Random August Happenings, Part 1

Here are some fun things we did in the first week of August:

August 2

The first day back to school!

Gabe--7th grade, Elisa--5th grade, and Ian--1st grade! They're getting too big too fast!

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August 3

Ian is such a fish and loves swimming in the pool any chance he can get!

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August 4

I made Gabe a painting in honor of his late frog.

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August 5

The kids enjoyed a short, fun, evening pool party. I had music playing from my phone, otherwise I would have gotten a video of their cute dancing.

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August 7

I made Gabe some new pjs. I think I'll add more length to the shorts next time! 

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August 7

Some yummy homemade rolls for dinner

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August 8

Creative Gabe made a Mario set from a cardboard box, popsicle sticks, and hot glue. 

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August 8

Ian had the talk in primary, but when he got up there to give his talk, he wouldn't. Silly kid. He tried again a few months later.

Back to Utah (Picking up the Kids)

July 30
As if taking a 6 hour red-eye flight wasn't tiring enough, we also drove 6 hours to St. George the very same day we got back to Phoenix. We got home around 9 or 10 am. I believe Erik got a little nap in, but I knew I wouldn't sleep, so I did a little grocery shopping at Fry's before we packed up and left for St. George later that day. Elisa and Gabe were waiting for us when we arrived, even though it was way too late for them to be awake. We spent the night and then the next morning (July 31st) we headed up to Cedar City to fetch Ian who was waiting for us with his cousins at my parent's house. We ate lunch in Cedar (my mom made ribs for lunch). We let everyone try the syrups and some chocolates we got in Alaska. We didn't stay very long. I collected some more stuff that I had left there and said our good-byes.

Eating ribs 

In the early afternoon, we headed up to Hurricane (with all three kids!) to see Makayla in her play, Tarzan. Gabe and Elisa already saw it, but they were okay with seeing it again. I enjoyed the show and so did the kids. We had to bribe the kids to stand next to the actors after the show in order to get a picture. 

Grandpa spoiling the kids with some treats during intermission.

A picture and a video of curtain calls/stage exits.

Elisa and Ian with aunt Makayla (aka Kala)

Tarzan, the kids, and Jane

Sometime after the play we went to Riggatti's wood fired pizza for dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. It was yummy. 

Ian ate a LOT of pizza!

After pizza we picked up some sugar cookies from The Sugar Cookie because Erik really wanted to go to his high school reunion that was hosted by his friend Robyn. It was just us and them in person. Everyone else was either out of town or still scared of Covid. There were about a dozen or so high school friends who all took turns talking about their lives from the past 20 years. Needless to say, we were there for awhile. By the end, the kids were getting really bored and we couldn't stand the dog there either. But I guess Erik had a good time! I think he should have gone by himself though. 

 

Alaska Trip: Day 7, Chena Hot Springs and the Departure

Thursday July 29

Our last day! Erik reserved us a tour at Chena Hot Springs resort for the ice sculpture tour at Aurora Ice Museum. We drove over an hour from North Pole to the resort. The ice museum was freezing (of course—25 degrees!). We were provided coats (huge men’s coats). It was a neat experience. For $15 more we could have drank an apple martini out of ice glasses, if we drank. We watched them make the ice glasses for the martinis on our way out.

We saw a moose on the side of the road. By the time we got close to it, she ran across the road to get away from our car.

Aurora Ice Museum

Mardi Gras mask

Joust

Cheetah

Frozen flowers

Christmas Tree

Frozen fireplace

Frozen table

The bar was made of ice. Everything was made of ice.

Because it's 25 degrees, the ice doesn't melt, but it does sublime. They have to repair the sculptures every few years, like this bride standing over the chapel.

After the ice museum we decided to go to the hot spring. We weren’t sure that we wanted to go, but we brought our swimsuits with us anyway. The hot spring was definitely hot, especially when we first got in. It was also a bit stinky, but overall it was fun! We also tried a few of the hot tubs. I was worried about being too cold when I got out, but the water was so hot it actually felt good.

