Alaska

Whew! We made it!  We took Colby, at 5 1/2 months old, to Alaska.  That's a 9 hour plane ride plus travel time to and from the airport both ways, 7 days and 7 nights spent in many different hotels, houses, and "strangers'" arms, 3 barbecues, and countless restaurants.  He did amazingly well...and then he started teething while we were there.  Needless to say the flight back was not quite as good as the flight up.

The trip was perfect; exactly what I envisioned.  The primary purpose for the visit was for Robert's family to meet Colby.  The secondary purpose was for our friends to meet Colby.  And if we had time, we wanted to fit a bit of Alaska sight-seeing in.  I consider all three goals to have been met!

We spent the first day in Anchorage, driving around our old stomping grounds.  We visited Robert's mom's work in the morning, drove by our old house, met Keith, Morgan, Emilie, and Joe for lunch (I finally got to meet Aubrey Bell!), then went over to Keith and Morgan's for a playdate, and stopped by Robert's old workplace in the afternoon.  After all the time changes, and dealing with Colby, I was in bed by 8!

Colby hams it up in Morgan's lap while Emilie looks on.

Little Aubrey Bell

The weekend was all about family.  Saturday, we drove out to the Valley, stopping first at Jenny's to drop off some steaks for the barbecue on Sunday.  So Colby got to meet Wyatt and Gunner for the first time, and of course Jenny.  Then we went to Grandpa's for several hours - where Robert introduced Colby to the wonders of the four-wheeler, then to Aunt Kim's, and we ended the day at Robert's moms, where we had barbecue ribs with Rick's family who was visiting as well.

Colby hanging out with Wyatt and Gunner

Grandpa showing Colby how it's done.

The inaugural ride on the four wheeler.

Sunday, we got up early to take Colby to the reindeer farm!  I had never been, and I have to say, I really enjoyed myself.  Those reindeer are like stupid, simple, gentle dogs.  You can kind of knee them out of the way, to get into the field, and then they'll eat right out of your hands.  I had no qualms of taking Colby right up to them to pet their coats and even antlers.  It was great!  After that, we went to Jenny's where the whole family met for a barbecue.  Everyone loved to see Colby, and Jenny held him in the baby bjorn for a significant amount of time - so sweet.  Wyatt and Gunner kept piling toys up in front of Colby to see if he would play with them, and about that time is when he started figuring out how to get his knees up under him...

Colby picked out the biggest reindeer on the farm.

Jenny has baby envy!

We spent the night at Jenny's so that Grandma could visit in the morning, and she loved meeting Colby.  She even got to rock him to sleep!  We went to BP for lunch, so that my coworkers could stop by and see Colby if they wanted to.  We got to see a lot of people, so that was nice, including Jenny J, who I was the happiest to see (and judging by her reaction, she was the happiest to see me)!  We met Storman and Nathania for dinner at their house, and got to see how much Aria has grown!  She was so cute, trying to get me to change Colby's diaper again and again (which ultimately resulted in several diapers being strewn across their living room).  She tried to sneak some mandarin oranges off my plate with a fork, and couldn't believe I caught her doing it!  And she climbed up into my lap twice, once to trace hands, and another to read her "Pat the Bunny"  I can't wait until Colby gets that age - it is so fun, and so tiring, I can imagine!

Grandma giving Colby some TLC.

Nathania feeds Colby, and Aria helps.

Tuesday we met Chris and Candace for lunch at Moose's Tooth.  And in the afternoon, Nancy stopped by the hotel to see Colby, and then we met Brittany and Pat for dinner, and got the grand tour of their house afterwards.

Wednesday, we went to lunch with Gwen, so she could see Colby one final time, and then I met Nathania for a walk, and then went to Jeff and Ericka's for a BBQ (so many BBQs)!  Thursday, we went back out to the valley and visited Grandpa - Robert helped him tear up the TundraTank and scoot it into a connex.  And then came back to the hotel with Chinese takeout and Eliot stopped by to visit!

Phew - so 1) see family...check, check and check.  2) see friends...CHECK and 3) Alaska sites...check (I'm counting the reindeer farm).  All this and now Colby can get his knees up under him, is teething AND has started sucking his thumb.  A VERY successful trip!