Our Trip to Vancouver

We had such a fun time on our trip to Vancouver! It was so good to see my family and to get out of Alaska for a little while. It was nice to be home when the trip ended, when we walked into our house after the long hours of traveling Frances started smiling and enjoying her familiar surroundings.

On our 3 hour drive from Anchorage to Kenai (after our 3.5 hour flight and some shopping in Anchorage) Frances was fed up with traveling! She had sad eyes when we took her out of her car seat.

We let Frances get out and play for about a half hour

Which resulted in this cute smile

My cousin Jesselah arranged a girls night for my cousins. It was fun watching movies, swimming, and hanging out. (my cousin Jared crashed the party for a little bit to pick up his daughter Lucy)

Before Scott came into town Frances and I spent lots of time talking to him on the phone. We missed him so much!First bath in a sink. She was so serious and kept her head against the faucet almost the whole time which was cracking us up!How an electrical sander is supposed to be used. Which resulted in...A perfect pedicure! Thanks mom! 4TH OF JULY

Frances and I arrived on the 4th of July so we got to celebrate it with my family. Fort Vancouver wasn't holding their annual fireworks show because of the economy so we sat in our front lawn and watched multiple neighborhoods send their money into the sky. It was actually a pretty good show. We had a BBQ on the back deck first. Oliver started turning into a raspberry.Frances loved aunt Kristin... and her skirtGrandma bought this cute 4th of July outfit so Frances would look festive. (I was surprised that Frances slept through all the fireworks)We even had some fireworks of our own that we lit in the street. Here is my cousin Abby with Keenan and Oliver displaying their sparklers.FAMILY REUNION
I didn't get as many pics as I wish I would have, but that's how it always happens. We rented some kayaks from the church which was such a good idea. There were 6 total so we all spent a lot of time on the lake. One of Scott and my favorite times was going up past the dam to the overflow and going up and down the small rapids while Grandpa babysat Frances.
Here is my dad with my sister ChloeMy brother Adam and Scott built a diving boardHere is Adam going off the diving board just after Scott.

This is where Frances hung out. We found this private beach with a tree that she sat under. My dad even trimmed it back so it was a nice place to get out of the 90 degree heat.

We had a surprise birthday party for Teresa and celebrated all the summer birthdays too. My brother Brian (in the green t-shirt) actually turned 23 during the reunion. I had a pic of Teresa being surprised but the computer just autosaved it after I accidentally deleted it... don't you just love technology!

A DAY AT THE PORTLAND ZOO

In the parking lot on our way in!Everyone took turns with Frances, which she loved!I tried taking a pic of everyone who came, and somehow missed Oliver

Frances got to hold a zebra

We had to take a break and get some ice cream, it was so hot!

Aunt Desta with Frances

We found an eagle's nest with 3 hungry baby eagles waiting for their food

OTHER STUFF

We got to do a lot of other stuff while in Vancouver. We went to a really cool park near my mom's house and played some basketball

And Frances ate an entire watermelon by herself I am going to post some fun videos asap so check back soon!