Summer Throwback...Alaska 2010

I will be attempting to catch up on some big summer events that happened with our little fam. First up: Alaska!

Zach's sister, Sarah, lives in Alaska with her Air Force hubby, Matthew. We were able to go up there for a week back at the end of May. It was a dream trip for me! I had always wanted to go to Alaska, and the trip did not disappoint! Both of the boys were champs on the flights there and back, and we all had a great time with the Sheets fam.

Our first big adventure was the drive from Anchorage to Homer. Will left his mark somewhere along the way...

The view right before entering Homer

Driving into Homer. Can you imagine if this was what you saw everyday on your drive to work? Incredible!

The view from the back porch of our guest house. I guess it was decent : )

I am a huge fan of the show 'Deadliest Catch'. Homer is the hometown of the Time Bandit captains, so I got really excited every time I saw their logo...even though they're not my favorites (GO SIG!)

On our boat on the way to do some halibut fishing. It was cold but beautiful.

Will, Levi and Zach getting a good view from the front of the boat. I was too cold to stay up there for too long...

Mom & Will snuggle time!

We all had a blast fishing, and we all caught as much halibut as was legal. Those fish are huge and put up a great fight! It really was a fun experience. The best part was that the crew of the boat cleaned all the fish for us, and once we made it back into Homer, it was packaged up and ready for take-home.

Ben, Levi and Sarah in the warm part inside the boat...


Moose! We saw our second moose on the drive back to Anchorage. (The first one we saw was a mama and her baby, but I didn't get a good picture. It all happened too fast)
I love this picture.

We stopped at a beach to do some crab digging, but the tide wasn't at the right spot for it. There were some other guys camping along the beach, and they took off in a row boat. It was such a peaceful place...you can barely see the icebergs in the background.

We saw lots of bald eagles.

Back at Sarah & Matthew's house, we decided to take a hike at Thunderbird Falls (hope that's the right name). It was a beautiful hike. Those are the falls behind us.

Eagle River, AK. This is actually Eagle River.

Sarah & Matthew live about 7 miles from the Eagle River Nature Center. It was a great place to go and just hike around and take in the beauty. It also is part of the Historic Iditarod Trail.

Just gorgeous!

Will Cotton

Levi Blake

Sarah took some great family photos of us. This is one of my favs.

Near the end of our trip, we went to the Alaska Zoo. It was such a fun and beautiful Zoo. It really felt like you were walking around on a nature hike...well, minus the tigers and bears and reindeer, etc....
Anyways, we got to see some very active and large Polar Bears. We also got to see Grizzlies, Tigers, Moose, Reindeer, Snow Leopard, all kinds of birds, and goats : )

The boys were being very cute during one part of the Zoo, and they decided they wanted to hold hands. Presh. They were also sharing a corn dog.

The day our flight left, we spent the morning out at the Anchorage Market. It was so fun to walk around and see all the vendors and handmade goodies. My shock of the day came when Will decided he wanted to ride a pony. This boy has been scared of all animals since he was teeny....but he overcame his fears and was so cute on that little pony..

Thank you Matthew & Sarah for being wonderful hosts! We had a great time, and we are already planning a return trip.