Mini Vacation- Photo Dump

Hey all!  I'm back from a super refreshing and incredibly fun week with my friend Elana.  She and I have been friends practically since we were embryos (okay, three and four years old so close enough) and sadly we don't see each other or even get to talk that much due to the fast pace of life, our living across the country from each other, etc.  Two and a half weeks ago I didn't even know we'd be seeing each other soon, but she suddenly decided to book a trip up to visit and holy cow am I SO GLAD.  Reconnecting was fantastic, we giggled like we were kids again. It was fun to show her a little piece of our life up here.

 There are a million and one photos that I'll be sharing here in this post, but in case you aren't really interested in seeing them all, I'm going to put them after the page break.  Come along if you want to see more from the week!

I know this is a large load of pictures, but I'll be loving these memories for a long, long while.  Anyway, we spent her first day here bumming around Anchorage, eating at the most delicious breakfast place of all time, etc.  Just walking around the sidewalks was a grand ole time for Henry, and we had so much fun giggling while we watched (see toward the bottom)  It's nice being able to do nothing with someone and have so much fun doing it. 

The next day we took off for a short camping trip all together in our friends Megan & Josh's 15 passenger van. We were a little shocked at how well the ride went with Henry and their babe Brody- such relief!

If you aren't fishing or hiking and the like, there isn't that much to do in Homer, AK.  But you don't need  much to do, because just being there is pretty special, in my opinion.  It's just beautiful, being surrounded by snowy mountains and the ocean.  It's one of my very favorite camping spots because camping on "the spit", the tents are literally on the beach.  Just far enough from the water that we don't disappear into it with the tides.  It was rainy and gloomy, but that's sort of typical and was still lovely!  We strolled along all the shops resting up on boardwalks, ate at the coziest pizza place I've ever seen, etc.  Seriously, I wanted to live there.  It was like a combination of a little log cabin and a green house.  Amazing! 

The boys eyeing the halibut before they were fileted.

I think we were all a little nervous about camping with the baby-tots.  The last time we were there they were 4 months old and it was so much easier because they weren't settled into any routines and schedules surrounding sleep.  But now, they both sleep in their rooms, not outside in tents when the sun shines bright until nearly midnight.  I suppose you could say they were a little confused... But we did sort of sleep so we'll call it a success.  Everyone was excited to get back to town and continue the little adventures around here. I don't want to bore you all with a play by play of our entire week together, but it was grand.  Elana, THANK YOU for coming to visit us all the way up here!

Amazing friends!

                     

The boys now, and the last time we were there, a year ago almost!

Two affectionate sweethearts.  This dandelion patch was one of the highlights for them.  The simple things, right?

Cool dude walking downtown

Elana and Henry spent the morning together the one half day I had to work, and I came home to these.  Henry bought me flowers-- Elana, thanks for understanding him when he told you he wanted to do so ;)

I have completely been reminded to not let so much time pass between catching up with friends that I don't get to see all the time. No matter how busy the schedules are, I will be making these friendships a top priority.