HAINES, AK.

The city of Haines is going to be our home for the summer. I have been here before on one of my trips, and fell in love with the town. I thought it would be a great place to bring my family. When you arrive to town on the ferry, the view is breathtaking. We are actually staying about 10 miles out of town, right on the end of the Lutak inlet.





A view of the town coming in on the road from our cabin







The boat dock in Haines







A picturesque town, nestled in the mountains








The last light from the sun shines on the Coast Range Mountains







Map of the Chilkat Peninsula (notice where we are on the map)

Ferry to Haines

No more airplanes for us! From Juneau, we took a 2.5 hour ferry ride north to the city of Haines. Talk about travelling in luxury--plenty of leg room, able to walk around and go to the snack bar, restrooms, etc. It was great. A 180 degree turn around from our previous day's travels. Not to mention the beautiful views of glaciers and snow-covered mountains that we passed on either side. We were told that often you will see whales on this little trip. The boys kept a close watch, but unfortunately, no whales.

Juneau

Juneau, the capital city of Alaska, is a beautiful city. For you trivia buffs, it's the only capital city in the continental U.S that you can't access by road. Again, we decided to stay the night before moving on to our final destination and do a little sight-seeing. After checking in to the hotel we decided to go see a movie. I mean, our first time to a new and beautiful city, what better thing to do than go and watch Shrek, right? (I hope you're sensing the sarcasm!) Well, after sitting on an airplane as long as they did, I figured the least I could do was take the kids to a movie. It was great, too, because we were the only ones in the movie theater. When the movie ended, Katelyn went up onto the stage and danced around in the lights from the movie projector. She quite enjoyed herself. I think she thought she was in the movies.

Afterwards, we took a bus downtown and had dinner at a famous Juneau restaurant called "The Hangar", and boy did they have some amazing fish and chips.

The next morning before leaving Juneau, we took a couple hours to go see the Mendenhall Glacier and surrounding waterfall--they were absolutely beautiful!





Overlooking the water on the boardwalk in downtown Juneau







Kristen and Kylie









Mendenhall Glacier and waterfall

Seattle to Juneau

(***Disclaimer*** Kristen says I write too much. First of all, I apologize. Secondly, it won't hurt my feelings if you don't want to read my long and wordy, oftentimes mundane and silly, sad attempts at creative writing. It's for my benefit more than yours. What can I say? I'm doing my best to be a thorough family historian. So feel free to just scroll through the pictures--they're probably the best part of the blog anyway!)

Our flight left Seattle the next morning at 6:30 am. And let me tell you how easy it is to get a family of 6, including 4 children and a wife who has been up all night nursing a baby, to the airport early enough to catch a 6:30 am flight. I can assure you it is not very easy! We were flying on alaska airlines, and for whatever reason they wouldn't let me pick our seats online when I bought the tickets. They wouldn't even assign us seats when we checked our bags! It wasn't until we actually got to the gate that they were assigning seats, and since we didn't get to the gate very earlier (and I might add that going through security was a joke/nightmare!), by the time we were assigned our seats every single one of us had a single seat spread all around the cabin. Not one of us was sitting with someone in the family. And to make matters worse, it wasn't just a direct flight to Juneau either--it is what they call the "mail run" flight. The plane stopped in Ketchikan, Wrangell, and Petersburg, before finally arriving in Juneau. And at each stop, they wouldn't let us off the plane. So what should have been a 2.5 hour plane ride, ended up being about 7 hours on the plane. Not very fun! So before leaving Seattle I drugged up all the kids with Dramamine and prayed for the best. It was a long trip, but somehow we made it.

Alaska (via Seattle)

OK, so for those of you who don't know, the Reeses have decided to spend the summer in Alaska. Kristen thought it wasn't fair that I got to go to Alaska, but her and the kids had to stay home. So, last summer we started planning a family trip for the summer of 2010. Well, at the time we made the plans, we didn't know we were going to have a baby. I thought that would change things, but nothing can stop Kristen when she gets her little adventurous mind set on something. So on May 31st, the day after we said goodbye to our exchange student, and 3 weeks after having a baby, we packed up and headed to Alaska.

First stop along the way was an overnight layover in Seattle. I intentionally had us stay the night there because I know Kristen likes to take any chance she can to go and show the kids a new place. So with only a couple hours to spare, we went downtown to Pikes Market and the Space Needle. Somehow on the way there (we rented a car) we drove past the exit for the market (how was I to know? I've never been there!) and I think we almost made it to Canada before I realized it. Everybody else had fallen asleep in the car (and I was about to myself, considering I was going on about 3 hours of sleep from packing the night before). I finally had to stop at McDonalds and get a shake to wake me up, and that's when I discovered I had gone way too far. Anyway, we finally made it, and had a fun time walking around the market.

SLC airport--ready to go!






Due to rising costs of checked bags, all the kids took was a carry-on and a "personal item" (their backpacks). Everything they would need for 2 months!









Lots of sea food at the market. But what do we need to buy salmon for? we'll be catching our own before long!








Kristen, Kaden, & Caleb in Pikes Market








Family shot outside the market

Space needle. Ok, so we didn't go in the Space Needle. Just got close enough to take a pic and say we were there.

Karin van der Velde

After 10 months, our adopted 18 year old daughter (foreign exchange student) is going home. Karin is a girl of great confidence, intelligence, and motivation. I have no doubt that she will accomplish great things in her life. It was fun for us to get to meet her dad and brother who came to pick her up. It was a pleasure for us to have her as a part of our family, and we will miss our "Coco" (as Katelyn lovingly called her).








Karin and her new "little sister", Kylie.







Caleb & Karin--we ate our last "family night" meal at Tepenyaki (we've been telling Karin we wanted to take her there the whole time she's been with us, and we finally made it the last week.)








Caleb, Hans (Karin's dad), Karin









Edward (Karin's brother) and Katelyn









Hans, Edward, Karin, Kristen, Kylie, and Katelyn in Park City

Baby Girl

Kylie Reese, born May 7, 2010, weighing 7 lbs. 12 oz., and 20 inches long.

We went in to the hospital for a 7:30 am induction (actually arrived about 7:45--surprise, surprise), hoping for a quick labor and delivery. Didn't happen! She was high up in the birth canal and didn't want to come down. After turning sideways a couple different times, requiring a little extra love and attention from Dr. Hasket, (and succeeding at making things a little more difficult), and after patiently waiting for her to make her move, she finally decided to join us about 4:30 pm.
Everything was good at first, but then after several hours, for some reason, her oxygen levels started going down. However, after a round of antibiotics, and a couple extra days in the NICU for monitoring, she got to come home. And wouldn't you know it, the night before coming home she got a little jaundiced. So we got to bring home the "lights" for her to sleep under. Wow, how many girls can say they spent the first week of their life on a tanning bed? What a lucky girl!
And speaking of lucky....I'm a fortunate man to have such an amazing wife, incredible family, and a new, beautiful, and healthy baby girl!