A Bubble Tornado!

I'd like to pretend that I'm not always jumping on the bandwagon or copying the latest trends. But when your bestie posts photos of her kid's new bubble machine and how much her kids love it - it kinda makes you want to go on Amazon and order it for your kids. Especially once you find out it was a gift from another friend who also has one for her kids. That's enough of a testimonial for me - bubble machine ordered!

Since we don't have the fancy schmancy 2-day shipping we used to enjoy in Texas, I'm always surprised when I get a package. I have a tendency to forget about them because they take so long to get here. But not the bubble machine - I was keeping a close eye on when this baby was arriving!

I convinced myself that I was only buying it for Thomas' upcoming birthday party, but decided we had to try it out to make sure it was as awesome as everyone was claiming. There are several versions (Tornado, Hurricane & Typhoon), but Theresa claimed this one was the best.

As you might be able to tell, Thomas was pretty excited about it once I turned it on!

Henry was still finishing up his dinner when we started playing with it, so after letting it go for a minute, we decided we should wait for him so it didn't run out of bubble juice. Henry doesn't look too enthused about being outside when it is his scheduled bath time. Thomas is trying to turn on the bubble machine to wow his brother. 

"Look at all the bubbles Henry!!!"

Can you tell how much Thomas likes it?? Also, this thing spits out sooooo many bubbles! It was a little windy outside, so it did a much better job once we got it closer to the house and blocked some of the wind. 

Henry was surprisingly a little cautious about the bubbles.

At first...

Soon he was just as excited as his older brother! You can tell by the fact he is levitating off the ground. ;)

Heck, even the adults weren't immune. Mom was playing with the bubbles and I was running through them when I wasn't trying to get photos. We're all kids at heart here!

Matt chased Thomas down and stuck him in the heart of the bubble stream. I never know how the little guy will react to such shenanigans, but he was squealing with laughter on this one. Whew! 

At some point Henry started to get concerned that there were too many bubbles. He started running up and down the driveway yelling "Too many! Too many!!" Maybe he was concerned that there was no way for him to chase them all down? I have no idea - it was pretty hysterical though!

Too many, indeed! There were so many bubbles!

The Bubble Tornado was definitely a hit - a huge hit! We all had a blast playing with it until the bubbles ran out. There's just something about bubbles that makes anyone feel like a kid again. Great recommendation from the Texas contingent, let me know what else we have been missing out on!

Weekend in Juneau

My mom decided that she was going to start coming up for the boy’s birthdays on an alternating basis - since she was here for Henry's last year, she booked a trip up here for Thomas’ birthday in May. We asked if she would mind coming a little bit early so Matt and I could take a short trip to Juneau and she agreed!

We ended up booking an early morning flight on Friday instead of Thursday night because it made sense at the time...? In retrospect, being able to sleep in on Friday would have been amazing. Instead, we got to Juneau super early and drove around aimlessly to check out the scenery. It is vastly different than Anchorage and I apparently missed the “it’s only sunny in Juneau 30% of the time” footnote. 

Luckily, it was only slightly rainy, so we still got some nice views from Douglas Island. In the background you can see Mendenhall Glacier - just below the cloud cover. You might be able to tell from the water that it was super windy outside!

The beach was absolutely covered in barnacles and mussels. I have no idea what the tidal range is for this area, but it’s obviously at least a few feet! And I tried to be super careful to not step on any of them, but I have to admit I might have smushed a few. I am so sorry, dear Barnacles!

We ran into a coworker in town who gave us a few suggestions on places to eat and suggested that we go to the capitol building. It was definitely not high on my list of places to go, but we ended up walking right up to it and decided to check it out.

As a side note, Juneau has quite a bit of artwork, but this slightly threatening bear was my favorite. :)

And randomly - a replica of the Liberty Bell! I wonder how many Liberty Bell replicas there are scattered around the country? I've seen the real one once or twice, but I am quite certain I have also seen a replica somewhere...

Well, I took a break to look up Liberty Bell replicas online and apparently 55 replicas were commissioned in 1950 and they reside near every state capital. Now you know! Not so random, after all!

