Road trip day 3

Yesterday, we made it to our old stomping grounds, Pinedale Wyoming!! We lived here for just a year and a half. We moved away when Lance was just 6 weeks old.

Town hadn’t changed too much. There were a few new buildings, but it was all mostly the same. We drove to Soda Lake for some fun. We were ready for some time out of the truck. The kids loved playing in the sand. Lance had bought a remote controlled boat at Cabelas and he was superexcited to try it out. 

We met up with some old friends, Larry & Monica, for dinner. It was so nice catching up with them!! 

We loved visiting Pinedale! It’s such a beautiful place! 

Travel days 1 & 2

We set out on our journey on Friday about noon.we had a late start since we had to wait for Lance to get his boot off. He broke his foot exactly 6 weeks ago! He was so glad to be able to walk normal again!

Day 1 we drove to St.Joseph, Missouri. The weather started out around 95 degrees, then we hita small rain storm and the temperature dropped to 65!! I was so glad, it was getting pretty hot forthe dogs. We have a camper shell on the truck so the sun isn’t shining directly on Happy & Alaska. We put a kiddie pool in the back and we add ice at each stop. This has really helped keep the girls nice and cool.

Day 2. We got an early start today! We were up at 4:15am to walk the dogs and get on the road. Our route took us through NorthWest Missouri, Southwest Iowa, across Nebraska, into Wyoming, stopping for the night in Laramie. I couldn’t believe the flooding in that part of Missouri and Iowa. It really was sad to see all the devastation! 

  We took our time traveling today, making quite a few little stops. One stop was at a lake. The dogs loved that! Next stop was Cabelas in Sydney,Nebraska.

   Once at the hotel in Laramie we hit the pool and ordered Pizza Hut. Tomorrow, will be a fun day! We are enjoying getting into the mountains andsee the wildlife. 

Going back..... for good

So in 2016, we started talking about going back to Missouri to be with family. Andrew switched jobs to a two week rotation, we sold the house and moved to Missouri. 

After almost 3 years in Missouri, we decided thatwe loved our Alaskan life way better. We were constantly having an adventure there and had suchgreat friends that we did stuff with all the time. 

This is where our Alaskan Adventure picks back up. Wednesday, June 26th we closed on the sale of our house here in Missouri and our headed back North to Alaska!!!!!!!!! 

Until we meet again

Wednesday Morning I woke up to the news that Andrew's Grandpa Conway had passed away.

Lance was listening when I got the news and he took it pretty hard. Lance and I had just talked to him the night before. It was hard explaining to him about it. The best I could say was "he went to sleep and woke up in Heaven". I let him stay home from school on Wednesday. He did okay throughout the day, but would have times that he would break down and cry. 

I wasn't able to get hold of Andrew till almost 7 that evening. I hated to have to tell him about his grandpa passing. Thursday morning he was able to take the ferry into Juneau and catch a flight to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His dad and mom picked him up. I'm glad he was able to go spend time with his family through all of this. I know it was important to him to be there for his dad.

I had him send me a picture of himself on Friday. It was nice seeing him all dressed up. We have missed him. 

I hated not being there with the Conway family, but flights were crazy expensive and Lance can't miss much more of school. 

This is the Obituary for Andrew's grandpa, Robert Conway. http://www.ncnewsonline.com/obituaries/robert-e-bob-conway/article_2866a938-5c0d-5671-957a-f37c9adb5a0a.html

The above picture is of Grandpa Bob meeting Lance for the first time. Lance was pretty special to Bob since he is Bob's first great grandchild and Lance's middle is Robert. 

Sunday Andrew was able to spend some time with his brother and his family before flying out of Cleveland. Amelia and Barrett loved playing with Uncle Andy.

Andrew's flights got delayed multiple times because of a snow storm in Chicago, but after 22 hours of airports he made it back to Juneau on Minday morning with plenty of time to catch the ferry back to work. It was a beautiful day so he decided to walk the almost 7 miles from the airport to the ferry. I loved all the pictures he sent me along the way. I'm sure it was good for him to get some fresh air and clear his head. 

Our new pet, Hammy

Lance has wanted a hamster since this past summer, I kept putting it off because of vacations and other things.

Well, I had to go to the at&t store to upgrade my phone so I dropped Andrew and the kids off next door at petco. I should have known that was a bad idea. Andrew is completely fine with the kids getting whatever they want. I think it's because he doesn't have to clean up after everything lol. 

When I picked them up they had a new little hamster, a hamster cage, bedding, food and toys for the little guy. I wasn't very thrilled at first, but I've came around. He's actually pretty sweet and neat to watch. 

Lance picked out the name Hammy for him.

Our dog Alaska is obsessed with watching him.

Lexie loves it when Lance is at school and she can have him all to herself.

Hammy even took a trip to Lance's school for show and tell.

Happy New Year!!!

So I am back at blogging! Our time here in Alaska has been so awesome so I've made it a point to document all the fun stuff we do! 

We have some awesome neighbors who throw family friend parties all the time. Their New Year's party was a blast. The weather was warm (for interior Alaska). It was perfect for ice skating on the pond, sledding on the hill and shooting off fireworks. most the kids up here have grown up in the ice and are pros when it comes to skating. This was Lance and Lexie's first time. Lance thought he was going to put on the skates and take off like the big boys. He would go so fast and wreck big time! Each time he got up and would go again. He finally learned that if he slowed down he would have better control. 

Lexie had a rough start. She fell tons and was so frustrated. She was to ice skate so bad. We took a break for a little bit and when she started again the second time was much better. By the end of the night she was doing great!

They both can't wait to go again! 

At 9pm they brought out all the fireworks. Our neighbors have a couple giant pallets of fireworks shipped up from the lower 48. When we left at 10 the fireworks was still going on in full force. 

Our neighbors love to entertain. They have a garage full of all sizes of ice skates  so everyone can skate. 

Ice fishing

This weekend we had our first experience with ice fishing. 

We rented a small cabin on the ice so we could stay warm. The cabin is on skids so it can be pulled right out on the ice. I was kind of nervous when Andrew pulled his 3/4 ton truck out on the ice but once I looked down the holes that they drilled and the ice was over 3 feet thick, so it's pretty safe. 

We fished for a few hours and only caught 1 little fish. It was still fun though. The days are still short so the fish aren't biting much. We will be back though in a few weeks and hopefully we catch quite a few.