Our 1st visitor

          In the last weeks of March, we had our first visitor.  Lea Weissenfels, our good friend and former au pair, made the haul from Germany to see us and visit Alaska.  Lea was with us in Vermont for a year in 2010 - lived upstairs and watched the kids for us.  We chose to have an au pair because of the unique relationship that evolves between care giver and family.  Our experience has been that the au pair truly becomes one of the family and cements a life long relationship.  Needless to say, it was nice to have her "back home".  

We began by taking her around town - the Alaska zoo is a unique outdoor experience with interesting creatures.

And we were blessed with what was the beginning of our spring weather - sunny and warm (in the 40's) - but still full snowpack.

The kids were excited to be able to take off their heavy jackets for the first time in months!

Sunny trips to Seward, Portage Glacier, and the Wildlife Conservation Center include some of the most amazing scenery in Alaska.

In the week after their visit, a juvenile Grizzly escaped from its' enclosure at the Wildife Center and mosied off into the surrounding country.  This bear has no survival skills as it was born in captivity and will most likely struggle to survive in the wilderness.  

This bear, however, is doing quite well in a wilderness setting!

Next, we went up to Willow and spent some time at the cabin.  Things are beginning to warm up a bit and the snowpack has become isothermic.  Meaning it is a bottomless slushy mess and will no longer hold your body weight.  The lake ice is fine though and we spent some time playing in the slush.

...and a failed attempt to auger through the lake ice.  We got about 3+ feet down and the ice was so dense, the auger would no longer cut through it!

Easter weekend was unique as it was the first time we have hunted eggs in the snow! We all had a good time sinking up to out thighs!

The wonderful thing about our relationship with our au pairs is how easy it is to be together, even after not seeing each other for several years.  The difficult thing is saying goodbye and not knowing when the next visit will be.  But these relationships will last, and knowing that will bring us together again, and it will be easy and comfortable, and the time between will melt away.