Don't let the sun go down on me...

Jeremy and I flew to Alaska on Thursday afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa Meredith flew out from Virginia to spend some time with the grandkids. They were here for a day before Jeremy and I took off. Since Addison had only met them once before (back in November), I was worried how he would react, but he took to Grandma and Grandpa immediately, and even wanted them over me. I was relieved yet hurt a little at the same time, not gonna lie. ;)

Why Alaska? Jeremy has been traveling there for work for a few years now, and I've always wanted to go. He seems to always end up there on summer solstice. I've heard of the sun being up at midnight, but I had never actually experienced it. It is bizarre!

Here is the view from the plane as we flew in at 9pm...


...and this is midnight! (Friday night) The only reason it looks this "dark" is because of the storm coming in...


...which I ran in the next day. My sister ran this race last year and she said it was absolutely beautiful, so I've been itching to come up and run it ever since. It is called the Midnight sun marathon. Since this coming Saturday (yikes!) is my 1/2 marathon in Seattle that I'm running with my sister, I opted to only do the 5.6 mile race this past weekend. I thought 2 half marathons a week apart was a little much. When I went to pick up my race packet on Friday, I felt like a geek asking for my "5-mile" packet with all the hard core marathoners and 1/2 marathoners walking around.

Me before my race...

...crossing the finish line, cheered on by my best friend...

...and after the race holding my finishers pin. Kind of funny, there was a 1.3 mile kid's race as well as the 1/2 marathon and full marathon. Everyone that finished those got a medal... and then us 5 milers got a little pin... wasn't helping my "feeling like a geek" factor... lol

And not that I was crazy fast, and I didn't "win" the race like my girls asked me, but I ran my fastest ever, so I was proud of myself. If I can keep that up this weekend, I'll beat my time from last year for sure! Plus, the view was beautiful.

Jeremy and I also did some shopping and sightseeing. Here we are at the largest chocolatefall in the world.

At this shop, we also found the funniest book. I need to look it up on Amazon. Well it is probably only funny to people in my family. We grew up watching the Marx Brothers, which sadly no one seems to know nowadays. But they are ridiculously hilarious. I got a lot of my roommates into them as well.

...same shop, why not take a picture with oversized stuffed bears for no reason? That's what I always say. Added bonus: creepy old guy working the counter that won't stop smiling and staring at you. Yeah. We left right after that. :) (I am pretty cute)

Across the street was this fabulous restaurant we ate at. It was so good! Aren't we so cute?

This is downtown Anchorage at the "Ulu Factory." Jeremy has been obsessed with Ulu knives ever since he first visited Alaska. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Either way, this time we got him one. So maybe I won't have to hear so much about them anymore. j/k. Love you Jeremy. :) Naturally, he also had to test out the sled in front of the store.

What is with Alaska and the Marx Brothers? I don't know. We would have eaten here out of principle, but once we looked at the prices on the menu in the window, we didn't eat here... out of principle. lol... but pictures are free! (in case you can't tell, it is called the "Marx Brother's Café" and I'm pretty sure the password is "swordfish")

Also downtown, apparently every year on summer solstice it is a huge deal. There was an outdoor market that we walked around. I saw this sign at one of the shops that totally cracked me up. My sister and I used to say this all the time.

Sometimes, you just need to hug a creepy bear.

While we waited for our 1:45am flight home, we drove around to see some of the sights. I was bummed that it was so windy and overcast! But it was still beautiful.

This is "Beluga Point" where you can spot beluga whales!

...unfortunately, the only ones we spotted were diving out of the cement.

We got back to Tri-Cities at 8:40am after having no sleep. I basically hadn't slept in 3 days though, so why not stay awake one more? That daylight at nighttime has got to take some getting used to. It just felt like taking an afternoon nap. I kept waking up every hour certain that it had to be morning. Only it was 1:30, then 2:30... Needless to say, Sunday afternoon, I totally crashed. The sight of darkness Sunday night was never more welcome!

Jeremy's sister Jessica, her husband Jared and their baby Lukas came up this weekend too! They came from Northern California. It was so fun to see them! It was like an impromptu Meredith family reunion. Only Justin and Jana were missing. :(

Here are little cousins Addy and Lukas "driving" Liah's Jeep. They are so cute together!

Grandma has fallen in love with Skippyjon Jones. My kids LOVE having stories read to them, so it all worked out.

Yesterday, we went and saw a train and the kids got to climb around on it. They had a blast.

Lukas!

Emmy in her new Alaska hat...

Emmy and Sean...

Liah...

...and of course, Grandpa!

Here are Grandma and Grandpa with all the kids:

Grandma and Grandpa left this morning, much to the dismay of Liah and Emily. It was nice to have a visit. It has been a while!

Now time for aunt Lorie to come!