Mr and Mrs Mustache go to Alaska

We were in Anchorage for the first couple of days.

We saw the largest chocolate fountain in the world.  There were no Oompa Loompa's.  

There was a huge market that had all kinds of stuff to offer.  Check out the size of that squash!

We had to stop of this garage sale because, really, who could pass up this sign?  But just to satisfy curiosity, it was not that exciting.  

We did some hiking and saw some beautiful scenery.

Just gorgeous!

Anchorage, as seen from the top of our hike.

We had some good food, really good seafood.  That is an onion loaf.  I had never seen one before.  It was yummy!

 We took cheesy photographs of ourselves when we stopped to look at the sights.

There was no one else there though and we had to have a picture in front of this!

We looked for whales but never saw any.

We stopped and looked at some glaciers.  The water was a blue that I had never seen before.

We panned for gold and found a little bit.

We stayed several nights in a beautiful bed and breakfast in Girdwood.  This was our view.  Not too shabby.

We didn't see any bears out in the wild.  I really wanted to but it seemed like every where we went there had just been sightings or there were some after we left!  This guy was behind a fence at the Wild Life Preserve and I used my zoom.

There were two of them and it was so fun to watch them play. 

We got to ride this gondola from Aleyeska Resort to the top of Aleyeska mountain.  It was a little scary.

There was a restaurant and glaciers at the top.  It was cold!

We had to eat outside, so we ate fast!

Since Troy was conferencing I spent some of my days just hanging out.  Reading, writing, looking around.  This was my view from where I "camped" out one day.

This spot was always crowded with fishermen but on this day, there were only a few.  I could learn to like fishing if this were my surroundings.



It was fun to get away and have some time to ourselves but we really missed our boys.  We are so thankful that we had help from our parents in taking care of them.  It's hard living so far from our family but I am glad that we got to spend some quality time with them this summer.

Trip to San Antonio

While we were in TX, we went to see PeePaw and Grandma Barbara in San Antonio.  It was so good to see them and get to visit.  PawPaw and Grammy went with us too and we visited the Zoo and then went to the Natural Bridge Caverns in San Marcos.  We also saw my cousins, Wendy and Holly and some of their families.  It was great to see them too.  We all went to the Gristmill in Gruene for dinner and it was so good.  I love that part of Texas.  

The boys climbed on the lion family statue at the front of the zoo.

 Caleb is growling like a lion.  Ferocious!

Otters

Watching the otters.

Grammy and Simon watching the elephant.  

This rhino was trying to get his lunch out of the bucket.

On the zoo train.  It was so HOT!

Going down into the caverns.  It was a little cooler but very humid.

Stalactites and stalagmites.

Very cool!

These were ribbon like formations.  

Some of them looked like bacon. Yummmy!

There we all are!  That flash was bright after being in the dim light for so long.

 After coming out of the caverns we all got some water.  It was hard work coming up.  The boys played on the playground and I sat with my Mom and cooled down.

 Dinosaurs are pretty cool.

It was time to say goodbye and so we made sure to get a pick of PeePaw and Troy with the boys. They liked playing with all the trucks at PeePaw and Barbara's house.  Grandma Barbara even let them pick out a toy each to take home with them!

Family Time in Galveston

We were able to travel down to Galveston while we were in Texas and see a lot of family.  Some we hadn't seen in years.  Nana and Doc put us all up in a condo that was right on the beach.  The place had a private beach and it's own pool.  We got a lot of sun and played in the water a lot!  It was so much fun!  Josh got his first jelly fish sting, but he was a brave boy and a kind lady shared a slosh of vinegar.  Vinegar takes the sting out!  I did not know that but I am glad that the lady did!  We were able to visit with uncles, aunts and cousins and we cherished every moment.

Cousins, Jack and Joshua had fun in the pool.  

Caleb really enjoyed playing with Uncle Al and Nana in the pool.  Uncle Allen got a new buddy for sure!

Sam and Simon wait for a wave that is heading toward them.

Nana brought some fun toys to play with in the sand.

We had beautiful weather and even though we applied and reapplied sun screen, we all got a little red.

This was a lightsaber battle between Caleb and Sam.  The two share a love of Star Wars.

You can't really see Susan but she is hiding behind Phoebe and then there is Paige...I think she had a mouthful.  Sorry girls.  Y'all are too cute though!  We were happy to be able to celebrate Phoebe's 13th birthday while we were there!  Time goes by way too fast.

Jack and Josh play in the sand as the sun goes down.

Apparently there was some serious construction going on.  They brought in the demolition expert, Simon.

Ruthie and Caleb had fun letting the waves chase them.

 I know this picture is kind of washed out, but I like the way it looks.  I caught him just as he was turning around to look at me.  Such a handsome boy, my Joshua.

All three in the tube...

Uncle Travis pulls Josh out to sea...well not too far.

Aunt Ginny took some professional pictures of the kids and here are a few:

Nana and all the boys.

Josh, Sam, Caleb, Simon and Jack.

Nana and the girls.

Paige, Ruthie and Phoebe.

 Me and my handsome, blue-eyed hubby.

Mr and Mrs Mustache.

All the grandkids!

The whole clan!  

Back: Trent, Ginny, Phoebe, Paige, Doc, Nana, Travis, Susan, Troy and Melissa

Front: Ruthie, Sam, Jack, Joshua, Caleb and Simon