We walked in the Capitol Building and were met with the nicest security guard ever who told us all about the different floors, gave us a self guided tour pamphlet and told us to have fun. We ran into him later and he again made sure we were enjoying ourselves. Having never had the chance to tour a capitol building, it was actually pretty neat to walk around and see government in action!

Well sorta in action - the legislatures were on break until 4pm. It's nearing the end of a somewhat contentious session, so apparently a break was needed. But I was amazed how much information you could glean for what was going on just by the conversations people were having in the stairwells! 

The next morning, we headed out to Mendenhall Glacier just outside of town to enjoy some time in nature. They had two paths from the parking lot to the main visitor's center - one along the road and one on boardwalks through the woods. Which one do you think we went with?? Nature walk!

There were a few trails to choose from, but I wanted the one that went down to the waterfall and had a view of the glacier. It was more of a walk than a true hike, but you couldn't beat the weather or the spectacular views!

There's Mendenhall! I was really hoping for a big chunk of ice to fall off, but no such luck. Oh well - it was still super pretty and impressive. :)

Matt wandered over to check out Nugget Falls while I was busy taking photos of the glacier. But don't worry, I wasn't going to forget about such a great photo opportunity as a waterfall!

As a side note - this is the only photo you can see the water color change in the lake (right at Matt's thigh level). Matt was asking me what I thought caused it and I told him I was pretty sure it was the fresh water from the falls mixing in to the glacial outwash. Even if I'm wrong, he seemed to buy it! 

Waterfall fun! When I was packing my camera bag, I kept adding more lenses and then more gadgets and toys. But I was especially excited about my ND filters - I hadn't used them since I got one stuck on my lens in Valdez, so I was super careful not to screw them on so tight this time...

Anyhow - I managed to get the settings adjusted so I could leave the shutter open for a full second. It may not sound like a lot, but it really did make the waterfall look completely different. So soft and flowy!

I even did a zoomed in to see how smooth I could get the water. I love the way it cascades over the rock in the center of the frame. It just seems so surreal. 

Meanwhile, Matt is patiently waiting for his wife to stop being such a photo nerd and finish taking photos. He's such a good sport! :)

Of course, he was entertaining himself by scouring the beach for footprints and managed to find this rather large track. Those claw marks look suspiciously like bear claws...! I may have talked super loud on the trek back to the car after finding that.

We decided to head north to the End of the Road (which is only ~40 miles north of Juneau), but I wanted to stop at a Catholic Shrine that one of my friends at work had told me about: The Shrine of St Therese. The actual chapel is out on this narrow spit of land and looked very pretty in the photos on-line. On the walk across the spit, all you can see is a narrow path leading into the trees.

The entrance into the trees was marked by these pillars of rock. 

The chapel hiding in the trees of Shrine Island. It was a fairly small chapel, but it was just as beautiful in person as it had looked online. Plus my best friend, Theresa, is a Catholic, so the fact it was the Shrine of St. Therese made me like it even more.

There were markers scattered in a big ring around the chapel each telling part of the story of Jesus' crucifixion (this one is Resurrection since you can't read it). I don't know all of the icons or rituals of the Catholic church, but walking around and looking at the carvings on each of the sculptures still felt very meditative. It certainly didn't hurt to have such a breath-taking view behind the serene grounds of the chapel.

How can you not feel calm, peaceful and happy when you are out in nature looking at such awesome views? Juneau is a completely different environment from Anchorage and getting away to the small town for a weekend was a nice break from the recent hustle of life back home. 

Plus it didn't hurt to have some Matt & Jen time! Sometimes we get so wrapped up in work, kids and all of our hobbies that we don't take enough time to just enjoy each other. After 12 years of marriage, I still love heading out for a road trip with this guy. Driving around listening to all of our favorite songs with no destination? Perfect! Hiking to a waterfall or glacier? Anytime! Eating way too much food and passing out for a nap after lunch? We should do it more!

Which is why I saved this photo for last, even though it was from earlier in the trip. I took the tripod to get a photo of us and the remote just would not work in the bright light. So I ended up running from the camera to the photo spot. On the last attempt, Matt held out his arms and told me to jump! And I absolutely love how this photo turned out. We both have real smiles because it felt so silly, but sometimes a little bit of silly is what you need. 

I had a blast hanging out with you, Matt! Can't wait to do it again! :)

The Zoo Again! With a Guest Photographer...

