Missouri Trip

We spent 9 days in Missouri. It flew by so fast! We had so many people to see. 

It's funny because what Lexie learned from the trip is that it's fun to visit strangers. She will now ask random people if we can go to their house and visit them. 

Our good friend John opened a horse arena so We made sure to go watch the horse show one HOT evening. Lexie was in love with all the horses. As they called each rider's name she would say "when is it my turn??" She wanted to ride a horse so bad.  

Lance couldn't get over how hot it was. He was very concerned as he  told me that his body was leaking. I could have fallen over laughing. My little boy was sweating for the first time he could remember!! 

We spent many relaxed days at grandma and grandpa Jordan's house. We checked the cows, road around on their UTV looking for deer, picked tomatoes, played at the creak, shot and skinned a rabbit for dinner, caught frogs, went fishing, and Lexie found a kitty (she named is baby jaguar). The kids love their grandma and grandpa so much!

They love all their cousins too. My brother Scott's house was a favorite to visit. They have chickens, dogs, & 2 kittens. 

Lexie had her first sleep over without momma! My sister, Sarah hosted a Pampered Chef party for me and Lexie was determined that she was going to leave with Aunt juju (Julie). I let her leave since her house was on the way back to our parents. I figured if Lexie were crying I'd  stop and pick her up. That wasn't the case at all. She was upset the next morning when I arrived. She wasn't done playing yet! 

We loved visiting back home, but after almost 3 week of being gone we missed being home and we missed daddy and the dogs. 

The flight to Denver was a little weird. Since we were flying stand by we didn't get assigned seats. You just get what's left over. Our seats were not together at all. We were seats 1B, 3B, & 4B. One lady was kind enough to switch so Lexie could sit with mommy but the other people didn't care. Lance sat between two strangers all the way to Denver. The funny thing was he loved it. He talked with a lady who was on her way to see her grandchildren. He told her all about Alaska and the fun things we do there. I am so grateful to this wonderful lady!! 

 Our layover in Denver was 8 hours. It actually wasn't too bad at all. I downloaded Netflix on my iPad and the kids watched a couple movies, we played with our toys, colored some, walked around tons and was on our way home.

Once again Lance was not able to sit in the same row as me and Lexie. This time he was directly in front of me which worked out good. The kids were both asleep before take off. 

It was so great arriving home and hugging daddy! It took the kids a few days to recuperate. They were pretty wore down. I have no clue when our next trip to the lower 48 will be, maybe in the spring to visit all the new babies that will be born.

Newport Aquarium

The Newport aquarium was a place that Andrew and I knew we wanted to take the kids. We knew they would absolutely love it! We had taken Megan and Hunter there over 8 years ago. 

Lexie was all about seeing a sea turtle and Lance could not wait to see a shark. Andrew and I couldn't take our eyes off the kids. Lance and Lexie's faces lit up as we took each corner. 

The aquarium had so much!! We got to watch penguins and even touch sharks, star fish, horse shoe crabs and other small sea life. It was pretty amazing. 

One favorite spot was a huge window of the aquarium with sharks and rays swimming in front. Andrew and I just sat staring as the kids squealed with delight each time one swam in front.

I am so glad we got to take the kids to the aquarium!!! After visiting the aquarium we ate lunch at Joe's crabshak on the Ohio river then we headed towards Louisville Kentucky to visit some old friends, Tim and Amber. 

We visited with Amber and Tim on Friday evening and Saturday. They have two boys so the kids had a blast playing with new friends. Lexie's favorite part was seeing their chickens and checking the eggs. 

We dropped daddy off Saturday evening at the Louisville airport for his flight back to Fairbanks. Then, the kids and I headed on to a Missouri. 

Our drive to Missouri went great. The kids slept the first 3 hours of our 6 hour drive.  We made it to grandma and grandpa Jordan's house by 9:30 pm. 

Pennsylvania trip

We arrived in Cleveland late Friday night and got a hotel room.

I don't think I'd ever been more ready to go to bed. We all slept in till 11:30 eastern time! I woke up in a frantic because the rental car location closed at noon on Saturdays. I got there with 5 minutes to spare only to find out their new hours hadn't been updated online yet and they closed at 2. 

We had a pretty relaxing week visiting with all the Conway's. Not allot of plans were made since so many people were constantly coming or going after work. Our cabins were right by the pool which was great! The kids all loved swimming!!! We had a few cool days so some of our swim trips were pretty short. Lexie was able to swim thanks to a boot cover that I had bought off Amazon. It took Andrew and Jason to stretch it to get it on, but it worked great!!!

Lance and Lexie are such country bumpkins. Each evening we would look for frogs and I would flip over rocks with them to find worms. Amelia wasn't too sure about these little critters at first but by the end of the week I had her holding a frog!!! 

