Friday's Adventures

Friday, we took a trip down Turnagain Arm and went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. It's essentially a big game reserve for rehabilitation of animals.

These are petrified trees from the 1964 earthquake. The ground dropped and the salt water that came in infiltrated the root systems of the trees preserving them.



Blake thinks this is his new "cat cat." We didn't let him give him any loves like he wanted though.



This is a glimpse of their future.




Blake attempted to steer Carolyn into the grass numerous times.


After we saw all the big animals we could handle, we drove to Girdwood and rode the tram to the top of Mount Alyeska. I was super disappointed with all my photos because the visibility wasn't good. All the picture taken of the glaciers and the inlet are grainy.


But Carolyn and Blake got to play on some snow in July.


Wayne is banned from any future family outings after trying to throw Blake off the mountain.


In the background you can see one of the surrounding glaciers.


This is Blake's preferred method of travel.


Look how clear the foreground is in the picture and how awful the background is! So sad. I needed sun and clarity to take beautiful pictures to convince my husband that Alaska is the place he wants to spend all his summer days. I don't think these are going to cut it.

Bridal Shower

We threw this lovely lady a bridal shower with all of her Alaska friends. This briefly included Carolyn until she had to leave for bed time.


We had a rice krispie bar buffet. Mmmm good.
We had cocoa peanut butter, regular, cinnamon, and peanut butter-honey-and vanilla. That last one was supposed to be just peanut butter, but the husband making them got creative in the kitchen. He must have known what he was doing because they were the first ones gone.

It was wonderful to spend time with all these people who were important in Angelina's life as she grew up. Best wishes to the lucky bride and I am sure I'll post some pictures from her wedding in a few weeks.

It's good someone has time to use this machine

I just wish it were me.

This is why we come see Grandma...


and....

this is why we come see Grandpa...

New organization system

Grandma and Grandpa will need lots of time to reorganize their cupboards to pre-Blake state. He's one busy boy.

Girly time

It's impossible to come to Anchorage without going to Jackie's. She's our awesome Mary Kay lady. I believe my mom started seeing her for makeup in 1988. When Angelina and I became old enough to wear makeup, Mom has always taken us with her. Angelina and her daughter became friends and played soccer on their club team all through high school.

Jackie came over the morning of my wedding and did my makeup for me. Her daughter did my mom's hair. Anyway, all of this background is just to show you how happy it made me to take Carolyn with me. She's been there before, once.


She took great joy in painting her face with purple eyeshadow when I was occupied and not paying attention.

This time I decided to let her play dress up with me while Angelina worked on doing wedding makeup. She picked out an eyeshadow and a blush. She didn't want to put them on because she wanted to keep them, but she jumped at the chance for Jackie to paint her nails.



Carolyn really enjoyed her 'girl time.' After the makeup, she spent the rest of her time coloring and playing with her new friend.

How I yearn for a backyard

Portland has a lot going for it. I really enjoy it, but I also wish for a neighborhood like my parents. Sidewalks down every street, backyards and front yards. Some of that I can get in Portland, but I haven't seen many neighborhoods around there that have sidewalks everywhere.

My kids are loving the back yard, and trees to climb. Carolyn climbed the honeysuckle because she couldn't reach the bottom branch on the birch tree that I like to climb. Well, I should say climbed once. I did it yesterday, but that might be the first time in ten years. I used to sit up there all the time.

Blake likes Grandma and Grandpa a lot more than he did in December. He loves giving them hugs and is learning how to say Grandpa.

This is how I will look when we get a yard!

For cuteness sake!

Berries in the Northwest

One way we've kept busy this summer is lots of berry picking. I have too much going on to try to jam or do any canning this summer. I know I will regret it this winter, but life is crazy. I enjoy the super low prices and my kids enjoy eating as much fruit as they can while we are there.

At the park

We went to the park last night to meet up with my cousin Tyson, his wife, and kids. It's been about 3 years since we saw them last, so it was nice to be able to see him. It seems like everyone is coming to Alaska this summer. It's too bad that Jeremy is still at home in Oregon.


Our cousin Savannah spent her time lining up rocks very carefully.

Carolyn and Blake liked to sit here on this seat. It was fun to listen to Blake say "wheeeee!"
Sometimes there was a whole passel of kids sitting on this carriage. Next to Carolyn is her cousin Sarelle. Next to her is this sweet little boy who came running anytime the children got on here for a ride. He also provided quite a bit of amusement for the children when his dad busted out the bubbles.

Grandma and Grandpa provided the power to help them s-l-o-w-l-y move back and forth.


Grandpa taught Carolyn how to go down this "slide." She was very proud. Also this will help her go down what I call the "slide of death" at the new park by our house.


Blake gave me quite a scare at one point and I couldn't find him. He was hiding in this tunnel. I should have known to look here. He sat in here quite a bit while we were at the park.

Afterward, we went to Arctic Roadrunner for some delicious burgers, although the shake left something to be desired. I just need good shakes! Where's a Cheeburger Cheeburger when you need one?

Cheeses and Beaches

We trekked out to the coast on Thursday. We made the most important stop first: the cheese factory.



It was totally weird. This farmer still had a binkie. Someone should tell him he is getting a little old for that kind of behavior.


After we ate ice cream and bought fudge, we drove out to Cannon Beach to enjoy a little sand and surf. Blake was not such a big fan. He tried to climb up his daddy's legs so his feet wouldn't have to touch the sand.

Eventually we bribed him with some toys and then the world was good again.





Unabombers? Nope, that's just Grandma and Aunt Diana.

One year older

We took Carolyn's 4-year pictures and Blake's 18-month pictures last week. Aren't my kids just the cutest?

The sun is here!

We thought we might be doing outdoor swim lessons in 55 degree weather, but the sun came to Portland just in time. This is what we are doing for the next two weeks. Usually, swim class is enough to fill our days, but we are also fitting in tons of activities with Grandma Horner and Aunt Diane. Our children are exhausted but loving every minute of having guests.

It's that time again!

It's party day!!

We've been counting down to this ever since Chandler turned 4. Carolyn had a birthday. We went for an all-out puzzle theme.

This was the bane of my existence last night.
I found out that coloring is quite tedious if you have any time constraints. It was totally worth it though.

Each kid was supposed to put the missing puzzle piece (their face) in the spot.

We had a definite winner...

I asked him if he could see or was he just that good. He replied, deadpan, "I am just that good."

This year was awesome because I told my child who never eats cake that I was not making her a cake. She could pick anything else she wanted for dessert. She picked ice cream. How easy.

The kids colored dinosaur puzzles to take home with them.

Carolyn had a blast. She is fantastic and stretches me everyday. These are my favorite things about her right now:

• This girl sings and she can remember songs well, but sometimes just half a verse. We will hear that on repeat all day long.
• She counts to ten and then continues 11, 12. 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21...
• Her favorite joke is either "CHANDLER!" or "WATERMELON!" Really, that's it. That's the whole joke.
• She calls Blake "boy." As in, "Come here, boy." "Over here, boy, I want to show you something."