Spring Break 2023: Denali National Park & Fairbanks

For Spring Break, Derek planned us a little road trip to Fairbanks, and we stopped off at Denali National Park on our way. There isn't a whole lot between Anchorage & Fairbanks to say the least. ;) Overall, I was impressed by how well the roads were maintained especially considering how vast & desolate it is. Some of us {read: me} were having a little dejavu/PTSD from our experience on the AlCan....bathrooms & gas stations were hard to come by while restaurants and radio signals were completely non-existent. There is actually a Denali State Park that we passed before getting to the National Park. Every entrance to the state park was gated off/roads unplowed. Even the national park was mostly closed off. and the little "town" outside the national park entrance was all boarded up and deserted for the "off-season." It was so bizarre to see. 

While in Fairbanks, we visited the Museum of the North on the University of Alaska at Fairbanks campus {which was super fun after reading The Very, Very Far North with the kids!}, stopped off at The Santa Claus House in North Pole {a small town just outside Fairbanks}, and finally the International Ice Championships!

{getting the kids to like Taco Bell as much as we do is one of our best parenting wins!}

{Museum of the North}

Visiting North Pole, Alaska was such a hoot! All of their street lamps were striped like candy canes. Literally anything & everything was Christmas-themed. Such a fun little town!

The International Ice Championships was unbelievable! The ice sculputures were absolutely amazing! They also had ice slides for the kids as well as an ice "game room" complete with ice skee ball, ice ping pong, ice corn hole, etc. So, so fun!

Hot tub & a fun 500 piece puzzle at our Airbnb for the win!

And this is what our drive home looked like....

It was a fun, quick little trip & we got home just in time to start celebrating our birthday girl!

Recent Reads

Historical fiction is almost always my fave, so it's no surprise that Code Name Helene and The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post were probably my favorites of this bunch. And I think I have now officially read all of Katherine Center's books. I came across The Very Very Far North through Brave Writer (a homeschool curriculum), and it was one of our favorite books that I've read aloud to the kids in a long time! The setting & characters (animals who live in Alaska-esque climates) was so fitting for us while we're living in our own version of the very, very far north. ;)

February 2023

February has come & gone, and winter weather is still in full swing here! Here's a quick look back at the past month. Also, I feel like this post could alternately be titled "Snapshots of Homeschooling" because it seems like almost all of the pictures are of Brady. ;)

In our district, elementary schools are K-6. All of the current sixth graders at our local elementary schools had a middle school open house last week to check out all of the electives, tour the school, and try out a locker! Shelby thoroughly enjoyed it all. 

Brady has had his eye on a Nerf Eagle Point gun for a bit and proudly made this purchase using his own money. He was pretty stoked about it!

{helping Mama make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies}

{getting lost in a book by the fire...perks of homeschooling}

{Valentine's Day ring pops for the win!}

{homeschool Valentine's Day party}

The girls' school hosted a Daddy-Daughter Dance one evening, and this event was a big hit! 

Shelby had an ice fishing field trip with her class one morning. Brady and I got to tag along. However, the temperatures dropped like crazy the night before and it was probably the coldest weather we've experienced since moving here. And because we were fishing, we weren't moving around much, which made it feel even colder. It was a miserable hour outside but still a cool experience..definitely a first for all three of us! I was surprised how many kids actually caught a fish! Brady was in tears by the time we left because we were just so cold. We stopped for hot chocolate & Crumbl on the way home, and our spirits were lifted! :)

Brady & I attended a homeschool field trip to our local fire station. We both thoroughly enjoyed it! We stopped by Crumbl afterward to round out our fun afternoon. Perhaps we might go there too much. ;)

Derek was TDY for about a week in San Antonio {the kids & I were incredibly jealous!}, and Derek is the official Saturday morning pancake maker in our house. When Saturday morning rolled around I told the girls I wasn't in the mood to make pancakes, so they took matters into their own hands. They did a phenomenal job!

Shelby participated in a talent show on base this past weekend. She played "Solfeggio in C Minor" by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach on the piano and won first place in her age group, which came with a $500 prize. We went out for a celebratory dinner to Taco Bell & got Crumbl cookies afterward. :)

Not pictured, but we ordered two mitten dryers mid-January as well as 2 more sets of wall hooks for alllll of the necessary snow gear in Alaska. Dealing with wet mittens and snowsuits on the regular one of my least favorite parts of living here. These mitten dryers & hooks are saving my sanity! I actually just ordered another set of hooks while Derek was in San Antonio. I feel like mitten dryers and ample hooks should be in the starter set for Alaskan transplants. 

February blessed us with the return of sunshine, and we are praying that March will bring us a little warmth!