Trip to Seward... just because!

A couple of ladies walked by and thought we needed some mountains in our background so they took a pic for/0f us...
We had mountains in our background anyways, but the offer was nice.  :)
We went down on a Friday afternoon, hung out at the MWR room,  then on Saturday walked around town, and then ended up at this park.  The kids ran off some energy before we headed back home.

This was a big crab... there was a train behind that... a really cute park.
All of the kids really liked the chair swing.
Elic loving the swing too...   it's a little difficult to get the pics when they keep flying by.
They all liked the bouncy bridge thing... good view of Mt Marathon behind them.
This is my favorite driving road....  the one with no other cars in site.  It's becoming more and more rare around here....

without a laptop I don't know how to do this....

So I am laptopless... have been for a few weeks, and looks like I will be at least for a few more days (I hope it's back that soon)
The kids have been busy with school, we need to figure out some Halloween costumes, and it's getting really cold outside... but it's a nice sunny, blue sky day (chilly but sunny) finally!!
So hopefully I'll have the laptop back soon after Halloween and I can blog the eve's events... I'm sure they'll figure out some great costumes to take pictures of!! :)

cranberry picking.... fall colors

Sabrina tried to get me to use the berry picker... I found it more useful for a photo.  :)

Of course, she did use it and I think got about 1 and a half, or 2 times as much as me.... hmm...
I have decided I like to do self portraits, at arm's length...
This was a nice clump of berries on a little stump.
same stump, just played with the pic a bit....   loved all those fall colors!

Elic's 8th birthday

Elic had 6 candles on his cupcake and then 2 votives to blow out... he thought that was funny.
He got some legos and an iPod shuffle... pretty exciting!
Here's the party, just some of the cousins, Great Grandma, Pa and Sweetpea, and Aunt Debbie...  everyone hung out for a little bit, ate some cake... did a little running around outside....  easy party!!

Berry Picking at Hatcher's Pass

Rosalee by Willow creek...  with her berries.
Hmm...  what's this look??  she was a serious picker this day.. almost filled her bag!
Mom decided that she'd come berry picking with us one day after school...  she did pretty well.  Enough to make a batch of jam!

These berries were in Archangel valley..  went back another time with a friend, without the kids....  got another gallon!
Here's our smiley guy...  smilin'!
This is up the valley by Reed Lake Trail.
Just some fall color.
These berries were on the other side of the pass.

Rosalee and I posing in the misty mountains.
I think they call these "willow roses."  They are kind of like a bloom at the end of the season.

Maybe I could be Pioneer Woman????

Yummy... these are the varieties I made this day.  Rhubarb cranberry ice cream topping (Sherry requested that sort of thing)  canned some cranberries and blueberries in honey syrup, and made some rhubarb sauce.
This was dinner....  beef stew.  We had some of our potatoes in it... Elic harvested a selection of blue potatoes, peanut, and red potatoes.  Also some Alaska Grown carrots, celery and onions.

Had some cornbread on the side with some of our honey too.   Delicious dinner!

These are the berries that made the jam....  high bush cranberries and blueberries.
This is Sherry's honey...  she got about a gallon this year.
This is some of my honey.  The color difference between the two *Sherry's and mine, is just because of the different areas the hives are in, the different flowers the bees go on.
This is a selection of berries that I had. Black currants, goose berries, cranberries.... just looked so nice together.

Can't believe I didn't put this in the fair section....

For the past few years there have been some pumpkin entries....  this white one, 328 lbs, was from a first time grower... I'd say that's a big accomplishment (ours tend to be 1-5lbs....  maybe)
This one is from a guy in Nikiski..  he has been growing for a few years and was trying to break 1,000 lbs.  but just made it to over 900 lbs...  I still think that's something to be proud of.  

Next year there are a couple more growers that are talking about joining in... maybe one of these days we'll try to grow a 10 pounder!!!