A day with SUNSHINE in Juneau...

Today we had beautiful, beautiful sunshine and we just had to get out there and take advantage of the vitamin D!!!

Alyx and I hiked around the Trail of Time at the glacier and watched as some brave souls hiked out a bit onto the lake. To me it looks like there are some areas that are (maybe) not quite frozen enough, but they all seemed fine.

I am loving the new camera and how it captures the way the sunshine hits the peaks of ice. It almost looks to me like it is in motion!

We also drove around town a while and took pictures of Bald Eagles. There were trees with lots of eagles, but I had difficulty finding a place to shoot from that didn't include power lines in the shot. I finally got a great vantage point for this guy perched up over the Lemon Creek area. I love the way the sun hit his tail feathers.

We are planning to get out there again tomorrow. We didn't get everything done that we wanted to do, but hopefully there is some sunshine tomorrow too and we can venture out again.

New Camera

Pictures coming soon!!!

We are supposed to have a nice clear day tomorrow, so maybe we can get out and find something pretty to take a picture of...now where is my manual so I can learn how to use that camera?

Night Flights

Alyxandra and I went to the Night Flights. It was so much fun. Even though it was snowing, we had a wonderful time. The helicopter flight was a joint fundraiser between Coastal Helicopters and the Lion's Club with proceeds benefiting Children's Tumor Foundation and Lion's Sight Projects.

Here is a photo of the helicopter landing (lots of snow blowing)

This is Alyxandra getting ready to board the flight

Here she is sitting next to the pilot

I was sitting in the back seat. We couldn't use flash photography so it looks pretty dark. We flew over the Mendenhall Valley to view Christmas Lights from above. It was snowing so hard that they stopped flights briefly after ours until the weather was more cooperative. I heard they were able to raise lots of money for some great charities.

Happy Birthday Alyxandra

Alyxandra Rachel is officially 16 years old now!

We had a great weekend with her and celebrated early just in case Mike would not be able to be home on her big day, but he was so we got to celebrate all over again!

Here she is with her cake. Of course it was mostly all frosting, but she loved it because it reminded her of a chocolate version of Monty (my boss & his wife's dog).

She & Mike fought over her presents for a little while, but she eventually won and got to open them. Funny, in Alaska, her presents are in Parcel boxes instead of wrapping paper, ha! I guess I should start wrapping them as they arrive and that might be better???

Here is our angel just after she was born. Hard to believe it has been 16 years already. We love you StinkerBelle!

Icy Auke Lake

Alyx and I spent part of the day on Sunday at Auke Lake. There were beautiful formations in the ice as it was starting to cover the surface. In some areas the ice looked like feathers. It was really amazing to see how much contrast there is between the ice and the water, but at this point, it is still so clear you can see the rocks underneath. Very amazing.

Here is a photo of a frozen moss-covered log in the ice along the edge of the lake. The ice has the look of motion here on the edge. So cool!!!

Frost was covering our world all weekend. The snow has all melted (for now) but the temps are not getting up above freezing, so the frost seems to get thicker everyday. It is a beautiful thing to see. It is so hard to describe when the camera doesn't quite capture the true beauty, but everything looks like it has chunky glitter sprinkled on it!

It's dark...

Mike & I went for a drive out the road on Sunday and this is the picture I took near 'Sunshine Cove' overlooking the ocean...yep, it is out there somewhere (behind all that snow) ...and somewhere out there are islands and a beautiful mountain range too. Maybe we will get to see it in May when all the white stuff starts melting?
On the way back we were commenting about HOW dark it is!!! So, just for grins I thought I would take a picture of the clock and the windshield. The headlights are lighting up the snow that is beginning to stick on the road. (It wasn't there when we were driving out, but was starting to really stick on the drive back home.)

Happy Halloween - with snow???

Yep, we got our first snow this morning. It cleared out by mid-day thankfully, but Mike & I went to the glacier and got a few pictures of the beautiful sights.

Bald Eagles were everywhere, perched high on tree tops and loving the fresh coat of snow.

Here is a picture of the railing after a bald eagle walked across it. Very cool!!!

A bald eagle watched over Mendenhall Lake and the glacier

Mendenhall Glacier was stunning with the fresh snow covering and the water (not yet frozen) was acting as a mirror to capture all its glory.

Alyxandra dressed up for Halloween as ... I don't know what, someone with a black dress & a black wig... funny girl.

Anyway, the wig was a bother so it disappeared quickly. Here is a picture of her cooking some dinner and - yes - you guessed it - texting!

...and tomorrow we 'fall-back' as we are visited by daylight savings time... That is a difficult concept for these Arizona people to get used to!