Gardening in Alaska

Ahh, the sun! All 20 plus hours of it. What do you do with all of that sunshine when it's out? One could go for a walk, run, play in the park, swim, hike, fish . . . garden. Garden? While the summer sun may inspire countless numbers to get out of the house and fix their adrenaline needs,  we like to add a little bit of good ole' fashion gardening to the mix.
When we decided to move to Alaska, we knew that having a garden would be a must-do. But, how do you raise vegetables in poor soil in a yard the size of a postage stamp, that you don't own, when summer temperatures rarely get above 65 degrees? You use containers. Through a combination of owner provided containers (7) and some custom-made cedar boxes made from fencing materials, we have managed to start quite the little garden. We'll see if we can get some harvests before the mid-night sun returns to its cozy orbit around  the rest of the globe.

This first attempt at an Alaskan garden includes: and herb pot with basil, oregano, parsley, sage; peas; spinach; salad mix; beets, turnips, parsnips, and carrots, broccoli and cauliflower, zucchini, dill, green onion, and swiss chard. So far, everything is growing great. We are really looking forward to the harvest, and we should be eating fresh salad and spinach in about a week. Until then, we have relied heavily on the local farmer's market.  Next year we plan on growing a bigger variety, and a greater quantity.

Konrads Birthday

Konrad....hm
Well I want Konrad to know what he was like when he was 2 years old. So here is a bit of info about our son, or as we call him lil man.

In the beginning we called him grandpa man, he looked like a baby and he looked like an old man. He had white hair and a wrinkle crossed his noes between his eyes. He was also Mr. Serious in the beginning for a little while, but as the gassy stage left the true happy, goofy, crazy, fun, loving guy submerged.

Konrad was a snuggler from birth and loves to be in a ball.. He is a stomach sleeper and loves to stick his bum in the air with his arms as a pillow. He looks so adorable when he sleeps like this.

 He curls right into just about anybody. He is my lover and is just fine kissing me on the lips and hugging me for long periods of time. He loves to try to sneak into our bed and try to cuddle with someone warm all night...in a ball.

He also loves to put his arm behind his head and just chill...and he is fine chilling like that for a while.

The dude is a goof ball. He loves to run silly, walk silly, make silly faces and sounds.  He makes us laugh daily with his fun personality. We never know what to expect next.

Konrad is a tease...I think that passed down from his papis. He loves to tease and be teased...but beware he will tease you back. Sometimes I tease that I will eat him for dinner and next thing I know at some random time he tries to eat my toe, but ouch it hurts!

He loves stuffed animals, animals, dogs especially,  and his stuffed animal dog is his favorite. He went through a faze where cows scared him tho.

 He loves soft things, silky material, fur, skin.... and he will stroke it for a long time. Sometimes he likes to stroke dady and momys hair and it is sweet.

Konrad is a bit violent, but he is never out to hurt anyone (except his sister, or anyone taking his toy)...he just um, well, we call him our little destroyer. He pulls things apart, breaks things, finds some other random way to destroy something just about daily. This is all done from his curiosity, I hope this actually leads to knowledge in his future...just to make it worth it. Katy sometimes has to deal with him destroying her toys.

Konrad loves bugs. He likes to try to pick up the ants, catch the fly, or poke the spider.

Konrad is good at shapes and blocks...but can not seem to grasp colors. Everything is RED or BUE. He is also the crayon peeler, no need to color when you can pick something a part.

He likes puzzles. He loves bubbles and balloons. He isn't huge into balls, sports stuff, cars, trucks, dinosaurs, dragons...those things that are sometimes labeled boy. He likes them...but that isn't something he is so into or does constantly. He really is content doing a lot of different things. He doesn't get stuck on one thing. He loves to play with toys and is fine playing contently by himself.

Although he is rather social and will go up to just about anyone and win them over. He loves to find older boys to hang around.

He loves babies and is so gentle with them. He likes to play with dolls, yes, and he is a good dady to his dolls. He also loves to be around any real baby and smiles and tries to coo as he sees adults do.

Konrad does NOT like to be cold...cold water is not his favorite. He is also a little on the colder side always, like his mom.

Konrad didn't like babyfood because he wanted to do everything himself...now just imagine that in a 2 year old and x that by some. No I do...a frase that is getting more and more familiar.

Konrad loves books. If anyone is reading he will find a spot nearby to listen and watch...if it is not a kids book he will go grab a kids book and pretend to read with you.

Konrad loves to be outside.

He loves to ride his bike, ever since dad got his bike.

