Aloha

You may have noticed a distinct lack of posts the last few weeks! Well there was a very good reason for this, we were on vacation in sunny Maui! Oh my gosh it was amazing!! The best way to show what a great time we had is to show you the pictures. We stayed with my friend Amber and her husband (BJ) and daughter (Tuesday or "Tu Tu" to Chloe) in a huge pimped out condo on the beach. It was pretty close to the size of our house but definitely nicer. Chloe had several favorites this trip:

1. the elevator. she couldn't get enough, we would ride it up and down just for her. Sometimes this ended in tears as we had to pry her out of it to go back to our room :)

2. the ocean. this was her first experience with big waves and warm ocean water you can get in. She would dive in head first if we didn't sprint after her mad attempts to run out to sea.

3. the sand. especially knocking down sandcastles- ours not other peoples

4. the hot tub pool combo. she would bounce between the two so often. I would estimate she switched about every minute or less. I guess we had to work off those Mai Tais somehow!

5. the flowers. she loved pointing out, touching and smelling the tropical flowers.

6. the birds. I can't beleive I didn't get a picture of her chasing the birds by the pool. There were tons of tiny birds that offered endless chasing opportunities for Chloe. She loved it.

7. TuTu her sidekick for the trip!

8. our undivided attention for two weeks!!!

It was an amazing trip and I can not wait to go back! It was so wonderful, I don't think I will ever go back to any other island!! AMAZING!!

more snapshots from paradise

footprints in the sandfun with Dad
playing in the waves
running down the beach
playing in the sand
running from the waves
look what I can do!
up north overlooking gorgeous mountains and cliffs. it was so windy up here!
wet from the ocean
family photo courtesy of another nice tourist.

Ah so wonderful!

True sign of the holidays

I really know it is the holiday season when Starbucks releases their holiday drinks. I know it may be crazy but I get SO EXCITED when this day rolls around!! I would say I get as excited for this a I do an actual holiday! I took Chloe there to help me celebrate this year. She had hot (warm) chocolate and I had a white chocolate peppermint latte.

Oh how I love my Starbuck holidays! Chloe did not drink much of the hot chocolate, but it is the thought that counts! She kept saying "hot" and blowing on the cup before drinking even though it was just warm. I didn't even think that she would connect the name "hot chocolate" with the word "hot". Too cute.

Winter Water Play

We have been doing a lot of swimming lately at our gym here in Alaska. Chloe LOVES the water, and we got the membership pretty much just for her. (Although I should say Andrew has been using it all the time too---I am the only one who has yet to work out. no comments please)

It is just so cute to see a tiny girl in a ruffled swim suit squeal and splash in the salt water pool! Well she not only made us smile during this trip but made us bust up laughing, and lucky for you we caught it on film! I have attached the youtube post where you can check out the video in all it's glory. You can choose the quality to watch, just change to a higher quality (at the bottom just to the left of the you tube logo.) Sometimes you have to press play first to adjust the quality settings.

I have noticed that when I uploaded video here in the past, it didn't turn out so great so hopefully this will work better. Our camera is waterproof and even films under water so look for more fun videos soon!

Happy Halloween?

Okay so some of you may remember that I was working on a Halloween decoration project BEFORE Halloween. Well, I got sick then had travel then got wrapped up in being a MOM....long story short, I didn't even come close to finishing it on time. Well the way I look at it, I finished it super early for next year! Here is the project:

cut circles (step 75 in the process)
I started out with a yard of each color of felt. It was too thin and floppy so I used spray adhesive on the back of each sheet and folded them in half for double thickness. I was left with nice thick and firm felt sheets. I then cut the felt into strips and then into squares of varying sizes. I then cut the squares into circles. (oh my gosh my fingers had blisters and I am pretty sure I sprained my wrist in this two week marathon cutting project). But I had a lot of felt circles to show for the pain and suffering of crafting.

