Awesomely Amazing Adventure with ALL Abbotts

On July 1st we left for our big adventure of the summer. We flew first to Bozeman where we spent a night before heading to the cabin in Island Park, ID. The cabin was built by Ryan Grandad. Grandad spent every summer there for a long time. Needless to say, it is a special place that is full of wonderful memories for Ryan and his family. We love it too. (We actually spent our honeymoon there in late December, can you say, SNOW!) Although short on sleeping quarters and space, we managed to all enjoy ourselves. We thought a lot of Grandad and Boppa while there and we loved spending the time with family.

We went to Yellowstone one day. We did a pretty good hike down a LOT of stairs to see a waterfall. Kim enjoyed climbing up by the path.

Glade enjoyed it too.

Unfortunately, we lost a car in our group and had to wait a bit. They never did find us though. At least we enjoyed being together! It was fun to see Reed and Katie's new little one, Grace.


Glade really enjoyed Addie. They played together a LOT on this trip.


We took family pictures at the cabin.


And pictures of everyone. Always tricky, but Katie did a great job! It was so fun to see everyone. All of the kids were so much bigger than the last time we got to spend time with them.


On the 4th of July, Aunt Natalie organized a parade that the kids really got into.

It rained in the evening and we were afraid the fireworks would get rained out. We haven't seen fireworks in a few years since it's not dark enough in the summer in Alaska. We didn't want to miss this chance! Ryan thought ahead enough to bring along a tarp, which came in handy as we hid from a little rainstorm using a tree to help support the tarp. It was an adventure!

The beautiful lake right before fireworks. They shot the fireworks off from the outcropping between the flag and the tall pole.


The fireworks were great! We were so close and the kids really enjoyed the experience. It was a little loud, but totally worth it!


Another fun thing we did is take out the boat, again Grandad's. I've been wanting to do this for a few years. The kids LOVED it!


When others were taking their turn, we swam in the lake. Uncle Rob even swam to the other side and back.
Ryan enjoying the water.


We went to Yellowstone a second time and Ryan and his brother Rob rode bicycles through the park.


We met them at spots and saw the geysers with them. We even saw a small grizzly bear running through the area. After a fun day at the park, we attended a play in West Yellowstone.


Ryan managed to go out fishing one day with his Dad. He was successful and ate this poor fish for lunch. Yum!


We did lots of ATV riding during the week. Everyone enjoyed it except for Liberty.


The girls picked lots of flower. Some even thought there would be none left by the end of the week. Smell it!


We had such a great time with the Abbott family, but it was time to travel down to see the Lunts for a week. Wish we could have stayed longer!

Burning Love

You may or may not know that we use a lot of wood to keep our house warm in the sub-zero temperatures of winter. We recently stockpiled a LOT of wood--5 cords to be precise. We borrowed a splitter and got all of it split. Then came the stacking. We had a lot of help from the kids. All went well until a wildly swinging shovel hit an unnamed girl on the hand. Don't worry though, the offense was paid back later when she inadvertently gave the guilty party a bloody nose when trying to get his foot, which was wedged tightly between two boards, out. All in all, a successful evening.

Kimberly was our photographer for the evening. I did, however, get the camera away long enough to snap one of her.



Have you ever wondered what 5 cords of split wood looks like? Now's your chance to find out.


Glade peeking up from behind a pile of unstacked wood.


Ryan raking up lots of birch bark that fell off when we were splitting. Birch bark is really good at burning. It makes great kindling.


It's already quite a bit drier than when we stacked it in late June. We're looking forward to being able to enjoy fires from this wood and some older cords that we had all winter long. Yeah for fires!

Denali Highway

We decided to do a last-minute camping trip down on the Denali Highway in June. This is a road that is about 130 miles long and is mostly gravel.



Kim and Glade were super excited to get their own fishing rods.


Kim's favorite thing to do while riding in the car--listen to CDs.


Our camp on a little hilltop. Notice the giant rock that the kids enjoyed using as a table.


We LOVE it out here!


We fished in a lake by the lodge. Cool bear statue.


Pro Fisherman (and cute too!)


Kim hanging out in camp in her new chair.


Libby and Mom making dinner


Glade fishing in a lake about a mile from our camp. We hiked into it cross-country.

Kim at that same lake


Our morning faces. Liberty had a hard time sleeping in the light of the night.


Glade hurrying to get his shoes on so he can explore more!


Kim and Dad slept in his tadpole tent that he bought when he was a Scout. Still works pretty well.

Kim is our constant wildflower gatherer. This is a bunch of gorgeous flowers she gathered by the Castner Glacier. Unfortunately, they didn't survive the drive home and caused much vacuuming in the van.


It was a great trip although it threatened to rain much of the time we were there and poured on the morning we left. It was wonderful to spend the time together as a family and see a new part of Alaska.

Birthday Boy

Glade had a birthday Shout Hooray!

Glade turned four at the end of June. We celebrated as a family and he had his first friend party. We did a racecar theme.

This was my 2nd attempt at a car cake. It's not perfect, but it turned out a lot better than the first one!


Blowing out his candles.


Opening gifts


The kids really enjoyed racing cars down this little homemade track I made out of a box.


Glade's big gift this year was a bike, which he loves and picked up really quickly.



Glade delights in being a funny boy. He loves to try to make other people laugh (although sometimes he tends to carry this too far). He is such a little sweetie and we are very grateful to have him in our family.

Little Fishies

Kimberly and Glade really enjoyed doing swimming lessons this summer. They both did really well. Kimberly advanced to Level 3 and Glade got much more comfortable in the water.

Kim on Fun Friday with the big fish


Glade kicking up a storm


Now a short video of each of them in action:



Glade's the one in the green shirt.

I Love to See the Temple

We finally made it down to Anchorage in May for a temple trip. Our dental school friends graciously let us stay with them, even though the movers were coming in only a week or two. It was great to see them! It was so refreshingly green down there. Spring hadn't quite made it to Fairbanks yet and we were really loving how green things were. It was a good trip that we really enjoyed! Thanks again!

Ryan and our friend Richard went for a run in the mountains.


The main reason for our trip to Anchorage was to go to the temple. We stopped by with the kids when it was closed and explored the grounds a little bit. It was a gorgeous sunny day.



We went to the zoo in Anchorage. It had been a long time for the kids. They loved it!
Bear Hug!


Kimberly getting good use out of her new camera.


We borrowed a stroller from our friends, but Liberty preferred to walk most of the time.


Glade going 90 miles an hour, as usual.

Marvelous May

In May we did a lot of things, including:

Cooking Out


Camping with Friends


Ate lots of S'mores


Enjoyed Cute kids


And bought a new van.



What a month!