Why Papa only gets to see Kailyn once a month!!!

While in Anchorage a few months ago, Papa was fabulous and came down to the hospital while I had a doctor's appointment so that Kailyn would have someone to hang out with. I was laughing so hard when I came out to find that she had convinced him she needed a pink drink (lemonade), and this donut that was bigger than her head!

And, yes, she ate nearly the whole thing herself =).

"No Maneenan"

We took Kailyn for her first snow machining ride (her first "real ride") and all had a blast. We stayed in town, not knowing how she would do, but she loved it and wants to go lots more! We did learn that it was best for us girls to stay in front though, because it was tempting to pass along the "Sit down, Daddy.... not safe," after hearing it umpteen thousand times in my ear! Kailyn was VERY concerned that her dad wasn't being as safe as possible each time he stood up on the sled. Hmmm... I think that she is going to be our cautious one!

She started with Dad on our street, but really wanted to be in the backpack. The ride started with her pretty scared of the loud noise, but once she saw the backpack and made the connection that it was a "winter 4-wheeler," she was ALL OVER IT!!! We're pretty lucky that she loves to do all the same stuff we do! I hope that the next baby is as easy going....

p.s The ride was actually at the beginning of December... it just took me that long to post...

Habin Bun!!!

In case you haven't heard my excitement about Kailyn's new school, she started on Monday and we both LOVE it!! Mrs. Banner invited the moms a little early to help practice for Sunday's Christmas Pageant (can you feel how absolutely ecstatic I am about this?), and so I was able to get in on all the fun, too. There are all kinds of fabulous toys at Small Fry, they do lots of crafts (is this not my IDEAL preschool or what??), and sing lots of songs.

She's in the 3-year-old class, which means that she is significantly younger then the other kiddos. Brian and I talked quite a bit about it and decided that it's probably a good thing to be around older kids. I hope that we made the right choice! I've already seen some changes in her attitude; I am thinking that she definitely wants to be like the "big kids." I hope that she makes friends in class and does OK - my fear is that she will be too young and will feel left out and alienated because there's a big social and developmental difference between 2 1/2 (not even) and 3 1/2... Hopefully, it'll work the other way and Kailyn will learn lots of new things from these guys... So far we've ended both days with "habin fun," a hug and a kiss for Mrs. Banner, and the question, "come back next time?"

"That was fun, Kailyn, we'll definitely come back next time!!"

2 years!!!

Smelcer Family Reunion

We had such a great time in Tazlina for the day - the weather was perfect, almost too hot (not usual in Alaska!), and we really enjoyed meeting the entire Smelcer clan. The day started with a drive up from Eureka, then off to a river boat ride and then some time spent in the pool to cool off. We also got to take a little ride down to the fish wheel, and of course, to end the day, we had some fabulous pot luck!!! Thanks for inviting us, guys!!

Watchin' Wis kite-board

With our windy summer this year, we were able to get over and watch Wis and a couple of his buddies kite board in the Sound. It was really cool - this was only his second year and already he was jumping the waves and having a great time. We also had a really fun time watching him - just hearing the "woohoo... yeeeeeaaahhh" from the guys got us all laughing along with them.

It was on one of these little mini-hikes that Kailyn took her dive into the river.... crazy kid!!

Our first garden

Kailyn had great luck with her flower garden - we planted her box with seeds only a few weeks prior!

This year we finally had a yard with space for a little garden. Since I've never really grown anything, we decided to just do a small 4 x 8 box in case I didn't enjoy it. Well, I loved it so much - next year we're adding another box or maybe even two!! It was a lot of work, especially with us being gone every single weekend, but well worth the amount of food it provided. We had zucchini, squash, onions, carrots, green onions, strawberries, broccoli, lettuce, celery... it was so nice to have fresh veggies in Valdez, and with the fresh caught fish, you couldn't ask for a better meal! The toughest decision now is deciding what to grow next year!

Fun at the Cabin....

Yep, that's Dana... goin' to the outhouse!

Kailyn with William and Cassidy, her favorite friends from Glenallen!

It's getting close! Thanks to lots of help from friends and family this summer, we were able to get the big cabin shelled in and the roof almost finished - hopefully we'll be staying there next year...

Jeni and Bodey - our favorite friends from Wasilla!