One Year in Alaska

Wow! At the end of July I had officially lived in Alaska for a whole year. I have made so many new friends, experiences, and memories. So far, we have done sports, joined a church and youth group, finished 1 year of school, one week of another year, a cold winter and much, much more.

My family joined a church and I joined a youth group. I got to know and love the Youth Group leader.

I have made so many friends throughout the year. I made some through my Youth Group and a lot through choir and in my classes, too. I’ve stayed in touch with most of the friends I made thru summer.

The family hikes are still going strong! In fact my mom, dad and I went on a 6 hour hike about a month ago. Our favorite hikes are Flattop, Turnagain, and O’Malley.

My mom and I decided to play tourist for 4th of July weekend. We hiked on a glacier, went white water rafting and zip lining. It was my first time to go white water rafting. In zip lining we had to brake by ourselves before landing on the next platform. Both of them were super fun, really exciting and even exhilarating at some parts. Nobody even fell out of the raft. The zip lining was so good I did it later with my dad and brother at a different location. The glacier was really fun and we got to see a lot of stuff.

We also did some traveling this past year. We went to California, Houston, and Missouri. In California we toured colleges for my brother, relaxed on the beach and in the pool, and even went on a Warner Bros. Studio Tour. The tour was my favorite part. It was fun to see where I’ll be in 20 years. We saw some family in Missouri at Christmas and it was really fun to see all of my friends in Texas during New Year’s and the following week.

Elliott’s favorite things were playing tourist with mom, hiking, choir and making friends. Mom’s favorite things were hiking, new adventures, and watching Trevor and Elliott experience new things. Trevor’s favorite things were his friends visiting, taking pottery, and no heat. Dad’s favorite things were spending time with the family, flying, and hiking with mom.

I miss all of my friends in Texas and cant believe it’s already been a year in Alaska. I can’t wait till the next time I see you. And, you should definitely begin planning your trip to see me in Alaska next summer!

come and visit!!!

Texas, Missouri, Acting, and More…

Sorry it took me so long to write again. When I went to Texas so many people called me out and motivated me to write another one and fast. When people came to visit they also told me that they were missing my blogs.

Speaking about Texas. In January we celebrated the New Year in Texas with all of my old friends.We saw the new movie” Sing” on New Year’s Eve and then celebrated the New York City New Year which might’ve been an hour before. Lets go back in time to Christmas in Missouri.

Now to Missouri. We celebrated Christmas with family in Missouri. My two favorite gifts were Sony headphones and a drone that can record videos to my iPhone. We opened gifts from the family Christmas Eve with a big Christmas Eve lunch. The next day we opened a few more gifts with my mom, dad and brother.

On to the acting. Miracle on 34th Street went amazing! It was my first play in Alaska and with TBA which stands for Training Better Artists! This summer I was part of their Advanced Summer Academy and in “The Merry Wives of Windsor”. It was my first Shakespeare play.  It was about a fat knight called Falstaff that tried to make love to two wives of really rich people, so he could get all of the money. I played Falstaff’s squire. I got pretend to be drunk and flirt with a lot of girls. I had such a great time with both plays and met a lot of people.

We’ve had a lot of people come see us in Alaska. My grandma came up a couple more times. One of those times was with my aunt who never travels so, this was a big deal. My aunt had a blast and had lots of sunny days. She went on a 1-day Glacier cruise, saw Denali, went to Kenai  and Girdwood and even though traveled a lot, she never saw a moose. My other set of grandparents also got to come to Alaska and they’re still here. They leave in a couple of days. So far, they went on a land and sea tour that started in Vancouver, saw lots of wildlife, and lots of shopping. My brother’s friend Andrew came up a couple days ago and has already seen a bear!!! A couple of months ago, my friend, Will Echols and his family came up and spent a week with us. We hiked a lot, looked at planes and shopped. If you want to come up text me or my mom and we can make plans.

At the beginning of the summer I went back to Texas for 2 weeks. My church in Texas has a camp every year called Kamp Kingsland. I got to see some of my friends again which was really fun. I went to another camp that I’ve gone to since I was 6 called Pine Cove. At both camps we stay in cabins. Luckily, they have running water, plumbing and most importantly AC! Highlights for Kamp Kingsland are the people there/hanging out with my friends, a giant 3 person swing that feels like you free fall for a little bit, and the food. Highlights for Pine Cove include: tubing, theme nights, the counselors, and of course, the food.

