Alaska in the Summer!!!

Well, we have not been able to go on any trips over the past few years, but this one we had been planning for a year.  Alaska was our Family's great adventure this year.  Butch and Pam (Nathan's parents for those of you who do not know them) had moved up there the 1st of April.  We miss them a lot, but we know that they are very happy with where the Lord has taken them.

This was also the time that we were going to tell our parents that we were expecting another child.  I told my parents before we left on our trip and told them they could not say anything until after we tell Nathan's parents.  My parents seemed to be very excited, but were told to hold their excited of sharing the news until we were able to talk to Nathan's parents.  Now when we got to Alaska it seemed that Nathan was taking forever to spread the news to his family.  When he finally said something, they seemed to already have guessed that we were pregnant.  Butch said that they saw a pooch on my stomach at the airport when they picked us up, but did not want to say anything.  They seemed to be happy for us.  At least Chase did not spread the beans this time like he had done when we were having Brendan.  Chase and Brendan found out about the same time Nathan's family found out.  I had to tell the boys again later, because they were to busy enjoying the fun of Memaw's house to pay any attention to the news.  I don't know, but I guess somewhere in telling our parents I was a little nervous of how they would react.  I know that we are still working on getting out of debt and adding another little one to the mix can be hard and well some people would be negative to that.  I should know our families better and know they would not be that way, but my insecurity and the fear of disappointment starts to take over sometimes.  I do not feel that way anymore, because I know that everyone is happy and is going to love this little angel.

Anyway...back to our Alaska trip.  The whole family made plans of traveling to Alaska in July.  Carrie (Nathan's sister) got there first and then we followed.  The day after we got there Jonathan (Nathan's brother) and his family got there.  We spent a little over a week there.  It was so beautiful up there.  The weather was perfect.  I did not miss the hot, scorching weather in Texas.  The one thing that was hard was not having any darkness to sleep in.  Oh the fun of trying to get two boys to go to sleep when they still think it is daylight.

We had several adventures while we were there.  We went hiking at couple different places.  One was the Butte, this one was just down the road from Memaw's house.  Nathan and I stayed at the half way mark with Brendan.  We started to go up the steep hillside, but we were not going to make it.  Brendan wanted to be held and Nathan was not going to be able to do that and clinb up too.  Chase made it to the top with Poppy, Pammy, Uncle Jonathan, Aunt Elizabeth, Aunt Carrie and Murphy.  Murphy is Chase and Brendan's cousin.  He is two months older than Brendan.  It had a pretty view from the half way mark.  I am sure it was even nicer from up above.  Maybe next time!  I think the next place we went hiking was called Thunberbird Falls?  Do not quote me on the name because I might be wrong.  It was beautiful though.  It had a gorgeous waterfall, we were able to get pretty close to it.  We found a neat looking tree that was all hollowed out.  I could not resist I had to climb in and get my picture taken.  Jonathan took a swim in the cold water and even Murphy wanted to join him.

We were able to take the kids to see a Reindeer Farm and a Muskox Farm.  The kids were excited to be able to feed both animals.  The reindeer were little piggys.  As soon as they saw your container of food they were all over you.  I had to laugh at Chase because he kept his under his arm almost the whole time.    Pammy took Brendan, Murphy and Lily to the zoo one day.  They seemed to really enjoy that.

And we cannot forget to mention the huge glacier that we got to hike on.  It was beautiful and it is amazing to stop and look at all God has made for us to enjoy.  The kids seemed to have fun walking on it.  Of course Brendan still wanted to be held, but daddy made him walk most of it.  Uncle Rick came with us, but he stayed at the bench waiting for us to return.  It was neat to watch the kids.  Chase brought a toy boat with him and an umbrella.  I could not believe it when I saw him bust out with the umbrella.  He found cracks in the ice with water flowing down and sent his boat sailing.  He loved it.  The boys even got to taste the ice.  There was a restruant that we all went to after the glacier.  There were tons of animals that had been stuffed and the boys loved pointing them all out.  There was another trip that we got to go on while we were out there, but I will talk about that in the next post.  Here are a few of the pictures we took in Alaska.

Memaw's House (back yard has a lake off of it)

This is a path heading to the top part of the Butte.  We ended up turning around.

Beautiful view HUH!

This is the hollow tree I mentioned.  Aren't they cute!  Cousin's Chase, Brendan and Murphy.

Thunderbird Falls

This is at the bottom of the waterfall.  It's amazing...

Murphy and Brendan having a good old time playing near the waterfall.

Chase at the reindeer farm.

Getting ready to going hiking on a HUGE glacier.  It was really amazing.

Chase and the umbrella....

My boys hiking on the glacier..  Some of those cracks were deep.

Alaska was beautiful and I was so glad that our family was able to go.

Muddy Fun!!!!

When it rains out here in, well we seem to end up in a very mushy yard.  The power did not come back up until really late at night.  Joe and Mariam (the friends renting our trailer) took the kids to the lake to rinse off.  It was quite fun trying to get the mud out of Brendan's hair with super cold water and not much of it, due to the power being off.  Let me show you that last time we had a big storm roll through our neck of the woods.....

Brendan muddy and whining because he is cold.

