It's hard to believe that K has almost been here for a week! We have been so busy doing fun things that the time is flying by!
It just so happens that her sister is in Alaska at the same time. She is with a YMCA camp that just returned from hiking the chilkoot trail and are about to embark on a kayaking adventure from Hoonah to Tenakee! They were in Juneau for the night and I was able to take her for the evening. We had way too much fun hanging out downtown. We ate at the Twisted Fish and got dessert at the fudge company. These girls are my favorite!

Playing tourists downtown!!

Day four was another fun day! We relaxed in the morning and then went to help with the lunch program again.
We rode our bikes to the Mendenhall glacier. We looked for bears but all we saw were tourists!!
The past two nights we've been treated to thunder and lighting storms. Thunder and lighting is a rare occurrence in juneau so everyone finds it pretty impressive!

Day 3 of Ks trip was great. We woke up early and packed up our camping gear. When we arrived back in town we got breakfast at McDonalds and went home to shower and clean up.
We helped out with the church lunch program in the afternoon and then headed over to sandy beach were we explored the remnants of the treadwell mines.The weather is still great and although we are all exhausted we are Having a great time!

We decided to take my niece camping tonight. It has been the perfect day in ak. We kayaked and saw whales, salmon and eagles.
We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day in juneau.
Getting ready to roast some hotdogs and make s'mores over the campfire. It really doesn't get any better than this!The weather this summer has been AMAZING!!

Only Fools Run -Day One!!
My niece K came to visit for two weeks! After a stop at our favorite coffee shop We took her to the end of the road looking for wild life. Unfortunately, all we saw were two dead porcupine. Welcome to Juneau!!!
That night was the annual Only Fools Run at Midnight 5k. We dressed as penguins and met up with Molly and Brittany. K was a great sport and rocked the penguin costume till 1:30 am. She had a long day of traveling and starting off her Alaska adventures. I know we are going to have a great two weeks!

Spring Break in Seattle and Anchorage!

It's a bit late to post about my Spring Break trip but better late than never, I suppose! Spring break was wonderful. My friend, Amy, had a companion ticket so we flew down to Seattle for a girls weekend filled with good food and real world shopping. 

We stayed with my friend, Charisa, and I was so excited for Amy and Charisa to meet each other. They are both so much fun to be around and I knew they'd get along well. Turns out I was right. The three of us had so much fun trying out new restaurants, shopping, chatting over morning coffee and strolling Pike's place.

The timing couldn't have been better because my parents were driving from Colorado to Seattle so they stopped over and we had dinner with them. Charisa's grandma and uncle joined us and it was a great homemade meal with truly amazing people.

Our last night in town was spent in downtown Seattle where we ate at the Cheesecake factory and met up with my friend Molly. She just happened to be flying through on her way to a conference. My poor Charisa friend was out numbered by Juneau-ites!

After our fun filled time in Seattle we headed for Anchorage where Amy and I split ways. We both went to spend time with our brothers and their families. 

I had a great time loving on my niece and nephew. We went to Chuck-E-Cheese, played in the yard and had a million tickle fights. 

The kids even let me sneak in a few run through the neighborhood. This is one of my favorite views on my run as it over looks the golf course and mountain range.  

1st Kayaking adventure of 2013!

The weather in Juneau has been AMAZING (we're talking sunny and in the 70s!) and Adam and I have been itching to get the kayaks out on the water. Tuesday night we launched them for an evening paddle and it couldn't have been a more perfect night. 

The water was calm and the sun was just setting. 

We paddled out to False Outer Point where Adam tried a little fishing and I just soaked up the remaining bit of sunshine. 

Unfortunately, the only fish Adam caught was a little rock fish that was quickly returned to the Ocean. However, it was still a perfect night for a kayak trip. 

We also bought Rosco a kayak and are slowly getting him used to it. We haven't taken him out in the water yet but he's blogging about the adventure. www.roscoberkey.blogspot.com ;-) 

Color Run, Mud Run & Girls on the Run!

Running, running, running is what I've been doing recently. Each Saturday has been filled with a new and exciting 5K. I've been lucky to have a great running partner for each of the runs. Molly and I joined a few hundred Juneau-ites for Harborview's 5K color run. This was my first color run and I LOVED it! During the color run there are people along the path who throw colored corn starch on the runners. The runners end up covered in colors by the end of the run. The gorgeous weather and huge turn out definitely made it one of the most fun runs I've done. 

Our next run was a new one for us as well. We joined in on the annual mud run across the Douglas Channel. The course started in Douglas at Fish Creek. We ran across the channel over to the end of the Airport Trail in Juneau and back to Fish Creek. 

 The course was mostly sand and rocks but there were occasions where we had to cross through water up to our thighs.

The weather wasn't as nice as it was during the color run but it was still a lot of fun. 

Our next 5K was the Girls on the Run 5K. I've been coaching Girls on the Run this season and have had a great group of girls as well as assistant coaches. The 5K was definitely fun for everyone involved. There was face painting, hair coloring, sign making and other fun activities before the run. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to actually run because I was busy passing out medals to the girls as they crossed the finish line. 

 My latest 5K was a Suicide Awareness run at Sandy beach. This was an especially meaningful run for me since our student's mother committed suicide this year. I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in this run with my student and help raise awareness and support such an important cause.

There were some pretty awesome door prizes and I was the lucky winner of a gift certificate to our local thai restaurant. I can't wait to use it! Molly and I are trying to run as many 5Ks as we can this summer. I'll also be running the half-marathon again with my friend Charisa! She'll be coming up to visit and run her first half-marathon!