Our Vacation

Last week Jason and I took a vacation to South East Alaska. It was really a work trip for Jason, and an excuse for me to tag a long to see some of Alaska that I have never seen before.
It was incredible! We took 6 days to make a journey of a lifetime to Petersburg Alaska and back.





Tuesday night we left Palmer and set out to make it about 150 miles to Tok. The drive was uneventful, and just the right distance for a night after working all day.
Wednesday morning we were on the road by 7am and drove to Haines, Alaska. This was about a 12 hour drive- so it was a long day. My body is getting too heavy to sit in one spot all day! :) In 12 hours the only wildlife that we saw was one black bear, and one Ptarmigan that I was sure we were going to kill with the van!

Haines was absolutley beautiful! It was a bit of a strange community for a "tourist" town because it really felt like we were the only tourists in town for 2 days. We rented bikes one day and road around town. I sat out on the sun deck overlooking the ocean and proceeded to get sunburnt while reading - but it was so relaxing!
Here are some pictures of Haines:






Friday morning we boarded a Ferry to Petersburg. This was another 13 hours of travel, but so worth it! We have had perfect weather, and finally got to see some wildlife! We stopped counting at 8 whales... We saw dahl porpus, eagles, otters, and sea lions to name a few other cool things!
Here are some pictures from the Ferry ride:







Petersburg is such a cool place! Jason and I both agreed that we could live here with out a doubt! (don't worry mom, I don't think we are moving). Again, the weather has been perfect. The people are so friendly, and everything is so cute. Petersburg is an island and the homes are all situated on the hill sides overlooking the ocean.
We didn't get many pictures of Petersburg, but here are a couple:

Defiant Child

Jackson showed his first act of difiance against his dad last weekend by kicking (or punching, or headbutting...not really sure which) him! :) That is what Jason calls it, I call it love taps! He is getting stronger which is fun so that others can feel him now. So far my mom, dad, and Jason have all been able to feel him. He seems to have been getting more active the last few days.

We had a really fun Memorial Day Weekend. We didn't go anywhere... instead had a BBQ at home, and worked on the yard.
We got the garden and green house all planted

We climbed The Butte on Saturday morning, which was a blast! Here are a couple of pictures

Some adventures

Well because I am going to be an "active blogger" now I thought that I would try to get you all caught up on some of the recent adventures Jason and I have had:

Jason took a trip part way up Mt Mckinley this spring to drop off a ration of food for a trip that NOLS is running this summer. It ended poorly with him having to get evacuated off the mountain because he got really sick. These are a few pictures that he took on the flight in (while he was still feeling well) this is the Otter that the 4 guys flew up in. Jason is truley facinated with this plane and its ability.














This is from Wonder Lake looking at Denali








In about March Jason and I took a snowmachine trip up bald ridge. It was hovering right around zero degree's - so it was cold, but it made for a beautiful day! We had unobstructed views of Mt Mckinley. These pictures don't do the beautiful sight justice:




This was also Jackson's first snowmachine trip.













Last weekend Jason and his friend Mike went kayaking down the Mat-Su river. It started out being a nice day, so I thought I would be a good wife and run shuttle for them and take some photos along the way
Jason is in the Yellow Boat












he held on to this one... just barely












and then he lost it













I didn't build the cairn, but I thought it would make for a cool picture

Jason hard at work... not much has changed there :)










And finally, a picture of me taken today. There is a shadow I know, but it gives a good idea as to how much this boy has pushed straight out in front of me!

Really Bad Blogger

Alright, I know we have been awful at this, and we keep promising to do better. I think the problem was that I have not been taking responsibility for this task! So here I am, blogging.

What is new with the Carmichael's:
Well, as most of you know, we are having a boy! We cheated and found out what we are having. Everything looks healthy. All 10 fingers and all 10 toes! We could not be more thrilled. We have decided on the name Jackson David Carmichael for our little man. I am getting so excited to meet him! I have been feeling great so far. I am still working out, and just trying to adjust to the "extra load" that is only getting bigger as the days go on!
We have had so much fun starting to shop for little Jackson. Jason bought him his first pair of Carhartt overalls and a Patagonia sweater - it is so cute!
I have finally started to feel him move on a regular basis. I have been anticipating it since about week 10, and finally on mothers day I felt it and knew it was him! Jason still hasn't been able to feel him yet, but I am sure it is only a matter of days.

Jason is in full swing at work now. He has his full staff there, and they have already begun to run trips around Alaska. I just got a promotion with Wells Fargo. I am now able to work out of the Palmer branch, which is 5 minutes away from my house (verses 30 minutes), and I am now a business banker. I am excited about the new opportunity and the challenge it will bring. I think it will be just enough to keep me busy so that I am not constantly thinking about when I get to meet Jackson!

