Wow, what a fun and busy weekend! My ol' college pal Jenna, her husband Preston, and their little lady Tessa came to visit Thursday through Monday.
Miss Tessa! The happiest and most talkative 4 month old I know!Thursday we picked them up at the airport and ate at the City Dinner. It is retro looking hamburger place, with amazing shakes and malts. We didn't get one though now that I think of it... We made the traditional Tammy summer meal for supper, kabobs, and ate out on the deck. It was a beautiful Alaska evening, minus the neighbors who have yet to be evicted...
Friday Justin went to work, boo... and Jenna and I got a manicure and pedicure. It was amazing. Then we met a cousin of Jenna's who lives in Anchorage for supper.
After supper we explored downtown, and found an ice cream shop.
Since it was near bath time, we got Jenssen a cone, thinking it would be cute and he was getting a bath soon. Well, it was cute, and it was messy. What I didn't think about was all that sugar that late. Wow, was that boy wound up during bath time.
Saturday Jenna and I manned the kiddos while Justin and Preston went to get supper.
They went fishing for King Salmon on the Talketna River. (We sent two men alone, so there are not too many pictures) It is around 2 hours north of Anchorage, just south of Denali. They went on a guided trip, and are pretty sure after just one time they are ready to go on their own. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy that day so the drive up wasn't as pretty as it could have been.
Despite getting up at leaving the house at 3 am to catch their boat by 5 am, they had a good time, and Preston caught an 18 lb salmon for us to enjoy. A guy on the trip caught a 48 lb salmon, and they have caught 70 lb ones this season as well. That's a lot of fish, 18 lbs was a good amount for us. Preston even showed us his grilling skills, Jenna her garlic mashed potato skills (and peas..) and I made home made rolls. We had some good eating. One could say the fish were good for eatin'... get it? Lame, I know.
Sunday we headed south towards Portage Glacier. It was yet another cloudy and rainy day in Alaska, but they came to see Alaska, not my living room, so we bundled up the kids and headed out.
This thing is huge, HUGE. I wish I had something to show the scale of it. Just believe me, I'd be a speck on it in this picture. 
We paid to go on the boat this time and toured Portage lake and Portage Glacier. The blue color never gets old!
We learned on the boat that the lake is fresh water, but nothing lives in it due to the silt from the glacier. There are 10,000 glaciers in Chugach State Park alone, and over 100,000 in Alaska. Didn't know that either.
I was a little worried that we might hit a iceberg and go down, but these aren't called icebergs, they are called pieces of ice... Way to be creative Alaska.
As you can tell, Jenssen was pretty excited about the glacier. He's filling out the rain coat better each time J-Lo, and has really come in handy up here.
After the boat ride, we walked up the Bryon Glacier trail so Tessa could stand on her first glacier. Well, 4 months old don't stand very well, but it still counts.
With all the rain, we couldn't walk out on the river bed like Justin and I did last time, but all the water makes for a nice family picture!
Monday we went on a quick hike up at the Nature Center. Tessa got to ride in style with one of Jenssen's old sling harness things. She cracks me up in this. It was kinda rainy and overcast again, which made for a wet trail, but we still saw some pretty sights. With all the clouds we couldn't see the mountains or the glacier, but we knew they were there.
If you didn't know, I am on a quest to see a moose. I think they are avoiding me. I was told by the lady working at the nature center that a moose has been seen right off the trail around the time we were there for a few days now. I have yet to see a moose, even though everyone else and their dog up here has, so I was pretty excited. I had my eyes ready, looking, swearing every stump was a moose. Then I saw something run into the trees, and I yelled at everyone, "there, a moose! I saw a baby moose jump into the trees over there!" Now, I was excited because I saw a moose, even though it was a baby moose butt, it was a moose. However, knowing a baby moose means momma moose did make me nervous. Well, no need to be. For then I saw it again, and realized it was some lady's dog who was off the leash and running in and out of the trees. After seeing it again, I realized it looked nothing like a moose... (Justin was filling up the jeep with gas today and saw a moose right next to the gas station... ugh... some day I'll see one!)
We came home, dried out, and enjoyed Preston's no bake cookies he prepared for us. Then Monday night we had to take them to the airport and say good bye. :( Thanks for coming guys! I'm glad they could make it, and hope they had a good time. Already plans for next year's trip, right? Next up on the guest list are Brent and Kim, next week already! Yay!
I got a few of Jenssen's baby things out for Tessa to use while she was here. I can tell Justin wasn't around for the first year, as he had no clue what these things were for.
Toodles!
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