Alaska!

What fun! Laura, Austin and I spent the 4th of July weekend and the following week up in Anchorage, AK. We loved the cool weather. We went from 110 to 60 degree highs. We have been wanting to return home to AK for a visit for four years, so this was a long time coming.

While there we got to attend Girdwood's Forest Festival, see Grandma and Grandpa Wilde (Great Grandma and Grandpa for Austin), stroll around downtown (2 whole days of this), take a wildlife cruise in Seward, watch a summer-league baseball game, visit the Bear's Tooth (it is not what it sounds like), and walk along the coastal trail to Anchorage's beach.

We had a blast. One of the best things about the trip was that Austin was an awesome traveler! He slept on all of the flights, took regular naps all week, and continued to sleep through the night (even through the midnight sun). Our little guy is the best! Laura might tell you that the best part of the trip was that she finally saw a moose. We tried to get a picture with it, but it got spooked and ran back into the woods. Oh well, we found another moose that was much more willing to pose for pictures. Here are some pictures from the trip and at the bottom you will see a rather lengthy video that we took on our cruise. We saw eagles, sea lions, puffins (none on the video), whales, sea otters, and porpoises.

Austin taking his first flight

Grandpa getting some cuddle time

All ready for church

Chillin' with Great Grandpa

Four generations of Wilde men

The house in Big Lake (This is where I spent some time growing up, my Dad and uncles built this house. It looks completely different from when we lived there. When we we were there it was unfinished and there were a lot more trees.)

Laura's introduction to Devil's Club. This is along the Coastal Trail.

Ouch!!

Wild daisies along the trail

The trail is very close to the runway of the airport. We saw lots of large planes up close and personal.

Going down to the beach

Laura trying to skip some stones

Austin waking from his nap

Austin and I are showing Mom how skipping stones is done. The lean is the secret.

At the Forest Festival we attended in Girdwood they had a tent set up for nursing mother's, they called it the Breastraunt. Very clever. So here is a breastraunt with a view!

Austin loves Froggy

A picture of the beautiful greenery along the Coastal Trail

If you look across the water you can see the skyline of downtown Anchorage. Very impressive, I know.

This is the second moose that we saw on our trip

Enjoying some music in the park

This was the smallest sun hat we could find. It is still much too big for our 12 week old.

Just before Laura handed Austin to me and Austin proceeded to blow out his diaper

In front of a building downtown

Austin's first baseball game. As you can tell, he was very interested in the action.

Downtown has lots of pretty flowers planted throughout the area

More flowers

Look! Austin has recently started to stand, he is getting so big!

Yep, you guessed it. Another breastraunt with a great view. It is too bad that Austin is not going to remember all of these wonderful places where he has dined.

Laura, Grandma, and Austin

A picture of the mountains surrounding Seward's harbor

Some playful sea lions

Grandma (Granny Annie?) playing with her cutest grandson, ever!

Laura and I took advantage of the free babysitting and 15 minute drive to the temple. We had not been able to attend together since Austin joined us.

Austin looking for some zzz's

Enjoying some zzz's

Sleeping on the plane ride home

Here is the video from our cruise. Be warned, it is lengthy, almost 10 minutes.