An Early Christmas Surprise

Ever since Charity and I got married we have wanted a puppy. Me more than Charity. We were waiting for the best time, and since this of course never came we decided to just go for it. We wanted to get a dog that didn't shed and was good with kids. I also wanted a dog that wasn't worthless like a lapdog, but could hunt even if I never got around to using it. So we settled on the great scent hound, the Beagle. His registered name is Red Baron Darcy Compton and he was purchased from http://www.blackhawkbeagles.com/. He is a fully registered pure-bred beagle. The name comes from Charlie Brown. Snoopy, Charlie Brown's dog, is a beagle who is always flying and fighting the Red Baron, the greatest fighter pilot of world war I. Darcy is for nothing in particular. Just a name Charity found online for boy dogs that the kids liked. We had to give him to the kids on the 13th of December when he was 8 weeks old, and he has been a handful ever since. We love him though, and he is a great addition to the family. Hopefully he will be death on rabbits. He already smells out frogs and tries to eat them.

Brooke Goes To School!

After the Alaskan Adventure, it was back to school. Brooke being five now meant that she would be entering kindergarten. It was decided that she would attend public school, but in a classroom next to her mother. Her teacher is Mrs. Treadaway, and so far she has enjoyed it very much. She reads many words now and is learn more everyday. The pictures are from her orientation, first day, and her first field trip.

Our Alaskan Adventure

On the third day we went on a camping trip up the Selawik River. We packed up the boat with supplies and traveled up the river about 60 miles. We made camp on a sandbar at the spilt of the Tag and Selawik rivers. After setting up the camp we started fishing and immediately started to catch loads of pike and the occasional sheefish. The kids loved runing around on the sandbar and fishing with their Disney Princess and Cars fishing poles. Brooke got pretty good with hers and pulled in about three or four pike on her own. Adam also let her pull in a mighty big sheefish. Ethan enjoyed the camp fire and everyone enjoyed making smores. The only thing that dampen the mood was the rain. It rain the entire first night and off and on the rest of the trip, but we all still had a lot of fun. The rain caused the river to go up, which made the fishing not as good on the last day due to the water being made murky.

Cuddling because it is cold and wetBrooke showing everyone how it is done. With a three foot princess pole no less. Caleb got in on the action too.

Charity is liking fishing a little bit more at this point.

First Day In Selawik

On our first day in Selawik we went fishing for sheefish. And as you can see we caught quite a few. Charity caught the biggest one of the day but didn't want to have much to do with it. Ethan and Brooke both got to reel in some big ones as well. On the way back to the house Brooke got to drive Grandpa's fast jet boat.

On the way to the great fishing!

Bethany caught a nice one by herself.

Charity caught the biggest one, but didn't want to touch it. She is a city girl.

After our visit in Fairbanks, we caught a ride in a Piper Navjo from a friend to Selawik. Although the kids have tons of hours in airliners this was their first ride in a piston aircraft. They loved it of course.

This is Ethan and Uncle Caleb, Adam's adoptive brother, on the ground after the flight.

On the last day in Fairbanks, Cousin Kent gave us free tickets for the riverboat Discovery, which Adam had not been on in over twenty years. The ride takes you on the Chena River and makes several stops, one of which is at a recreated historic Alaskan village. Their website is http://www.riverboatdiscovery.com/

It has been awhile since we last updated the blog, but we wanted to show everyone our trip to Alaska that happened at the end of July.

This is the kids and Charity at the airport in Salt Lake City. Our trip from Orlando to Fairbanks took over 24 hours and we had a 12 hour layover here. Got to love portable dvd players.

We stayed in Fairbanks for a couple of days with Uncle Randy and Aunt Crystal. The kids went to Alaskaland with Crystal and Lauren and played on the playground. Kent let them shoot his paint ball guns and the famous Artist Randall Compton gave them a tour of his home studio.

Fourth of July

We went down town to watch the fireworks. Brooke took the picture above and was very proud of how it turned out.

Cake and Presents

Brooke and her newest little cousin Brianna.

One of the favorites of the party was the pinata. The kids had a blast taking turns. The funniest part was everyone trying to find the candy in the darkness. Every time I took a picture and the flash went off, someone would find more candy.

Brookie got princess toys and was so excited.

I made a Nemo cake for the kids. Each birthday child got their own cupcake with a candle to blow out..