Papa, Paige and Maddie come to visit

We were so lucky this summer to have my dad and little sisters come visit us. We had a blast with them seeing some of what there is to see here in Alaska. I loved having my dad, who is just like me with seeing it all and going until we can't walk anymore. I think we had a couple of days that we really wore out our crew, but it was fun!
Papa and the kids

Paige and Bennett

Kena and Maddie

Hike at Bird Creek

Maddie and Paige at Thunderbird Falls

A brown bear fishing at Russian River Falls. It was so cool to see him across the river.

Our family at the Crow Creek Mine

The whole group at Winner's Creek

Me, Maddie, Ben and Bennett at the Winner Creek hand tram. Dad, Paige, Kena and Benson are in the tram.

Kena in front of the beautiful wildflowers on the Trail of Blue Ice

Bennett posing for us in Whittier, AK. Whittier is this very quaint port town about an hour south of Anchorage. To get to the town you have to drive through a 2.5 mile one lane tunnel.

The girls and Bennett in Whittier.

Papa, Kena and Bennett by the river close to Byron Glacier.

Dad, Maddie, Paige, Kena and Benson in front of the Elk at the conservation center.

Group shot in Whittier.

Ben visits Utah

This is Ben's youngest sister Jessica and her beautiful family.
Ben and his 3 brothers, Jared, David and Hyrum.

All the Mishler siblings with mom, Aunt Pat and Cindy.

Benson is 3

Our little guy turned 3 in July. I can't believe how time flies. We had Papa, Aunt Maddie and Aunt Paige here for his birthday. We made a race car cake, which he loved. He got some super fun presents from everyone.

This one was from the Chappells.

4th of July

We decided to go up to Whittier for the 4th of July celebrations. It was a rainy day there, but we had a blast. My mom was up visiting from Arizona and we met up with some friends in the ward too. The little town of Whittier has a very small 4th parade with games, face painting and a free bbq. The kids had a blast. The best part was the money dig at the end. They threw about $300 of change into the rocks and let the kids go at it. I told Kenadee to just go for the silver coins. I think she ended up with about $10!
The kids with grandma

Waiting patiently for the parade to start.

Throwing rocks into the bay

BB gun contest. Ben and Brian went for best two out of three.

Ben won so Brain got to have his hair spray painted pink.

Classic bean bag toss

McHugh Creek

Lindsay Skinner and I took our kids up to McHugh creek for a little hike. It was a beautiful area!

Heidi comes to town

Heidi came to visit in June. We filled our time with lots of fun new things. Her first day here we set out for the reindeer farm and the muskox farm in Palmer. They let us feed the animals at both places. Kenadee was a little nervous, but Benson had no fear.

This was one of the many rivers that run through the state. (I'm not sure which one.)

This is Thunderbird falls. It was a pretty little hike that we all enjoyed.

Just call me the pack mule!

This was a bear up at the Alyseka hotel in Girdwood. We took the tram up the mountain which was amazing.

Heidi and I hiked Flat Top. It is in Anchorage and had amazing views from the top.

We went down south one day to Seward to check out the sea life center and exit glacier.

This is Benson at Portage Lake. It is also at about 10pm!

The day Heidi left we went down the Turnagin arm to Beluga point. It was rainy, but that didn't stop us.

It was so fun to have Heidi come visit! Benson keeps asking to go to the airport to pick up Heidi. Oh I wished it worked that way!