X is for eXperience Theater

The letter X was a bit of a stretch.  We took the cubs to the Experience Theater!

We chose the movie about the 1964 earthquake.  It was equal parts terrifying and interesting.

Whole parts of the shore just broke off and fell into the ocean or were taken out by the Tsunami that followed the earthquake.

I think it shook for something like 4 full minutes.  The seat we sat in shook and shook and the cubs loving that.  Now wherever we go and they see a crack on the ground they think it was from an earthquake.  Bunch also pretends there is suddenly an earthquake at the most random times and places.

It is a little more scary now when we get our little earthquakes.  Alaska knows it's due for another big one at any time.  There was a fairly large earthquake just last night.  The bed was shaking and I could hear the earthquake before it even started shaking.  I will definitely not miss this part of my Alaskan life!

Z is for Zoo

For Z we popped by the Zoo one last time to say goodbye to all our favorite arctic animals, especially the polar bears.

And then it was time to move.  So I taught the cubs how to sing Zip-a-dee doo dah and our friends threw us a Zany goodbye dance party!  We had a blast dancing the night away together.  It was a great way to see and say goodbye to everyone.  I can't believe our Alaskan Adventure is over.  It was an incredible ride.  We are sad to go but excited to start a new A-Z Adventure in Spokane!

Y is for Yo-yo

For Y Logan taught us how to do the Eskimo Yo-Yo! He's pretty good at it.

Then we all went out for a Yukon Burger at the Local Burgerman. 

We had fun looking at all the Alaskana decor and animals.

The man cub was especially thrilled to get to double fist a burger. He downed it so fast! 

We taught the cubs about Totems and tried to make up a story about what this one might be telling. Claire Bear's was hilarious. It was about a monster with a cuddly baby head being carried to the land of rainbows by the great white eagle hat. 

And we finished the letter off in style with a family trip out to frozen Yogurt! I love these peeps and T-man's cheeks full of raspberries.

W is for Water and Whales

For W we did several water and whale related things that we have always wanted to do but never have.  First we stopped off on the side of the road on the Turnagain Arm to drink out of the side of the mountain.  There's a pipe there that we pass every time we drive up and down the arm.  We always see people filling huge containers with the fresh mountain spring water.

We brought water bottles and took turns filling them up.  It was delicious.  Ice cold and delicious.  Very mountainy!  Lil' Bit loved her water but Bunch was beyond furious that she wasn't allowed to fill up her own water bottle.  It's just a dangerous road.  Sorry Bunch!

Then we jumped out at Beluga Point to blow some bubbles while watching for some Beluga Whales.

We didn't see any wildlife and it was suddenly crazy windy so we buckled back up and went over to Point Woronzof to look for whales there.  Sometimes they swim right into the point.  It's important to wear lensless glasses upside down when whale watching.

We didn't see any whales at Woronzof either but we did get a great view of McKinley and a pretty view of Anchorage.  We spent some time there saying goodbye to this city we've called home for almost 4 years.

We took a little walk on the trail to Earthquake Park just for kicks.  Ah, spring in Alaska.  We're making it work.

The girls were pretty upset that we didn't get to see a Beluga whale, so for School Time we drove them over to the Grand Opening of Cabela's so they could see one hanging on the ceiling.

They had fun looking at all the other animals in the store as well.  I also drove them over to the Whaling Wall down town to see the giant Beluga there.

We sang Baby Beluga for awhile and Bunch informed me that the Beluga Whale is still her most favorite aquatic animal and always will be since she is an Alaskan girl!  For one very last 'w' hoorah we popped over to Wild Berry Products to get a treat.  This is definitely one of the cubs favorite places to visit.  We've come here often over the years, whenever we have a half-hour to kill.

There's something very soothing about a giant chocolate waterfall.  It just kind of melts the stress away.  It will be missed!

V is for Valdez Oil Spill

For letter V, I packed the kids up and drove out to Seward to the Sea Life Center.

We really wanted to go there one more time before moving and they have an exhibit on the Valdez Oil Spill I've been wanting to learn about.  It was much faster than attempting the snowy 7 hour drive to Valdez by myself!

We had a blast.  We looked at all the fish and animals.  The man cub was LOVING all the fish.  I could not tear him away from this first display.  He was doing the sign for fish and squealing.

We played forever in this ship pretending to be pirates and mermaids.

We made friends with this sea lion who was LOVING the sun as much as we were.  We especially loved the harbor seals.

We had a nice long private session (I think we were the ONLY ones there) with a docent that taught us all about the star fish and sea urchins.  We got to touch everything and even got sea urchin hugs on our fingers!

Claire Bear and I loved this octopus made out of garbage that washed up on shore.

When we stepped outside for a snack break we got to watch a small pod of Orca Whales and porpoises swim around right in Resurrection Bay! I'm going to miss views like this.  There is such a majestic and rugged beauty here.

We stopped to say hi to my most favorite Alaskan animal, the puffin!  I think they are so cute.  The cubs thought I was weird and dragged me off to see the life cycle of a much cooler animal, the Salmon.

I must admit.  Salmon are very interesting (and very delicious).

Then we went downstairs to the big tanks to watch the harbor seals and sea lions swim.  The girls started dancing and twirling in circles.  Soon all the harbor seals were swirling and twirling for them too.  It was amazing!  We also got to see all the big creepy arctic fish like giant halibut, jelly fish and Ling Cod.  Ugh.

It was a gorgeous sunny day, 50 degrees and just what our Vitamin D deficient souls needed.  So we stopped at the park to play for awhile.  We worked up quite an appetite running and swinging and learning how to do monkey bars.  We stopped for some freshly caught fish and chips before heading home.  It was a wonderful Alaskan day!

I learned a few things I didn't know about the Valdez Oil Spill. It happened in 1989.  11 million gallons of oil spilled into Prince William Sound. They are still suing people over it.  I did not know that the captain of the ship was DRUNK and he ran aground on the Bligh Reef.  On March 24, 2014, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the spill, NOAA scientists reported that many species seem to have recovered, with the sea otter the latest creature to return to pre-spill numbers. Nature is amazing at how it heals itself.

For School Time we learned about musical instruments that start with V.  Then I asked them who wanted to play the violin and they said, "No thanks mom.  I'm going to play the guitar.  It's waaay cooler."  Um? We also wanted to check three more things off of our Alaskan bucket list.  First we stopped by the 4th Avenue Visitor's Center to get a moose pin.

I told the cubs we were going somewhere with a letter that makes the sound 'vvvvv' and Claire squeals out 'V!' taking all of us by surprise.  Claire is pretty much allergic to the alphabet so teaching her any letters is as fun as getting teeth pulled.  I didn't believe that she knew what the letter was so I asked her what it looked like and she showed me with her fingers!  We were astounded and so proud!!!

We also played at Valley of the Moon park because we've wanted to ever since we moved here. Seemed like as good time as any.  

They loved playing in the Rocket Ship, pushing T-man on the swing and climbing in this strange Death Star contraption. I couldn't get them to leave! 

Last but not least we went on part of the Planetary Walk around town to find the planet Venus. 

The cubs love anything outer space related. We made it around Westchester Lagoon to Jupiter as well and played there for awhile.

Thanks letter V for checking off a few last things on our list.