Seward – Dust Bunnies and Dog Toys

We recently lost a dear family friend, Dick Ossey, after a long battle with cancer. Although I was sad to get the news, I was so glad we’d gotten the chance to visit with him on our recent road trip. The hubs and I have decided to honor his memory by participating in the 2015 Seward Polar Bear Jump Off, which benefits the American Cancer Society. The event takes place in January and is a spectacle of participants dressed in wacky costumes plunging into the near freezing waters of Resurrection Bay in Seward, Alaska. Luckily another good friend lives there and as the local Assistant Fire Chief, he oversees the safety of all the jumpers. And the local Coast Guard unit where the hubs was once stationed will be on hand, so I feel pretty confident that I’ll survive the experience.

Although I’m not looking forward to the moment of being submerged in icy water, I am excited about some costume ideas I’ve already conjured up. Of course there will be something purple involved, but I don’t want to give away the surprise just yet.

But there won’t be any costumes unless we raise enough sponsorships to be eligible to jump. As a team of two, we each have to raise a minimum of $750, $500 of which has to be turned in by November 30! That means the clock is ticking! We will be asking friends and family to support us in this adventure to honor the amazing fight that Dick made. If you would like to donate to our team please leave a comment below with contact information or message me on the DB&DT Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DustBunniesAndDogToys.

It’s another crazy fast week here in the DB&DT home, but I did manage to find time to edit images from our trip to Seward over Memorial Day weekend to visit friends from Kodiak. While we were there we went to the Sealife Center to check out all the Alaskan sea creatures. Here’s a few of my favorites!

First we saw the harbor seals, who were totally adorable with all their spots!

We also saw them from underneath the water, while they swam. This one liked to swim upside down. 🙂

Next was the sea lions, including Woody the MASSIVE male who’s been there since he was born. He wasn’t super active but at 2,500 lbs I probably wouldn’t be either!

The bird enclosure was my favorite because you could stand right next to the water where the birds were swimming, which made for some great close ups.

The puffins were my favorite bird there. Here is a regular puffin and a horned puffin. Check out those eyebrows!

There were also several other species of ducks and water fowl, although I don’t remember all the names.

I spotted this puffin right behind where I was standing and enjoyed watching him watch his peers.

Apparently someone was building a nest, because this puffin kept taking mouthfuls of material up to this ledge where it would hide them behind that rock on the right.

But some just chilled, looking dashing in their permanent tuxedo.

We also saw this sea lion from the overlook to the training and medical pens. He was quite interested in what the staff were doing near his enclosure.