When we went to the zoo last week, I ended up buying us a new zoo pass. We had one before and ended up letting our membership lapse. But since going 2.5 times pays for it, I figured it was worth getting it again. Especially since Nonni was coming up for a visit soon and she likes taking the boys there for music or story time during the week!

Since I took a bunch of photos last week, I wasn’t going to take any photos. Then it occurred to me that Thomas might want to take his camera and we could practice his photography skills. He was super excited about this plan! His camera is the one Matt and I bought right before we got married. It was a great camera then and is still a pretty good camera now - though you can certainly tell a difference between it and my fancy Nikon. (I would hope so though, considering the price difference!)

This visit they both got maps and Henry was trying to navigate around like his big brother did last week. He definitely needs some navigating practice! I let Thomas take most of the photos today, but I snapped this one of Henry to make sure the camera was working ok. And it was accidentally a pretty comical photo - I have no idea why that expression on his face is, but with the sunglasses, it’s hilarious. 

Back to Thomas photos! The moose wouldn’t cooperate for a good photo - he kept hiding behind this tree. I was really trying to work with Thomas on looking through the viewfinder. 

He always holds the camera up to his face like he is using it, but he has not gotten the concept of actually looking through it. So that was our focus today! (This photo is from last year, but this is his standard MO for holding the camera. That viewfinder is nowhere near his eye!) Also, that's his camera - and I just noticed that we never peeled the sticker off the front of it - ha! 

He actually managed to get a decent shot of the otters out of the water. They were again running all over the place, but they stayed in place long enough for Thomas to get a photo of them before they ran back in the water. He was honestly just as excited about the pipe in the lower left that shoots water out as he was about the otters…

We made it over to the wolf enclosure and one of the wolves was pacing the fence line. I pointed out the wolf and told Thomas he should take a photo! I am honestly not sure if he was aiming at the wolf and missed or if he was more excited about the pine cones, but there are definitely more pine cones than wolf in the final shot.

The musk ox enclosure is a little biased against short photographers. He managed to get a photo above the bars, but it was challenging. I think most of my photos from when I was a kid look like this. Once we get the looking through the viewfinder mastered, we’ll need to work on composure. So many things to learn!

It also makes me appreciate the fact that my parents bought me a camera when I was young and developed sooooo many rolls of film for me. All I have to do is download photos - I have it way easier! At to be 100% honest, I do clean up his photos a little bit in Lightroom, he still has that lean problem and I figured you all would get tired of tilting your head to see the photos...!)

I then had the brilliant idea of having him take a photo of Henry and I! Ha - he obviously needs a *little* more practice in aiming. In his defense, it might be hard to use the viewfinder with his glasses. Maybe?

Another family walked by us at this point and nicely offered to take a photo of all three of us. I thanked them, but told them I was actually trying to teach Thomas some photography skills. It just might be a longer process than I thought. ;)

His hands finally got chilly enough that he wanted to be able to stick them in his pockets, so he handed the camera back to me. I took one last photo of my two favorite people before we headed back to the car. (And you can clearly tell Henry wanted the camera here, but I'm not quite trusting enough of him yet to hand it over. Soon, Henry...!) All-in-all it was another great day at the zoo and another day closer to the warm & sunny Alaskan summer. Can't wait!

A Trip to the Zoo

I’ve been trying something new this month. I have been making the boys walk places instead of carrying them or throwing them in the wagon or stroller. I know it sounds revolutionary, but it was strictly a matter of saving my poor back from ~70 pounds of squirmy little boys. Well that and the fact the ice has melted - sometimes they get carried so they don't slip & fall. 

After two successful walks to the neighborhood park (and back!), I thought it was time to do a test run at the zoo. Our zoo isn’t huge, but I haven’t made a trip there without someone riding in a wagon or stroller. The boys and I agreed before we went that we would only stay as long as they kept walking - the minute anyone’s feet “stop working” we were leaving. 

This is probably Henry’s first visit to the zoo where he really knew what was going on around him. He actually saw the animals and got excited about them. The seals seemed pretty interested in the little humans looking at them and kept swimming back to the boys. 

The otters were also all over the place. They didn’t seem at all concerned with anyone on the other side of the glass though, they were too busy chasing and playing with each other. It kinda looks like Henry is looking at a giant brown stick, but I promise that’s an otter! 

