Yemeni Delight

Some days are serious days. Chloe was much more contemplative and calm than usual. She seemed to be studying everything around her, and not giving up smiles very easily. This is probably all because we skipped her morning nap time in order to go out to breakfast. Not sure it was worth the trade-off, but at least breakfast was great!

We decided to play it safe and stay in for dinner. We made Yemeni Delight Pizza (Andrew said we had to name it). I started reading this cooking blog called Smitten Kitchen and got inspired to make my own pizza creation. I didn't use their recipe, but who uses a recipes for pizza anyway? Holy cow was it good. We were able to use some fun spices, like this Yemeni Spice Rub from Melinda.

The pizza had caramelized red onions, grilled red peppers, Yemeni rubbed grilled chicken and garlic infused olive oil . That was all just stuff from our kitchen we thought would go together and happened to have on hand. We heated our oven hotter than i knew was possible(550) threw the ingredients all on dough from the Moose'sTooth and this delicious creation was ready in about 10 minutes.
We will definitely be adding homemade pizza to our dinner rotations!

Finally Friday

This was a very LONG week. This was the week we were supposed to be taking Chloe on her very first trip down to Seattle and then Oregon. We planned our vacation around my work, which seemed like a good idea until my work trip was cancelled at the very last minute, (We are talking days here) leaving us in the lurch. By the way, in my story "the lurch" is Alaska. We made the best of it, but it doesn't make it any easier not to be on vacation right now.

Chloe doesn't let it get to her though! She is napping at the moment, and sure to be up soon. She smiles all the time now, and is really active. Here is an action shot of her playing. If I had panned out a bit you would see that her legs are a blur as well. We call it her riverdance. Reaching for a toy.

Reaching for Mom.

The last one is my favorite. She does this when she wakes up from a nap too. How can you resist a face like that? Too cute.

Another Sunny Day...

It's me (Andrew) again. Saturday was another sunny day, and we were itching to get outdoors. Chloe managed to stay awake long enough for us to go on a little hike. Chloe enjoyed picking blueberries with her mom. Glisan and Powell decided to come too, and we all had a good time. Here you go.

Sunny in Whittier

Andrew here (Thought I would switch it up!!)...Yesterday was so nice that I decided to ditch work and go boating with the family! It was really nice in Whittier, perfect for a little cruise. As you can see, Chloe is really getting the hang of this boating thing. Also, I am finally starting to get better at using the photo editing software that Allen and Julie got me for my birthday (thanks again, guys). Anyways, hope that you enjoy the pictures....

Bed Time

We have changed up the baby bedtime routine. Chloe is no longer sleeping in the travel crib in our room, but is sleeping in her very own room!! We thought it would be a tough transition, but nope--easy shmeasy! Chloe is such a good sleeper!
Tonight we decided to let Chloe have some naked play time before bed. She loved it! You can see in the video that she is quite the kicker! This was at the end of her playtime, so she is winding down a bit. 10 minutes earlier she was swinging the butterfly around like a crazy lady. She loves that thing, and we love anything she loves! This pre-bedtime playtime is going to be a new standard, because it conked her out. She was out a minute after laying her down!

This week we went to the farmer's market, and bought some AMAZING vegetables! Andrew made the best stir fry with all of our crisp organic produce. Yum, there is such a big difference from this stuff and even the organic stuff at the grocery store. The guy we bought it from said he picked it that morning.

All of this healthy eating will hopefully make up for the not so healthy eating a few days ago. We had battered halibut and salmon (all caught by Andrew) over at Conor and Gloria's. They are from Texas and really know how to fry some mean fish. Oh my gosh it was good!

Off to sleep!

Sweater Weather

This past week has been a bit chilly! Normally I would be sad that summer is on it's way out, but with all of the cute sweaters just waiting in Chloe's closet, I am thrilled to start breaking them out. Not only are the sweaters cute, they are also hand knit. This yellow one is from Pat, it is super soft and girly. As you can see it is a favorite.

This green one is from Amber and also super soft! I think she spun the wool to make the yarn to knit the sweater....yes she is amazing.

