August 2nd and 3rd

Sunday we took it slow. We went to church and then did some service cleaning up at one of Mutti's friend's house that is out of town. We watched "P.S. I Love You" that night and if you haven't seen it you need to.

Monday was full of fun. It was Mutti's birthday and we packed it full. First we drove up to the Knotty Shop which is a great little store just outside of Fairbanks. I got a cute sign made out of wood that said "My goal in life is to be the kind of person my dog thinks I am" and a couple birthday/Christmas presents.
Next, we went to Santa house in North Pole, Alaska. Unfortunately, Santa was off for the day and left a little note telling us when he would be back.
I got to sit in Santa's sled and there were even a few reindeer that were hanging outside. I think the one in the picture was Prancer.The whole town was decorated with candy canes and Christmas decorations even though it was only August. Even the Wendys was getting in on the North Pole bit. Then we left and went to have tea at Phillis'. She is a friend of Muttis and it was a really nice visit with yummy treats.

August 1st

Today we got up and went to the local farmers market. There was a ton of pretty jewelry, good food and fun booths. I bought some yummy soaps made out of goats milk and really had fun looking around at everything. We also went to check out an artwork display that one of Mutti's friends was doing. In the evening we went to the Great Alaska Salmon Bake. Yes, it was as wonderful as it sounds. It was all you can eat salmon, halibut, cod and prime rib as well as an amazing salad bar, dessert bar and drinks. YUMMY! I was in heaven.

July 31st

This morning we went to do one of my favorite things: Raspberry Picking! One of Mutti's (my mother-in-law) friends had a bunch of bushes by her house and we spent the morning avoiding the bees as we picked. There are a lot of bees because of the gorgeous flowers but they didn't mind sharing.

(Raspberry bushes)

We also went to a couple local shops. The Alaska Bowl company and the Alaska raw fur company. They had the softest teddy bear made out of beaver fur. I'm serious, I have never felt anything so soft. I didn't even know there could be something so soft. I couldn't stop petting it and it would have come home with me but I wasn't willing to pay $80 for a stuffed animal- All though I had to admit that I was seriously considering it.


I have also been enjoying the local fire weed that grows wild all over Fairbanks.

Amazing flowers

One of the first things I notice when I got to Alaska was how beautiful all the flowers were. Everyone has huge hanging baskets outside their home and they are sooo big! They get this way because of all the extra sunlight and the beautiful weather. Here are some pictures to enjoy-

July 29th

Thursday we got to sleep in a little, then we explored Fairbanks Alaska. Its about 300 miles north of Anchorage and there are about 35,000 people that live in the city. There is an Army base there and I have a feeling that is where a lot of the population comes from. We went shopping at P.X. and commissary to stock up on food and then hung out for the evening. I got to chat and catch up with Nick (Bob's brother) in the evening and I was amazed when I looked at the clock and found out it was 10 at night. Here's what it looked like outside:

Better late than never July 29th

So after Bob dropped us off in the airport we had to sit and wait for the plane. The plane rides went smoothly and there were no delays. The only sad thing was that Mutti had her lime curd in her carry on and they made her mail it home. We had to switch plans in Seattle and got to Fairbanks Alaska at about 2 am Thursday morning. The most amazing this was that it was light outside and felt like right before sunrise instead of the middle of the night. I also had my first wildlife sighting on the way back from the airport-a fox!