Henry loved being able to walk and run around! He apparently loves a little bit of freedom and is quite the trooper. Honestly, I had to give Thomas more pep talks on our walks to the park than Henry. He might be slower than his older brother, but just keeps chugging along!

We can’t go to the zoo without taking photos in the moose cut-outs! I have so many pictures (and videos!) of Thomas being a moose. There’s even one of him saying he’s moose and then dancing all around. Adorable!

This time Henry got in on the moose action! He’s still a little short for it, but he was super happy about it anyhow. I didn’t check out the steps to get to the moose, so I didn’t realize he crawled in a puddle on water to get up the stairs, but he didn’t care. What’s a wet pant leg when you are a mighty moose??

And they both managed to get in the wolf cut-outs for a photo together. Now that is a first! Thomas is doing his best wolf howl - I am not entirely sure what Henry was trying to do…

Thomas was navigating us around the zoo with his map we picked up at the front. He’s still needs a little navigation practice, but since there are pictures of the animals on the map, he was actually able to keep tabs on where we were and where he wanted us to go pretty well. And he wanted to see the tigers! 

Unfortunately, the tigers were sound asleep. That’s why he looks a little sad in the previous photo. Well that and the fact we could only find one Tiger at first and he thought the tiger had no friends which was super sad. But we managed to find the other tiger asleep on top of the hill, so Thomas perked up a little bit after that. Whew - tiger crisis averted! (But photo crisis - why do zoos put wires where they are in the work spots for taking photos??)

After the tigers, Thomas started to navigate us toward the bears. He took his navigating job very seriously, in case you can’t tell!

Henry, on the other hand, was not at all interested in navigating. But he was having a blast romping around like a big boy. 

I think his favorite activity of the day was running when he realized I was trying to get photos of him. I’d kneel down to take a photo and off he would go!

It seems like they are constantly renovating and adding things to the zoo, so we decided these new benches were the perfect spot to sit down for an applesauce break. Plus it has such a nice view of the snow leopard! While I had them somewhat constrained, I tried to get a few selfies with my phone of the three of us. Some people walking by us and then started apologizing for getting in my photo. It took me a second to realize they thought I was taking photos of the cats. I explained they were fine, I was using the forward camera for selfies. I swear they looked at me like I was crazy. Don’t judge me and my selfies - it’s my favorite way to get photos of me and my boys!

We finally made it to the bears! The black bears weren’t out for some reason, so we had to find the brown bears. And every time I see the brown bears I am amazed at how big they are. Even Thomas was pointing out how big their claws are! Henry was just quietly roaring and pretending to be a bear. 

I’m also amazed at how much they act like overgrown dogs. I swear, they would be like having a giant Natalie around. Except for the fact they might try to eat me. I don’t think Natalie would ever do that. But don’t they just look so cute and cuddly??

We worked our way back to the front to see the polar bear exhibit. I have heard rumors that some times the polar bears will actually be up walking or swimming, but I have only ever seen them asleep! I can’t blame them - basking in the sun fast asleep seemed like a pretty good idea at the time. 

And since the boys seemed to like the bears the most today, I let them finish off their snack while hanging out by the polar bears. Henry kept watching the bears while he was eating and kept moving around for a better look. Maybe one of them was getting up??

Haha - nope. Still snoozing away. Thanks for getting me all excited about nothing, Henry... 

After seeing the moose, wolverine and falcons, the boys decided they were getting a little bit cold and ready to head for the exit. So Thomas pulled out his trusty map to navigate us back. 

As a side note, you’ve probably noticed their matching jackets. I had several people ask me if they were twins. Not quite…! I just think they are extra adorable when they match. Fun fact - they are the exact same size jackets - notice the how differently the sleeves fit each of them. Henry really is the Hulk!

We passed the moose cut-out again and I thought I could get Thomas to take a moose photo of me with my phone. He had the concept correct, but stood way too far back to get a decent photo... So I instead snapped a shot of him being a photographer. I think with a little coaching, he’ll be taking good photos in no time! Though he had a bit of a lean problem like my dear friend Theresa. Thankfully you can correct photo tilt in Lightroom. :)

Henry is obviously super bored with us taking photos. Ha - doesn’t he look super chill?

