I have talked about going to the glacier several times.  Here are some photos on one of those trips.

Enjoying a short hike.  We saw  a salmon in the stream, but you could not see it my photos.

porcupine

 Mendenhall Glacier

On David's Birthday we hiked up above this waterfall and had a great view looking down at it.

The kids had so much fun playing in the rocks and finding sticks.

We have just found out that we will be closing on the house on Oct. 16th.  That is a pretty nice Birthday present for Chris.  It is funny really.   The offer on the house was accepted on Davids' Birthday. 

We are pretty excited about the fact that we only have two more weeks in the hotel!!

It was a crazy trip.  We did not get many photos.  The leaves in the interior of Alaska were beautiful.  I think we caught the fall leaves at their peak.

We are having so much fun exploring Juneau.  I forgot to pack the cord ect. to download from my camera phone.  OOPS!!  I guess it will be awhile on those, but I did take some on Chris's camera today.  I'll try and download them soon.

It has been a busy few days.  First we found a house!!  We will not be able to close until the end of October.  We spent several days house hunting  and finding our way around.  Chris only worked 1/2 days while we were doing that.  As things started coming together we explored the glacier.  We saw a black bear!!  The kids were so excited.  That was the first bear the kids and I have seen outside a zoo.  We also went downtown and saw the capitol building!

This week Chris was on mid's (night shift.)  So while he was sleeping the kids and I got out and explored. 

 At David's request (his birthday) we went back to the glacier and took a hike on Monday.  It was a beautiful hike closer to the glacier and near a waterfall.  There was lots of beautiful spots.  The kids has so much fun with the mini waterfalls and steams all along the way.    I knew I was out of shape, but I was so sore.  I started today to feel less sore.  We also saw a porcupine that had climbed a tree.  

On Tuesday we washed launday and played with friends from Church (also a friend of some of our Wasilla friends.)  We all had a great time.   

On Wednesday we took a very wet walk on the beach.  Our rain pants and coat worked well, but our boots are in the shipment.  Even with wet socks the kids enjoyed watching the boats, looking for shells and rocks.  We took a drive "out the road."  We drove to the end of the road.  (remember there is no road connecting Juneau to the rest of the world----you take the ferry or a plane) The kids saw an eagle.  We also stopped at the library and picked up a few movies and books. 

Today we explored downtown.  The kids loved seeing the huge cruise ships, the downtown library and the homemade fudge shop.  We went to the gym this afternoon.  The kids have a nice area to play while I worked out and did not want to leave.

Tomorrow we are planning to go to the homeschool kick off potluck at a fun park.  So we are having a great time.  Chris will be back on days next week and we plan to start back to school.

We are all really falling in love with Juneau.  It is so beautiful and so many things to do and yes it is very rainy.  We are in a rainforest!!

We have arrived in Juneau.   It was a beautiful, fun, exciting, crazy, and long trip.  We have hit the ground running here.  Chris is working in the morning and we are busy getting settled and house hunting in the afternoon.  Hope to spend some time updating you all next week.

First just to clear up my post yesterday, there isn't a road out of Barrow that will take you anywhere.  To get stuff here or out of here, it must come by boat or plane.  The season is really short for boats.   The water is not in a liquid form, for long.  The problem was that there was an airline that would fly them out to Anchorage.  They stopped with no warning.  We have got it worked out though.  Our car should have flown out today (hopefully) to Deadhorse.  This is where the oil fields are on the North Slope.  The Hall road (used mostly by 18 wheelers) will take it down to Fairbanks from Deadhourse  and from there you are back on the road system.  Chris could drive it, although our truck would have been a better choice and that would take a lot of time off, (and most likely end our leave in the Wasilla area_  but it will be put on a truck trailer and hauled to Anchorage.  Hope it makes it before we leave the Anchorage area. 

We have enjoyed two of those rare beautiful days in Barrow.  I don't think there was a cloud in the sky today.  We took a long walk on the beach and the kids played in the park.  It was a least in the mid-fifties.  The kids are still playing outside near the house! 

We leave in 6 days, so this will be my last post for awhile.  We will be spending a week with friends just north of Anchorage.  We will take 4 days to get to Juneau from there.   It was a pretty drive in the winter last December and we are looking forward to seeing it again.  We will be spending one night in Canada and then going to Haines, Alaska to catch the ferry.  Juneau does not connect to the road system either, but it is on the Alaska marine highway (Ferry) and will only be a four hour (or two on the fast ferry)  ferry ride from Haines.