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Tuesday, gymnastics day.   But apparently it was also open gym today.  So the kids played on the equipment for three hours!  We could have stayed longer, but they were starting to get cranky.  So we came home and had lunch.  Then I fought with Spencer for about an hour, trying to get him to take a nap.  Finally I got him to lay down.  Kayleigh and I colored and played a little bit.  Then Spencer came downstairs and said he wanted to go out snowshoeing.

So we got all of our gear ready and off we went.  I was going to take them out to Eagle River Nature Center, but it was pretty late so I decided to stay on base again.  I WAS going to take Lola, but she was acting up and wouldn't listen.  So she stayed home in her kennel.  

Spencer said he did not want to wear his snowshoes.  So I pulled him in the sled behind me and we left his shoes behind.  Kayleigh decided she wanted to go the opposite way that we went last time.  So I let her lead.  Then I decided since we were headed toward this bridge they always wanted to stop at, we would just walk up there.  So we trekked through the snow behind housing.  We took our shoes off when we got to the road and crossed the street.  Then we walked along the sidewalk up to this...

Kayleigh decided that she wanted to walk along the creek.  I had to talk her out of walking on the creek. All of the tracks in the picture above were moose tracks.  So Kayleigh kept trying to convince me that it would be safe.  But it has been in the low 30's the past few days.  And it hasn't snowed in a couple of weeks.  So who knows how old those tracks are.  I just didn't trust the ice to hold us.  And the last thing we needed was to fall in a frozen creek.  So she was just happy following the moose trails around in the woods beside the creek.  Eventually Spencer saw how much fun we were having and wanted to walk.  I told him he couldn't because he decided back home that he did not want to take his snowshoes with us.  He seemed to have fun in the sled.  Once we got to a place where we could barely see the road anymore, I told Kayleigh it was time to turn around.  And she led us back.  

On the walk back I took this beautiful picture...

Then when we were on the road, I saw a bird flying in the sky.  Yes, I know not really a big deal.  But it looked weird.  First of all it was HUGE!  It was a lot bigger than the ravens that are all over the place up here.  It was soaring very high in the sky and looked bigger than the ravens that fly so low.  I watched it a little longer and it turned back towards us.  What do you know it was a Bald Eagle.  It was beautiful and amazing.  It was the first time I have ever seen one in the wild.  I showed the kids and Kayleigh got super excited.  She is so much like me.  She loves animals, outdoors, nature, creeks, everything.  I got out the camera to take a picture, but my battery died.  Damn.  But I suppose if we continue to go out often and keep our eyes peeled, we will see another one.

On the way back through housing Kayleigh saw a bunch of her friends and wanted to play.  So I told her she could play.  Spencer said he wanted to go home so off we headed toward home.  But I made a quick little stop at my new friend Stacie's house to see if she wanted to go with us to story time in the morning.  It was funny because Stacie said she saw us walking and thought I was some crazy teenager dragging her kid.  And then she saw Kayleigh and thought it was so cute such a little thing trudging through the snow! Turned our her kids were going outside to play.  So our kids went out and played at the playground behind her house.  And we sat in side and watched them and BS'd.  The boys sled down the little hill over there and the girls played girly things.  I can already see that they are going to be good friends.  It makes me really happy.  And I am glad to say that I think I officially found my first friend in Alaska.  :)

The kids played and we talked until 6:15! It is staying light so much later now it really is getting easy to lose track of time.  I can't imagine what it is going to be like come June.  We had loaded baked potatoes for dinner.  And I was famished.  It was all that work snowshoeing.  I ate a whole potato and some salad.  I never eat that much.  So there go all the calories I burned. *sigh*  The kids even ate almost all of their potato! And they never eat baked potatoes.  They usually just pick off the cheese and bacon and then say they are full.  We all really worked up an appetite.

And lastly for your viewing pleasure are some pictures of us on our moose trail expedition...