Yesterday was a lovely Sunday. For more reasons than one. We taught our primary class, had Sunday dinner with the fam, watched Tangled, played some Clue and then came back to our temporary home for some Hillary and Andrew time. The two of us watched a Jimmy Stewart movie and read some family history of mine. We both commented that we're kind of a strange couple. That might've been a good date in 1952, but today I think people would raise eyebrows at us. Anyways, as I mentioned in the previous post, something we like to do is hang out on the roof. We always have to check the weather first by poking our head out the screen door. Well yesterday as I was putting my shoes on to venture out, Andrew did the checking. And then..he started yelling. "Hillary Hillary! Come here quick seriously! HURRY!!!"
Now I thought that maybe it was a gorgeous sunset like usual, so when I followed him outside (after taking my sweet time with my shoes) the first place I looked was towards where the sun usually sets. And sure enough there it was setting. Now as a person who has seen a good many sunsets in her life, I said, "Oh Andrew, it's so pretty." And he said "No, look THIS WAY!" When I turned around to see where he was, this is what I saw:And as I came out all the way THISis what I saw. And my patronizing little "Oh Andrew" turned into "OH MY GOSH ANDREW OH MY GOSH OH MY GAAAAWWWSH ANDREW!"
It was a FULL, COMPLETE rainbow about 2 or 3 miles wide end to end! And we were the ONLY ones who saw it in it's full splendor. We seemed to have come out at the EXACT right moment, where it was shining its most brilliant. The sun setting on the other side added the most beautiful lighting on all the buildings and made this ghetto little neighborhood look amazing. And of course the light of rain was falling. The whole experience could not have been orchestrated any better. And of course the pictures don't do it justice.Our camera couldn't even catch the whole thing in one shot. If we stepped back any further we would've fallen off the roof.




















Can you imagine? That on one side and this on the other:I think those weird pipes sticking up on the roof of the next building looked like ducks swimming on a purple pond.There are few things more inspiring than a rainbow. I suppose that's why Noah needed one at the end of those long dark 40 days and 40 nights. Just seeing one you can feel God's love. I'm so thankful for this wonderful world we live in and that God has given us such a beautiful place to do our learning and growing. I love life.Yesterday was a lovely Sunday.

We are house sitting (well, apartment sitting) for some of Andrew's friends for the last two weeks of our Alaskan life. The apartment is above Andrew's work so it has been awesome for us. One of the coolest things about staying here is being able to go out on the roof. It has a beautiful view of the mountains on one side and the sunset on the other and we like to go out there whenever the weather is nice enough. The other night we decided to test our luck and SLEEP on the roof. And it was the only night this week that it didn't rain! Still, we set up a tent just in case. It was so fun!

As a delayed part of our honeymoon we also went on an Alaskan Cruise! It was 6 hours around the Kenai Peninsula. And it was awesome!Pretty much the whole time the boat was moving I looked like this picture here:
A dog on a dashboard, hair and ears flying in the wind. Whenever Andrew would lean down to tell me something the 2 minutes that followed were him repeating it and me saying "WHAT?" until he would just give up.
We saw about a million puffins, a thousand sea lions, and 6 humpback whales! Which, by the way, are super hard to get pictures of.


My favorites were probably the otters. They were the first animals we saw and they cracked me up. They just lounge in the water all day long. Whenever we would come close to them they wouldn't freak out and swim away. They'd look at us with their lazy eyes and say, "Sup."
The piece de resistance was the Aialik Glacier. I had already seen about 9 or 10 of them in my short time here, but this one took the cake because of how close we got to it. Remember how the animals here are big? Well, yeah, it's not just the animals. It's the trees, it's the rivers, it's the mountains, and it's the GLACIERS.Now to put things in perpective here, I think I should mention that the tiny thing in the right hand corner of the picture is a very big boat. Pretty scary. There was a 20 degree temperature change once we got closer to it, and every few minutes there was a great big crash, loud as thunder, as ice broke off and fell into the water. Here is Andrew with the glacier when we were still a ways away from it:

What a hunk! Of ice, of course. I'm suprised Andrew didn't melt that glacier.









Here are some more pictures:
There are just too many amazing pictures to post here, so check out facebook for more. The drives to and from were almost amazing as the cruise itself.And over all it was just a spectacular day for us here in the Land of the Midnight Sun!

This is my favorite picture of the day :)

Okay, we went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center for my dear Mother-In-Law's birthday and we got some good pictures. I also learned a few things while we were there. I learned that animals are big. Really big. Like, bigger than I thought. And some of them are big and UGLY. Like this guy here:


And then there were the moose. A lot less ugly, but still QUITE big. I'd even venture to say HUGE. And this one's antlers aren't even grown yet!




And this guy's antlers were about as tall as the car we drove up in!



And they all seemed to make that face at us. We couldn't figure out why...THEY were the ones who smelled bad.

But the best picture of the day came when we approached the bear cage. This big fat furry GRIZZLY bear (who, by the way, looks NOTHING like the Bernstein Bear family) was sleeping right near the electrical fence. When almost everyone had walked away, he all of a sudden sat up, stretched, and gave a great big SALUTATION TO THE SUN, if you catch my drift. And then this is the picture we got:


It was HILARIOUS. Like he was saying WHAT?

A picture with my favorite moose was a great ending to another Alaska Adventure!

I don't know where to begin with this post. Hence the title. I guess I'll just begin with where I am now.
After an exhausting yet wonderful week or two full of family and friends and wedding planning, here Andrew and I are in Alaska as a newly married couple. We've been watching movies, eating toast, reading books, playing scrabble, and walking the dog. I love marriage!!!
We've also gone on some long drives through the beautiful still-snowy mountains of Alaska. The 45 minute drive to Portage Glacier was well worth it. We saw 3 real live glaciers slowly, slowly, slowly melting into the ocean. Gigantic green purple and white mountains on one side, huge blue gray sparkling ocean on the other. Alaska is LOVELY. I definitely reccommend it to all those searching for a good cruise.
We also went to a place called Kincaid Park and I found it amazing how many different shades of green there are. There were so many kinds of plants, some with leaves bigger than my head! We also went to a place called Beluga Point, right on the ocean. Everything is beautiful.
The realities of life are beginning to set in, though. Andrew went back to work yesterday and I miss him terribly. I've begun the thank you notes, financial phone calls, and all that technical stuff about starting a new life. Good times good times.
Only 3 more hours till Andrew gets home!

PS: We have misplaced our camera...so be ready for pictures next time!