Winter is Here (with a vengeance)

Our first winter in Alaska was very mild, which was a good way to break me in slowly.   This winter has hit and it is already CRAZY!  I feel like all it has done for the past 2-3 weeks is snow.  I don't mind it.  I mean if it is going to snow it might as well snow a lot.  They are really good about clearing the roads quickly (which is different from Oklahoma and Texas).

Our first snow came about a week before Halloween and it was 2-3 inches.  Then, it snowed another 6 inches a few days later.  Halloween night, we basically had a blizzard.  Ever since then, it has snowed at least a few inches just about everyday.  I feel like we already have more snow than we had all of last winter.  I have asked a couple people from Alaska, and they tell me this is more snow then they remember this early in the season.  I had to dig a path in our backyard for our dogs.  The snow is well above their bodies back there.  I will also add that it has been COLD.  This week it is supposed to be in the teens and single digits at night.  Last year at this time, it was still in the high 20s.

We took Jackson out in the snow for the first time today!  He seemed to like it.  He had a hard time walking in his snow boots.  I'm excited to take him sledding soon!

I love this expression!  This was right when we came outside.  He looks really excited to see the snow!

This is fun, Mommy!

I took this to show how tall the snow is where we have been shoveling it.  Soon we won't even be able to see our neighbors house.  

Luke put Jackson in the snow bank.  He sank all the way past his legs.  He wasn't too happy about this.

Crawling was a lot easier than walking in his boots, falling, and getting back up again while all bundled up.

Playing with Daddy!

Our street - you can see where they plow all the snow to the center.  They leave it here until it gets to big.  Then they come pick it up in a dump truck.  The neighbor kids love this pile.  They play in it everyday after school.  I'll admit it does look like fun!

Luke and Jackson in our driveway

Halloween

For Halloween this year, we went to Luke's work party.  They had it at the local Children's Museum.  Jackson had a blast.  He just wandered around the whole time checking everything out.  Here are some pictures from that party.  

Jackson and Caleb (a tiger and lion) 

Goofy face

some of our attempts to get them to sit still...

... and look at the same time

I can just imagine what they are thinking, "Caleb why are you dressed like that?"  "Well, you look goofy too, Jackson!"

Playing in the under 5 area of the museum

He loved the fake pond/water bed thing.

Checking out another lion

This is what you have to endure if you choose to trick or treat in Alaska.  The snow came Saturday night and won't go away until April or May.  That's a long time (at least 6 months).   :(

We had trick or treaters show up at our front door with at least an inch of snow on their costumes.  They are hard core up here. 

One Year Old Pictures

Here are some of the pictures we had made for Jackson's one year old birthday.  They turned out great!  Don't worry family, there are some in the mail headed your way!

Our First Haircut

I finally gave in and got Jackson his first haircut.  I loved his curls, and I hope they will come back.  This lady was great.  We were in and out in less than ten minutes.  Jackson did a great job.  He just sat there like a big boy.  Now he looks so handsome and grown up.

He was not sure what to think.

What is she doing?

He started to wiggle, so we tried some bubbles for a distraction.

Almost done!

He didn't like the trimmers.

Look at me!

Jackson Playing

Here is a video of Jackson playing the other night before bath time.  He loves to laugh at the dogs and he is a busy, busy little boy!  I thought it was too cute not to share.

Oh yeah, he is officially a walker now!  It is crazy how fast he is growing up.

Our Trip to Denali

Yesterday we drove up to Denali National Park.  We were able to drive through the park in our own car, which only happens three days a year and your name has to be drawn to get a permit to do it.  I'll admit, I was nervous about this trip, but we couldn't pass up this opportunity.  


We drove four and a half hours up to the park Thursday from Anchorage.  Friday, we drove through the park, which took eight hours.  We didn't even make it all the way through.  The road is ninety-two miles and we drove sixty-six.  Jackson couldn't make it much longer.  Then today, we drove back home (another four hours).  So you may ask why was I nervous?  Well let's add that up, that was at least seventeen hours of driving with a very active one year old in his car seat.  


The good news is that we are back home and we survived!  It was an AMAZING trip!  Thank you to everyone who prayed.  I definitely felt all the prayers.  Jackson was a trooper!  I can't even begin to describe this park.  It is beautiful and it is not even the pretty time of year!    If you get a chance to tour Denali National Park, DO IT!  


Here are some of the pictures I took:

The view from our hotel

Fall has hit the park and winter will be close behind.  When we went in July everything was green.  It is still beautiful though.  The picture at the top of my blog is from the park in July. 

Bull moose - the biggest one I've seen since I have been in Alaska.

Grizzly bear

Dall sheep - We saw at least forty of these

Two grizzly bears - there were actually three right there, but you can't see the other one in the picture.

We actually got to see Denali!!!  We were told by a park ranger that only twenty percent of the time, people that come in the park actually get to see the mountain.  We drove around the corner and saw it.  Literally, five minutes later the clouds had covered it and you couldn't see it.  It is something else to see it in person.  This picture doesn't do it any justice.  

Mt. McKinley - known as Denali by Alaskans

The family in front of Denali

Jackson using Luke's ears for handles.  I find this really funny for some reason!

He had almost had his fill of our little trip.

Wasn't God creative when He created our world?

Yep, that's the road we were about to drive on.  It is not quite big enough for two cars to pass and on the other side is at least a thousand foot drop.  

More Dall Sheep - there were easy to spot because there were the only white things on the sides of the mountain.

Jackson crashed hard after we got back to the hotel.


This is a video I took of Denali and a grizzly bear we saw.  Please excuse the shaky camera work.  I was dodging a little boy who was wiggling and wanting to touch the camera.  

Jackson's Walking

Here is a video of Jackson walking.  Life around our house will never be the same!

Jackson's First Birthday Video

Here is a video from Jackson's birthday party yesterday.  This is for all of our family who weren't able to be there.  

As you can see he wanted nothing to do with the cake!  He is a funny kid.  When he doesn't want what I am giving him, he tosses it over the side of his high chair to the dogs (which was cute at first, now it's not so funny).  

Jackson's Birthday Party

We had a birthday party for Jackson today.  It was crazy and a lot of fun.  There were five babies from eight months to one year old.  They all did really well!  Here they all are.  Let me tell you how hard it is to get five babies to sit still!

William, Cameron, Caleb, Alissa, Jackson

We got Jackson a ball pit for his birthday.  We need a lot of things to entertain him during our long winter, which is coming all to soon.  He loved it!  When he first saw it, he played in it for at least thirty minutes (which is a record for his attention span).  

Jackson playing with his friends or more like playing next to his friends.  They still don't interact much beyond taking toys from each other.  

Jackson opening his presents.  I had to open most of them.  He wanted to play with the paper and boxes of course.

He liked sitting on the box!

A football!  If he is anything like his daddy, he is going to LOVE football! (We had football playing in the background for all the dads that came.)

Some of the birthday decorations.

This is what he did when we were singing "Happy Birthday" to him.  

He hated the cake.  After he had his first taste of the icing, he spit it out and wanted nothing to do with it.  

It was a great evening!  I am so thankful for all the friends God has blessed Luke, Jackson, and I with here in Anchorage.