On our last day in Alaska, Adelaide insisted that we needed to see Pioneer park as well as the North Pole and Santa's House.  Pioneer park was really fun, we walked through some historical buildings including an old train as well as an old river boat.  We also had the opportunity to see a bunch of dioramas that depicted the early days of life in Fairbanks.  The kids enjoyed meeting Santa's Reindeer at the North Pole and we also found a cute nativity Set to add to our Christmas decorations.  Our final stop in Alaska was the Silver Gulch Brewery where we enjoyed dinner with Aaron, Sarah, Adelaide and Aliza one final time before our flight home to Traverse City.

 

    

     We boarded our plane for Minneapolis at 9:20 and traveled through the night.  Jason managed to stay awake and witnessed a spectacular show of the Northern Lights.  I was disappointed to hear that I missed it.  We had a four hour layover in Minneapolis.  Micah, Madeline and I played in the play area while Jason and Elijah napped.  We hopped on our final flight at 10:00am and arrived home around 12:30.  Thoroughly exhausted and thoroughly jet lagged.  

      We had a fantastic time seeing the beautiful sights in Alaska, but the highlight of our trip was having the opportunity to visit Aaron and Sarah and getting to know our Nieces better.  They are so sweet!  We will miss them!