Next I used invisible thread and sewed the circles into a long streamer. Really really really long streamers. I think it could wrap around the house :) I went a little overboard. Here is a mountain of sewn streamers.
Here is what they look like hung.
Hung by the fireplace with care...stockings may be more appropriate this time of year.
Anyway this project turned out great, and I would like to do it for other holidays but think I am going to give my fingers a rest this season and start again when I am sure I have enough time and wrist dexterity to finish the job on schedule. (Thanks for the idea Amber!!! Although I am not sure how you "whipped them up" in mere hours. I am definitely not ready to join your craft big leagues. I will stick to the t-ball league)

More snow!

I am back from Washington, and again (as expected) Chloe did fabulous with Andrew! She just adores him! Since I have been back I have been the third wheel in the family :) We have not been taking a ton of photos lately because we have been so busy- sorry Mom! It is still super snowy out, and a little icy, but the holiday spirit is in the air!

Here are a few things we have been up to:

eating snow
eating snow

Chloe sleeping in the chariot while we ski. Andrew's sister Elena joined us for this outing! It was her first time on XC skis. Nice work Elena!

The temps are getting much colder now, down to the low 20's and teens. Brrrr. Luckily the chariot stays nice and toasty so we can still get outside! We hope to make it out for our annual Thanksgiving ski this year. It always feels so great to be out in the middle of the day celebrating the holiday as our own little family before the yummy holiday feast with the entire family. We really earn our calories too--- not a bad bonus!

let it snow!

Winter is now here!!! I just got back from my great trip to Texas, and came home to snow! For those of you wondering Chloe did awesome with her Dad while I was gone, and is now sleeping through the night for the most part. I leave for a few days and Andrew fixes everything???!! Amazing parenting is all I can think of as the reason! That or luck.

There is so much snow I had to shovel the driveway......seriously! We of course jumped at the opportunity to get out the toys and start enjoying the world of winter sports! We took Chloe out in the chariot and did some great cross country skiing. It was socked in that day, but the snow was amazing!! Just minutes from our house, but a world away!
Andrew, a sleeping Chloe (in the Chariot) and our friend Scott posing for a picture about 45 min out on power line pass.
Me posing with a massive moose who was lounging by the side of the trail. He is much closer than he looks. We saw 9 moose that day in just 2 hours! It was awesome!!

Here is a close up of my new moose friend. Chillin' in the snow.

Andrew all harnessed up to the chariot, which has attachable cross country skis of it's own! Finally I can keep up with him!

The happy family all skied out and ready for some hot cocoa!
Chloe got her first taste of snow that day.

Mmm DELICIOUS! She would have stayed out there all day just eating snow if we had let her. Actually it is about the only thing she wants to do when she gets out there. At home she even wants me to go outside and bring her back bowls of snow to eat. Free entertainment---I like it!

The snow is just amazing up here! The trails were fast, and the snow is deep (relatively for this time of year...maybe 2 feet or so?). It is plenty deep for skiing, which is what I care about! I can't wait to get back out there. With Chloe's self enforced early bedtime of 6:30 pm, it makes it a bit tough to get out there after work, but I think we can make it work at least once during the work week and as much as possible on the weekends. I am READY for winter!

Also if anyone in the Anchorage area is interested in taking a knitting class with me, please let me know! I want to learn to knit Christmas stockings. Since I haven't started yet I may be looking at Christmas stockings for next year (like the Halloween garland I am still working on) but I still want to give it a try. I think it would be so awesome to have ones that I made myself. Sewing is cheating- I want them to be knit!

Happy winter everyone!!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from Elmo and her family!!



Chloe loved her costume. She wanted to wear it all the time! It was toasty warm and very adorable. Although Chloe did not really understand the trick or treating concept she did love the sucker she found in her bag, chewed through the wrapper and enjoyed. We also let her have part of a peanut butter cup! Holy cow she was HYPER after that! We have never given her candy before that so had no idea what to expect. Shocker she loved it! We will stick to healthier alternatives for the most part but she was pretty adorable running around as crazy hyper elmo! It was a fun Halloween, and I think years to come will only get better!

