Spent a wonderful afternoon floating around on the water. Kayaking around the Skokie Lagoons enjoying the blue skies, white waterlilies & assorted waterfowl. Always fun to see a Great Blue Heron… and quite possibly my first Black-Crowned Night-Heron?… yes, I had to look it up. A beautiful day of paddling… a nice change from pedaling!

Looks like someone was out having a little breakfast nosh along the bike trail this morning by Montrose. Imagine my surprise when I turned the corner on my bike and saw her standing right there… not too alarmed, but maybe just a little annoyed that I interrupted her breakfast?!

So we had a little visitor in my pottery class last night…
thanks to Andrew & Priya for bringing in their new cutie for a quick visit!!

Vintage stallions running in circles. Going nowhere fast while dancing to the music.
Winter WonderFest is now open inside Navy Pier in Chicago! Go for a ride!!!

With fresh snow yesterday morning…
it was perfect timing for some reindeer to arrive at Navy Pier!
Up close & personal with my new antlered friends!!!

Well, look who’s ready to greet everyone who comes to my place this weekend for my HOLIDAY HOME SHOW. It’s the “King Of The Raccoons” from the “The Animal King-dom Exhibition.” Amazing animal sculptures by my friend Deana Bada Maloney… each with a sense of whimsy… and you know hoe I LOVE whimsy!!! This little cutie came home with me from ART IN THE BARN this summer… and is anxiously waiting for his big debut next weekend!

Check out more of Deana’s amazing work – https://thebadacreative.com/

So we finally made it to Anchorage… where we stayed with Theresa’s Uncle Tim. He asked about my trip… and asked if I wanted to see more moose? Of course I said yes… as he said he knows just where to go to see them! I was still doubting Tim’s assurance we would see moose… our moose hunting track-record had been pretty slim so far. However, just a few minutes later we came across this large moose just strolling down the bike path!!! Guess Uncle Tim was right!!!

Not only was the scenery AMAZING… but there was wildlife all around during our Kenai Fjords boat cruise. So amazing to see a bunch of sea lions, puffins, bald eagles, harbor seals, otters, goats, murre birds, jellyfish & so much more! We saw most of them in the SeaLife Center…. but SO much cooler to see them out there in the wild. Definitely the highlight of my Alaskan Adventure!!!

We woke up on Wednesday and the fog had started to lift. We returned to the port of Seward… and it was pretty cool to see the town, the port, the boats, the mountains… all the things we couldn’t see at all the day before due to the intense fog. We started our day at the Alaska SeaLife Center. A very nice “aquarium” that houses local Alaskan sea life. It was nice to see some of the “residents” up close… all the while hoping that we would see more of the same later that day on our ocean boat tour.

Even the puppies are celebrating another Mugshot Monday!!! Perhaps not so sure to start… but then Pepper went ALL IN while hanging out in the car!!! Thanks Kim for sharing this precious puppy moment!