And Randy Joins the Herd...

So here it is, in RANDOM order, our day in Seward and then our camping trip at Hidden lakes!

At the horrible Pizza place in Seward. DONT go there!!

In Seward the kids played at the park, and so did we.

Walking on the dock in Seward. Outside of the picture there are three nice Coast Guard men waiting for us crazies to take the picture so they can pass. They were even nice enough to suggest we ask for a tour of the Coast Guard ship which was three ships down. (We think they were playing a joke on their buddies.)

See whats in that blue tub? Remember from my earlier blog? Adelle's little head poking out of her "bed", and a bunch of curious little boys wanting to play with her.

The Man Randy makes his first Alaskan FIRE!

Randy's first born grandchild in he and Mom's marriage. A special moment, but I think Adelle's more interested in the squirrel. Sorry Randy, deep down she loves you.

I think this is camping bowling....uphill. I don't get it either.

Adelle put her feet in a lake for the first time. Mama LOVED sharing this with her. Her, not so much.

The moment Adelle heard the peaceful water she fell immediately to sleep in my arms. The poor little thing was sick with the piggy flu the whole time.

Everyone but Mom Randy and Chris went swimming and we had a GREAT time!

Then I figured "Hey, we're already wet, might as well get clean while were in here. ("Lake" clean is better than NO clean)

*Sniff Sniff* We miss you Mom and Randy. Coming home to my empty home was very sad, and unpacking all the food you bought for us.

Because I didn't want to post everything at once, I figured I'd save some for later. So stay tuned for the wonderful and exciting "Adventure of the chocoholic Squirrel".

Just Us Girls....(kinda)

Another fun day at the Knik River. (Except poor Mom has the Piggy Flu). All the kids swam while the grown-ups were "entertained" by them. Good Times.

Girdwood Forest Fair

So me mama got into town friday night, late. Devin, Vanessa and her brood and Adelle and I all met her at the airport and then took her out to Denny's. Fun fun night! The next morning we went to the Girdwood forest fair.

Adelle did not sleep more than maybe 20 minutes the whole day. That little thing was pooped! It was pretty sad for me, she got fussy and beside herself towards the end. But we distracted her with some pretty flowers at the Bake Shop! Growing up one of our family traditions was driving down to Girdwood and going to the Bake Shop for one of their delicious Cinnamon rolls. They are truly the best!

More adventures with Mama and the family to come!

The Cure for Tummy Time Blues...

Bring along a friend

Over Night Camping...FINALLY!

I apologize ahead of time, this is going to be a long post. But I am SO excited about going camping for the first time this year, AND with Adelle. And I am so happy about it because we had so much fun, and Adelle did so good. She was happy and content most of the time, even when her ears and hands were cold, she smiled through the whole thing. Camping means so much to me and I am glad to know we can do it without a crying miserable baby.

Ryan took us to Jim Creek in Palmer, which is a big camping hot spot but I had never been there. It was so much more beautiful than I had thought. There was so much to see, and so many FREE places to camp. It was right alongside Jim Creek, but which is really more like a river, it was very big.

This is the perfect place to go biking or 4-wheeling, there were trails going in every direction.

It was very very windy. Ryan said it was the worst he'd ever seen it. The sand was blowing everywhere, I kept expecting to see a horse skeleton coming out of the sand, like in the desert.
It didn't feel like Alaska, but it was beautiful.

This is part of the dried up river. It was silt for miles and miles.

Ryan had to wade across a part of the river to feel how soft the silt was beneath to make sure the jeep wouldn't sink in it. We got across safely, many times.

Trying to get set up for camp, we set Adelle on a camping chair. It was shocking how incredibly happy she was there. Just watching the world go by, she was such a champ!

For dinner, ribs! And LOTS of them :o) And we use Chris' favorite Bar-B-Que sauce, "Sweet Baby Ray's". It was Heavenly!

Can you guess what this is? Your right! It's Adelle's make-shift bed! Works perfectly, keeps out the bugs and the sun, and keeps in the warmth. It's rather crafty if I may say so myself. (All you baby rights crazy people out there....I don't want to hear it. The only way this will effect her when she's older is her using this on her own kids. And yes it has holes for air)

Good night us.

Good night Little Thing.

Good Morning Mom! As Ryan got up and started the fire, I fed Adelle. She took over Dad's warm sleeping bag.

I decided to give Adelle a taster of my hot chocolate. (Warm chocolate) She was IN LOVE with it! When I took it away she followed it devoutly with her eyes.

This is what happens when you say "no more hot chocolate little thing."

As we were walking along the river bed I stumbled on this LOVEly rock....

and then Ryan found one of his own. It was a very fun camp out. Now the question is where should we go next, and who will come with us?

Getting So Coordinated!!!

Two hands, two feet. Makes sense :o) In the last 3 days she has mastered the art of seeing something, grabbing it with her hands and bringing it to her mouth. It's so fun to watch her hit this mile stone. Mama's so proud!

A Day at the Knik River..

Today after church we had an impromtu get together at the Knik River in Palmer. It was a beautiful location!. All kids went swimming (sorry no pics), and they had a blast digging a whole. What was the hole for you say? To hide in, while playing hide and go seek. Needless to say the kids never got that far. The hole digging was much more fun than hiding in it.

Melissa has a new little baby Ida that she's fostering, she's adorable. Melissa hit a delema when she realized she had no way to heat a bottle and a baby who wouldn't drink cold milk. So I got creative. I heated the milk up in a glass, then put it in the bottle. So much fun making do with what you have.

We spent a little over 4 hourse there, and the WHOLE time Melissa and Vanessa smelled different candle scents and placed Scentsy orders. 4 hours, really!

When Adelle got tired I wrapped her up and put her in Rayna and Joe's car. She went right to sleep. It was fun watching her through the window, like watching a cool fish in a tank.

And thats all folks! I am really loving this fun summer of the wonderful campfire smell!!!

FINALLY I Don't Think Mom's Trying To Kill Me!!

I don't know why this has been so hard for Adelle, but tummy time is my time to torture her, or so she thinks. But she's getting better. She seems to like tummy time on her dresser a bit better (as you can see by her smiles). Makes Mama happy, she might crawl after all! And her many therapy sessions in the future might be cut back.