Arlington and Dulles

We took the kids down for a second day on the Washington Mall.  After a few wrong turns and hot sweaty, hungry kids.  We toured Arlington and did the next day at the Dulles Air and Space Museum.  That was awesome!!  The kids loved it and we saw all sorts of stuff.  After the museum we hit a local historical park for a few hrs and then met up with our friends the Gaskills.  The kids were super excited to see their friends again and we had a blast catching up with Christian and Lori.  Here are the pics.

Playing in Aunt Shannon's pool was always fun!!

Dulles museum simulators.  Nick and Alex shot down Dad and Max!

All the cousins in the tower.

Aunt Shannon with her great looking boys!

The Space Shuttle is huge up close!!

Mom!!

Five pals!

One of the best Air museums I've ever seen!

Even had one of the original FedEx jets!!

Could be sisters

Future aviators

Relaxing at the park afterwards

More East Coast trip Pics

Our 3rd day of vacation was spent in Baltimore's Inner Harbor touring some of the ships there.

All the cousins hanging out

Carl boys about to tour a WWII submarine

Papa, Uncle Mark and Aunt Shannon in the control room on the sub.

Tight quarters

Imagine full size adults in these bunks!!

Papa Carl

Mom and her boys

Nana and Papa (who is in the Coast Guard) with all the Grandsons 

Aboard the cutter

Max and Ethan, lots of character btwn these two!!

Yep, We're still here!

WTH?  Why is it so hard to keep up with this thing?  Anyhow, no use crying over the past.  I'm going on a photo uploading binge.  Starting with our trip to the East Coast back in JUNE!!  Yep, I'm a slacker

 Hanging with my Sis!

Kerry and Sue Homola

Carls and Homolas at the Air and Space museum

Standing in front of a NWA 747 at the Air and Space Museum, my Dad flew this actual airplane while he was at NWA.  Pretty cool!!

Me and my Sweetie!

Kids, taking a break from chasing squirrels.

On the Washington Mall, wondering why some weird protest group was covering the whole place in fake bones.

Kerry and Fawn!  Got to see lots of people on our trip!

Shooting fun and the Eagle River Tri

Hello faithful readers.  Our counter is now gone so I have no idea if anyone is still watching this.  But it has proven to be a nice online journal of our lives in AK, so I guess we'll keep going for now.

This weekend was full!!  On Saturday the kids got to go to the gun range and be part of the NRA sponsored kids shoot.  Nick had the opportunity to shoot trap, skeet, rifle, 20 rounds through an Uzi on full automatic, .22 pistol and rifle, as well as a black powder rifle and some archery.  Alex and Max weren't old enough to shoot all the guns but they were able to shoot an air rifle and pistol, as well as slingshots, bows, and other outdoor activities.
  Nick enjoyed all the shooting.  His favorites were, the Uzi, and the trap and skeet.  For trap they had him shooting a full size 12 gauge and he missed the first 4 shots, but absolutely dusted the clay pigeon on his fifth and final shot.  That brought a huge smile to his face!  Then on the skeet range shooting a much lighter and more appropriately sized 20 gauge,  he figured it out and was consistently hitting the clay pigeons from the low house.  He was very excited and wants to do more of that.

  Alex and Max were a little disappointed that they did not get to shoot a machine gun, but they had a great time shooting the air rifle and pistol.  Plus they learned some very important safety skills and basic outdoorsman techniques.  It was an amazing program and we were very fortunate to be a part of it.

On Sunday the kids participated in the Eagle River Triathlon.  They swam either 50 or 100 meters, biked about 2 miles and ran about a mile.  They really enjoy it, and once it starts they get pretty competitive.
We got some photos, but conditions weren't ideal for beautiful pictures so the camera stayed put for most of the weekend.

This week its off to a backcountry survival skills camp and then we head to the East Coast for our visit with my sister and her family.  Hopefully we Alaskans won't die from heat exhaustion down there!!

Nick and his buddies

Max and Alex at the archery station

Max...Not sure if he's left or right handed as he seems to switch a lot.  He is left eye dominate though.

Slingshots!!

Random moose at the side of the road.  He wouldn't turn and give us front view.  But he hung out for nearly 10 minutes about 15 feet away, not concerned in the least.

Triathletes ready to race!

Nick at the swim/bike transition

Alex only 1 minute behind

Nick crossing the finish line