He does first and thinks about it later. He is not the hesitant type for sure.

Konrads favorite foods are anything with lots of carbs and sugar. If you put the two together, EVEN better! He always wants chocolate milk. He loves bananas and monkeys. He can shove a whole banana in his mouth and still have room to eat it...he might just swallow.

Konrad will tell you he is NOT 2, he is BIG.

He loves to stay up at night. It is always a fight to get him to sleep.

He loves to pinch his sister. Sister usually deserves it and visa versa.

He is a sharer, but that is only if it is yours in his mind. He knows what is yours, the other kids...if you mix that up he will be very concerned and have a little fit...even if it doesn't even concern him or his toy. MINE is his favorite word, second is NO....that could be every toddler, but more so him I am sure.

He loves techno music, (trans Siberian he rocked out to at Christmas) and music for kids. His favorite songs right now are wheels on the Bus and SunBEAM!

He loves stroller rides.

Right now he is wired, it is 10pm, he is running in a circle with his sunglasses and then going back and forth from his room to dads backpack by the front door...doing all sorts of things that a goof ball does with sunglasses. Now he is trying to take a part dadys backpack. He loves to stick his belly out and head forward with feet following and his arms all the way back...running in a very peculiar way. Like I said GOOFBALL.

Happy Birthday to my little Goof, We love you just the way you are!!!

Birthday Pancakes, I love Pancakes!!

My new Train Set

Balloons, have to have balloons!





Dinner of favorites, fruit & noodles

Happy Birthday To YOU!

Yum!





Went to the zoo for Birthday



Polar Bears at the Zoo. Konrad loved it!

Our New Home has a Yard!!

Konrad loves the grass!

Katy in dandelion heaven

What the heck, hm this neighborhood is kinda scary

Drive To Alaska...continued

Day 6: Sunday, May 29th: Liard Hotsprings to Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

We opened the day to a nice cooked breakfast and a late start to the morning. It was warm with the sun shining before wanted it to. We made a stop at Watson Lake and left a trailer plate in the sign-post forest. We saw animals again this day, lots of buffalo just laying in the mowed grass along the road...days of Yellowstone like sites. We pricelined a room in Whitehorse, a ridiculous price for what we got. We tried out a Canadian chain restaurant, Boston Pizza, it was ok, very pricey. We discovered a store worse than Walmart- its like Walmart's twin but it got the bad genes, filthy..slower...horribly disorganized. One of the Canadians visiting the town said, isn't this a clean town...I think he was joking. We left the store thinking we would get snacks with nothing...we just didn't have the patience for less than Walmart. The kids had a nice long bath, and we all got cleaned up. The motel we stayed at was a cruise line hotel with a bunch of old people.

A big boat in the middle of Whitehorse

Day 7: Monday, May 30th: Whitehorse to Tok, Alaska

We began the day eating breakfast at a park along the Yukon River. We saw a badger in the river...the kids were pretty excited. The park was really fun...ok maybe Whitehorse isn't SO bad. The roads were very bumpy, we had to go extremely slow. We saw a lost trailer along the road and watched other trailers sway side to side as we went. When we got to the border patrol man did not say welcome to America, USA....nope...Welcome to Alaska! Again, border crossing was a breeze and once we passed the border the roads were wonderful...we were glad to be back into our country and we figured they were just trying to impress Canada with the nicer road. When we got to Tok we just rented a cabin instead of camping. We were tired, icky feeling, and we didn't want to get into Anchorage dirty and gross the next day. The camp host had family in Idaho and from Rexburg...she was very friendly...we think she is Mormon but we didn't ask. She had all kinds of information about living in Alaska. We ate really bad Chinese in pouches that was more like Ramon noodles with bad sauce. We were hungry so we took a drive around town...it was a small town took about a minute. We found what we think was maybe the only grocery store and got some food.

breakfast

We made it to Alaska!!!

Our stay in a cabin at TOK

Day 8: Tuesday May 31st: Tok to Anchorage Ak

In the morning Ashley finally got up the nerve to drive...that was to get gas in Tok and back, Kacy drove every time else. We were in no rush to get into Anchorage so we took time to clean out the car and get ready for the day. We saw a lot of Dr. Seuss like trees where the ground is bad because of the permafrost, it was strange looking. Once we got closer to Anchorage along Chugach State Park it was jaw dropping gorgeous, like a jungle-forest. So many mountains, a river flowing from a glacier...we saw the beginning of the river...that is pretty cool and tons and tons of forest so thick that you can not see any of the cabins that are hiding among the trees. Flowers were everywhere and our trusty dandelions, they make it feel like home. When we got into town we had told the lady we would be leasing from to meet us at the little blue house we were thinking of renting. She was there to show us the house, we thought we could live with it...I mean, what else are we going to find at 5pm and where are we going to sleep tonight. So we signed the lease and began our life in Alaska......

