LOVE our dad

This year, Kep got a 2-day Father's Day celebration. Yesterday, he got to do his new fav thing... bike racing! The kiddos and I had a great time cheering him on from the roadside with our racing buddies, the Novaks. We had so much fun hanging out with Sarah, Abby and David.

I love this pic of Kep because he is smiling, even though he just climbed a killer-hill! This is one of my favorite things about our dad... his ability to smile in any circumstance! Sarah and I could not believe how our 2 hubbies could climb this hill 10x- we were amazed by them! Here's our oldest 3 kids, chasing Kep and cheering him on! So cute!

Today, we continued loving on our dad at the Susitna Speedway, a great post-bike-race activity! Noah was cluching on to the sides of the Go-Kart, but he still loved it!

And, here's Parker thinking he is steering- what FUN!

We love so many things about our dad, but my all-time favorites are his constant faith in our God and how he LOVES us and always puts his family's happiness- before his own. Thanks, Kep for being such an amazing dad and hubby to our li'l fam.. Our kids adore spending time with you and we will miss you (incredibly) when you leave for commercial fishing, next week. We love YOU!

LEGO fanatic

Parker is now a LEGO clubber- only he doesn't know it! At the end of August, he turns 5 and he will celebrate with a LEGO birthday party. A couple months ago, I signed him up for the $50 LEGO club and he receives a great LEGO magazine, every couple months, with a new LEGO set. Only, he won't receive all these LEGO sets until his b-day. So, for now Parker is loving the magazines.
I, also, signed him up for the free "LEGO club Jr." magazine subscription and it has been perfect for his age-level. And, did I mention it's free!?! This LEGO club Jr. magazine has a "LEGO creation competition" for each issue and 5 lucky LEGO fanatics win and receive a $100 LEGO gift card. So, here is Parker's own "Sky High Creation", he named it the "Alaskan Winged 4-wheeler"! He combined legos from 2 of his LEGO 3-in-1 sets to make this. I do hope he wins because we sent this picture to the LEGO company, yesterday, and he has already asked me TONS of times, "Mom, do you think I won?" Ah man, it would be so hard to tell him "no"... the protective mommy in me wants to write the LEGO company and encourage them to choose Parker!!! I, of course, think his li'l creation is the best! Even if he doesn't win... it's a good life lesson and he will still be pumped about each issue's competition. I'm sure we'll try every issue! If you want, you too can sign up your LEGO Jr. fanatic, or checkout the LEGO website. Have fun!

PS: Sis, I already signed up Colton! ;)

sweetness in seward

Here we are enjoying every minute on the Seward shores! We were blessed with blue skies and seventies for 2 full days- which, if you're not from AK- is unheard of in Seward!!!

7 children in Seward made for many new fun memories. This was our 3rd trip to Seward with the Bacons but it was, by far, the most beautiful trip that gave us all new tans!

The Seward rocks offered hours of discovery and playtime for our oldest children. We

sure loved seeing some sea lions and seal swim by.Gotta love the panoramic mountain view! So, Savannah is a cutie but she was not a great camper!!! I guess it's a little hard for a 14-month old to sleep on a bunkbed... in a camper... without a crib... with her family! Let me explain... the adults finally had all our kiddos tucked in (so we hoped!) and we were trying to enjoy the campfire and some s'mores. But, our campfire got more humorous as both sets of parents took multiple trips back to our camper and tent to "lay down the law" with our children. Then at 11pm, we were freaked out by Savannah's scream... she had climbed over the bed gate and landed on her brothers in the bottom bed. Kep went to rescue her and brought her out with blood streaming out of her mouth because her upper teeth bit through her tongue :(. So, we got her cleaned up and settled down. Then, she puked on our bunkbed after swallowing some blood. So, finally at 12:30... I got her to calm down and she would doze off for 20 minute increments, then scream (she has a very healthy set of lungs) and flail all over the bunk, doze, scream/flail all night... until we finally gave up at 7am. Good thing we were in our camper so she didn't keep the rest of the campground awake. So, I adore my li'l girl but that was an extremely frustrating night and we WILL find a way to fit her pack'nplay into our camper before our next trip!!! ;)

#1 pilot Bapak- this Noah's for you. Doesn't that driftwood look like a propeller?

Savannah and Annika exploring on their own! These two are only 2 months apart and they are so cute together. We look forward to many more Seward trips watching the cuties bond.

OK, if the view isn't amazing enough... our campground was right next to this bike path that kept our boys riding, non-stop!

And, there was a bike/skate park right next to our campground. This is Parker's new/used bigger bike and he spent many hours riding up and down those ramps. Then, in between this skate park and our campground... was a brand-new humongous playground. This campsite is a "dream come true" for children (and parents)!

Parker, Gavin and Morgan are savoring every bite of their Gelatto. We look forward to eating Gelatto every summer in Seward... but, this was the first year we had to hurry and eat it before the glorious 75 degree weather melted our treats.

And, here are our favorite camping buddies, the Bacons. You guys are the best- we can't wait 'til our Seward 2010 trip! Thanks for the 3 years of memories. You can see many more '09 pix by visting their Seward post.

campin' menu

Summer is here and the campin' begins! When, Kep and I got married... we loved to go campin'. Now, 7 years later, we still like campin' BUT it's a whole lot more work and the memories are more funny, a few days after the trip- when we've recovered from the lack of sleep! So, in order to make campin' with 3 munchkins a tad-bit more enjoyable... we gave in and bought a cabover camper, we bring a lot more "stuff" to maintain sanity AND we must make our menus more kid-friendly and quick!!!

So, I wanted to share a few "campin' menu websites" with those of you who also like to camp. These 4 sites offer cool, yet simple, recipes other than hotdogs or heated up leftovers. Like... pre-made omelets in Ziploc bags and the bags are then tossed in boiling water. I am all "for" pre-made meals and easy clean-up... cookin' eggs on a campfire pan is messy! So, we will be tryin' out a few new recipes, this weekend, as we venture down to Seward. I'm excited to see how they taste- we'll keep ya posted! Hopin' for... dry weather, yummy food, pleasant memories, and happy toddlers!

Campin' recipe site #1
Campin' recipe site #2
Campin' recipe site #3
Campin' recipe site #4