After a wonderful two-week vacation in Alaska, we’re home!  We got back Thursday afternoon after a surprising fast and easy flight back.  Ellie and Mark happily restarted their mulch excavations, a favorite pastime of this summer.

And, like last year’s trip to Montana, here’s a picture of the souvenirs we came home with:

1. ak starfish co. sweatshirt for me, long-sleeved T-shirt for Mark*, short-sleeved T-shirt for Ellie (just like when she was 18 months!)
   
2. lots of fun fabric for future color books (coffee beans! potatoes! fireweed! strawberries! forget-me-nots! ants! nails!)
3. yarn for Mark’s doll’s hair (fabric and yarn from The Quilt Tree)
4. a puffin cookie cutter for future fun cookies
5. From my mother: eight large white damask napkins that belonged to my Granny (her mother) – to be used in a future sewing project!
6. Mom was also super generous to give us one of her bars of dark chocolate from England.  My brother and his family just moved from there to Northern Ireland so our days of getting this amazing chocolate are over.  On the plus side, now we have an excuse to go to Northern Ireland!
7. Not pictured:  two more ak starfish co. long-sleeved T-shirts for Ellie and Mark, with salmon on them, from Yiayia, and a fun book to sing about Alaska. 

Unlike our trip to Montana, I’ll do my best to post more pictures of our trip before over a year has gone by.  And don’t feel too sorry for Nik – he says he didn’t want any souvenirs anyway! 🙂

*Only Alaska ravens around here (neither Ellie nor Mark like the Baltimore Ravens)!