My favorite city in the world...

I LOVE SEATTLE!!! I lived here for 9 years and I haven't been back in a really long time, but I sure love it here in the summer. I am staying with a long-time family friend (who has known me since I was a baby) and it is so much fun. The weather is beautiful, and this is truly one of my favorite places ever. I will have a summer home on Lake Samammish someday, it's amaaaazing!

We went out on their boat today and I could spend everyday like today!

Eli was great, he napped great on the boat which made the day so much easier! He had a hard time getting used to his life jacket, but after a while he was fine with it.

Enjoying a cracker and sportin' a true summer "sunscreen" hairdo

I wasn't sure how I felt about getting in the lake with Eli, but I felt confident after being in the water myself. He LOVED the water, it was really hot out so it was nice for him to cool off. He kept saying "WOAH" and "WOOOOW" and splashed and kicked a lot.

I was a little leary of my wakeboarding skills since I haven't done it in 5 years, but Justin said it's just like riding a bike, and it was! I got up right away, so that was cool. Of course I didn't last very long, but it was definitly better than all the other times I've gone and just ended up being dragged by the boat. :)

Woooooaaaah!

Aaaaaand I'm done :)

Nap #2

Oh look, there's my house! I WISH. See the boats on the right side? Those belong to a big wakeboard company. Justin said that most of the big companies started on Lake Samammish. Here he is getting ready to slolam ski, he was really good! It looked super hard!

End of Alaska Trip: Mt. Roberts Hike

So on our last day in Alaska, we decided to hike Mt. Roberts which is famous in Juneau for it's incredible tram ride. We decided that we would take all the kids and Super Nanny (i.e. Camille, she's the best!) and hike up it and then take the tram down. THANK GOODNESS there was a tram at the top because I don't know if we would have made it down. Allie started saying that she was tired before we even made it to the trail head (lol) and probably would have stopped for a "snack" every 4 minutes if we would have let her. Landon was the trailblazer and we had to tell him to slow down many times. Eli was the "observer" and got to ride on my back. And Hannah was our song leader keeping us going! The hike was CRAZY difficult! It was steep, muddy in places, and bugs bugs and more BUGS everywhere! It was 2.5 miles up 1,800 feet (over 1/2 mile!) we were all very excited to see the restaurant and tram station at the top. It was so much fun though and I'm so proud of the kiddos for making it!!

Mid hike, you can see the cruise ships at port. Think about how large a cruise ship is, and then look at this picture again, that's how high up we were!!

The hikers! Camille is taking the picture.

Eli likes to pull on my pony tail like I'm a horsey. :) He also talked the WHOLE time and danced when we sang songs. He is such a trooper! He goes anywhere! It reminds me of the song... "my buddy, my buddy, wherever I go, he goes with me!" :)

Downtown Juneau

WE MADE IT!!!! We rewarded ourselves with ice cream sundaes at the top! They were yum!

Eli's reward was a bottle!


Yeaaa!!! It was a super fun day!! I miss you all already!!!!

PS-- see the animal head on the wall in this pic? Eli did NOT like it and kept yelling "THAAAAAAAAAAAAT! THAAAAAAAAAAAAT! THAAAAAAAAAAAT!" while pointing at it. I agree Eli, it's pretty gross!

PS-- So I should have done this before I started traveling all over, but I decided since I'm always moving about, to start a Twitter page so y'all (really just you mom :) ) can know when, where and what I'm doing. So follow me on twitter!