This summer promises to bring a lot of adventures, and sounds like a lot of visitors too! We are expecting Jason's grandfather in July, his parents and my sister in August and possibly our friend Greg in September - and then the baby will be here!! This summer is going to fly by... I can feel it already!

I wanted to share a picture of me, by high request,





















and here is the ultrasound picture of Jackson (isn't he cute)

Well, we got a foot of snow on Saturday and then a perfect blue sky day on Sunday. Only one thing to do, Go Flying! So Frank has a friend who is a professional photographer that has been wanting to get some close up pictures of Mt. Redoubt. That is the volcano up here that they say is going to erupt any day now (doesn't look like it to me). So we decided to take him up in the Cessna 172 and fly him around for a bit. 3 hours, many great pictures, and one empty fuel tank later, we were back on the ground.

I was once again, breathless and the amazing beauty of this place. I would try to describe it but it would be impossible to put it into words. Pictures don't even do it justice, but they will have to do for now, until you all come visit (for those of you that don't live here). Enjoy!

I'm trying real hard to keep up my end of the deal. I'm here, posting.

We had amazing weather yesterday. I couldn't stand it so I took the second half of the day off and went flying. I flew up over some glaciers by our house and then headed over and took some aerial photos of NOLS Alaska where I work. Below are some pictures of my trip. They are not the best but I was flying and taking pictures at the same time.









That brings up something else. With this new camera that we have, I have taken up a bit of an interest in photography. I don't really know much about it, but I am doing my best. I will use this blog to showcase some of my better pictures. For those of you that are a little more photographically inclined (or even if your not) I welcome feedback and constructive criticism on my work.

I have been working hard on the entryway remodeling project. It is the most dramatic remodel we have done up till now on the house. As soon as I am done I will post some before and after pictures (I am pretty proud of it). After that's done, its on to building a kitchen island with a dishwasher in it(we currently don't have a dishwasher).

Not much new in the baby world. We have an appointment next week with the doc to hear the heartbeat for the first time. Right now the baby is about the size of a grape.

Its supposed to snow for the next 4 days. Should be fun this weekend.

We're back, plus one!

Ok, I have been getting a lot of crap (mostly from Leigh) about not updating our blog. So here it is.I will do my best to keep up with it a little better, but you guys are going to have to stay on top of me.

First and foremost, we are having a baby! We don't know if it is a boy or a girl yet, and we don't know what we are going to name it, and Richell hates to call it "it." So from here on out "it" will be referred to as "the baby," only of course until we give "the baby" a name. Which, when that happens, all you lovely people will be the first to know. The due date, as of now, is September 26th.

We have been having a great winter. The weather here has been crazy this winter. At one point we had two weeks of -20 degree weather and then immediately following that we had a week of 40 above and rain. All of the snow (not the snow in the mountains) melted and the streets flooded, and then it was back to zero and everything was frozen. The good thing is, all the while it was raining down here, it was dumping snow in the mountains making for an amazing winter wonderland.

We got out for the worst of the cold spell. Most of it happened while we were in Florida for Christmas. We had a great time. We spent a lot of time at the beach, surfing, and I spent quite a bit of time kite boarding with my brother. Richell went spearfishing for the first time and she shot her first fish. It was huge! We bought ourselves a new Nikon D60 for christmas so everything we have done since then, we have many great pictures of.

Richell's "huge" fish!


A day kiteboarding at East Beach


Back in Alaska, we haven't really done much snowboarding, I have only been up once, but I am not to worried about it. The best riding season up here is February and March anyways. Richell hasn't been snowboarding at all, and seeing as now she has to protect "the baby" she decided not to snowboard at all this year so she doesn't risk falling (she falls a lot). As for me, I seem to get my plate so full with hobbies that I end up having to start picking and choosing which ones I do. I have spent a lot of time flying. I did my first solo flight just before Christmas,and now I am just trying to rack up the hours. I have some more hurdles to jump through and a few more tests to take, but I am hoping to have my private pilots license by this summer.

Flying at Bald Ridge




Richell and I have also been doing some snowmachining. We have spent some time riding out at the cabin in willow as well as a great trip up to the top of Bald Ridge that gave us a great view of Denali and Mt. Foraker.

Richell in front of Mt McKinley and Mt. Foraker


The rest of my time has been spent remodeling our entryway. It is the last thing we are going to do to this house and then we are going to quit spending money on it and start saving to build our new home.

That is the last few months in a nutshell. Like I said, I will try to update more often. As long as you guys (Leigh) keep bugging me, it should happen.