She is thrilled to be in the car again

This is Katy's version of dad

The beautiful drive

WE made it to Anchorage

And Here we are! Yay this blog post is over!!

The Drive to Alaska!!

Day 1: Tuesday, May 24th 2011:  Pocatello, ID to Great Falls, MT...or I guess Helena, MT

Just the night before Pam, Roxy, Joanna & Kory had helped us clean our apartment and pack our 6x10' trailer and the back of our Ford truck. We were all so tired and thankful to stay in a hotel that night with a nice hot tub, them muscles were sore! Our day didn't start early like planned and we had several errands to run before we left, like turn in our keys and so on. We had the goal to leave around 11:00am and we were already behind on our "schedule"...we said our goodbyes (not fun) and then off we went. Everything went smoothly until, POP! The trailer tire blew! We had been driving in rain for an entire 6 hours, 315 miles, before it blew. We were about 15 miles from Helena, MT and so not really close to a nice stop. We were lucky to be safe. Kacy was outside for at least an hour trying to figure out what the owner to the trailer had done to get the spare tire on the ramp we bought w/the trailer...it was rusted and screwed so tight that with both of us out there we couldn't get it to budge for a while until finally it gave way. Luckily the rain had stopped just enough to let us get the spare and start with the repair. Kacy needed Ashley's help who was taking care of crying-hungry kids, as it was dinner time. Ashley came out to try to help but muscles were needed. So Ashley got in the car and said a quick prayer to send someone with "Big Muscles." Soon a small guy pulls up and asks if we could use the help, and oh yes we do! Turns out he has several kids, is Mormon, and felt like stopping cause he just always feels guilty when he doesn't and he sees someone on the side of the road. His name was Alan Grover and he was a great help. He followed us into town to the repair shop they ended up being all closed. Well Wal-marts was open for another 5 minutes but they wouldn't help us because they wanted to take off...we hate Wal-Mart...and even more now. So we were stuck in Helena.

We are off!

Napping children= happy parents

We did gifts 2-4 everyday full of $1 items for the kids to keep them occupied and happy, and to persuade them to stop screaming. This is Katy playing with her first gift- a practice letter book with colored pencils...she liked pens better.

Thankfully Konrad is sleeping

Now Konrad is awake and whining....la la la, I can't hear you!

Rough day, yay it is over. Made it to the Days Inn. Good thing Kacy had on his bright shirt for the tire change!

Day 2: Wednesday, May 25th: Helena, MT to Calgary, Alberta, Canada

We woke up late and had a continental breakfast and went to Lech Schwab...it just happened to be by Wal-mart, so this time we used the store toys to entertain our kids. We bought 2 new tires and new rims, we wanted to make sure we were extra prepared. Then we were off again and really worried about the border crossing. Oh the insanity of preparations to go through the border, like writing down every weight of every food we were taking. We got to the border: Hello why are you going to Canada? uh uh uh I have a job in Alaska and we are moving, How long do you plan to be in Canada? 5-6 days, Can I see your passports and registration? yes (scramble, scramble), Do you have any food with you? yes, Any raw meat or produce, no. Ok- Welcome to Canada! We both drove away and said...that was easy. We took a break and saw the temple in Cardston and met some very friendly American temple workers who told us all about there families and what we should see in Canada. The problem was all we could see was rain. We stopped at a little tiny town and drove around and found a local restaurant and were pleased to know that all chefs in Canada have to be licensed...so at least good enough to keep a restaurant and educated enough to have decent food. Yay! and it was good Chinese food. We pricelined a room in Calgary at a Hotel 8 that had a swimming pool and slide! It ended up only being a one bed so we put the kids on the floor...they weren't sleeping anyway.

A small park we found along the way...we ate lunch there & kids got out their energy

Canada likes Konrad

Cardston Alberta Temple





They got whiteboard markers today!