This blanket was my latest project. I had been wanting to make one since I saw a similar version at the forest fair. I can't take all of the credit, Amber did give me the fabric and ribbon all in a kit for my birthday! One side is flannel and the other side is minky, and there are amazing ribbons from the ribbon jar sewn around the outside for Chloe to play with. I use the term "play" loosely; to her the ribbons are for sucking on, and grabbing.

To me the blanket is big, bright, cheery and perfect to to keep me cozy with my baby girl! I think I want to make another one that is t-shirt material on one side and minky on the other....maybe I could steal one of Andrews concert t-shirts he doesn't wear anymore. Reduce reuse recycle right?

random selection of adventures

More about our travels! I have put in some pictures from Cooper's Landing. It was a beautiful day, so we decided to drive down with the girls (Chloe and Tuesday) to Scott's cabin on Kenai Lake. The guys took off mountain biking, and Amber and I set ourselves up on the shore and relaxed. We read stories to Tuesday (Chloe was asleep), and enjoyed the beautiful day.

Amber and Tuesday on the little deck on the shore.

Chloe asleep. She likes to cover her face when she sleeps :)

Once the guys got back we swapped the babies and took off on the Kayaks. (no pics of us, but here is one when the guys got their turn). The only downside to having a baby is that we can't go out on the kayak with her....I do recall someone suggesting a combo of duct tape, the kayak and a car seat...but we decided not to go with that idea.

Later that week Andrew took BJ out for the Alaskan fishing experience. It seems all Alaskan fishing endeavours begin at the crack of dawn. They left around 3:30 am. They took the little boat out to 20 mile (the name of the river, not the distance they went) to fish for salmon. They were quite successful!! Yay! BJ went home with a box stuffed full of yummy Alaskan salmon! Amber and I did not go, first because they left at 3:30 and second because there are often bears around there, and we didn't want the babies to become tasty bear treats.

Here is a picture of the girls riding in the car together. They did really well most of the time! It was a bit of a squeeze, but it worked! This was a picture from my birthday dinner. We planned to go out to Double Musky for amazing steak, but did not make it out of Anchorage. If you can see in the background there is a super long line of cars.....they were not moving. At all. There was an accident that shut down the highway, so instead of waiting in line for hours, we pulled off at Potters Marsh to walk along the new boardwalk.
Amber with Tuesday and Chloe. I cant wait to see how they relate to each other when they get older :)

I think that is the last of the random mix of photos. They wouldn't be so random if I had put them up in a timely manner, but hey better late than never!

Train Ride to Seward

It seems like I start every post with: We have been SO BUSY lately...but we really have been! Amber, BJ and their baby Tuesday were up here visiting from Oregon! I would have been thrilled to just see Amber, and spend all week at home, but we decided to get out and enjoy Alaska. Today I wanted to tell about our amazing trip to Seward. We took the train out there, which was amazing. Nobody had to drive, and everyone got to relax. The only bad part about the trip is that it began at 5:45 am at the train station. That means we were all up at 4:45....not fun. BUT it was all worth it once the train started. The views were spectacular.

Doesn't this look like it is from a magazine? We were in one of the rear cars, and caught this picture as the train went around a bend. Honestly I could have stood out and taken pictures continuously for the entire trip.

Chloe also enjoyed the trip, but did not take in much of the scenery. :)

Although she did wake up for some playtime somewhere along the journey. She has just started smiling at me while we play, and I am sure it is on purpose now!We had quite a bit of time to kill in Seward...something like 5 hours in a pretty, but small and relatively boring town. We took a lot of pictures, walked around with the strollers and had a picnic.

That left 4 more hours....we took more pictures. Here is a great family photo of Amber BJ and Tuesday.

And a father daughter shot along the shore. It was an incredible day- but deceptively sunny. The only people who didn't get sunburned were the babies. There were well protected with their adorable little sunhats. Also sleepy Chloe spend most of her time snoozing in the stroller or the baby bjorn where the sun couldn't get to her.

It was such a great trip out there. We seem to see the most amazing things when we have visitors. We always talked about taking the train, but probably never would have gotten around to it just for us. Thanks guys! We miss you!