All-in-all they did an amazing job at the zoo and neither one of them asked to be carried a single time. We actually ran out of time before they gave up on me. So proud of my little guys! Give us a little more time and we’ll be out hiking together - can’t wait!

Costumes on Display

I noticed the other day that we have accumulated enough costumes that the costume “box” we have in the playroom can’t really contain all of the costumes or accessories. I asked Matt if there was any way to add a bar to the playroom so we had somewhere to hang them. He was totally on board and bought the supplies to make it happen.

He wanted it to look nice though, so he decided to stain it. And Thomas even got to help dadda out - one of his favorite activities! 

(As a complete side note - you can see Matt’s motorcycle in the background completely torn apart. He’s getting it ready for another big ride later this year. Apparently it needs a bit of TLC this year…!)

The final bar & shelf set-up. Matt thought the shelf would look nice and it’s a perfect spot for all the helmets and hats that accompany the dress up clothes.  The bar was so spacious, I went and retrieved their Halloween costumes out of their rooms as well. Those are technically dress up clothes too, right?

Apparently the Halloween costumes were actually the most exciting! The two of them headed straight for the other brother’s costume and demanded to be dressed up. Who knew Thomas had secretly wanted to be a penguin all this time? He’s an adorable penguin, for the record. :)

And Henry wanted to be a train engineer! The outfit was still a little big on him, but he didn’t seem to mind!

Thomas was demonstrating how penguins walk the whole time he was dressed up. And according to Thomas they walk very, very slowly… I tried to show him how they waddle, but he wasn’t buying it. To him, they walk perfectly upright, just slowly. Ok, little man - however you want to penguin walk is fine with me! 

But the slow moving penguin was quite the target for the train engineer and soon the train engineer was attacking the penguin with hugs. The penguin didn’t seem to mind all that much though. I swear Henry’s favorite hobby is hug attacking his brother. Thomas used to get pretty upset, but I think he has gotten used to it by now. Plus it wasn't even slowing him down that much considering how slow he was already going. And look how happy Henry is! Win-win, if you ask me!

A Hike With The Hubby!

Sometimes Matt & I use our Friday's off to do absolutely nothing. Other times we have big plans and have to get a strong start to the day to get them accomplished in the time the boys are at daycare. Today was one of those big plan days!

We dropped the boys off, had a hearty breakfast and hit the road to head down to the Kenai. We were going on a hike in the woods - woo!

It was an absolutely gorgeous Alaskan spring day. Sure, there was still some snow on the ground, but look at that sunshine! Look at the greenery! 

Ok yes, those might be the evergreens showing off their colors, but they are still green & pretty. After a dreary winter, I am not picky about the source of spring colors!

The Alders are still pretty bare, so there wasn't much color in this shot to begin with. I thought the lines of the branches looked cool growing up toward the sky. In case the angle is confusing, I am sitting on the ground just below the hill top. We hiked up the first hill before realizing that the snow was much softer than we were expecting, so Matt went back to get the snowshoes from the car. 

Starting the trudge uphill through the snow. In the summer, this is a field of Alders, but the weight of the snow over the winter weighs them all down until it looks like a field of snow. In some places, like this photo, you can see them randomly starting to poke out of the snow, but in other spots it was just snow everywhere. 

But in either case - it sucked. Our snowshoes kept crashing through what looked like solid snow and then hanging up on the Alder branches buried below. It was extremely tough going. I full-on face planted at least once or twice. Matt was having an even tougher time because his snow shoes are right on the edge of being too small when he has a pack on. Who knew they were so weight sensitive?

I would take one step and the snow wouldn't budge more than a half inch and the next step would be down over a foot. It was so easy to lose your balance with such uneven footing and if you did snag a branch, you were definitely going down because your snowshoe was stuck behind you.

My hands got cold at one point, so I stuck them in my jacket to warm up. It took me a few minutes to realize my hands were getting colder because my pockets were full of snow from one of the many falls.

But hey - at least it was a pretty day! And I was still getting to hang out with my favorite hiking buddy! :)

See that pretty field of pure snow?

Lies! All lies!

What lies beneath?

Tripping hazards!

