Is anyone still out there?

Well long time no see all! My apologies for not being around in the last two weeks but as you all know we were so blessed to have visitors that I couldn't bare to take 5 minutes to write about our time together because that would mean being away!

What an AMAZING time we all had, it was SO GREAT to have family out here, to see familiar faces everyday, to experience new things together.. and most of all, my favorite part of the whole visit.. family dinners.. oh how I miss family dinners! No I don't JUST miss my moms cooking, although I'm not complaining about that either.. I miss the laughs, the camaraderie, all of it!

Well as I'm sure you all know on Saturday July 7th everyone arrived, quite late! honestly if I already didn't think it was going to be the longest day of my life waiting their flight was delayed like 6 hours and they didn't get here until almost 9pm!! Jason and I had planned where to take them to dinner, and the whole day and night was spent sitting around waiting.. it was awful!! Naturally when they got here everyone was exhausted!

Saturday morning (no I'm honestly not going to detail every day and minute of the trip, I'm just going to provide you with highlights!) we went out for breakfast, to what I think we can safely say was Dad's favorite Anchorage Restaurant.. The City Diner.

City Diner is one of our favorites as well, especially for breakfast but when Dad asked for white vinegar and they delivered I knew it was going to be a hit! After breakfast we hit the Saturday market downtown and the souvenir shopping began! We ventured to the grocery store as well, as everyone was anxious to see the difference.. and let me tell you the difference in Alaska vs any other State is quite impressive to a Canadian!

We really just spent the day enjoying each others company, Jason and I both had to go back to work on Monday! Thankfully nothing was going on work for me on Monday and Deanna not only took me to Costco so I could get some stuff for while everyone was here she also let me go home early!.. LET MY VACATION BEGIN!

Tuesday Dad, Uncle Stick, Jason and Josh headed to Seward VERY EARLY in the morning (3am) to start their halibut fishing adventure! They caught a bunch of fish which was GREAT and didn't get home until late that night. Mom, Aunt Bren and I had a great girls day! We headed downtown and toured around all over, we had dinner out.. it was great!!

To be honest I feel like our time flew by way too fast, we saw and did a lot but thinking back I cant help but wonder where the time went. We went up to Flattop and saw a Mama moose and her baby, we saw the numerous breath taking views Alaska has to offer. Unfortunately the weather wasn't completely cooperative while they were here either.. however it only snowed in the mountains and no in the city, so I will consider that a plus!

The first full Saturday they were here we all travelled down to Seward Alaska to get on the Northwestern Star (I believe that's what the boat was called) with Major Marine tours and we headed out into Resurrection Bay in the Kenai Fjords National Park for an amazing expedition!! We saw Sea otters, sea lions, puffins, hump back whales, an orca (ya, Mom it was definitely an orca) tons of birds, waterfalls, and this AMAZING turquoise water, you would have sworn you were in the Caribbean.. minus the cold of course!

There it is.. feel free to do a little reading if you have a minute...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_Bay

We had pretty good timing because as we were getting ready to get off the boat the rain started! We managed to get off the boat and have dinner in this really cool restaurant that was made out of old train cars, so we literally had dinner in an old train car! On the way home we stopped at a gravel pit, in the rain so we could shoot Jason's gun. As you well know handguns are illegal in Canada, so Dad was dying to shoot it! Turns out he wasn't the only Lone Ranger in town though.... Aunt Bren was a pretty good shot.. lady is G'd up from the feet up.. she was straight up Gangsta! She even purchased a bandanna...



I hope shes surviving back in a world of few weapons! Wait until mom posts the pictures of her and Dad in Walmart checking out handguns! haha!

Unfortunately I had to go back to work on Wednesday but before that we managed to have a beautiful day at the Portage Glacier and through the Trail of Blue Ice in the Portage Valley! We went to Girdwood and had a great lunch at Chair 5.. it was a great day! The pictures from that day are amazing!

The rest of the week working was terrible!! Thankfully everyone managed to still get out and see things! They went to Hatchers Pass which they said was amazing, unfortunately Jason and I haven't made it there yet! We had dinner at the Sourdough Mining company.. its this cool restaurant that has been made to look like an old Mine and the food is GREAT! Mmmm corn fritters!

If you can believe it I even had to work on Saturday, the day they were leaving! We all got up early (Jason with a new found cold) and headed to.. you guessed it.. CITY DINER! I worked until 4pm and then bailed on account that it was dead and I wasn't going to miss out on anymore time with everyone! We ordered pizza and had a quiet night.. until the goodbyes.. god the dreaded goodbyes! I did so good, I didn't cry all night until they got up to leave (although I cried mostly every other night that we when I would go home, dreading them leaving). I don't know why the goodbyes are so hard, maybe because I don't know when we will see them again.. maybe because I know there wont be that familiar face to have dinner with.. its hard. I do really well with being away from everyone, I have Jason and we have friends but its just not the same.. and as great as every visit is.. its so hard to be reminded of what you're missing.

We had many great dinners, how can you really beat fresh halibut (let me tell you, you cant), we had MANY great laughs! Someone taught Jason a new card game (chase the ace) and that was good for a laugh.. it was just an all around amazing visit and I wish that it could have been longer!!

Since everyone has been gone not much has gone on! Sunday Jason had to work a 12 hour day so I cleaned up around the apartment, went out and did all the grocery shopping and what not because we really hadn't been at the apartment at all in the last two weeks! Having said that there wasn't much to get on account that all the shopping they did for their rental house came to our house when they left!

And just on that note..  www.homeaway.com stellar idea! they got a beautiful house and a good rental car WAY WAY WAY cheaper than they ever could have renting a car and staying at a hotel! That really is the best way to travel!!

So that's it, Jason and I are on a diet, going to the gym every night! haha all that wonderful cooking came at a price! Besides that I am going to be more diligent about blogging! Jason and I are determined to make the most of the month of August because September is basically winter again and I will be working all of September with no time off.. haha also the price you pay for having time with your family! WELL WORTH IT THOUGH! So this weekend we are headed to an air show and I will make sure to blog about that!

I hope everyone is well, sorry to keep you all out of the loop for so long, but I warned ya's all I wasn't going to be around much!!

Thank you Mom, Dad, Uncle Stick and Aunt Bren for an AMAZING visit and all the wonderful things you did for Jason and I while you were here.. we greatly appreciate it and cant put into words how much we miss you guys! Things really just haven't seemed the same around here! We love you guys tons!