Catching up (again)

I've been such a blog slacker lately. Here's a few photos taken over the last 1.5 months!
Play-dates at the turf gym!


Checking out preschool with big brother!


Finding (and throwing) some leaves...which are hard to find in Juneau...

Feeding the ducks.



Erik training Maddie young....


Fun with stickers on a rainy day.


Trying on Payton's costume while he's away at school!


Meeting new friends!


And their new favorite "game" they call "making coffee"

One last hurrah!

We woke up to a beautiful blue sky day and decided to take full advantage of it as it might be the last one until February! We packed up the kids, some stuff and our bikes and trailer and headed out to "boy scout beach", a really nice beach in the vicinity of the local boy scout camp.

The kids had a great time playing in the water and digging holes.





Madelyn found the container of cream cheese in the bag and decided to help herself.

On the way out we drove past the Jensen-Olsen Arboretum (run by CBJ) and decided to check it out on the way back. Boy are we glad we did! It was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L! If you haven't been there, you should go check it out.
I wandered through the garden and not much was left, but there were a few cabbages...and they were big!

I had no idea it was possible to grow artichokes in Juneau. But here's the proof!

Mandatory self-family-portrait. Typical outcome for our family.

Our week in pictures.

Payton building his "treasure box" at the Home Depot kids workshop.


Maddie LOVES water. She sat in this stream and played for about 30 minutes.


Every girl needs to accessorize...though I'm not so sure your brother's underwear counts as an accessory.


My little morning burritos watching cartoons!


Now this is a pile of sand!

Long time no blog!

I have a great excuse! In the last month-ish since I've blogged we've:
Had TWO offers on our house and accepted one of them.
Packed some stuff.
Found a rental.
Packed some more stuff.
Moved some stuff into the rental.
Packed even more...
Cleaned out the "old house"
Packed even MORE
and then finally...
Unpacked. A lot.of.stuff.

Now that we've settled in to our new place I thought I'd share our favorite part about it... The amazing view!!


We've had a lot of fun watching the different critters on the beach. This gull was so excited to have a dead chum all to himself!!


These two eagle hang out together and are regulars to our beach.





There is a salmon stream next door to the building next to us. Right now the salmon are running, so that would explain this visitor.


Madelyn really enjoys sitting in my chair watching the boats.

It's always a highlight to see my parents go by =-)

Even on a gray day it's hard not to stare out the window.

Unconventional playground.

One would be amazed at how much fun it is to play on a fishing boat. I should know, I grew up on one. I'm happy that my kids can get a glimpse of my great childhood.

Aunty Maari was nice enough to tow the kids around deck in the trayco.


Next, and favorite, is the crane swing! Madelyn rode for quite awhile by herself. She didn't want to get out!

Weekend in Petersburg.

Waiting to depart Auke Bay.


Baba took the boys to explore the woods. They all had sticks and would whack every leaf they saw.


Maddie didn't want to be left out!


Playing at indoor park at the community gym.


My parent's house. Note the shop is bigger than the house..that'll change once they FINALLY tear down the house and build new (the house plans are almost finalized!)


Apparently the rules don't apply at Nana's house =-) (according to Payton, not Nana!)


Exploring the jungle, I mean, Nana and Baba's yard.


Maddie's new thing is crawling up into chairs, more specifically rocking chairs. She loves 'em!



Maddie didn't think the bubble wand, covered in sand, tasted all that well.


Payton and his pet Kelp.


The playground was a big hit.




Both kids were obsessed with the video games on the ferry. Lucky for me the demo is just as exciting as the actual game!

Boating.

One of the perks of Erik's job is the ability to occasionally use the company's smaller boats for personal use. Since yesterday was a fairly nice day we decided to hop in the boat and go down towards Point Bishop for a picnic.

Erik's brother, sister-in-law and mom were in town and able to go with us!


Self-portrait!


Maddie LOVED splashing in the water and was soaking wet by the time we left.


Payton was happy to throw rocks the whole time.


Erik pondering whether the anchor set-up will hold the boat...luckily it did =)