December

December brought more snow. I found some cheap kids ski's on Craigslist and the kids had fun taking turns with them. Erik and I were invited to his company's 60th anniversary/Christmas party in Ketchikan and were able to ditch the kids with Nana for our first ever getaway. The party also coincided with my birthday, so I just pretended the party was for me :-) We clean up pretty nice! Aunty Hoho and Joel bought the kids a gingerbread house. I only had one condition, they had to help build it!! I volunteered in Payton's preschool class right before Christmas break. Madge thought it was the best thing ever as she got to come along and be a preschooler just like her brother! Christmas break brought bunny sitting! My sweet friend Janalynn, who is a teacher, has a classroom rabbit and knew my kids had been begging for one for Christmas, so we compromised and she let us keep Italics (we called her bun-bun) for the two weeks over break. I think Italics had a great time. She got over her shyness real fast and made herself right at home. I love the picture of Payton trying to protect his apple from the curious bunny!

November

November was an unusually snowy month. Our first real snow came before Halloween. Needless to say, the kids were excited to get outside and play in the white stuff! Living in a cul-de-sac has its advantages. When the grader comes by it takes all the snow and piles it up in the middle making one pretty cool snow mountain that provides hours of entertainment!! Madelyn also FINALLY got her hair trimmed. Nothing drastic, just a quick snip to even it all up. I was promised it would make her hair grow faster too ;-)

October

October was a very busy, very fun month! We started by heading to Seattle for 3 days to visit family and friends. The kids really enjoyed being able to experience things that Juneau doesn't have to offer! Fun exhibit at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

The kids both LOVED getting to ride Jewel, Aunt Sue's horse.

We were so lucky to be able to meet up some a couple of friends and spend some time with them at the zoo!

After a fun filled 3 days in Seattle we continued on to Missoula to visit Erik's family. Missoula has a great kids museum.

The water table is always a huge hit!

Payton went up to hunting camp with Erik. Maddie got to go along to drop him off. She enjoyed packing around the pellet gun.

Every year the pumpkin fairy comes to Grammie's house. The grandkids (plus a few extras!) get to run around searching for treasures!

My little pirates ready to go trick or treating!

September

In September my sister Amber and her two girls came up for an extended visit. Since the tram is a favorite of my kids, we took them all up there and went for quite the hike! Amber and I guesstimated we hiked about 3 miles. The kids were determined to find snow!! Sadly the only pictures I took up on the mountain were of the kids climbing on a tree.

Out at the glacier, there is a raised walkway over a salmon stream that is frequented by bears. While we didn't see any bears, the kids had a great time running around....maybe that's why we didn't see any....

Payton started his second (and last!) year of preschool. He really was excited to go despite the look on his face.

The kids' favorite thing to do was ride the little 4-wheeler. Luckily it only goes about 5 mph, which is good, cause I think if it went faster I'd have a lot of gray hairs!!

A few years ago, when the girls were up last, my parents and Erik took all the kids out to a little rocky island that they have lovingly named Princess-Diamond-Sparkle-Pirate Island. They "buried" a treasure there and so we went on a family outing to go see if it was still there.

Mackenzie made a flag to put on the Princess-Diamond-Sparkle-Pirate island to claim it.

Claiming the island for their own!!

To everyone's amazement, the treasure was still there!!!!

August

In August we were THRILLED to have Uncle Earl, Aunty Dawn and babies Addison and Ella come and spend a whole week with us!!

You can tell the whole twin thing was a hit with Maddie....

Despite all my other pictures in my previous post, we really did have a crummy summer, weather-wise, but still managed to get outside and make the most of it. That IS why God made rain gear, right?

Some dear family friends generously gave us a handmade excavator their son (he's my age) had as a toddler. It's been a huge hit around here and we've already spent many hours digging in the sand.

Maddie was a big help with the babies while they were here. She was right in there at every feeding and diaper changing. Given the chance I know she would have packed them around as well :-)

Uncle Erik LOVES holding sleeping babies, it means he can catch a quick snooze as well!

Payton feeding his cousin.

Dawn and Earl were great sports and agreed to hike a mountain, with 2 4-month olds!! A great time was had by all and even more impressive was Payton and Madelyn hiked the whole way too! (Okay, so maybe we took a tram, but it's a good mile up to Father Brown's cross and they they walked both ways!)

Can't forget our adventures on Nana and Baba's boat! My dad put his raft on the deck with the outboard in the hold so the kids could "drive" the boat, complete with motor on. Payton had a great time revving the engine.

July

Okay, I've been horrible at keeping up with the blog. I have no excuses other than I have no motivation. I think from now on I'll post monthly with a quick recap of what we've been doing! On the rare sunny days we've had this summer we spent the whole day outside. Maddie and Payton really like Jody's slip and slide.

Playing on the inner-tube, celebrating Jody's 6th birthday.

We've had lots of visitors this summer. It's fun to have some quality family time. Grandma Dee spent lots of time reading the kids stories.

Payton has been taking swim lessons pretty much nonstop since July. He is having a great time and can almost swim the length of the pool on his own!!

Biscuit has been enjoying our time outside and loves to come play with the kids (and get a drink!) when we're outside.

Since no one in Alaska as a pool (for obvious reasons) we have to settle for the cheap blow up ones. Luckily the kids don't mind and have a ball splashing away.

We also bought a skiff and have taken it out a few times this year, weather permitting.

Long time, no blog!

I know, i know. I've fallen WAY behind in the blogging. I have no excuses. Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to the past couple of months! Payton can now ride a 2-wheeler and Maddie has upgraded to 2-wheeler with training wheels, so bike rides are a favorite activity around here! We've adopted the neighbors dog Biscuit. The kids LOVE her and are always giving her treats. Biscuit loves the kids as well and comes right in the house and sits (and stares!) at the treat cupboard until she gets a few. Watching Erik return to the dock from a ship assist. We were on the Disney Wonder getting a fun tour of the boat! The few nice days we have had have been spent outside. Clothing is always optional. After a very quick 2-week training period, Madelyn is DIAPER FREE!!! Boy I thought this day would never come. I also have to say that potty training a girl was 10 times easier than training a boy! Payton and Erik have been fishing a lot lately. A few local lakes have been stocked with baby king salmon. Payton has caught quite a few and even brought home 2 to eat!