What have we been doing? Doing what you do in Alaska, that's what.

Let me start by describing our summer surroundings:

It's definitely turning green and summery around here. Can you tell?

The sun doesn't set until at least 11:30 p.m.

There are planes in the air...

And moose everywhere.

(This is a moose in the yard with her twins).

And ducklings crossing the road:

Now that you have gotten a full visual of the beautiful environment, here are a few of the activities we've done. All of which are very Alaskan, I might add.

*Tara took me to Martin Buser's house so I could see the dog kennels. For those of you who don't know who Mr. Buser is, he is a champion of sled dog racing. In twenty Iditarods, he has won 4. If you don't know what the Iditarod is, click here. The start of the race is not that far from where we live. Anyway, here are some of the pictures of the kennels for the mushing dogs.

Lots of kennels huh?

The travel kennels.

*Me and Devin and Dillon went camping.

Devin and I took the boat up the Little Willow River, and first: fished, with no luck. Then: we went and found a campsite where we (when I say "we" I mean: "Devin") set up the tent, and built a fire. In the mean time, Dillon met up with us after floating down the Little Willow in his one man raft. It was quite amusing to see him come around the corner in that thing. After Dillon arrived, we roasted chili cheese brats over the fire, while Dillon attempted to roast Salmon on a stick, because he'd forgotten his tin foil. (He joined us for brats after a few attempts, and the salmon ended up back in the river where it originally came from). After dinner, we suited up in our waders (because of the rain that started to get increasingly heavier) and headed out again for another attempt at fishing. No luck. No fish. Nothing. There was not a single one biting. In the middle of all this, we discovered bear tracks at our camp. A previous camper had taken the privilege of circling the tracks for us, so we would notice them when we arrived. Thank you camper. After the second fishing attempt, we returned back to camp, where we dried off by the fire, and Dillon burnt a hole in his waders. Devin kindly advised me to back up from the fire, so the same thing would not happen to mine. And then after a bathroom break and some laughs from the boys, we retired to our sleeping bags. The next morning, we were supposed to wake up around 5:00 for another round of fishing. I kept waking up all night thinking that it was time to get up because it never got dark all night long... It looked like it was noon outside. Then when Devin's alarm did go off, I did not recognize it as the alarm, because it was the sound of a quacking duck. I thought it was coming from outside-not within the tent. Needless to say, we slept in until 7:15, at which point we got up, and then Dillon followed a little after. Packed up the camp, and set off to fish again. Don't worry, we didn't have any luck this attempt either. Then we headed back home to make it in time for the Wasilla city triathalon, where Devin and Dillon competed, and I volunteered. (See below for more detail on this event).

Bear tracks

*Triathlon. A lady in our ward put together the triathlon for the city this year. It was pretty cool because it was to raise money/awareness for lou gehrig's disease. It turned out to be a big hit, so we were excited to be involved. Devin and Dillon did it as a team: Devin biked and Dillon ran and swam. Kyla and her friends also participated, as well as many people we knew from church. Check out this video from the event. You can See Devin and Dillon if you scroll to: 6:50. 

*Devin, Bret and Lane went fishing. Let's just say that if you are discouraged from how the fishing sounds up here, don't be dismayed, because this past Saturday showed that things are turning around. Devin described it as having a "fish on every drift." Check out this video summarizing the day. Fishing is turning around. The fish are here!

*Devin, Bret, Britta, Easton, Lane, Dillon, and I went floating.

On Saturday evening, the above people set out on a float trip down the Little Willow. We packed our lunches, put our Dr. Pepper in the cooler, grabbed the fishing gear; all ready for a nice float. Well, it turned out a little differently than we all imagined and anticipated. It poured rain the whole time. By poured, I mean that it rained constantly and heavily with no letting up. It was still pretty fun, but Britta and I talked about how we had imagined sitting on the float-a warm summer evening, eating our dinner and drinking our soda. Haha, not that way. We were trying to all stay warm and dry for the 3.5 hour float. But, it definitely was a memorable trip!! Have to try it again soon! (By the way, I brought along the camera to take pictures, but that turned out to be quite impossible due to the weather. Like I said, better luck next time). 

That's the update-still enjoying Alaska!