Chase loving every minute of this.

This is Skylar one of Mariam's girls. (Fifth Grade)

I think this is Keaten.  This is Joe's oldest of two.  (16yrs old)

Chase, Brendan and Seth (Mariam's youngest, same age as Chase) They are throwing grapes at Joe sitting down talking to us.

Cutie Pie Brendan

Well what can I tell you about Brendan.  For one he is a ham for the camera.  He is a very thoughtful little boy.  He also has a little devil in him too.  Brendan is in our Mother's Day Out program at our church.  He goes to Ms. Linda's class on Tuesday and Thurday.  He is really starting to like it.  Whenever Ms. Nicole comes out and gets him from the car, he is already jumping out of the car to go meet her.  I am really glad he likes his class.  There for awhile I was concerned.  Brendan has started to really be very clingy to me.  I cannot seem to go out of a room without my little shadow.  I do adore him though.  I even started this past week having Ms. Linda watch him on Wednesday's.  This gives me time to get some things done for work without having to rush to get him by 12pm.

Brendan is fun to listen to sometimes.  Some of the things I can do without, like words he has heard and learned to say.  Nathan comes home everyday and is just so amazed at the conversations he will have.  When we sit down to do spelling words with Chase, Brendan thinks he has to repeat the word for Chase.  Drives his brother crazy.

Their relationship as brothers can be good and bad.  When Brendan was younger I warned Chase about being mean to him.  Let's say he did not always listen.  Well, now Brendan can dish it right back out and Chase does not like that one bit.  Brendan can be a mean little boy if he wants to be.  The other day Ms. Linda took him to McDonalds and this little boy took his toy and was playing with it on the slide.  He would not give it back so Brendan balled his fist and punched the boy.  Ms. Linda told him no and asked why he did it.  That is when she found out that the boy had taken his toy.  She still tried to tell him to use his words, but I think deep down she was understanding about the punch.

One thing about Brendan is he loves to run around naked.  Any chance he gets he is in his birthday suit.  If we would let him go outside and play that way, I think he would.

I look forward to see what kind of men they both turn out to be.

Brendan at Independence Baptist Church for Poppy's last day as Pastor.

Look at that cute smile.

Oops!  Chase caught Brendan in his birthday suit.

Lipstick Daddy!  Don't I look good....

Brendan in Daddy's yard work gear.  

I look HOT in Daddy's sunglasses don't I.  

Chase's First Missing Tooth

Well Chase finall lost 2 of the his teeth.  He has been so concerned about his teeth and when they were going to fall out since Kindergarten.  All his friends started losing them and he could not understand why his was not coming out.  Well this was the magical year for Chase.  He lost his two bottom teeth within a short amount of time from each other.  He was so excited that the tooth fairy came and left him money for his teeth.  He now tells me that one of his top teeth is loose.  It is a little, but I do not think it will be anytime soon.

Chase taking a picture of himself with out his  tooth.

Catching up with Chase Strickland

Well let me catch you up a little on what has been happening in Chase's life.  Chase has been in two sports so far in his short life.  Last year about this time he was in Football.  He seemed to really like it a lot.  The only thing he complained about was how hot he was in the uniform, but he sucked it up.  He really liked his coach (Coach Chris Parker).  We liked him too and thought he was a great fit for Chase's first time ever playing football or any sport for that matter.  Coach Parker was not all about the winning, but making sure that all the kids got to play and also learn how to play the game.  They won a few games, but lost most.

During this summer he wanted to play basketball with his friend Seth.  So we went and signed him up at the Boys and Girls Club of Brenham.  He seemed to enjoy it.  There were a lot of other children that liked to keep the ball away from Chase and Seth.  You would think they would teach team play, but I did not see much of that.  I did think his coach was a nice guy.  Chase did get to play often, but I think he only got the ball once.  He ended up going the opposite direction.  In all fairness they had just changed directions for the second half.  Chase had to miss a few games, but it was worth it to go to Alaska  and visit Poppy, Pammy, Memaw, Rick, and Uncle David.

Chase wanted to play soccer this year, but the sign up came and went before I could get the money together for it.  I am not sure if he realizes that it has come and gone.  I know shame on me!  We asked him if he wanted to play football again or try soccer.  We had to tell him that he would not have the same coach and I think that might be why he chose to try the other.  Maybe next year we can try that again.  I better start saving now right!

I have some football pictures to include, but we did not get much basketball pictures.  We had ordered basketball pictures, but for some reason they did not turn out and we had to get a refund on them.  We are probably going to try and take him and Seth to make our own basketball pictures.  Stay tuned.....

Chase  standing in line with his team waiting to come out on the field.  This was kind of a little Pep Rally for all the teams.

Chase at practice with his team.  Chase is the second from the right.  Arm on his knee.

First game of the season.. Freshman Black and Freshman White (Chase's Team).  Chase is #31 on the field.  Chase got to be on the field for every coin toss.

Getting ready for a play!  Go Team!  It was a lot more fun and exciting then I thought it would be.  Nathan and I really got into it.  I found myself running up and down the field with them.

Basketball practice...this team only had two practices before their first game. 

Chase is towards the back in black and his friend Seth is the little blonde boy in front.