I’ll dive into why we chose Alaska and share more about our travel plans soon but the short version is this: Seeing whales in the wild is my dream (I never have!) and couple this intense desire with our boys’ love for nature, fishing and animals (especially eagles and birds of prey) and Ryan’s love for all things outdoors and Alaska quickly topped our list of travel destinations.
We’ll have one heck of an early wake up (3:30 a.m.!) and three flights to get to Anchorage on Friday but we are inching closer to feeling prepared and ready.
Also, THANK YOU so much to those of you who chimed in on my last post with Alaska packing tips and recommendations. (You guys had me adding insect repellant, hand warmers, rain gear and more layers than I initially planned to my list.) We’ll primarily be spending our time in Anchorage and Seward so if you have any additional insights to share, please feel free to pass your tips along. We’ve honestly used so many of the tips you guys have sent our way to help plan past family travels and appreciate them so much. (I keep them in a note on my phone and we truly reference them throughout our family vacations!)
One thing I’m also trying out for our trip is this hanging toiletry back travel hack I found for organizing kid travel entertainment:
(You may see everything I packed in this hanging toiletry bag-turned kid entertainment roll-up as well as all of our travel entertainment favorites here: Kid Travel Favorites.)
Our boys each have a clear mini backpack filled with their own snacks, a water bottle and fun stuff, but for such long travel days, I figured we could use some reinforcements and copied this travel hack I’ve had on my radar for a couple of years now after I saw it going viral on Instagram. I’ll keep this one in my bag and am hoping it will help with the long flights and layover boredom.
Other than Alaska planning and preparations, summer is swinging along and it’s crazy for me to think we only have three(ish) weeks of summer break until our big kids are back in school. We’ve certainly made the most of it with a revolving door of visitors, family time, playdates and lots of little daytime adventures.
My in-laws also arrived in town last Thursday and left on Monday and it was so great to spend some extra time together!
We bumped up Chase’s 10th birthday celebration (he turns TEN while we’re in Alaska!) so we could celebrate together while Diane and Les were in town which was a treat. We dug into funfetti cake with marshmallow fluff icing (Chase’s request and bless the internet for having a recipe for everything — the icing was a delicious sugar bomb) and Chase was laser-focused on completing the 900+ piece Lego set Nona and Papa gave to him for his special day.
We filled our visit with Diane and Les with lots of fishing, boating, games, cookouts, pool time, an adults-only dinner out and chill time at the house. We were sad to say goodbye but are looking forward to their upcoming visit in August!
As for today, we have plans to continue Chase’s mini birthday celebrations at a local trampoline park with one of his longest friends, Claire, who is also turning 10 this week. (They’ve celebrated every single birthday together!) It should be a good one!
(Flashback to when Chase and Claire were four! Where has the time gone!?)
I hope you all have a wonderful week and hope to see ya back here on Friday for this week’s roundup of favorites!
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Happy Birthday Chase!!! I can’t believe he is turning 10!
I can’t wait to hear all about Alaska. We are consider a trip next summer! Funny – we have best friends flying into Anchorage on Friday too 🙂 say hello if you see a family from Iowa! And enjoy your trip.
We did Alaska last month with our three daughters who are nearly identical in age to your boys (oldest was born the day after Chase and youngest is a few months older than Rhett). We spent time in Anchorage, Talkeetna, and Homer (similar feel to Seward). Highlights in Anchorage included a trip to the Alaska Native Heritage Center and hiking Flattop Mtn (and ice cream at Wild Scoops). Over trip highlight for us was by far a flight tour of Denali (put of Talkeetna), which included a glacier landing. Lots of snow for the kids to play on! Happy to share more if you’d like.
Enjoy your trip! I’ve never been to Alaska but we just did a whale watching trip in Victoria, British Columbia. My take away is that in the middle of the ocean, boat going at high speed, it got cold very fast! We had layers on and a rain jacket – which helped a lot with blocking the wind. Some of the little kids on our boat need the hats, mitts and extra jackets the boat had to offer. We sat at the front of the boat when we were heading out. We did the early morning boat so the water was calm.
I am a city girl – it took a few days for me to not feel that ocean/waves feeling lol. I hope you get to see a lot. We saw orcas and seals and at the very end, a humpback whale made an appearance. The coolest thing! My 9 year old girl loved the whole experience!