Kaya 5 month photo, Bear Paw, Scribbit

Here is Kaya's 5 month photo. As you can see she has taken a definite interest in her fingers.

The family went down to Eagle River's annual festival, the Bear Paw. We went on rides, ran a 300 yard race, and ate food. Here is a photo of everyone enjoying the parade.

Notice, Kaya is still looking at her fingers, and Leo is wearing some spiffy new glasses!
I put another post on Scribbit explaining why I am writing for a motherhood magazine and introducing our family. You can check it out here.

Scribbit Post

I'm doing a little bit of blogging for another site. Scribbit is a Motherhood in Alaska blog and this honorary mom has had the chance to do a little writing for them. I wrote a story about a recent hike that Leo and I did together.

4 month Kaya, Girl Time, Alaskan Kid "Summer"

Here she is, a 4 month old Kaya.

Yoga time with Mama and Oma.

We had 2 weeks of bright sun-shiny weather, what people outside Alaska call "summer weather." Here in Alaska much of our summer time is overcast and rainy. Here are some photos of an Alaskan Kid enjoying an Alaskan summer.
Playing in his underwear in the rain AND the sunshine.

Building forts with chairs and blankets. Not a bad view for a kids fort.

Feeding the musk ox.

Oma and Leo releasing lady bugs into the vegetable garden.

Balancing act out to a rock island on the Eagle River Nature Center trails.

Hope everyone's summer is going great!

Outside in May

May was a great month for getting outside and enjoying some fabulous weather. I had another Mountain Mama sighting out along Turnagain arm during our first hooligan fishing expedition. Yes, she is dip netting with Kaya on her front.

With our fiends, who let us tag along on the expedition, we caught about 170 of the 8 inch fish. Lots of fun and good eating.
We were visited by a moose while setting up the tent for our first deck camping trip of the year.

We spent lots of time lounging in the sun. This beach on the Eagle River is a fantastic one before the weather gets too warm and the river level rises.

Leo made his first unassisted assent of Mt Baldy. He walk up the steep trail all by himself. Here he is (dirt and all) with his summit brownie (the big motivator for getting to the top).

That was Leo's new camera smile. It comes standard when ever you ask him to smile for a picture.
Kaya is of course proud of her big brother.

Alaskan Spring

We have leaves on the trees!

That's one of the things that make me feel like spring has finally reached Alaska. Some others are planting the garden, taking all of the extra insulation down from the yurt, and watching Leo playing with the garden hose (doing his part to add to the greenery).

Here's Nicki enjoying some spring, baby, and dog time down at the Nature Center.

Here is another sign of spring; we can start our hiking trips at 8:00 PM. In the next photo I am up on top of Baldy, a local mountain at 10:00PM. That small, rectangular patch of white on the left in the local Eagle River Fred Meyer. So beautiful and so close to home. The scenery I mean, not Fred Meyer.

Spring also marks the frantic, get-every-summer-time-activity-done-before-it-is-over-and-covered-in-snow mayhem that Alaskans experience during their four "warm" months of the year. Hence the late night hiking.
Spring is also time for skiing. That sun softened snow is the perfect thing for making easy turns. I recently made a Mountain Mama (Nicki) sighting. Here she is making her way up to the top of the local, closed ski area.

She was later seen shredding her way down with magnificent grace and technique. Leo had the foresight to have dinner ready when she returned to the car. Go easy on the Zoo Juice there buddy!

In Kaya news: She is reaching for everything in sight. Guard those toys Leo.

Kid, Yurt, and Moose Photos

Not a whole lot to report from the last couple of weeks so I'm just posting some obligatory photos of the kids for grandmas, of the yurt for yurters, and moose for.....people who like moose.
Kaya is still proving to be an easy keeper. Her favorite thing to do is sleep, just like her mother. She is really filling out and is quite easily busting out of her swaddle.

She likes cutsey outfits.

Though it is not all fun and games. Sometimes she is wailing like any other baby. But, don't worry because Leo has found a way around this. His "headphones," as he calls them are never far from hand.

The snow is gone from around the yurt and we are looking forward to some snowless hiking, gardening, and long sunny days. This photo was taken at 10:00 PM just as the sun was going down.

Here is the moose that visited us the other day and almost trampled our dog Ranger. I took this photo from our well looking at our neighbor's house.

This year's photographic goal? Get a photo of a moose with the yurt in the background.

Kiddos, April snow, afternoon skiing

Well, it's happened. Leo is showing signs of developing an attention span. He has been working on wood projects for hours at a time. He especially likes the painting part. Here he is painting an ambulance block puzzle.

Kaya has been enjoying conversations with the other smaller female in the house.

April brought us a good snowfall making it a "winter" wonderland one last time this season.

Taking advantage of this snow fall I went out and did one of my favorite ski trips. With all of the sun we have this time of year I can get out after Nicki comes home from work, do this ski and be back in 3 hours.

Looking down from the top.

My tracks are the wide snowboard tracks in the middle.

On top of the second run there was some fun light so I stopped to take pictures of the models that always seem to follow me around on these trips.





Good bye winter. We will miss you!