Happy Easter!

Hope everyone is having/had a great Easter!  Today is also my little niece's 2nd birthday - Happy Birthday Anni! (check out pictures of her on the Hush House O'Chaos to the right, she's a cutie!)

This past week marked the 34th week of pregnancy for us.  The little one is growing fast now, which means I am too!  My belly is tracking average size now, which could mean he's around 5 lbs right now and gaining about 1/2 lb a week.  He's still squirming around a lot, which is very cool when I get to see the outline of his little feet. 

I have finally downloaded my pictures from the last few weeks off my camera.  Below are a few shots of Alaska.  The snow is finally starting to melt and I think in a few weeks we might get to see what our back yard looks like!  I can't wait for summer!

 

The Iditarod was held in Alaska in early March.  As you might imagine, this is a huge event to Alaskans.  Aaron and I joined the festivities in downtown Anchorage for the ceremonial start.  It was neat to see the dogs and get a better understanding of the sport.  The best part was seeing how much the dogs were enjoying it - they can't wait to get out on the trails and run.

Anchorage has a winter festival to kick off the Iditarod. Here is one of the reindeer that came to town to participate in the "Run with the Reindeer" race.  People sign up to run the streets of downtown with reindeer chasing them - something like the arctic version of the running of the bulls.  I decided it was probably best for me to sit this one out this year, but maybe next year!

There was also snow sculpting competitions, a carnival and lots of other events.

During the winter months its very common to see moose chomping on trees on the side of the road in the city.  These two moose were taking a break from roaming around in Kris and Lorrie's back yard one afternoon.  They hang out a lot in the woods next to their house.  A few days ago we also saw bear scat in this same spot.  Spring must be here if the bears are out!

So far we've seen a lot of Alaska wildlife...at least the ones that come out in the winter.  We've seen whales swimming in the bay, dall sheep climbing in the mountains, bald eagles, deer, musk ox (pictured above), caribou, elk, and a wolf.  The last four were actually in a wildlife conservatory, so we haven't actually seen them out in the wild...but they were still cool. 

Aaron and I drove down to Portage Glacier one day.  You can't actually see the glacier in this picture because it has shrunk so much, but just 20 years ago it covered this whole area.  This summer we hope to hike the trails to lots of the glaciers in the area.

We also took a little trip down the Kenai Pensinsula to see what we could find.  Being pregnant, I'm pretty limited in the winter sports I can participate in.  We had to settle with hiking around a bit in the areas that have been snow plowed and watching others cross country ski, back country ski and ride snow mobiles.  I can't wait for the snow to melt and the rest of the trails open up so we can really go exploring!

Aaron and I enjoying a sunny day in Alaska!