Alison and Dave's wedding

Another wedding! We left Virginia early on Friday and arrived in Boston at 3pm. Boston is a crazy city; the traffic patterns and streets were quite difficult to traverse. Thankfully we had the navigation system in the minivan or we would probably still be looking for our hotel! ;-)

Before the rehearsal dinner we had time for a quick visit with our friend Karen from Hiram Blake Camp. She fed us afternoon tea and then we took the kids to a playground and a local ice cream parlor.

Afterward, we picked up Seth and Rob to drive to the rehearsal dinner. Unfortunately, Steve and Penny's flight was delayed and they arrived in Boston very late, missing the dinner. They were also supposed to pick up Lisa at the airport in Providence, an hour's drive away. She was unable to get her own rental car and wound up sitting at the airport for hours until Steve could pick her up. Needless to say, none of them got much sleep and they were all very grumpy the next day.

Finding and getting to the wedding ceremony presented another problem. It was held outdoors at the Arboretum, a large nature preserve, and there were multiple entrances from different streets. We made it in time, but Brian and Maggie weren't so lucky and missed the ceremony. But the wedding was beautiful and the kids slept through the ceremony (bonus!).

The reception was at the boat club, which had a beautiful view of the river. We got in trouble later for having the kids by the water on the dock... too much liability, I guess. The food was great, but not enough dancing, which is my favorite part of weddings.

After the reception, Brian, Maggie, Seth and Rob all hung out at our hotel. We went to Legal Seafood for dinner and swam at our hotel pool afterwards (except for me because I forgot my swimsuit :( ).

On Sunday we went to the Science museum, which was awesome. The kids were great and loved touching and playing with everything. They spent 10 minutes at this giant fire fly that lights up, pushing the button. We saw the live butterfly garden, where the butterflies practically land on you, Gabrielle spent an hour in there just watching them! We met up with Seth and Rob and saw the Human Body Worlds II exhibit. Then, drove back home, about an eight hour drive.

Zachary charming a little girl at the reception.

Madison wrestling with Avery at Alison and Dave's wedding in Boston.

Drive to Anchorage

Our last day in Alaska ended with this sunset on our drive north from Seward to Anchorage. The scene is looking through the Turnagain Arm on the coastal highway.

Aliyak Glacier

At this spot we are about 1 mile from the Aliyak glacier. You can't really tell, because there is nothing to provide a sense of scale, but the glacier is about a mile and a half wide and more than 900 feet tall. There was a continuous booming and popping noise that was quite eerie to hear. In the 20 minutes we watched it, three gigantic pieces broke off, a process known as calving. One was so big that the waves rocked the boat from 1/2 a mile away.

Kenai Fjords Tour

Our flight back to the lower 48 was a red-eye leaving at 10pm, but we left Soldotna early in the morning to drive to Seward and take a Kenai Fjords ocean cruise out of Resurrection Bay. The day was absolutely gorgeous; no clouds or wind, perfectly sunny and about 60 degrees. The tour lasted six hours and included a lunch of delicious fried halibut.

As we left Seward harbor for the Aliyak glacier, the first animal we saw was a sea otter dozing in the water. Then we encountered several porpoises and watched them swim through the boat's bow wave. They were very playful and so sleek and graceful. Later we saw sea lions, star fish, jellyfish (oddly enough, called a _smack_ or _senate_ of jellyfish), two bald eagles, lots of puffins, and finally, just as the trip was ending, a couple of killer whales.

Joss and Ed's Wedding

Josselyn and Ed had a beautiful ceremony on the banks of the Kenai river. The electric blue/green water made for a stunning backdrop. About an hour into the reception the skies opened up, rain started to fall, but the party didn't even slow down.

We ate in the rain, danced in the rain, and of course drank in the rain. It was chilly, but booze do warm you up though, oh and so does dancing, oh and the bonfire they had. It was a long fun reception. I think it started around 3 and finally broke up around 10:30 when it became fully dark outside.


These are the people that stayed after the pouring rain. I've never been to a wedding where there wasn't a contingency if it rained.



Eli and Cullen, shopping from the sales rack at REI stores in two different states, ended up with the exact same jacket.

Horse Back Riding

After the exertion of our hike, we decided to take a family tail ride, and had a lovely time riding through Alaska's countryside on horseback. I was a bit nervous as this was only my second time on a horse (and the first time was 12 years earlier).



Over the course of about two hours we rode through a forest, along a grass covered airplane runway, up a steep hillside, and then reversed direction and went back. Right near the end the skies opened up and we rode in the pouring rain. It got slippery and muddy, but the horses didn't care and it was pretty exciting.

Russian River Falls Hiking Trip

Josselyn (the bride) was our guide for this hike along the Russian River. I think she is pointing to the nearest restroom (i.e. behind a tree). :)


These are spawned Red (Sockeye) salmon. You can tell by their deep red bodies and green heads.


Since Avery and Zachary didn't come on the trip we had to take pictures of the token baby on the trip, little Lila. I asked Julie if I could ride on her back too, but no such luck. I had to trek the 4-5 miles on my own two feet.