Fairbanks, Alaska

Nathan was supposed to go to southern California so it was a big surprise when they changed their minds and decided to send him to Alaska!  Even though he was freezing up there I think it was fun for him to go back to where he grew up (North Pole, Alaska).  He wasn't allowed to get out of his car because of strict COVID rules so he was a little bummed about that.

I should have him write this post because I'll probably mess things up...

I think this is where he worked??? He stocked shelves at the grocery store.

All the light posts in North Pole are decorated like candy canes.

The high school Nathan went to.

Middle school

Church building

Elementary school???

I believe Nathan was in elementary school when kids at his school would write back to kids that would send letters to Santa.

Santa

Nathan's house was about a mile from Santa's house.

Santa's house!

Where Santa's reindeer live.

One of the houses Nathan lived in???

The other house Nathan grew up in.

I think it was this one where they were trapped in the house for a couple days because a baby moose was hurt and the mom was being super protective and wouldn't let anyone near it.  And by near it I mean if you stepped outside she would come charging at you.  I think Nathan said she rammed into the door chasing Nathan's dad back inside.

The hospital Nathan was helping at.

I think it was this same hospital where Nathan almost died at!  Long story short he had to get his appendix taken out but after the surgery he got an infection.  They weren't doing a whole lot for him and he was getting sicker and sicker.  His parents flew him to Idaho Falls (where his grandparents live) and got him the care he needed.  His grandparents said he looked basically dead when they picked him up from the airport.  He was so pale and so weak.

-27 degrees!  SO GROSS!

Halloween!

Nathan went out of town again so Easton stepped up and carved one of our pumpkins for Halloween.  Easton had big plans until we realized how thick the pumpkin skin was... 

Once we finally got the top off Easton decided to change his idea.

He decided to make a cannibal pumpkin. 

This is what it looked like at night.  For some reason I can't get the picture bigger.

Since we weren't allowed to go trick or treating I told the kids I wasn't buying any costumes this year and that they would need to use a costume we already had around the house or they needed to get creative.  For some reason they all felt like they still needed to have a theme so they went with Star Wars again!

Blair convinced her sisters that they all needed to be Ewoks!  She came up with their costumes...

Eden was baby yoda!

Dyer was a storm trooper and Easton was Han Solo.

Han Solo at gun point but whistling for some help.

Ewoks to the rescue!

Storm trooper surrendering.

Star Wars crew!

All ready for trunk or treat in the church parking lot.

Nathan and the older kids like to go to the park on Saturday mornings to play ultimate frisbee with some church friends.  Since Nathan was out of town I took the two youngest to the park to play while the older four played frisbee.

The swings put her to sleep!

Valerie came over briefly to hang out and give the kids some Halloween candy.

We weren't allowed to go trick or treating so we stayed in and had a little Halloween scavenger hunt to find candy around the house.  We also had a little Halloween dinner and a movie night. 

Sitting up like a champ!

To the farm we go

 We went to a local farm to get last minute pumpkins.  While we were there we also picked some pomegranates.  Somehow I forgot to take pictures of the pumpkins we got...

Grandpa and Grandma Visit

My dad and step mom came to visit for a couple days.  It was nice to see them since I haven't seen them in almost 3 years!  McKinley was about the same age as Eden the last time we saw them.

Eden turned 6 months old while they were here.  I took a couple quick photos but her 6 month post and pictures will be later.

She sure LOVES her tongue.