Girdwood getaway

Last Saturday and Sunday we took a trip to Girdwood with our good friends, the Novaks! Each year we're trying to plan a fun trip to kick the school year off right... the Novaks called just when we were wondering what in the world we would do this year with an invite for a trip to Girdwood! We stayed the night at the Alyeska Resort hotel and swam that night before bed in the pool (Gavin could have drown, but that's another story!) And we went on an amazingly beautiful (and kid-friendly) hike on the Winner Creek Trail on Sunday, then we drove up the road a bit to the Crow Creek Mine where the kids got to pan for gold! They got to take some little flakes home from the "practice" run. It was a FUN 24 hours with our good friends!

Miss Morgan sacked out in the morning when we woke up! She ended up on Abby's pillow.

We did 2.5 miles round trip, walked to the hand tram that went over the river, the came back. It took us about 2 hours with 6 kiddos and was SO fun. We haven't hiked much as a family, but loved this trail and plan to do it again. After our hike, once we got up to the mine, they told us there was a black bear at the hand tram after we left! It's exciting living here! But I'm so glad we missed it.

The Novaks on their way to the platform!

Morgan enjoying the ride!

Annika loved being in the backpack for the first time. She was a happy little camper the whole way, even with out a nap! She just sang and made her cute little Annika sounds the whole way. There are more pictures to come.... I forgot my camera at the pool and my battery died half way through the hike, so I missed gold panning too! (I was in the car anyways while a plum-tuckered Annika snoozed.) So I'll post more pics from our weekend when I get some from Sarah. :)