Seward, AK

We spent a few days in Seward. It was my third time there and I loved it as much as the first time. It's such a beautiful harbor town. I could spend my summers living there.

Matt's brother, Mick, joined us in Seward. On Tuesday, he babysat the girls while Matt and I went on a kayaking trip in the morning. Despite sore arms (my fault for being in horrible shape), we had a great time. We stopped on a beach a couple hours into the trip to have a snack with our guide. I spotted a black bear off in the distance. I didn't think he'd make it to our end of the beach. Matt and our guide weren't so sure and, therefore, kept their eyes out. Sure enough, ten minutes later, we looked up and there he was - just several feet away from us peaking over a rock. Matt and our guide yelled at him to go away and, therefore, I wasn't able to grab a quick close-up picture.

Black Bear

The whole time we were kayaking, I was wondering how Mick was holding up. Both girls were sleep deprived and a bit grumpy. He had never changed a diaper before. I left juice - but no milk for Lila. Matt and I didn't know what we'd come back to. However, Mick did a wonderful job! Aside from Olivia trying to tell him that she was the boss, everything went really well and Matt and I were very grateful!

Matt had yet to catch an Alaska King Salmon. So, Thursday morning, he got up at the crack of down to catch high tide and try again. And, finally, he got that elusive fish! It wasn't as big as he had hoped, but it'll do!

Alaska King Salmon

Mick left early in the morning on Thursday for Haines, Alaska where he'll take the ferry back down to the lower-48. We wish him a safe trip back and hope to see him soon in Portugal!

Here's a short video of our trip to the SeaLife Center in Seward.

Overall, we had a great trip. I would, however, like to figure out how to get two small children to bed (and to sleep) at their normal hour. We've tried everything. Olivia keeps Lila awake until nearly 11:00pm. And, Olivia isn't even that bad. She just stays up playing! Neither child slept much more than a wink either direction in the car. Eighteen hours in the car and a total of two hours of sleep between the two...By the end of the three day trip, the girls were exhausted and cranky. Maybe, one of these days, we'll get it right. In the mean time, we're prepared for exhausting trips with small children who test your sanity!

I'll have to post more pictures of Lila soon. She's sitting up on her own and officially crawling. It's a slow crawl. Three to four times in a row of knees in front of the other - but, by golly, she's got it! A month later than Olivia had it - but, now that I know better, I was in no rush to see Lila crawling! I also caught her pulling herself up on a the handle of a dresser at the hotel - but, I'm sure it was just a fluke.

Lila's also eating really well. She's eating puff cereal and up to eight ounces of food at a time! She's over 16-lbs already! Olivia didn't hit 16-lbs until she was a year-old. I call Lila, "my chunker." Though, she's still thin in comparison to most infants her age (25th percentile).

We're off to Valdez this weekend for five days in a pop-up camper! I've got to get to bed early tonight because we're in for a LONG five days! Will giving my kids Benedryl get them to sleep in the car or should we break down and get a DVD player to occupy Olivia.....