to drive it, no cables or tracks to help him.  He did quite well and Zac got to ride along.

Friday evening we met for pizza at the very popular Moose's Tooth in Anchorage with our friend and old neighbor, Edrie Vinson.  She lived right next door to us in our first house in Juneau, before we had to move to another house, but we have managed to stay in contact with her and now that she lives in Anchorage, it was a must that we meet up with her.  The last time we saw her, Scotty was just a baby.

The next day, we set out to make the three hour drive north to the Denali National Park for a photo op with Trev and his namesake, Mount McKinley (aka Denali), the highest peak in North America.  However, the weather turned to rain and clouds and since we hear that it's hard to see McKinley even on a clear day if you're not lucky enough to get to the right area in the park, we figured the weather would make it that much more challenging and it wouldn't be worth enduring the long roundtrip with restless kids.  We also have heard that the trip really should be done in two days in order to enjoy the guided tour through the park.  So an hour into the drive, we turned around.  Maybe next year....

This is just a random photo of the mountain I stole from the internet to show what could've been

We spent the rest of our last full day in Alaska exploring down by the Knik River and hanging out in the cabin, topping off the evening with another nice dining experience at the lodge restaurant.  The dreary day made it easy to be lazy.

Our flight didn't depart until 5:30 PM on our final day, so we decided to visit the Alaska Zoo since it's right in Anchorage.  Again, the weather was dreary, but there was hardly anyone at the zoo because of it so we weren't complaining!

Zac trying to feed a dead leaf to the Dall Sheep

Sadly, the only moose we saw this trip was at the zoo

It was a great family trip and it made us love Alaska even more.  With the boys getting older, it just gets more and more fun to go up there.  Looking forward to next year....

Mommy's Kind of Camping

The first excursion we planned as a family upon Jay's return was a three day camping trip out on the Olympic Peninsula.  We tested out the towing abilities on Jay's truck by renting a 19 foot camper trailer from the Navy's MWR.  I will never camp in a tent again.  It was awesome having running water, toilet, shower, beds, kitchen and an escape from flying insects all while still having the ability to enjoy a campfire at night.  Definitely my kind of camping. 

Our first night was spent at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend.  I promised Scotty we would go back there so that Jay could take them in the scary tunnels and stairways in the old fort, Battery Kinzie, so we decided to make that our first stop and camp right near the beach. 

One of the scary stairways that the boys and Jay explored in the fort

Sunset at Port Townsend

Our second night we packed up and headed all the way to the coast to what is considered the best campground in all of Washington State, at Kalaloch (pronounced CLAY-lock).  The campgrounds are situated on a bluff that overlooks the ocean.  Simply breathtaking. 

We were not lucky enough to get an "ocean view" spot, as apparently you have to start reserving those in January if you want to camp in August.  However, we were still fortunate to book a spot back in June that was close enough to still hear the ocean and that happened to have it's own personal access path carved out of the brush that lead us from our campsite to a little sitting area of our own overlooking the ocean.  We snuck out there right as the sun was setting and didn't have to share the moment with anyone else, but I was a bit nervous because it was literally a cliff with a long drop off and it was a challenge to keep the boys from wanting to hang over the edge.  OY!!  Later that night, after the boys were asleep, Jay and I snuck back out there to watch the waves in the moonlight.  I've never experienced something like that, it was really beautiful.   

The look on my face is that of major concern that we were going to fall off that edge behind us!

Who needs glow sticks when you have hunter yellow stocking caps?

We sat and watched the sun disappear beyond the horizon; the boys got a kick out of it and of course Scotty had to explain to his brother that the sun "didn't really disappear, the earth is just rotating"

We would've stayed at Kalaloch a second night, but the campgroud was full even back in June when I was making the reservations, so we had to pack up and head out.  We didn't have any plans or reservations for that night because frankly we weren't sure we'd last three nights, so we decided to just wing it.  We stumbled upon a quaint campground at Bogachiel State Park near the Bogachiel River (and just outside of Forks, WA, for all you "Twi-hards").

There was a line of people taking pictures of this sign.  Hard to believe people all over the world want to come to this little dot on the map called Forks.

Jay liked that campground because it was near the river and had planned on taking the boys fishing until he saw a group of people with fishing poles in hand head down to the spot he scouted out....ah well.  It was a quiet place to spend our last night of camping.  As we traveled back home, passing by Lake Cresent and Port Angeles, Jay and I reminisced about our time spent there while he was stationed aboard ACTIVE.  We had a lot of good times and good memories.

Lake Cresent is a special place

The trip was a lot of fun and now that we got the hang of it, we can't wait to rent another camper and go again!