4th of July!

Oh how nice it is to have a 3 day weekend!  I had time to clean the house, and even pick some flowers.  (These were actually welcome home flowers for Andrew)  He was out of town for a week in DC for work, and we are SO GLAD to have him back! 

Chloe couldn't wait for him to take her on a bike ride!  You may remember that we got her this bike seat for her birthday.  She absolutely LOVES it!  It is pretty awesome for us too!  She is safe and secure AND happy which is a combo that doesn't really go together that often :)

Here's a side view :)

Sunday we went to the Girdwood Forest Fair.  It is like an arts fair with lots of live music, and even more hippies.  It is pretty much awesome.  Chloe really liked the music- dancing to the music, and playing with hula hoops while listening to the music.  Catching a theme?  Chloe loves live music!    On the way out we stopped at the super playground, where Chloe spent all her time in the sandbox, digging with shovels, dump trucks and excavators.  She loves her trucks!

On a mission to get the excavator from another little boy.  Mission unsuccessful :( 

After the forest fair we drove down to Whittier and went out on the boat.  It was great weather, and nobody (talking about me) got sea sick.  I took my traditional dramamine.....but this time somehow thought it was chewable, and let me tell you- if the package doesn't say chewable, don't chew it!  Yuck!  It was fast acting though!  Chloe gets her sea legs from her Dad, so it was all good times for her.  

We spent some time inside too.  Here is Chloe checking on the baby :)  She even kisses my belly sometimes,  I think she is going to be such a sweet big sister!  

 This time our boating adventure took us to surprise cove, where Andrew heard that people had been catching halibut.  Andrew and Jim decided to give fishing a go, and Chloe helped too.  Donna and I read magazines, and I took pictures and entertained Chloe (when she wasn't busy fishing that is).  The fishing must have been really good the week before because all of the halibut were already caught :)  Jim did catch some sort of fish, but it was just a baby and got to go back with its family.  They had a few nibbles, but no keepers.  

We all had a good time anyway.  Shockingly, Chloe was in great spirits all day, even though she didn't nap---at all!!  When I tried to take her down to nap, she said "no -be on boat!!!"  I guess the stateroom looked too much like a bedroom and not enough like a boat.  She was not sleepy, and there was no convincing her she was on a boat, without seeing out the big windows.  She stayed in good spirits the whole entire day, so we really really really lucked out!

 She did fall asleep immediately (within maybe 4 minutes) of getting in the car.  For those of you familiar with Whittier, we weren't even in the tunnel yet and she was already out cold!  Crazy!  And you would think that falling asleep at 7:30 in the car might mess with bedtime when we got home- you would be wrong!  She went right to bed again there too!  Wow, what a weekend!

museum weekend

We had a fun day at the museum this weekend.  Friday was almost 80 here, so I expected lots of great weather for the weekend, but it turned out to be cloudy and drizzly at night....so instead of the zoo we went to the museum!  Every time we go it is different.  This time Chloe got to touch starfish, and even a king crab (no pictures as I was super excited to get to touch them too.)  It is so fun to explore with Chloe!

We see a bus outside

Pretty flowers.  we smelled each color.

making music.

Mr. Potato head

Sure he has a mustache and a purse.

playing with people.

sound effects too?  this is awesome!

"nap time" in progress

As Chloe is officially a "big girl" now, We decided to make the switch to the "big girl" bed.  The side came off the crib last week, and so far she is doing stellar!    We thought she would be roaming all over her room at night and during nap times, wrecking havok on her dresser contents and loaded bookshelf but it never happened! 

She stays in bed, and OMG even took herself to the potty (in her room) after one of her naps this week!

She sure seems to like the big girl bed, and we love it!  It is so nice to read her stories in bed now, when before it was impossible to bend over the rails and make it through a whole story.  Of course sometimes she doesn't want to go to sleep- like any two year old, and tries to follow us out of the room, but after a little whining she gets into bed herself and dozes off.  What a good little girl we have!  Yay!

Chloe is two!

Like any perfect birthday, the day started off with a cupcake we made together the night before.  Chocolate with pink frosting was Chloe's very specific request.  She didn't really eat much of the cupcake but did enjoy the frosting very much.

  

 Next up we went to Snow City Cafe for breakfast, where Chloe got her all-time favorite blueberry pancakes.  She also got to wear her special birthday shirt.  She knows her numbers so she can tell you she is two now!  Holding up two fingers is still a little tough but she tries! 

 You may notice the binky has made a re-appearance....well that is a whole different post.  She fell and hurt her lip big time so we let her have it to keep the vaseline in place and to help with the pain too.  

 After breakfast we continued the fun with our very first trip to the zoo!  It was AWESOME!!!!!  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Peters for the membership!  Chloe absolutely loved the place.  And so did we!  We will definitely be going there A LOT this summer, and winter too!

You can get really really close to the animals...maybe too close.

 There are cool boardwalk bridges, and trails that lead all through the beautiful wilderness to the different animal habitats.  It is much less commercial than any zoo I have seen- I don't think there is even a gift shop.....more likely is that we didn't see it tacked away somewhere in the wilderness.