I didn't get any photos of Matt crashing to the ground, because I couldn't exactly hike around with the camera up to my face when I was having trouble staying upright myself. But you can see how far down his foot went on this spot. He definitely did not stay upright. 

If you know the schematic for types of fun - this was definitely veering into Type 2 fun. 

But nature has a way of redeeming herself even when you are convinced she is trying to break your ankles. The snow seemed like a thick structureless blanket from the top, but then we happened upon this tree and you can clearly see the layers from multiple snow falls. It's almost like looking at an outcrop of snow!

This jagged stump proudly sticking up out of the ground had the most monotone gray exterior, but when I came around the other side it was full of rich browns of the bark and greens from the moss. It was way more beautiful than you would have guessed a stump would be.

Tree stumps in our yard - you are doing it wrong!

We finally reached our destination - the hunting site! Matt and Sam had a hunting spot last year and they registered it again this year. Apparently you have to post a sign after you register it and Sam was out of town the first day you could register the spot. So I got to be the tag along for the sign posting. I was pretty excited to see where Matt had spent so much time last year!

Matt pointed out where their tree stands were last year and where they were planning to put their ground blind this year. Then he told me where the Momma Grizzly and her cubs walked through last year (right under their stands!) and I was concerned about his "lay on the ground" plan. I will assume the two of them know what they are doing. 

And maybe check that his life insurance is up to date. 

I kid, I kid...

I already know it is. ;)

After a nice break in the solid ground of the woods we had to head back down again. Somehow - the snow actually got worse! I only took one or two photos before I gave up on the camera and focused instead on making it down the hill without breaking any bones. Definitely type 2 fun. 

Which means it was a great day in hindsight! And I can't believe spring it already here - soon the flowers will be blooming and it will be sunny all day long. Can't wait! :)

Happy Easter!

Easter snuck up on me again this year... I don't know why I can't keep track of spring holidays! We ended up having our corned beef for St. Patrick's Day a the following weekend. I did at least notice Easter was coming (yesterday!), so I had enough sense to go to the grocery store so we could have an Easter dinner. 

Luckily for us, the store wasn't sold out of the egg dyeing kits, so we were able to plan on dyeing eggs with the kids. Plus, since it was last minute they were on sale - I bought two kits! We kept talking up how much fun it would be during breakfast, so the boys were ready once we cleared the table!

One kit even came with these collapsable bowls, so I didn't even have to mess with finding egg sized containers. I didn't think we needed to color more than a dozen eggs, so we actually cobbled together the best parts from the two kits - like the egg dipper Henry is using. That one was way sturdier than the copper wire one from the other kit. 

Thomas and Matt managed to make it work, but I figured as unsteady as Henry already was - it was better to stick to the sturdier one. Look at that intense concentration on Thomas' face to make sure the egg doesn't fall!

Concentration on the other side of the table was a little hard to come by... 

Also, he really needs a haircut. They both do! We went yesterday afternoon and missed the barber shop's closing by 30 minutes. Sigh... We'll try again next weekend. We were much better about getting their hair cuts when we were eating out for breakfast every Saturday morning. Eating in apparently means our kids get shaggy!

Henry was pretty interested in playing with the colored eggs. He was especially drawn to this multi-colored one that Matt made. Thomas had to grab his hand to stop him from smashing it into the table. 

Unfortunately, Henry is a pretty determined kid and managed to smash that poor egg when no one was paying attention. I think he was pretty bummed that he cracked it. Oh well - it will just get eaten sooner!

Just like last year, I didn't put together an Easter basket. And also like last year, a grandparent came to the rescue and decided to send the boys goodies for Easter. Of course, since it was my mom this year, the bunnies arrived with part of their ears missing. Apparently she hasn't changed her ways since the days when she would bite the ears off of her poor daughter's chocolate bunnies!

I was trying to get Thomas to make a sad face to send to Nonni about how traumatized he was by the bunny ear theft. Unfortunately, he thought it was funny and couldn't muster up a decent "sad" face. This was the best he could manage...

Henry finally took a bite of his bunny after making it hop all over the table. I actually started taking bites from his bunny's ears since he was taking so long to eat it. He was shocked his momma would eat part of his bunny! Sorry kiddo - it's a mom thing on this side of the family. 

