cupcake celebration

Love you birthday boy!

Happy Birthday Andrew!!

Happy Birthday to the best Dad and husband in the world!  We love you Andrew!!!

Hot Chocolate Break

Its almost Andrew's birthday and the girls spent the morning with me shopping and prepping for the big day.  Since it was the weekend, I let them have a treat for all of their hard work.  (or maybe for being good while I went store to store to store)  

Lighter Evenings

It is staying light much later these days, so now we have time for a family walk after Andrew gets home from work!  Maddie went in the backpack and Chloe roamed free!

Slight moose delay.  We had to wait for a Mom and baby to go back into the woods so we could pass.

Wohoo back on the run!

Loving this great snow!  Well except when I shovel off the entry stairs (which takes about 30 min), and then have to  shovel them again 4 hours later because it starts snowing like crazy, AGAIN.  We have tons of snow now, so it is starting to feel like a more "normal" Alaskan winter.  Yay!

Morning Smoothie

Blueberries, bananas, beets, orange juice, almond milk and kale.  More please!

Winter fun in Alaska

Nice job skiing Chloe!!

 It's cute when Maddie does it.....

Chuck and Farah, you are the greatest!  Thanks for lending us your cabin again!!

Around the House

Chloe is pretty great at choosing her own outfits these days

 Maddie's favorite sign is "more" :)

Snowy Zoo Day

Maddie's little fingers got cold at the end.  We are now on the search for great warm gloves for kids.  

Lazy Girdwood Weekend

Scrub a dub dub

Finally Some Snow!

Valentine's Dinner

 Salmon Croquettes (epicurious) over Braised Red Chard and Five Spice Scallops with Carrot Ginger Coconut Sauce (the New Alaskan Cookbook)

Fresh strawberries over custard

 The girls tried dinner but did not like it (crazy right??!!!) so they had pizza instead.  Everyone was happy :)

 Maddie is so funny.  This is her new "say cheese" face.

It was a good day :)

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  These are the cards Chloe made for her classmates in preschool.  Little kids are the sweetest!

First and Last Days

This is what we woke up to our first morning in Hawaii.  The first part of our vacation we spent in Waikiki at the Sheraton.  We had a suite right on the ocean.  Andrew's friend totally hooked us up with a room that was definitely a budget buster without the connection.  It was amazing, especially since I spend so much time in the room with naps and all :)  We never really thought an ocean view mattered, but now I know what the premium price is all about!

We flew in at night so the first time the girls really saw the view was when they woke up in the morning.  They loved it.  Of course.

breakfast on the lanai

Chloe chilling with me while Madeline naps.

The whole fist part of the trip Andrew was working and going to conference meetings, so I pretty much took no pictures at all.  I was too busy running around after two excited girls.  I sure didn't want to get pics of Maddie falling into the pool because I was too busy capturing the moment, you know?!  The second half of the trip we spent in Ko Olina, also on Oahu but just around the island from Waikiki.  Honestly we were worried about leaving the Sheraton and being disappointed with our new room not being as nice (not hanging over the ocean)....little did we know we were in for an amazing treat!  These  next photos are from our last day.  We were all checked out and just watching the sunset one last time before heading out to the airport.  

Chloe even got to hang out with her trip friend Josie and give her a hug before saying goodbye.  It is funny how easy it is to make friends on vacation.  We had a fabulous time and met SO MANY really nice people.  Maybe that is what retirement is like for those lucky enough to retire to paradise :) 

Those are the last trip photos, from now on I will be trying to post more often with little snippets of our "real life" ;) We miss you Hawaii!!