Arctic Adventures

"There's nothing better than camping in Alaska."  -Oren James  This is the first Spring that we've had the boat in the water, so we made the most of it and camped last weekend.   On the way down we saw a moose on the river bank.   The water was pretty high so we went down to Nunakruk (totally didn't spell that right) and took a creek into some lakes.    We looked in the large lake first, but there was still lots of ice.  .  Specklebelly Geese on the big lake. We found a smaller lake to set up camp on.   Can you spy our tent? After we had camp all organized we hiked to a pingo (permafrost hill). This picture makes me smile because it's so typical.  There are so many plants and little creatures on the way that capture the boys' attention.   Our hikes end up being quite slow placed.  Anya typically rides in the backpack, but she is getting better at walking on the tundra.  When we got to the hill she climbed up on her own.   Hiking up the hill. We love spring

Winter camping is still kind of a "big deal" for us, but is becoming more routine.  We bought a used Arctic Oven tent early this winter and were excited to test it out.   This camping trip happened during our Spring Break.  The weather was warm and the snow was very heavy and sticky.  We ended up at a spot pretty close to town, but it was just perfect.  The kids had a sledding/snowboarding hill, we had a good snowshoe loop, there was ample firewood, and the camping area was sheltered by trees.   All our gear strapped into the sleds!  Our "new" tent all set up. We camped right at the bottom of a great sledding/snowboarding hill.   Oren was so excited to try out his snowboard on a bigger hill. Oren's first run on his snowboard. Anya chilling at the bottom of the sledding hill.  Can you tell she is learning how to love being outside?! It was tricky to keep the kids dry with the warm temperatures!  We discovered that Anya'