Our favorite day was when we visited a little zoo. We purchased some cracker like things to feed to the animals. Lance and Lexie were in heaven. I don't know if they liked the pony ride or feeding the parakeets best. 

Most evenings were spent sitting around the fire pit and doing some fire crackers that uncle Jason and Aunt Ashley bought everyone. All the kids loved them!

This week we celebrated Andrew's 28th birthday! Since we don't have a Dairy Queen near us I thought an ice cream cake would be fun! Everyone loved it and the kids loved blowing out the candles for Andrew.

We had a great week visiting with all the cousins. It's so much fun to see how different all the kids are and some of their similarities. I will say that mine and Andrew's kids are the most adventurous. They aren't afraid of anything and are always looking for something to get into. 

One funny little thing from our trip was one evening I wanted to make this dip for everyone. Well, the dip has bacon on top. I was completely fine with frying it on the stove, but no Andrew wanted to grill it for me. Bacon grease on a BBQ grill does not work!!! Andrew has the whole grill flaming like crazy. The worst part was that the BBQ grill was under the porch. Everyone was pretty worried for a little. Now looking back it's pretty funny.

Answered prayer

A few months ago, Andrew's mom and dad ask us if we would want to join them for a family trip to Pennsylvania. We both really wanted to,but we knew it would be super expensive and with buying and fixing up the house this summer we didn't know if we would make it. I prayed that if it was meant to be God would provide away. 

Well, God answered my prayer. My cousin works for an airline and contacted me out of the blue telling me that she had lots of buddy passes and if we wanted to use some this summer that we could. Wow! Just what we needed. Our plan tickets would have cost us almost $3,600 but instead cost us just under $200 not each, but total! Talk about an answered prayer!

While visiting the lower 48 I knew I wanted to visit my family & friends in Missouri too. When I started looking at rental cars I started getting really frustrated. It was going to cost tons. Then one evening Andrew's cousin texted me "do you need a rental car for your trip?" She had recently started working for a car rental company and was able to save us over half!!! 

God had clearly heard my prayers and took care of everything! We serve an amazing God! 

Daddy's business trip

Most people go on business trips to big cities. Andrew is blessed to have "business trips" to remote villages of Alaska. 

Monday Andrew flew out to the village of Tanana, where Yukon Men is filmed. He got to meet all the guys from the show and even watched them film some. 

He spent all day Monday working on equipment and talking with costumers. Monday night he got to go out on the Yukon River fishing. Andrew caught some BIG sheefish and a salmon. 

Andrew had a blast. I am so glad he got to do more than just work. He loves living in Alaska and going to places that most people never get a chance to go. 

He had a short "business trip" and was back by noon yesterday. I am so glad daddy's trips are just short ones and don't happen often. 

Best Weekend EVER

We had looked forward all week to this weekend. The forecast looked great and Andrew had 3 days off! Thursday the kids and I spent the day packing and getting everything we would need for our big camping trip. Andrew's boss had told us about a lake that was full of rainbow trout, he even offered us his boat. We took him up on his offer and drove over 220 miles South near the Canadian border past Tok. Most lakes near Fairbanks were packed and anything towards Denali was packed. We knew we wanted to get away from the crowds and just enjoy some peace and quiet. The lake did not disappoint. Thursday night and Friday we were the only ones there!!! Friday evening 1 guy showed up and then Saturday a family showed up but besides that we had the place to ourselves!!

We set up camp not too far off the highway. The road down to the lake isn't accessible by a vehicle so we had to use the four wheelers to pull the boat down. We had so much fun out on the boat. The kids and the dogs did amazing!! We loved catching the rainbow trout! They tasted yummy too cooked out on the campfire!

Each day the kids started out nice and clean and by the end they were filthy!! They had a blast. They played in the dirt, the water, and just all over. Lance repeatedly told us "This is the best day ever!!"

Our camper is just an enclosed trailer. It works perfect since we don't need windows when the sun is shining at midnight. We air up the air mattress, call in the dogs who are so wore out they don't cause a lick of trouble and close all the doors. It works perfect! Plus, our four wheelers and everything we need fit right in for the trip to and from.

The lake was so calm and beautiful! Several times moose would walk right out in the water to feed. They didn't care at all that we were there. I loved taking their pictures with my new camera. Now I just need another lens to zoom in a little closer.

We seriously could not have asked for a better weekend. God blessed us with beautiful weather, scenery and an amazing time together as a family. The kids loved every part of the day from helping make the fire, cooking on the campfire, making s'mores, fishing, shooting their bow,  riding the four wheelers, hiking, and hanging out with mommy and daddy. We cant wait till our next camping trip!

I will say that I was super happy to get a nice cool shower and sleep in my own bed once we got home.