Well my dad got a new job and just got a little break after training. He’s flying again. Life in Alaska is pretty good except for the bears. They have already attacked 9 people this year and killed some people including a kid which I met at BP’s Bring Your Kid to Work day. Please pray for all of these families.

School starts up in a couple of days. I miss each and everyone of you. You all mean a lot to me and keep being you. Thanks for reading. That’s a rap!

 

Moose, Pumpkins & First Snow…

Well, I can’t believe it’s been another month since my last post! I’m going to try to do this  every weekend if I can. First let me just say “Go Cubbies” – what an amazing World Series!  We had a lot of fun here yelling at the TV – lol.

We are still going on hikes every weekend (even if it means walking around the neighborhood today). Two weeks ago we went on a hike called Falls Creek. We took a wrong turn and ended up following a moose trail and found a lot of thorns. My mom called it an adventure, I call it lost. We thought we had to cross a creek and got a little wet. Mom, dad and I went back there last week and stayed on the trail this time! It was pretty cool (literally).  The trail basically went straight up the mountain from the Cook Inlet. It was really steep! But, the views were amazing when we got above the tree line.  BTW – Champ still loves hiking…

My mom bought a pumpkin for Halloween that I was going to carve out but it went bad so we set it across the street in the woods. The next week I saw the pumpkin was eaten by a moose. Speaking of Halloween and pumpkins, I went as a pumpkin for Halloween. We had a school dance and I went with a girl named Cayce. She said she didn’t want to dance so I danced with some of my friends.

I have made a lot of new friends at my school including a bunch of 8th graders. All of the 8th graders call us “Sevveys” which I think is funny. It’s my first year at public school and it’s interesting not having Bible class. I’ve been going to Bible class since I was in Kindergarten and talking about God but they don’t have a Bible class here. On the positive side, I’m not required to wear a uniform to school – yea! I am having a lot of fun in my video production class and chamber choir. We had our very first concert last week which was fun.

The only animal I haven’t seen yet is a bear but they are all hibernating now. This week my mom saw a moose on the front porch of a house in our neighborhood eating a pumpkin and my dad saw a moose right outside our front door – check out the picture! It did snow a few inches in the middle of October and I got to go sledding. Sledding is the best!!! My mom and I went to the hill that we ran football drills – it’s much more fun sledding down it! I also made my first snow angel and of course threw a few snowballs at my brother – hahaha. Unfortunately, the snow has all melted now but the sidewalk is slick in the mornings from all of the frost which is kind of weird.

Rehearsals for Miracle on 34th Street started last week. Stay tuned to hear more about how this is going in my next post… I’m also doing an skit for United Way tomorrow night as part of their “Impact Tour” where I play a boy whose family is homeless.

Alot can happen in a month…

Well, today is October 1st which means it’s been a month since my last post. Let’s just say I’ve been really, really, really busy!

So far, school started, I became a teenager, did a 5 hour glacier cruise, went fishing, visited the end of the earth, went to the Alaska State Fair, more hiking of course, saw a moose up close and personal and was cast in my first play in Alaska.

Let’s start with my birthday and officially becoming a teen. I had my party with friends in Houston before moving so the big day here was kind of low key. It’s tradition in my family to get to pick where you want to go eat so I chose Texas Roadhouse (which I have renamed Alaska Roadhouse because it just makes more sense) and we had a Cold Stone Ice Cream birthday cake afterwards. Last year my mom said that if I didn’t lose my phone for the entire year, I could get a new iphone for my birthday. So, let’s just say I was motivated and now I’m the proud of owner of an iphone7!

My brother’s birthday is only two days before mine and my mom’s parents came to visit so my parents decided to celebrate by spending Labor Day weekend on the Kenai Peninsula.  We started off by doing a 5 hour Glacier cruise. It was amazing!  We saw Orca whales, sea lions, sea otters, lots of tourists, supposedly two bears and of course 26 glaciers! At the front of the boat on the outside deck it was very windy and cold but it was worth it – in Alaska you can see God’s creative handiwork everywhere!

The next day we drove to Homer and had lunch on the Spit at the “end of the earth”. We saw a lot of cool sites and had fun walking on the beach and looking at all of the shops. We spent the night in a cabin and got up early the next morning to go on our first Alaska fishing trip on the Kenai River. It was raining (of course!) but we had good gear. In Alaska, you don’t change your plans you change your gear!

