First Alaskan adventure of the summer

Richard, a dear friend and fishing buddy to Ralph and I, privileged me with a trout fishing trip to the lake using the beautiful wooden canoe he built himself. What an evening. I was able to put out my 'gone fishing' sign and join Richard at a local lake just behind my friend Nancy's house. There were no trout because of something being done to the lake, but the evening was beautiful and I was able to conquer my fear of deep water combined with little canoes! LOL Richard taught me to paddle and turn and I was even able to relax enough to do some trout fishing. We are hoping the water calms down enough by the end of the week to go again and actually catch some lake trout. I also got a bonus of beautiful bird watching while rowing. Here is a grebe and a goldeneye. Wish I could have gotten a little closer, but was happy to get these pictures.

Back to Alaska!

Back to Alaska. Guess what? Summer arrived while I was in MN. The days are LONG, the sun has been shining some and the temperatures are much better. We are running in the 60s and 70s now and the sun sets around 11:30pm! Here are a few pictures of my flowers. I have a limited ability to grow anything, so I just do the basics here in our yards. I love my logs for the plants.
Along with arriving home came Kyle much anticipated driving permit. He has started driving in our area and is doing well as long as he is driving the automatic. LOL
Of course no return to Alaska would be complete without getting the fishing supplies loaded into the car! Can you tell I can't wait to start catching fish??

The MN TWINS!!

We had am amazing treat while we were in MN. Not only was Sunday, May 27 Military Appreciate Day at the Metrodome enabling us to get in free, but our friends were able to get the Navare suite to sit and watch the game in! We had such a wonderful time. These pictures were taken in the suite.

This one was taken from some of the seats we had in the park.
I couldn't resist snapping a photo of the ceiling of the metrodome. Pretty cool place.

A few more MN happenings...

Curtis and Kyle playing on a friend's moped, in the pizza parlor parking lot.
The rides at the Mall of America. Beth and Kyle with some friends.

Kyle at the MN airport, with his buddy SNOOPY.

A couple more...from the MN Arboretum

MN wildlife

While at the MN Arboretum we saw this family of Canada geese. Aren't they adorable?
This one was sitting on her nest.

More Misc MN photos

Frisbee golf was our favorite pass time while we were in MN. That and playing Settlers of Catan. Here is a photo of Beth and Kyle learning to play
Here are the professional disc golf players. You should see Elizabeth throw that thing
Well, you should see Elizabeth throw that things most of the time. This throw ended up in the river, but Kyle was the hero and waded in and save the beloved disc.
This little beauty was in the grass. A young robin, probably didn't make it, but it was a thrill to get to see it close up.
Beth climbing a tree at the MN Arboretum.

Misc graduation week photos

Curtis, Elizabeth and I singing and playing at church. Hear us singing together by clicking on this link. To hear Curtis sing 'Give me Jesus' click here.
Curtis and Dr. Donaldson, one of his favorite professors
Curtis and Dr. Rivard, the other favorite professor
Curtis and Elizabeth at the graduation banquet
Elizabeth and her beautiful sisters

MORE recital pictures...whoops

Curtis performing one of his songs

Two beautiful photos of Elizabeth performing.
Curtis composed a song for piano, violin (played by Elizabeth), tenor, baritone and alto. Here are the vocalists performing his composition. Click on 'composition' to hear the song.

Special graduation 'stuff'

Curtis' Senior Key Honors medal.
Elizabeth just after receiving her diploma, getting a congrats from her Aunt.
Curtis FINALLY getting his much awaited diploma.
The Kettler/Schmidt Families...missing one special person (sigh)

Graduation Day!!

Here are the graduates. Elizabeth graduated with a degree in Piano Performance. Curtis graduated with a music degree is Worship Arts. Elizabeth is planning on finishing her business degree and Curtis will be going back to school to get his masters in Choral Conducting after taking this year to work at the college in the music department.
Can you see my pride? I am so proud and at the same time humbled by how the Lord has blessed us all!

Waiting patiently for the diplomas
Waiting impatiently for the diplomas

Trip to MN!!

We went to MN to visit Curtis and Elizabeth. During our trip we attended their senior recital and their graduation among other events. For the next few blog postings I will be getting my family updated with photos of our trip. After that we will go back to regularly scheduled programming and our Alaskan Adventures including a wonderful canoe and fishing!

This is the poster that was up around the college for their recital. Aren't they cute?
Here is the program for their recital. It was beautiful.
It was a family event, getting ready for this recital. Here are the kids and their Grandma Moore.
Ready to perform!!!!!! No nerves here! LOL
One last shot before heading to the chapel. My amazing children!

Graduation Day Picture

This is the group of pictures we had open for people to sign at Beth's graduation. It came out beautiful and is such a neat addition to our 'graduate' wall!!