Halloween Cookies!

It is FINALLY the holiday season. The leaves are falling off all of the trees, and are mostly bare already, the temperatures are getting quite chilly and the air smells like wood cracking away in fireplaces. We have a gas fireplace :( at our house so have to make a little extra effort to get the fall feeling inside. This year Chloe understands what is going on around her and I have gotten much more creative with our activities. We decided Halloween cookies would be a good idea to get in the spirit.

Chloe helped every step of the way. She helped fill the air with music...... She really likes making noise so this an awesome way for her to participate. You can see this was great fun!

She also helped measure the flour, butter and sugar, and got the very important job of dumping them in the mixing bowl. She is such a good helper!
Perhaps she had a little too much fun with the flour. I am not quite sure how she got so much on her face, but I guess that is what happens when you give a toddler free access to her own bowl of flour and metal spoons.
I should have taken a picture of the floor. Just imagine a white blanket of flour all around her covering the floor and also all of the pots and pans we keep just below this working surface.... Thank goodness for our Dyson!
We moved from play time with flour to play time with sprinkles. She really liked doing the sprinkles. But after decorating a few cookies with delicate sprinkles she realized it is much more fun to dump them on by the fistful!
And then she found an even more fun thing to do with the sprinkles-- EAT them!

"Who me? I didn't eat any sprinkles."

"Okay maybe just a few...."

The cookies turned out pretty darn good too! We made these cookies 2 more times after this because it is so much fun. But to be honest the clean up takes just as long as the entire cookie making process- which is a bit of a deterrent. Maybe I will just try easy sugar cookies next. Chloe can still put on sprinkles and I won't have to mess with the cookie press......but I do love my buttery spritz cookies. Yum! What toddler activity doesn't come with a bunch of clean up anyway right?!

Fall Weather

We have been enjoying this fall weather the last couple of weeks. We are trying to get outside as much as possible because we know that it will be over way too soon. Fall lasts about 3 weeks up here in Alaska before winter takes over and the snow arrives. As of today it has actually snowed once (Andrew saw it downtown but I can not confirm). Nothing has stuck, and that is what counts.

Here are the highlights of our weekend outing. We walked a few miles on the coastal trail while Chloe napped in her cozy warm stroller.
I got a chance to push it too. Here we are at Westchester Lagoon. It was so clear and gorgeous that day. We could see all of the mountains!
Happy Chloe, awake from her nap and loving the outdoors!
She sees an airplane. It is a toss up which is more exciting.... dogs or airplanes :)

There was an exercise park (from the 70's) at the end of our walk, so we turned it into a playground for Chloe. She loved balancing on the beams and walking up the sit up inclines.Look what I can do!!
Super fun!
We also looked for leaves, and collected every single one in this grassy area!
What a fun day!!
Here's hoping we have a few more sunny clear weekends before the snow. Don't cross your fingers though....all reports are for snow today.

On a side note we are starting the weaning process. I would love to keep breastfeeding, but I have a few long trips coming up for work and will be gone for extended periods (2 nights one week and 3 the next). Not good for poor Andrew who, although Chloe loves him during the day, doesn't have the goods she is looking for at night. Last week I weaned to only milk at night and it was rough. The last few night we have been limiting milk to just before bedtime and only once more during the night.... Oh my gosh it is exhausting because Chloe is not happy about the changes, but it is slowly but surely getting better. Last night Andrew went in for all the midnight wakings- no midnight milk for Chloe. He held her rocked her and calmed her back to sleep both times. What a great dad! I know it wasn't easy because I heard the crying and constant "Milk Milk MILK MILK MILK MILK" from Chloe. It is so hard not to give her what she wants! We are hanging in there though and she is surviving just fine. I venture to say she is actually doing great!