It was a half day fishing trip with a guide in a boat and it quickly became obvious who was the best fisherman – me! I caught about dozen fish, my mom caught 1, dad caught 2, and Trevor caught 4 or 5. I was too busy catching my own to keep track of his… The only disappointing part was that we didn’t get to keep any of the fish but I got lots of pictures but after about my 6th fish mom the photographer went on strike. It was really wet and cold and none of us had gloves – more gear to buy!

School is pretty cool.  It’s very different than SBS but I like it. I made the advanced chamber choir and the video production class. Of course, there’s also the usual stuff like pre-algebra, geography, science, English…  The two things I miss the most, besides my friends, are Bible class and the my teachers .

The Alaska State Fair is famous for the giant vegetable contests. And, let me tell you those are the biggest vegetables I have ever seen! My mom bought a giant zucchini – thankfully she never got around to cooking it or we’d still be at the table trying to clean our plates!

Don’t worry we’re still hiking. One of my recent favorites was hiking to the top of Flattop which involved some rock climbing. It was cool that someone had put a flag at the top. A couple of weeks ago we decided to hike McHugh Creek again because people usually see bears there. It was not our day for bear but Trevor and I saw a moma moose up close and personal. Mom and dad decided to hike to the other trailhead as Trevor and I went back to get the car to drive around and meet them. As we got close to the parking lot there stood a big moose with her baby across the trail. Moose are really mean and not very smart. I held Champ and hid behind a tree while Trevor and this other guy made noise to make the moose move along.  No luck!  So, we backtracked a bit to another trail and made it to the car. Mom calls it a bad parenting decision to let us go by ourselves back to the car – it was kind of scary but also fun!

A couple of weeks ago I auditioned with a community theater company called TBA for Miracle on 34th Street. I’m really excited I was cast as Tommy Jr. – you know the kid who testifies in court that Santa IS real. Rehearsals start in November and we will do about 10 shows in December. Let me know who is planning to road-trip to Alaska to see the play (Mrs. Young / Mrs. Clark it’s not that much further than A.D. Players!) and I’ll get you front row tickets!

Snow is coming soon – we’ve already had “Termination Dust” which is apparently the termination of summer/fall, construction and tourist seasons as well as snow reappearing on the mountain tops that surround Anchorage.

 

 

Happy 13th birthday!

Top of Flattop with Champ!

One of the 26 glaciers!

Orca whale surfacing

Sea Lions on the 26 Glacier cruise

Road trip to Talkeetna to see Mt. Denali

At earth’s end on the Homer Spit

My first fish in Alaska and the first of many on this trip!

First fishing trip on the Kenai.

Mom and her giant zucchini

On our way to the top of Flattop.

Termination snow

Skipping rocks on the Kenai

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE HIKES

Since arriving in Alaska hiking has become a new family tradition.  My mom is determined that we go on a hike every weekend.  So far, so good.

Today we were planning to hike Flat Top. It’s a really popular hike here. But, my dad had to go back to Kansas City so we decided to wait and do it with him next weekend.  Instead we hiked on the Power Line trail.  It was fun to see another new place but my brother and mom thought it would be more fun on a bike since it’s pretty flat.

Last weekend we got to go on a hike that started above the tree line! We saw so many beautiful sights and also some “rock chucks”(which looks like prairie dogs).  I don’t know what the trail is officially called but my mom calls it Arctic Valley – it’s just north of Anchorage and it’s a downhill ski place in the winter.  There are several trails here and we decided to go up the steep trail.  My brother had to chase Champ and then decided to blaze his own trail and met us at the top. It was a little challenging but really fun.  Lots of blueberries to eat along the way. They were not very sweet so I didn’t eat them but there were a lot of people going out and picking them. We hiked to the very tip of the peak and took pictures. It was really windy and cold!

The previous weekend we drove about 40 minutes south of Anchorage to Girdwood and hiked the Winner Creek trail.  It was really cool because it had a hand tram where we got in a cage thing and had to pull ourselves across the gorge.  It has been raining ALOT so the trail was muddy but nobody really cared. We saw the rescue team because some guy from Texas had disappeared in the forest a few days earlier and they were trying to find him.

