"the High One"

One of my favorite views in Anchorage is looking north on a clear day when you can see Denali overlooking the city (the mountain that used to be called Mt McKinley), so I was very excited to take a trip north last weekend to see the mountain in the national park. Visitors to Denali National Park usually have to ride a bus once inside the park to get around because the park road is closed to private cars. One weekend a year they let 100 cars a day drive through the park on their own. We were one of the lucky winners of the road lotto this year so we got to see the park at our own pace and not mess with the other tourists.

We were hoping to see the changing colors of the leaves but fall had come and gone by the time we got there.Luckily all the animals were still out and we were able to see all the wildlife we wanted.  We saw grizzly bears, caribu, moose, dall sheep, arctic fox, and people seeing a wolf pack (we were minutes too late to see it ourselves...).  And of course Denali itself was very cool to see. Here are shots from the trip:

Views of the mountain on the drive up.

One of the mountain sheep.  We saw lots of groups of sheep all through the park, one group had several babies running among them.

This little arctic fox was running on the road along side the truck.  Very pretty little guy.

We see lots of moose around Anchorage, but they were still fun to see in the park.  This guy had a great rack.

And the bears.  They were the best part.  It was neat to see them up close and watch them move and interact with eachother. 

We saw 14 bears in different parts of the park.  Some eating, some traveling across the valley, some resting in the sun, some checking out the tourists.

Most of the bears were in groups of three - one mama and two cubs.  Most of the cubs were fairly large and looked like they were all ready to hibernate for the winter.

One group of three was hanging out right by the road and we were able to get very close to them.  Aaron was actually within 30 yards of them as they walked towards him.   I stayed with Ethan near the car...I was a little worried the baby might look a little too tasty to the bear.

 

By the time we made it to the back of the park, the sun was high in the sky and it washed out the white mountain in the pictures.  Sadly the picture doesn't pick up how gorgeous it was!

Wonder Lake was a great place to sit and view the mountain range.

Ethan had a great time playing with GG and Dad in the car as we watched the wildlife. 

And when they got boring, he entertained himself with his feet. 

During the long day in the car, he was ready for every chance he could get to be out in the sun.

We snuck in one family shot in the park.  Wish we would have gotten one with Denali in the background, but I think Ethan was sleeping during some of the good shots. 

To see more pictures from our trip, check out the album here.

Relaxing with Great Grandpa John

We have been hanging out this last week with Great Grandpa John and Coco.  It's been fun having them to hang out with during the day while Aaron goes to work!

This pic of John and Coco sitting on the deck was taken about 20 minutes before a large pod of humpback whales swam by.  It was very cool to sit on the deck and watch them!

He finally did it!  Ethan has successfully stuffed his entire fist into his mouth.  I told you his mouth was huge.  :)

Sunset last night from our front porch.  Its kind of nice to have the sun setting at a normal hour...if only it would last... 

4 Months

So our little man turned four months back on September 5th and I'm just now getting around to sitting down and telling you about it.  My excuses for taking so long are that we've been having such fantastic weather the last week, we've had visitors to entertain and football is back!  All this has made for some very good times in the Fuhr household. 

At four months Ethan is turning into a little fireball of energy and activity.  He's very talkative and happy...most of the time.  Ethan's wider range of emotions means that he not only gets very happy and excited, but he gets bored and angry too.  Over the last few weeks we've realized how incredible lucky we were the first 3 1/2 months of his life to have a baby that hardly ever cried.  We were very spoiled!  Ethan still isn't a big crier, but he is definitely learning how to let us know when he's mad. 

At his 4 month appointment E was 14lb and 7oz and 26.5 inches long, right on track with the grown charts.  He's still very tall and average weight compared to other babies...and of course off the charts in cuteness.

E's coordination and stength is improving.  He's getting close to being able to sit on his own and every day is better at getting his hands to go what he wants with them.  He's starting to get that opposable thumb to work for him!

Ethan is very determined to figure out how to move on his own.  He loves to be in his walker and johnny jump up because he gets to stand and move around without anyone else's help. When he lays on his tummy he has started to get his knees under him as he struggles to move forward...getting closer to crawling every day!

Here's E mid route to the ball.  He's figured out he can roll to things he wants, but it takes him some time and a lot of struggling to inch forward. 

He eventually got to his ball!

Its fun watching a four month old figure out the world.  He's very interested in touching and grabbing everything...and of course, getting as much as he can in his mouth.

Ethan loves toys that have flashing lights and lots of noises.  He gets excited and screeches and yells with them.  He has also learned to laugh in the last month and it has become easier and easier the last couple of weeks to get him to giggle. 

A few more pictures from the month:

Ethan still loves to be outside, either riding in his front pack or playing in the sun.  A walk out on the deck has become the best way to calm him down when he gets bored or mad.  Not sure what we'll do when winter hits, since going outside to calm down won't be as fun of an option...but the cold air might be pretty effective! 

Ethan and his Daddy playing in the park.  Ethan's favorite games right now are anything that has him flying over Aaron - on Aaron's legs, stomach or just being held in the air.  He finds his daddy pretty entertaining.

Ethan's Great Grandpa John and his friend Coco came to visit last week.  Here's a shot of four generations of Fuhr men.  What a good looking bunch!

Lots of Family

Ethan's been busy the last week meeting lots of family members and playing in the sun (we've been having fantastic weather lately!).  Great Grandma Dolly, or G-Baby as we like to call her, came up to Alaska to visit her first great grand baby.  Here are a few pictures of the week we spent with her...

Its always neat when you can get four generations of a family together!

While G Baby was here Aunt Kristin and Uncle Nick came to visit Alaska and join in the family fun.  A few more pictures of our first few days with them... 

We spent a day in Seward to check out the fishing town and visit a nearby glacier.  Here are a few pictures of our day...

On a different note, the Alaska State Fair has been going on the last few weeks so Aaron and I snuck in a trip to Palmer to eat some fried food, catch some live music and check out the HUGE veggies.  Having lived in Oklahoma, Iowa and Texas, I feel like I know a thing or two about a good state fair and Alaska puts on a good one for sure.  They had the best fried food I've had (beer battered halibut is fantastic!) and ridiculously large flowers and veggies (apparently 24 hours of sunlight a day helps grow some mutant produce).  Check out this 105 lb cabbage, which doesn't even compare to the 1,101 lb pumpkin we also saw.  Gotta love the fair.  :)