Comments by Kary:

We left for our adventure up North on Friday, June 1. It was a sunny day which made us all feel happy. We picked up aunt Beppy and started our journey. Our first stop was Wasilla. Ray has two job offers out there on Thursday and the principal invited him to come back the next day and bring his family to see how we feel about the school. She knew we were heading North, so it worked out perfectly for our plans. So, we stopped by and Ray gave me a tour of the school and his classroom. It felt comfortable there. We then went to the principals' office (no, we were not in trouble; ) ), and I met Sid Duffin. She is sooooo positive. I loved her energy! She visited w/ us for a while and we talked about our families. She's really into family, so that's very cool. Anyway, as we were leaving, she told Ray how much she wanted him there, she had heard so many good things from ASD. Then, she pulled out a Colony High windbreaker for a little enticement to come to her school. She was very aware that he had just received a job offer from Palmer High a few hours previously. So, whatever happens, we at least walked away w/ a very classy jacket. : ) Then, we drove by the property which we have an offer on to show Beth and drop off a loaf of Great Harvest Cinnamon bread to our sellers. They had invited us to stop by on our way out of town as well. Wasilla folks seem to be so welcoming and not so rushed in life ( I love that!, I'm still working on that skill) It was wonderful to see the property in full bloom. Beth approved, so that is always encouraging.: )

Our next stop was for Dad's sake. Yep, Miller's ice cream. I had a strawberry banana twist cone and Ray had chocolate. Beth passed on ice cream because she had just eaten a piece of her bday cake and mint chip ice cream before we left. A while later, we arrived at Byers Lake campground and pitched our tent and set up camp. We had a yummy dutch oven chicken/rice dinner (created by Beth, cooked by Beth and Ray) and enjoyed every bite. Then we went for a short walk by the lake to behold a beautiful sunset and very still waters. When we came back we sat by the camp fire and rested before bed. Bed for an 8 month old in a tent is truly a new adventure. Of course, it's totally daylight at night, so his schedule was a little off. He did pretty well sleeping through the night, but of course, I was concerned if he was warm enough, etc and I had a few restless nights. But, the beauty of the earth on Saturday was worth the entire effort of making this trip.

We had planned a day hike up Byer's Lake trail. It was a 5 mile hike and a little steep at times. I did not know ahead of time how far we were going. I haven't done 5 miles like that for 3 years. Ray carried Stephen in the baby backpack, Beth carried the food and a few other necessities, Sage carried the water bottles in her pack and I carried one of Ray's cameras (a very small load, maybe 2lbs..whew!) We kept on going steeper and steeper and there were times I thought "this is too hard" (never saying it out loud), then Beth and Ray would encourage me. Ray would say, "don't give up Kary, You're almost there. you can do it!" Beth offered to carry my camera, even though it was light weight, it felt like a load was lifted off my back. I willingly let her carry it. I pushed on and kept focusing on positive thoughts. Victory was almost in view; however, I did not realize what VIEW we would behold. I would sing to myself the hymn: "Who's on the Lord's side? Now is the time to show, we ask it FEARLESSLY, who's on the Lord's side, who? " Well, a long time ago I had decided to be on the Lord's side, so there was no quitting now even though the climb was steep and there were many tree roots that were challenging to traverse. We kept climbing higher and higher. I wondered where we were going. What would we see at the end of our climb? There it was! Mt. McKinley/Denali in all her glory! The skies were totally clear and we were up high enough to greet her at eye level. I was amazed at the open valley surrounding us with the glorious Mountain rising above the clouds for us that day. As I pondered on the hike to get there, I thought how often in life we are required to make steep climbs. Sometimes, the challenge seems impossible, the incline too steep. But, we just keep moving forward/ pressing forward/ putting our shoulder to the wheel and push along. The reward (that we don't see ahead of time) is out there waiting for us. We just have to keep climbing!

I'll try and tie this entry up since Stephen is in need of attention. : ) We drove to Carlo Creek campground the next day and stayed there two nights at a tent site by the creek. They even have bathrooms w/ showers there, so that was a luxury! We went to church in Healy and enjoyed a spirit filled testimony meeting. Monday we took a nice drive to Healy and walked around some wildflowers. Another great view there. We came home Tuesday and enjoyed lunch at the Denali North viewpoint pull out and there she was again. We were very blessed to see Denali every day we were there. We continued our drive home and stopped at MIrror Lake for a stretch break and a dog run. We put Stephen's feet in the lake and he wasn't too happy about that...he prefers warm baths. : )

We made it home and the May day tree is in full bloom! Summer is REALLY here now. We are soooo grateful! Thank you for listening to my lengthy entry. I figure I don't keep in touch often enough, so maybe this will make up for lost time. Mom has been hinting that she needs to see more pictures of Stephen. Since Mari and Mindy are so good about keeping up their blogs, they get to see Ben and William a lot. Thanks for setting a good example of writing and posting daily Mari and Mindy. I'm working on it.

PS. If you ever go camping w/ a baby, I highly recommend calling Beth. She was soooo helpful! Thanks Beppy!

If you want to read Ray's commentary of our trip and see more photos, you can go to his family's blog site @ forsythhafen.blogspot.com I love you all and we missed all of you in Denali, it just wasn't the same.

We need to get together soon. Keep climbing!

love, Kary