Jay Dee Ben and Emma visited us the beginning of July. We were thrilled they could come all that way to see us and experience life in Galena. So we hit most of top tourist spots for this time of year ;). One of those is the Petting Zoo. That's right, Galena currently has a petting zoo right down the road from where we live. Cost is free, guaranteed to have a good time, no crowds (usually) and treats are appreciated! The Harris family of Galena brought the pig out at the beginning of Summer and plan to butcher sometime before Winter. Its cool for the kids to learn where their food comes from, even though pork isn't the most prominent food here in the bush. And we enjoy bringing the pig some of our leftovers to help fatten him up. He is definitely growing. I'd say he looks twice the size he was when we took this pic.
Jay and Dee were here to celebrate the 4th with us. Fireworks just aren't cool when its daylight 24/7 but silly string sure was fun! We also ate some awesome moose burgers to celebrate.
The kids really had fun playing together.
Jay was able to go Pike fishing one night with Chris. The fish weren't really active, but they got a few! Other outings were to the park, the dunes, and of course the Zoo/Mall. Oh yes, a trip to Galena is not complete without a visit to the dump to see the bears. The bears did not disappoint.
All 9 of us went for a boat ride one day. Ben and Emma's fist time in a boat. We saw a little wildlife, had lunch on the boat, and headed back to town. On a different night Chris took Danielle and me out for a ride. We wanted Danielle to have the opportunity to take some pics. The weather was perfect. We saw the wildlife we were looking for: beavers, a moose...swimming-that was a first for me, a hawk, ducks with lots of ducklings. We even saw an amazing sunset as we were driving back to town. Very fun!
The weekend before they flew south we all headed into Fairbanks for a little more fun. I'm pretty sure we took up half the plane. It was Cara's first time flying in her own seat. We were able to borrow vehicles to get around, and once we got those situated and checked into the hotel we took it easy and got some groceries. The rooms had small kitchens so we were excited to be able to cook a couple meals. Oh, and we were surprised to find the hotel came with free breakfast....and it was really good too.
These pics with the tractor were taken at the LARS (Large Animal Research Station). Is it part of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. We saw Musk Ox and Caribou up close, got to pick up horns and feel qiviut (wool of the musk ox), and the tour guide gave a detailed history of the facility and of the animals. It was pretty cool.
We also went to Pioneer Park. It has a lot of shops to check out, some history, gold panning, train rides, big playground and some small museums to investigate. A great place to spend the day. Check out the giant flowers in the pic above. They were bigger than the kids heads.
Danielle took most of the pictures or I'd be showing you more of what we did. Maybe I can share some later, or post a link to her blog when the pictures are posted.
We packed as much adventure in as possible while still having fun with 5 of our 9 being 6 and under. Thanks for coming Jay and Dee. We had a blast!
3 comments:
Looks like all had a good time. It makes me miss you all Even more.
Dad
Those are some really good pictures! So sweet. I think the LARS must be a cool place to visit. I can't wait to see Danielle's pictures now. We had to make Emma come in. She was sitting there in the swing crying saying she didn't want to go in. It was 101 out there and they needed to come in and cool down before they got in the car to go home. LOL! Benny cried all the way into the house. Gave them juice and they watched a bit of Nemo(Fishies) and they were fine!
We really enjoyed the pictures and the post. Sounds like you have had a good summer.
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