Here are some of the sights we saw today on our walk in the mountains. Isn't that green amazing? We saw a moose trudging through the marsh, and a little family of ruffed grouse right on the path as we came around a corner. The chicks were so cute!!

Thyroid surgery

I had half of my thyroid removed on June 20th. It went smoothly, the lump was benign, and I'm recuperating nicely. When my scar fades, it'll hardly be noticeable!!

Competitive fishing anyone?

If you're a fisherman, you've probably heard of the Kenai river. Well, I've never seen anything like what we saw on Saturday.....fisherman as far as the eye could see along the stretch of the Kenai river that we stopped at. Those dots on the far bank are fisherman. and this was just one small frame of the river. And apparently at the peak of the season the fisherman stand shoulder to shoulder all along the shores of this river. It is unbelievable. The second pic is of Caleb near some already-caught and defleshed salmon. The third pic just shows you how pretty the water is :)

Homer Alaska - it's beautiful!!

We took a road trip to Homer, AK, on Friday. It is 225 miles south of Anchorage at the tip of the Kenai peninsula. It is so beautiful!! We saw bald eagles, sandhill cranes, moose and even a bear along our way. We stayed in a bed and breakfast overnight that overlooked Kachemak Bay. We drove home Saturday because it was so rainy and gray. Despite the rain, we had a great time and loved it.

Hiking up Flat Top mountain in Anchorage

Caleb not only wanted to hike up the mountain, he wanted to climb a tree, too!! I'm not sure if you can tell from this small picture, but the second picture is taken from the hillside with downtown Anchorage framed between the trees. (I live in a beautiful place!!)

You might live in Alaska if...

...you have these in your yard all winter (moose dropping piles). Moose came often this past winter into our yard and chewed on our bushes. Just in case you were wondering....moose love to eat tulip buds. One moose ate all but one of my tulip buds. I was so mad!!!

You might live in Alaska if...

this is what life is like on April 25! (two feet of snow in one day. really)

You might live in Alaska if...

This is how light your backyard is after midnight. Really. Actually taken after midnight. Really. :)

You might live in Alaska if...

you see this view from downtown. That's Ship Creek and this is relatively mild for this time of year (salmon!!).

You might live in alaska if....

You see these pictures around town (they're like hotdogs)...

Grand Cayman

This is Grand Cayman Island. Rob and Caleb are next to a couple of parrots along the main tourist walkway. The next picture is of Hell. Part of the island is called Hell because it has these old limestone formations that used to be deep under the ocean (where they were white), but are no longer under water and have blackened. It is a weird look. Anyway, it's called Hell. The next picture is of a hen and her chick pecking at a coconut that has been opened. i guess chickens like coconut!! The last picture is of a rooster and hen just walking around town. it's pretty common to see chickens walking about all around town. We got rained on quite a bit in Grand Cayman from Tropical Storm Arthur, so not a lot of pretty pictures.

Roatan Island, Honduras

This is the beautiful island of Roatan, Honduras. I loved this island! It is hilly and beautiful. Top picture is self-explanatory. Next is Caleb with some of the locals dressed in some traditional garb. I think he got a bit scared by them. The next picture is of the bites we got at the beach. Mine were pretty painless, itchless, and flat. Caleb's itched for a week and became raised. Not sure what they were. Next picture is of a church on the hillside (see it again from farther away in last picture). i loved the look of this church. it is in a really picturesque setting. Although there is much poverty on this island, they still keep it beautiful and clean.

Rob is looking down the front side of the highest Mayan ruin at Altun Ha. The second picture is looking up the backside of the same ruin. behind it was a tropical rainforest. Just so you know, that climb down was pretty steep with huge steps.

This is a tree in Belize City that i loved. Pretty, isn't it?

This is representative of the less desirable part of Belize City. Junk out in the yards. this actually had cars for sale out of the bunch of crashed cars.

This is a house in the good part of Belize City. According to our guide, you'd have to have the Queen's wage to buy this house.

More pictures from our trip...

Ok, left to right and top to bottom.... Top left: The view of part of miami from the cruise ship. We miss those palm trees!! Next picture: Robin and Caleb on the boat after snorkelling. We loved it!! Next pic: Caleb lost his third upper top tooth on the ship. The tooth fairy found us!! It was a bit tough for Caleb to chew all that yummy cruise food after that :). Next: The water of Cozumel taken from our 6th level balcony. Gorgeous!! Last pic: Rob and Caleb in Cozumel with the cruise ship in the background.

We had a ball!!

Pictures from our trip...

This is a picture of sunrise from our flight from Seattle to Miami. We flew through the night. I didn't sleep. Rob didn't sleep much either. Caleb slept most of the way. So he was full of energy and we were beat. After we arrived in Miami (at 6 am), we had to wait in the airport until 11 am for our ride to the airport. We boarded the ship a few hours later. It was a LONG day, to say the least. The first thing we wanted to do after we boarded the ship was to shower and freshen up. Unfortunately, our luggage didn't arrive to our room until late that night. So we went to our first activities smelly and dressed in Alaska gear rather than Miami-appropriate clothing. Long day.

A picture of a picture of our family..

This picture is a picture of a picture that was taken of us at dinner on the cruise we just returned from. We went on the Carnival Valor and traveled to Cozumel, Belize, Roatan (Honduras) and Grand Cayman. Wow, beautiful!!

In Cozumel we went snorkeling (Caleb's first time and he loved it!!) and shopping. In Belize we took a tour of Belize City and the mayan ruin, Altun Ha. Very intersting. On Isla Roatan, we saw much poverty but also much beauty. We went swimming at a beach there and were bitten by some mysterious insect that left us with lots of pink spots with central red spots. Mine went away, but Caleb's itched and became raised. We're not dead yet, so I'm hopeful :). In Grand Cayman we took a tour of the city and were pelted by rain which was part of Tropical Storm Arthur, come to find out. Nevertheless, it was beautiful and warm. oh, i love warm!!! :)

My first blog...

Hi there!! We are the Whitmores - comprised of Robert (my husband), Robin (myself) and Caleb (our awesome 7-year-old son). We live in Alaska, where the beauty is everywhere and so is the cold. We have lived here for 6 months and are still trying to get used to lack of warm weather. Ok, that may not be fair. There is a definite lack of hot weather and the warmth is relative i guess. So far this summer we haven't gotten above 60 degrees F. The green all around, however, is almost too much for the eyes. I've never seen such a piercing green. All in all, we live in a very beautiful place.