Welcome to the city of Calgary




Day 3: Thursday, May 26th: Calgary, Alberta Canada to Jasper National Park

In the morning we ate a nice continental breakfast and then went swimming! The slide was awesome! The kids had a great time and the water was nice and warm. We got all cleaned up and prepared for another rainy day. We went to the Walmart in Calgary to get some snacks and noticed that my goodness there are normal people employed here, the check out lanes are open, the place is clean...the foods have different names but they look the same (like Doritos looks the same but is called something else), it was strange.  We drove through the city of Calgary, hello-would be so nice to stay and enjoy you but by by, we got to go! We noticed the roads in Canada are very very straight and the signs are relatively easy to read, they mowed about 50-100 feet of lawn on each side of the highway, this was about the entire trip and they have tunnels and walkways for the animals to get from one side of the road to the other. We stopped and ate in a town a lot like Sun Valley called Banff and ate a lunch at a park. Then we started our way through the national parks and it was awesome, by far better than Yellowstone. Ashley didn't quite press the button all the way to video a whole herd of sheep right next to us jumping from rock to rock and herding past us...boy was she disappointed! We saw beautiful mountains and glaciers and lakes, the scenery was jaw dropping. We saw buffalo, black bear, Canadian geese, mountain goats and lots of  Big horn sheep. We ended our night at the Pocahontas Cabins at Jasper national Park. It was a nice cozy cabin with a little picnic table and swing set outside.

Lunch & park in Banff

Glaciers like this everywhere

q

Pocahontas Cabins

Day 4: Friday, May 27th: Jasper, Alberta, Canada to Fort St. John, British Columbia

We are still behind schedule, and getting used to the fact that we like to sleep in when our kids don't sleep until 11:00pm. The nights are getting a lot lighter too. We had a sink in our cabin and so we made some oatmeal for the morning and started another day of rain. It did start to clear up. We ate lunch in Grand Cache with the rest of the town at a Subway. This town didn't look different from any other. The Canadians are really friendly and like to smile, say hi, or nod there head at you. When we got to Dawson Creek we went to the grain elevators and art gallery, we also entered onto the Alaska Highway. When we got to Fort St. John we stayed at Charlie Lake Provincial Park and camped. It was finally not raining so we could camp as planned. We got the last open spot, few. The kids stayed up forever....

Was that just a giant beaver on the side of the road?

Look dad we found an Office Plus!

The true 0 mile post, start of the Alaska Highway

One of the gifts today was balloons...oh they were life savers.

Somewhere around this area- historical mile 21-22 the Meservys homesteaded this land, near Kiskatinaw River

I think the Canadians like giant wood animals...we do too. The GIANT Squirrel.

Playground at camp

Day 5: Saturday, May 28th: Fort St. John to Liard Hot Springs, British Columbia

Many mosquito bites we found in the am. We were in a hurry to leave that morning and get on the road, but yes we were behind schedule, that happens when we don't get any sleep! I told Katy to make her happy that we would be getting to Pink Mountain, we came and passed pink mountain...its a brown hill. Sorry Katy. We were beginning to push longer before breaks. It was a windier road, skinny road, and not a lot of places to stop.  Ashley only got a tiny bit car sick- Yay! The scenery was great and we saw a lot of animals. We ended up pushing all the way to Liard Hot Springs before eating food, we were starving! We set up camp quick, ate Indian food in pouches...it was surprisingly good, and soaked in the hot springs. The hot springs was not like Lava or anywhere else we have been. The ground was gravel and the vegetation was right near the water, so dirty. It was very raw and natural...not made into a pool. There was a little waterfall where it went from extremely hot...too hot for the kids to luke warm. They had one huge open room for the boys and girls to dress...well hello everyone, I have weird underwear...holy mosquitoes!!! No not you, the actual mosquitoes were everywhere biting you. In the water your head was being swarmed. We did have fun tho even with drunk people surrounding us...and trash shoved into the beautiful foliage around us...Ashley was pretty mad at the peoples lack of respect in all parts that came to this hot springs and ended with a 14ish old boy puking in the boys room because he was drunk. Despite it we managed to have fun and walked on the longest doc across marsh land to get there and back, we were eaten alive by....mosquitoes!! The kids slept great, it was late to bed so they were out. Did I mention we got the last spot to camp here too.

lunch, just at some random place...doesn't it look a lot like Idaho?

Bear on the Road!!

How Ashley spent most of the drive

Konrad is going to be a GREAT driver.



Camp



Marsh on our way to the hot springs, it was a beautiful walk.

This is what we walked on for about a mile to get to the hot springs.

The kids loved the hot springs, sorry this is all the pictures...people were drinking to the left...to the right. ok we were surrounded by drunk people, but it was still fun!

Fast asleep, yes it is still sunny and time to go to bed