But nothing could prepare him for the disappointment of his mom deciding that the bunny was too big to eat in one sitting and took half of the bunny away from him...

Now that is a look of devastation! Poor guy was so upset, he couldn't even finish the bite in his mouth...

We've been calling him Hollywood Henry recently because he's been turning the tears on when he doesn't get his way. But this particular incident was no act - this little man was super inconsolable. I can't remember what I finally told him that he calmed down, but it was certainly not an "instant" stop like his Hollywood moments. :(

Incidentally, I made a ham for dinner because it seemed like the thing to do when there were 200 of them at the store and I've never made one. It was super tasty, but the four of us didn't even make a dent in the thing (and I grabbed the smallest one I could find). So when googling what to do with leftover ham I came across a recipe that reminded me about how my Grandmom always made ham salad with leftover ham. I had to dig around to find our hand grinder (it's on the black list of appliances) and then find somewhere I could attach it. Then I got to grinding and trying to recreate her Ham Salad from a very unhelpful recipe she wrote (everything is to taste!). 

Well apparently I nailed it, because Matt discovered it when he needed a snack at 11pm. He left me a note on the counter along the lines of "Holy cow, ham salad is amazing!" High praise from someone who thought I was crazy when I started grinding it up in the coffee bar. Ha!

Happy Easter from us and hope everyone has a great day and no one stole your bunny ears! :)

Rice Table

The boys rediscovered their tiny sand box in the garage the other day and had a blast playing with it. They kept asking to play with it, but since it is in the garage - I can't really let them play with it unattended while I am trying to make dinner. I was brainstorming on what I could do indoors that would be just as fun. 

When it dawned on me that I could recreate the rice table like they have at school. Sure, some of the rice will probably end up on the floor, but it is much easier to vaccum up than sand. When I picked them up from school today I asked if they wanted to run errands with me so we could get the supplies for a rice box. They were so on board, they didn't even mind that it was going to take 2 stops! ;)

Also, a 25 pound bag of rice was probably too much, but I dumped it all in before I realized that. Oh well - at least their rice has some depth to it...!

We threw the construction trucks in there and then added a bunch of measuring cups like they have at school. It was way too many things for the rice box, so the boys decided they didn't need the trucks. Probably for the best - the rice was getting stuck in all of the nooks & crannies!

But they were having a blast with the measuring cups / spoons, small containers and the funnel.

Henry was happily filling up this little bottle full of rice. I tried to show him that if he left some space, he could put the lid on and shake it to make fun noises. Yeah no - he was filling it up to the top and then some. As long as he's happy! 

Thomas made a giant ramp with his side of the rice table and rolled his bottle full of rice down the ramp. He was pretty proud of his "building" skills. I was pretty proud of how much they liked my cheapo rice box! 

Ok, the one downside is how much rice ended up on the floor. It was pretty easy to vacuum up, but the two of them made quite the mess! I wonder how long it takes to go through 25 pounds of rice by losing ~500 grains to the floor each time? I'm sure we've still got months of quality play time at that rate. :)

Ski Train!

It's that time of year again - ski train! It was a much smaller crowd this year since we did a very last minute sign-up and only 10 seats were left in the cars with tables. And a ski train without tables is no way to travel... 

But it was a beautiful day in what had been a pretty long streak of "blah" days. There is absolutely no snow around Anchorage, so we were worried that the snow in Curry would be a bust. Luckily, it is far enough north that we quickly got back to the expected Alaskan landscape for winter. Yay snow! Also yay for Denali being so clear this morning!

Get unloaded was a lot easier this time since we actually knew what we were doing. And it was almost 40° outside -it made for a much nicer outing than when it was negative temperatures last year. 

Last year, I thought we made such good progress and were well on our way up the hill when we decided to detour and go off trail. I was so wrong! We passed our turn off point ages ago from this photo! And this time we were in the middle of the pack, so we were taking turns passing the skiers on the uphills and getting passed by them on the flat / downhills. I am super impressed by their ability to get up the hills with skis on. I would have been falling all over the place (not that a few of them weren't doing just that...!).

I feel like we are so close to the end, but yet another hill pops up in front of us. Time for the self pep talk...

"Just keep walking, Jen - you can do this! Even though you can't see the radio tower that is at the top of the hill, I am sure you are super close!"