We were getting hungry so we drove all the way back to Fairbanks for our linner at Oasis Restaurant & Lounge. It was a dive bar and the food was surprisingly expensive, but it was good food. Erik ordered the Rueben sandwich, and I ordered the beer battered halibut. For an appetizer we ordered the pretzel sticks with beer cheese. I really liked the pretzel sticks, but the cheese was too…beerish for my taste. The waitress was nice but a bit tacky. She was fine for a bar, but she wouldn’t last in a nice restaurant. I also thought it was weird that they didn’t have halibut when I ordered my meal, so I ordered something else. Then we heard the cook shout that they did have halibut, so I changed my order back to the halibut. The food came super fast, Erik hardly had time to wash his hands before the food was at the table.

The pretzels and cheese

Our delicious lunch! Erik looks scary, haha.

We went back to our rental house and packed as much as we could. We went to bed super early (like 5:00pm) in order to at least get some sleep before our flight, which was scheduled to take off around 1 am. I did manage to get some sleep in, but I kept waking up intermittently. Erik set the alarm for 10:30 pm. We packed up all our stuff, and thankfully didn’t go over the weight limit. We flew from Fairbanks to Seattle, and from Seattle to Phoenix. We did buy some more truffles in the Seattle airport to share.

Another picture of fireweed. I heard you can make fire weed jelly out of it, which I would like to try someday.

My salmon bagel from the airport.

Alaska Trip: Day 6, North Pole and Our Anniversary

Wednesday July 28

Our 16th anniversary! We were able to get up and get ready at our own pace since we didn’t have any appointments or anything booked ahead of time for that day. Our first stop was a huge Christmas shop, complete with a real-life Santa Claus. I should mention that the city of North Pole was intended to be a “Christmas Town” of sorts, as a way to attract tourists. There are candy cane poles everywhere and a massive Santa Claus just outside the shop we visited. I think the idea was a silly one, and I would never want to live somewhere that celebrates Christmas all year round...yuck. The shop was full of Christmas crap and other random Alaskan souvenirs. We didn’t buy anything, we just looked.

Next we stopped by the Museum of the North. I found it mildly interesting. I liked looking at the ancient artifacts, fossils, and mummies of all the arctic animals. On the top floor of the museum was an art exhibit. The most impressive display was the whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling.

Bowhead whale skeleton at the Museum of the North

The museum is on a hill overlooking Fairbanks.

We were hungry so we decided to go to The Blue Roof for lunch. It was one of the more affordable places, and the food was pretty good too. We tried to not eat too much since we had reservations at a nice place later that evening. Erik ordered the smoked salmon sliders and I ordered the stuffed jalapeños. Yum!

Salmon sliders with tomato basil soup

Jalapeno poppers

After lunch we stopped by the Fairbanks visitor’s center. It was free. I found it mildly interesting, but I think I liked the museum a bit better, not counting the price. Erik liked the visitor’s center better because it explained the history of Alaska.

The authentic Alaskan cabin came with an authentic Alaskan outhouse.

The Antler Arch was next to the Visitor's Center.

Next, we visited Pioneer Park, which was a random assortment of kids' rides, an old western façade of shops, some picnic areas, an air museum, and an art studio.

Walking around Pioneer Park

We had some more time to spare until dinner, so we stopped briefly at the Alaska Pipeline and then at a shop in downtown Fairbanks. Then we stopped at JoAnn's where I managed to find some fun fabrics for super duper cheap and no tax to boot. I wish I could have bought more fabric, but we were cutting it close with the suitcase weight limit as it was.

Fireweed grows all along the highways of Fairbanks

Not sure why people like to put stickers on the pipeline.

The fabrics I picked out for super cheap-I'm looking forward to sewing up some cute stuff!

Our dinner reservations we made at LaVelle’s Bistro at 5:45. We were slightly late because we had a hard time finding a parking spot. Erik had to drop me off and find one so we didn’t lose our reservation. For an appetizer we ordered the baked brie with cranberry. It was good, but no brie cheese is as good as St. Angel. I went ahead and ordered the king crab legs since it was cheaper at this restaurant and it was our anniversary after all. Erik ordered the halibut. I didn’t think much of the halibut, but the crab legs sure were good. They were sweet, tender, and fun to pick out of the casing. Even though the crab legs I ordered were one of the cheaper ones and I’m glad I ordered them, I probably will not order them again. They are more expensive than a steak, and frankly, I’d rather have a good steak even though I really enjoyed the crab legs. For dessert we ordered chocolate molten cake. I was pretty full by then but it was yummy too.

Cranberry brie. I didn't think it needed the bread with it.

Erik and his halibut entree.

My king crab leg! 

Dessert.