Alaska Musings

Cory here. Since I'm in Alaska right now for a conference I thought I better put up a quick post to show a few of the sights. I stopped in Ketchikan for a few days to visit the Schills. This was the last hurrah since they're moving back to the lower 48 in July. I'm glad I was able to make it up there one more time. They are great hosts and we had a lot of fun hiking, playing racquetball, eating wings and smoked salmon, and having a game night at their place. We played a board game called Blokus, which I highly recommend.

Now, I'm in Fairbanks, where the sun will set tonight at 11:00 and rise again at 4:00 in the morning. That will give me a chance to get out and do some evening sightseeing while I'm here.

Enjoy some of the pictures I've taken so far.

Mount Rainier was right out my window as I flew into Seattle.

The view from 1500 ft. as Schill and I hiked up Deer Mountain. We were turned back by too much snow on the trail shortly after this.

The view as we landed at Petersburg.

Mount McKinley (Denali)

Wildlife

Here is the exciting wildlife we see in our backyard:

We were planning on cutting this tree down this spring but now we have to wait until this robin's eggs hatch!

We have also been seeing a squirrel in our backyard this spring. This is not exciting to most, but it is to Kaylynn because we have never had a squirrel around here before!


And, of course, a few pictures of Kaylynn. She is very into baseball right now and, wow, can this girl hit!!

Owlets

The little owlets are not so little any more! In just 9 days they went from

to

And with Momma there the nest gets pretty small!!



I guess this is nature's way of pushing them out of the nest to fly, which should be happening in the next week or two.

Camping and Makeup fun!

A few weekends ago my parents were in town so we decided to take the camper out for a "test" run. We went east to the Pawnee Buttes since it is still too cold in the mountains. It was a lot of fun - though we have some things to learn about the camper yet! Glad we did a trial run, thanks Mom and Dad for your help!





This weekend I was trying to get ready and Kaylynn was hanging around while I was doing my makeup so I brought out some old stuff I had and let her go to town...here is what she came up with to finish off her Princess persona!

Happy 60th Birthday Dad

A couple of weeks ago the three of us, plus pregnant Jenny and Doug, made a very quick trip back to Montana for my dad's 60th birthday. We had been planning a surprise party for him for quite a few months. He had no idea that we were coming, along with about 70 family and friends. Some came from as far away as Minneapolis, Chicago, and Hays, Kansas, believe it or not. We showed up on the day of the party and went to work getting the shop cleaned up.


Kaylynn also checked out the cakes.



Pete did a great job keeping dad away from the farm until it was time, giving all of the guests time to show up. When they finally showed up we opened up the front door and gave dad the surprise of his life.

You can tell he was surprised because I'm sure he wouldn't have chosen those boots had he known who was waiting for him.



It was nice to have the whole family together and fun to see a lot of extended family and friends that we hadn't seen in a while. We partied well into the night and kicked off dad's 61st year.

The Wolff family keeps getting bigger. And one will be added in September with Jenny and Doug's bundle of joy.

Spring has sprung!!

We have been keeping busy. Here are a few highlights from the past few weeks.

My aunt and uncle came all the way out from MN to pick up a puppy in Loveland a few weeks ago - isn't she cute?!!

Spring has definitely arrived here in CO! The daffodils are in full bloom and the tulips are coming up.


Kaylynn also went to Otis' house to see their new baby chicks.

She gave Otis a ride in the wagon...

Then it was the chickens turn...maybe not!


What about me?!!


And finally, here is a video of Kaylynn singing the theme song of her favorite show right now - "Wonder Pets"

Owlet

Ophelia's eggs hatched! Here are a couple of pictures of her feeding one of her owlets today. They are so cute!