"I told you! Look, there is that radio tower! Sure, I was a hill off on where I thought it would be, but you are there!"

It's at this point that one of my friends tells me the radio tower isn't actually at the very top. What?!?

Thankfully, I look over to the side and see the awesome sight of Denali poking up over the mountain ranges of this valley. My friend and I debated if the top had clouds around it or if it was snow blowing off the peaks. Either way, it was a gorgeous sight and well worth the last bit of this climb that was kicking my butt!

Finally at the top! None of the pictures I took of the valley behind me really do it justice because I was shooting into the very bright sun, but trust me on the fact it was a great view in all directions. Of course, once we had been up there for a little while, the very strong breeze started to cool us down rapidly. Always challenging to be appropriately dressed when exerting yourself in the outdoors - especially in winter! Thankfully, we had our coats stashed away in the backpack. The return trip was quite pleasant. :)

Oh and I almost forgot to mention the new snowshoes! I found these awesome things at the end of last winter on the clearance rack for 90% off their original price. I was so excited I bought all three pairs! There were two men's pairs and this way cooler looking women's pair. We loaned the extra pair to our friend Ethan, so all three of them finally got some use. I thought they were great - especially considering the fact we bought them cheaper than the rental pair cost us last year. Score!

On the way back to Anchorage and we passed Denali again - thanks to the sun direction it looked even more amazing! They nicely stopped the train so we could all get photos. A beautiful ending for a super fun day. Always good to get a few nice winter activities in before winter really is over! :)

Last Hockey Practice

I have missed a few of Thomas' hockey practices, but I wanted to be sure to make it to the last one for this session. Matt has told me that he has actually made some progress and I wanted to be sure to get some photos to show him what a great job he has done these past few weeks.

He was all smiles while Matt was getting him geared up, he is stoked for practice today! And we weren't running late, so we weren't having to speed dress him - always a good thing!

Henry is obsessed with the soda vending machine as usual. So many colorful drinks all lit up - way more exciting than watching your dadda strap hockey pads on your brother...!

Practice time! Thomas got out on the ice like a champ! Ok, he is hugging close to the wall, but he is moving and not falling - so I'm calling it a win!

Coach Allen was there today and still willing to spend extra effort on Thomas. You can see Thomas hasn't quite made it over to the pack of players. Coach Allen is trying to get Thomas to focus because all the other kids just dropped to the ice and got back up again while Thomas stayed standing. Sigh...

Speaking of focus - it really is Thomas' biggest issue with hockey practice. Right now, he is supposed to be following his coach and classmates down the ice.

Instead he is shuffling about 1' an hour and looking all over the place.

Left. Right. Up. Down.

Pretty much every direction except where he is supposed to be looking. 

Matt and I were saying "Thomas - pay attention to your coach!" from the sidelines, so he turned to look at us - which totally made him lose his balance and fall to the ice. Unlike Coach Allen, Coach Newell makes Thomas get up on his own. He struggled a little bit at first because he was using the wrong foot, but as soon as he got his left leg steady and his right knee under him...

He popped up like a champ! Go Thomas!

The coaches then started a game of chase where they try to get the kids to tag them. The older kids actually have to work pretty hard to catch their agile coaches, but the beginner side the coaches move slow enough to be easily caught. And you can see a smile on Thomas' face - what is that doing there during hockey practice?? 

I swear he is like a different kid as soon as he gets engaged - he went from shuffling around like an old man to skating all over the place!

He was picking up balls like a champ and putting them in the bucket before skating off to find new ones to retrieve!

It was at this point that younger brother got a little bored and decided he needed to stretch his legs. He kept running toward Subway, then running back. He's such a cutie-patootie, even when he is being a toot. :)

By the time I got back to taking pictures, Thomas was skating across the rink using the hockey goal to steady himself. I honestly couldn't find him at first because he was doing so well. Go Thomas!

He skated over for a little cheerleading from his dad before they all skated in for one final "Go Team!". It has certainly been frustrating for us on the sidelines, but it does look like he's made some great progress. We're probably going back to soccer for the summer, but one of the coaches actually told us the two sports are very complimentary to each other. It's certainly a lot easier to practice hockey outside in the winter while the ponds are all frozen...! :)