Anchorage and AK Zoo

Axel and Mom by the shoreline in Anchorage
Playing in the tunnels that lead to the shoreline. I just thought this picture turned out crazy cool.

1st time at the AK Zoo
The black bears watching dad and Axel
Now these bears look a little more friendly!

Forgot one thing...

I posted a list the other day about facts that I have learned about living in Alaska, well I forgot one more things. EARTHQUAKES!!!! I've heard about them but never actually experienced one before. Until today while I was at work. I was sitting at my desk when I could feel the floor wobbled and my seat shake a little. It lasted about 30 seconds. I had to call Brian once it was over to see if he felt it also and yes indeed he did. He said he was in the bedroom and felt it and when he looked into the bathroom the mouthwash was shaking around. He was in Eagle River and I was in Anchorage-about 15 miles apart. I guess you can look up the quakes online and it'll tell you when, where and the size of the quakes. It stated that it happened about 10 mile west of Anchorage and it was around a 4.5 on the rector scale. Crazy......

You know that you live in Alaska when...

Here's a few things I've learned about in the last few weeks. You know that your living in Alaska when:
-your neighbor brings you 10 pounds of Halibut and gives you ideas on how to cook it-we grilled it and it was awesome! Brian even liked it.
-your neighbor brings you over a CD about bear safety when hiking
- a co-worker comes to work late because her dog got attacked by a moose that morning-the dog is okay
-you find bear scat and moose prints across the street
-you can buy a hand gun anywhere-even Wall Mart! All you need is a license then they will sell you a gun, load it and you can walk out with it that day.

Video

This is the first video that I have downloaded. I'm not sure why it's so big but I think I finally got it to work. He is a little clip on Axel playing at the park.

Eagle River Nature Center

We went for a hike to day at the Eagle River Nature Center which is about 10 miles from our house. One of the trails was blocked off because of bear activity relate to the Salmon in the river. Don't worry we didn't end up seeing any bear on the trails that we went on.
Axel strutting on the trails

Axel and dad


I can't believe that this week is almost over. I have to start week on Monday. Brian, Axel and I went out to dinner with all the new people that I am going to work with last night. It was a nice dinner but a little stressful meeting every one. They all seem really nice. I got to eat my first Alaskan Halibut! It was really good. Back to the real world on Monday. It sure has been nice having some time off to enjoy our new surroundings. The weather has been pretty nice here. It's been a little rainy some days but this weekend it's been in the mid 60's and sunny.
Things Axel is in to right now:
he loves Caillou-it's TV show
he wakes me up every morning and says "what are we going to do today mom?"
he likes to take all of his toys and put them in a line which he calls a 'train' then if I try and move them to pick them up he gets up set that I'm messing up his train
he loves trucks and building with his blocks-when we drive around he finds buildings that he tells me that he built for me
he also likes to say "Love you me" instead of saying I love you

park with mountain views

Check out our new park
Just down the trail from our house

The journey to Alaska

We started the journey on Monday Aug 30th and arrived to our house in Alaska on Friday Sept. 3. Five days of driving 12-15 hours each day in a U-haul with our car on a trailer behind us. These are the stops that we made-1st day: Yorkton- Saskatchewan, 2nd day: Whitecourt -Alberta, 3rd day: Muncho Lake-British Columbia, 4th day: Haines Junction-Yukon Territory, 5th day: Eagle River Alaska. The roads were mostly paved but some in the Yukon Territory were gravel. Some of the roads were narrow and right next to the mountain. I drove for about two hours and I white knuckled it the whole time. Thank you to my amazing hubby for driving us all the way here. I could have never driven some of the roads-full of hills, huge pot holes and narrow ways. It was a little crazy at times. We got one flat tire or I should say blew one tire around Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory. Luckily by time we noticed it we were in a town and got it fixed quickly. On our way here we saw 2 black bears, 2 moose, elk and a grey fox. The wildlife was crazy! Northern Canada was really interesting. Tiny towns that all close by 6-8pm-no pay at the pump gas and on average a 12% tax rate on everything! (all for their health care) You take for grated getting a hotel or gas any time you want in the U.S. Axel did really well for a 2 year old. Thank you to who ever invented portable DVD players. Over all the trip went really well and we ended up being only one hour off the time we planned from Minneapolis Mn to Eagle River Alaska.