The first weekend that Dad and Trevor were here we did a short hike at McHugh Creek. It’s the first hike my mom did in Alaska and where she saw a moma bear and two cubs.  Trevor and I were hoping we would see a bear but no luck!  My mom says it was good that we didn’t see a bear – Trevor and I don’t agree.

My first weekend in Alaska (before Dad and Trevor got here) we went to Girwood and hiked a part of the Winner Creek trail. Gigi even “hiked” to Zug’s Slide which is where an Avalanche came close to the ski resort.  Later we rode the Alyeska tram up to the top of a mountain where you can ski in the winter. My mom and I went up the trail a little further and we saw snow! :)We walked in it for a little bit but then I was tired and sat down in the snow. It was really cold, especially in July. We then hiked back down and had some hot chocolate. It was a great first weekend in Alaska!

Ok, that catches you up on all of our hikes!  See you next time.

Beautiful view at top of Alyeska

At top of Alyeska in the July snow!

Top of Arctic Valley

First Hike – Winner Creek

The Hand Tram at Winner Creek

McHugh Creek Trail looking at Cookinlet

Me and Champ at top of Arctic Valley

Me and Gigi in Girdwood

 

 

Texas to Alaska

Well, it’s been a few years since I started this blog and I only made two posts… I’m on another great adventure and going to give it another try!  I hope you have some fun following the adventures of a Texas boy in Alaska!

Why am I here?  Glad you asked! Earlier this year my mom’s job moved from Houston to Anchorage so here we are….  I’ve been here about three weeks now and so far have been on a few hikes, seen some moose but no bears yet!  And, believe it or not, I’ve already been in some snow (in July!).

I got to fly here in first class – that was amazing! The seat completely laid down and the movies were free which was really good since it was a 7 hour flight. I watched Eddie the Eagle and then surfed through some  other movies like The Incredibles and Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Road Chip. My dog Champ and my grandma (Gigi) also came on the flight…my mom was already here so she picked us up at the airport.

The first big difference between Houston and Anchorage is the temperature.  It was so shocking the first few times to open the car door and not be hit by the heat and humidity!

Well, that’s it for my first post…

The Tonsils

Last Tuesday was a big day in my life.  I went to the hospital to have my tonsils out!  We got to the hospital around 9:00 and found out the doctor was two hours late.  I got to talk to Miss. Ashley in a pretend operating room.  She told me all about what I would see and what would happen.  I even got to choose what the sleepy medicine would smell like.  I chose cotton candy!

There were lots of games to play while we waited for my turn.  My mom and dad also brought my DSi and my mom’s iPad to play on while we waited.  My mom said I did really good waiting – especially since I couldn’t eat anything all morning.  I was so good my mom said she would take me anywhere I wanted to go eat next week when I felt better.  I was kind of hungry but playing video games helped.

When they finally called us back I got to pick out my special pajamas.  There were three colors:  green, yellow and blue.  I chose the blue ones.  We watched Winnie the Pooh while we waited some more in our room.

When the doctors came, they told me I could bring “Dragon Boy” and my blanket “Farm”.   They put a name tag on Dragon Boy just like the one I was wearing.  I kissed my mom and dad and then walked back to the operating room with the doctor and nurse.  Once we got to the operating room, they asked me to climb up on the bed and lay down.  So I did.  Then the doctor put the special mask on me and hooked it up to two things.  Then they asked me to breathe into it – it smelled just like cotton candy!  I went to sleep pretty fast and I don’t remember what happened because I was asleep.

The next thing I know I wake up in a different room.  I must have woke up super fast because my mom and dad weren’t there yet.  The nurse asked me if I wanted a drink or a popsicle. I chose a popsicle. It was red.  I was eating it when my mom and dad got there.  I ate the whole thing.  I told my mom and dad and the nurse that I was ready to go home.  They told me we had to stay for 90 minutes. Since I didn’t go back to sleep, the nurse found a video machine and I got to watch the movie “Cars” until it was time to leave.

The best part of the whole day was when I got to ride in a wheel chair to the car!  I had seen other people ride in a wheel chair but I had never ridden in one. It was fun!!!!!!!

When I got home I laid on the couch and watched Aliens in the Attic. I was really hungry so I had cake batter ice cream, a bowl of mac n cheese, 2 eggos and a push-up.  My mom was shocked at all I ate!

That’s it for now.  I might think of more to say about my tonsils later…

 

 

Hello world!

Hi!  I’ve decided to start a blog about all of my great adventures.  I hope you have fun reading it!!