The Richards Family Goes Alaskan

From the far east and after a slight detor in Detroit, the Richards family arrived in Anchorage for some baby type fun. The shortly learned the schedule of a baby is not that of their normal early bird routine, but they adapted and were rewarded with a happy alert little man who was very willing to go on trips galore with the fam! The family traveled far in wide... in the Anchorage vicinity. We all visited Alyeska and took a ride on the tramway for a (surprisingly) good lunch and an incredible view! We took the popular Portage Glacier walk and were shocked to see how much the glacier receided in two months since Grandma Curtis visited. The rest of the week was filled with visits to Kinkaid Park where we saw a bull moose with a huge rack, shopping on 4th Ave for gifts to bring back east, many great eats (Pho, City Diner, Orso, Glacier Brewhouse) and many fun days at our house playing with the baby, many games of mexican train dominoes, apples to apples and good conversation. We were sad to see them go, it was a great visit and we really appreciated that they used their vacation to visit us and the baby!

Bryce's first taste of the woods

For Brandy's birthday Matt managed to outdo himself and get the new fam a weekend in the woods... newborn style. We wanted to ease Bryce into camping, especially in the land of the midnight sun, especially with all the bears that live in our area, especially during salmon season. So the compromise was a yurt on Eagle River. We hiked a few miles out to it, BOB stroller in tow, no ordinary stroller would have made it, but the BOB is not an ordinary stroller :) We spent two nights, three day exploring the area. Bryce was awesome, he didnt mind sleeping on the ground near the woodstove, or the mosquitoes, all day hikes or the rain that came in bucket fulls. He might just enjoy the outdoors... or he should start faking it, because he will be spending the majority of his time in it! We ate some freezedried fare and stored our smelly products in a bear cannister outside the yurt. We carried bear spray and bell just in case (bears are seen daily in Eagle River Nature Center) but we didnt see a single one!

Bryce+Books=Happy Baby

There is no denying it... Bryce loves books :) We had to make a video of how excited he gets when someone is reading to him and how frustrated he is when the story is over. A side note, this is one of three books sent to him by his namesakes Art and Moira... two very incredible people.

I'm lookin' at the baby in the mirror

Bryce discovered himself in the mirror the other day... this is too cute

We went to HOMER

So the gang packed up the Subaru and took the 4 and 1/2 hour drive to Homer, AK. This trip was made even longer because we kept having to pull over for Bryce's little "bathroom breaks". Seriously though Homer was absolutley awesome. The B+B seconded as a winery. To all the wine geeks that are makeing that funny face and thinking "wine grapes in Alaska??" The answer is no. They imported the grapes but also used a lot of fruit grown locally. Gooseberries, blueberries, strawberries, and rhubarb. Not too bad!Hot tub pop a bubbly. Caution pasty white Alaskans ahead.Bryce preferred the dry whites buy couldn't pass up a good Merlot.Brandy works the kite. Diva kite ninja.Our room in the B+B.Matt had some issues trying to get the kite airborn.To make matters worse the kid beside us was able to fly his McGyver kite pretty well. There was a farmers market with some good old fashioned bluegrass music. That guy in the middle sure does look Alaskan.

Brandy calls this photo "Mini Matt" I call it "Awesome".

Bryce is a very serious young man.

Happy!

Babies and Grandmas and Glaciers....OH MY!!

Here is a wonderful photograph. I could not be more proud of my son who is now giving his first daps. As you can see in the photogaph below. I am also very proud that my child is able to read.So Brandy, baby, grandma, and i all wet to the portage glacier yesterday!! An hour drive and a .8 mile walk and we're at this awesome glacier!!! Brandy got to test ride her new baby carrier strap thingy.This picture is from just after we left the Shire.Check out that badass hat. A great time was had by all and it only took a short drive to get to Alaska from Anchorage so grandma got to see what the TV shows are all talking about.

Here are some moose shots we just wanted to add. We went for a walk in Kinkaid park and these two fellas came out to say hi.