 To Chloe's delight Grandma Romerdahl got to come along with us too.  

  She pretty much loved the entire place.

Checking out the tigers with Dad was pretty great too!  

 After nap time we had a little party for Chloe with Grandma and Grandpa Romerdahl, where Chloe got her very own cupcake with a giant candle.  She LOVED it when we sang to her, and also loved blowing out the candle.  She just wanted us to keep lighting it so we would sing to her over and over again.  Of course we did it.  You only turn two once!

 It was a really fun family day for all of us.  We really should do more Chloe-centric days like this.  Of course she loves it, and guess what so do we!

Trucks!

For those of you not aware:  April was Donate Life month.  A month to celebrate the amazing people who became organ donors, and saved the lives of those in need.  Did you know that a single organ donor can save the lives of 8 different people?!!  Well now you do!  Anywho the point of telling you about donate life month was to talk about a fun celebration we did at Providence Alaska Medical Center.  We gave out cake, thanked staff and talked to just about everyone that came through the lobby.  I brought Chloe along to give out bracelets.  She was a super pro!  I have never given away so many bracelets before EVER!!!!  After a few hours, the cake was gone and Chloe was spent.  We walked back over the sky bridge to the car, with a 20 minute detour at this window:  

Chloe LOVES trucks and any heavy equipment machinery.  We watched them dig and dump the dirt into dump trucks.  (They are building a fancy new maternity unit---not in time for me but still impressive)

 It was pretty awesome.  BTW this is the sweater I knit for Chloe :)

 Later that night we went for our after dinner walk/playtime.  Chloe collected a bunch of rocks along the way and distributed them on the slide.  She likes the loud noise they make against the metal.  She collected most of them again and put them back in her pail.  I made this hat for her too :)

 Since we were at the playground we had to go on the "WEEEEEEE" as Chloe calls it.

 She also played soccer with a cute little boy she met there.  For the most part she wanted to keep his ball, but after a while she realized it was more fun to kick it back and forth.

Another wonderful day in paradise!

Being Chloe

It seems we do not take as many pictures as we used to, so here is a mix mash of the last weeks activities.

We uncovered a long lost toy from Andrew's childhood at the warehouse.  It is a discovery toys marble maze.  Oh my gosh I had the exact same one when I was little too, and now Chloe gets to play with it too!  She LOVES putting the marbles in and watching them go all the way to the bottom.  This occupied her for at least an hour straight when we first got it out.  Now a few weeks later she still wants to play with it!  Honestly it has been super fun for me and Andrew to play with it too!

On the weekends we get the paper, and Chloe has become accustomed to "reading" the comics.  Although have any of you read them lately?  They are not funny at all....I thought I remembered them being funnier when I was little.  

Chloe also likes to do the dishes.  Water is her all time favorite "toy".

Speaking of toys, we put some toy cars in her easter basket and she loves them!  She loves anything with wheels:  trains, busses, trucks, bikes.  She does not discriminate!  Don't you just love this super cool shirt she is wearing?!  On my surprise girls trip to Portland, Amber and I made them for our girls with her silhouette machine.  It is like a printer, but instead of printing it cuts!  I love it!  We made a few shirts with plans for many many more next time I am down!

 This is another shirt we made.  Chloe is modeling it during her post-nap cheese and apples snack.

 And here is the back of the shirt..........  I am not sure why Chloe's pants are off, but now that she knows how to take them off on her own there is no telling what she will be wearing when I turn around.

 Here is Chloe realizing that I am taking pictures of her.  "NO pictures Mama!!!!!!"

She realized she was caught in the act.  It is funny, sometimes she loves the camera, and other times she is so not having it!  Obviously photo time was over for this day!  Luckily after bedtime all is forgotten and the next day begins with giggles and a fresh start.

Surprise trip

Recently I went off on a whirlwind surprise girls trip planned by my wonderful amazing spectacular husband, Andrew.  He stayed home with Chloe while I was whisked away to Portland where Amber picked me up for 3 days of non-stop fun.  I did not bring a camera, but luckily Amber is a professional photographer so she managed to take a few photos in between our late nights on the town, awesome meals, shopping, foot massages and constant art and crafting fun.  

This is the massive hotel room Andrew got for us a the Benson in downtown Portland.  Only problem was that they did not have a room with two beds (even though we called several times letting them know that was what we needed).  Good thing Amber is such a good friend!  

 Here I am at Barefoot sage, getting an amazing 1 1/2 hr spa package courtesy of Amber (THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!) including A salt water foot bath, a 30 minute lower leg and foot massage and a soothing paraffin dip.  AMAZING!!!  Pardon the i-phone photo.

 On my last day right before we went to the airport I posed for an impromptu photo shoot in the Pearl District.  You can all of see the pictures on Amber's website.  Ah it was the busiest and most relaxing few days I have had in a long time!  Thanks Andrew!  I came back totally refreshed, and a little exhausted.  It was perfect.