Our whirlwind trip

We had Grandparents come for a visit. We did a lot of traveling in one week. Our first days drive was to Anchorage to spend the night before the next leg of travel.

My Dad and Judith and my niece. She was a hoot, she would look at me and say, "Got it!" when I told her something.




Pictures were taken beside of signs.



There was swimming when we had a pool at the hotel.


A baby needed to stretch his legs when the vans stopped.


There were evenings in comfy beds.


Beautiful scenery to photograph.

Turnagain Arm






Peppermint patties to be given to Benjamin by the Grands




Big halibut to see that were caught on a charter in Seward Alaska.
This one was 187 pounds.


Ice from Portage Glacier.


We took the kids to the Sea Life Center in Seward.



Playing on the beach in Anchor Point



Rock hunting with Gramma.


Watching boats launched and retrieved via tractor at the beach. This was really neat and fast!


Benjamin and I on our way home.


Grace at Denali Park, waiting.....she didn't smile for many pictures.



But she smiled for all the pictures here!

A recipe

Jenny over at Frontier Freedom has a new weekly recipe share and she has some yummy rhubarb recipes posted that I cannot wait to try.

I should be posting about our trip last week but posting a recipe is much faster and I am tired and ready for some sleep.

So, here is a favorite treat of ours, something we don't eat very often.

Ham and Cheese Snacks
2 packages dinner rolls
1 pound ham
8 ounces cheddar or Swiss cheese
Sauce:
1 stick margarine
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. minced onion
2 Tbsp. Mustard
1 Tbsp. Poppy seeds
dash of salt and pepper

Mix sauce together. Slice rolls in half. Baste bottom of pans with sauce. Place bottom layer of rolls in pan. Place ham and cheese on roll. Put on top half of rolls. Cover with sauce, the cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes at 325 degrees for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Summer

Busy, busy, or maybe I should say distracted, distracted.
Summer is so full here in Alaska: gardening, playing outside, summer reading program and the list goes on and on.
It doesn't help that we have an 18 month old that loves to be out of doors, I mean loves it. I can only ask the older blessings to watch him so long before they grow weary. So, I spend many an afternoon keeping an eye on the little guy while he plays outside. And he doesn't play in one place, he is a mover and a shaker.
I bought a new, smaller camera so I plan on finding a small media case so I can carry the camera around full time in the diaper bag. I saw some interesting things today in North Pole. Like two teens set up with electric guitars in front of the local Safeway playing to raise money for prostate cancer. My kids said, "They start playing and then they stop." and "They sound awful!" Bless their hearts, I hope they raised some money for the cause though! My donation was given inside for the overpriced cookie sales for prostate cancer donations. There is always something that I think my blog friends would find interesting when I am out and about.

Captcha

Do you know what captcha is? Those pesky codes you have to type in before leaving a comment. I got rid of the captcha for a while but I was spammed so captcha is back. Hey, at least non HSB people can leave comments! And I still like this new format.

Today's weather

The weather here in Alaska is ever changing. In May we had many 75 degree days. Now that June is here we have been having cool, cloudy and even some evening thunderstorms. Today was 57ish, windy and cloudy. Our family doesn't complain about the weather, we really try to go with it and enjoy what we can. Everyone was outside today, we were just wearing jackets and the kids all had on jeans instead of shorts or capris. We are actually thankful for the rain that has fallen this past week, rain helps put out forest fires and keeps new ones from starting. I will take rain over smoke any day of the year!

A new baby

A friend had a baby boy, her first. After three girls we really wanted to play up the baby boy theme. We chose "boy toys".


The dessert table, cake pops, mini cheesecakes and fruit in a dump truck.



Another view of the room.


Mom's special chair next to the gifts.


These are fun times and so enjoyable. Thankful for friends to shower and friends to work with.

So Far in June

For us June is full of warm days and nights and new growth. Here we have beans making their appearance from beneath the soil.


A newly created strawberry and rhubarb bed. I am really looking forward seeing what the strawberries do.


A fern, I am glad to actually have the fern multiplying itself, I think I saw three or four coming up now.


Tomatoes, baby tomatoes!!!


Many children walking two dogs!


Many children having a picnic.

Friday

Enjoying a cleaning morning at home and then some errands and then back home again....HOME! Where I belong.

Just now

Oh my, just now I opened the cover of book a friend dropped off today when she dropped her blessings off to play with my blessings. This is a big rabbit trail....My Judith(our third blessing) and her oldest are the same age. She has three blessings which if you can follow my horrible writing makes three. My children play well with her children. Right now three girls and in the bedroom playing school and three (two boys and one girl) are outside in the backyard. I am thankful that my older blessings do not have the "I'm too old to play with them" attitude (which I would quickly adjust). They are playing joyfully because they do not have the "social" stigma of being in a classroom day after day year after year with only their age group.
Now back to the book. So this morning I have been making cookies, oatmeal fruit bars, bread, baking squash and sweet potatoes....you know, too much at once! So, I was walking into the kitchen reading the first few pages of the book and looked at the counter to see my bread bowl laying on its side where left it after hanging up the phone from talking to my wonderful husband and getting Benjamin cleaned up after his lunch. So, the bread got a little extra rest time and I am thankful that it didn't "rise" out into the floor.

Now I must go clean the kitchen and work on some house cleaning....I'd rather be baking.

Pictures

We have been having so much fun and have been so busy that I have failed to take pictures, so just take my word for it that we are having a great summer.