QUAID~ we love him and miss him!

Quaid Horsman you are one cool dude and Parker Kroon misses having you around!  What fun it was to have you over the other night smores and fun in our backyard!

hiking with friends to see the beavers

We love our Smith friends!  They are such an incredible family and our kids love every adventure with them!  This past year we started date/childcare switcheroos... we try to watch each other's children one time per month while the other couple goes out on a date!  This way we get free childcare and our kids get a playDATE too!  Perfect for everybody and the pocketbook!  The other thing we love about our Smiths is we love the same outdoor activities... skiing, tubing, hiking, biking, triathlons...  So, when Pam and I get together for "playdates" we get adventurous with these 7 who are game for anything!  On this particular SUNNY day we dressed our kids ready for colder/rainy weather... oops, we got way warm... and headed up the Gold Mint Trailhead for a 3 mile hike!

All our kids get along so well so Pam and I actually got to chat along our way!  Notice the 3 laggers in the back!  Ha~ those 3 were cracking us up, just taking their time noticing every side trail and plant along the way!

Noah and his Thomas!  These 2 have got to have the sweetest (I mean coolest) friendship ever!  Pam gave them these shirts for their 5th bdays and they both try to wear them every time they see each other!  Which means, that most mornings b4 Noah goes downstairs to pick out his clothes, he'll ask... "am I seeing Thomas today?"  And, I know he's only asking because he wants to keep his Mario shirt clean for the day I answer... "Yes!"  These 2 cuties are standing in front of a very large beaver dam!  They all knew we wouldn't see a beaver on this hike as they are usually only active at night, but we promised them we would come back another night to see the 2 beavers!

What a difference a year makes for this little girl!  She loves carrying her purple backpack on hikes and she thinks very carefully about which ONE toy she will bring on her hike!  Yup, every li'l girl needs a orange cell phone along!

Here they are... our tough kids ready for the trek back down!

Here's one of the beavers that we got to see on our next trip back to Gold Mint with the Smiths and the Novaks!  This hike was completely different... cold and drizzly... but just as much fun!

We love our friends and are so grateful for the blessing of friendship!

Parker= U-8

Parker was also super excited to play soccer this summer!  He is now the older boy on his team so this is giving him more time as a forward and is scoring more goals, what boy wouldn't love that!?!  We were able to get him on Coach Melinda's team again, which was exciting for all of us!  We love her!

Parker was proud to have his both his sets of great grandparents watch him play last week~ aren't they all so cute!?!

Noah... plays soccer again!

Noah could hardly wait to play "summer soccer" again this year!  The best part about soccer is he has been able to be on the same team as Thomas for 2 summers!  So fun for the boys AND for us parents to laugh, I mean cheer, on the sidelines! ;o) They are just too cute and it's great to be watching them doing something they love!  It's amazing how much they have improved in a year!

 I love this picture of Noah running because he has a hop to his run.  Earlier this spring we got to watch VHS videos of Kep playing soccer when he was Noah's age and we could not believe how they ran around the field exactly the same!  And, Kep also had fine blonde hair!

The team running back in for snacks~ best part of the game!

Noah is one blessed 5 year old to have Noah 2 sets of great grandparents at his last game!

tree house, tree deck, tree stand, tree fort... it's here!

Kep and the boys have been talking about a tree house for a couple years but after watching "Swiss Family Robinson" this May... the boys were even more convinced that we HAD to build it this summer!  And since Kep loves to build, it didn't take much convincing for him to get going on yet another project!  I love that my man is so handy and that he loves doing things for his children~ we are blessed!  

 We have had a rather cool and drizzly summer so this project was a perfect one to help keep us busy!  The extra bonus was Kep's grandpa gave us his "all~weather 2x4s" when he replaced his decking with Trex last year.  The only lumber we had to buy was the the BIG beams!  Parker and Noah are taking on their dad's love for building so here they are helping each other build the ladder!

 see the moose???  it's back in the trees!  our tree house will also be our moose stand and maybe help us get our first moose some Fall!?!

and of course the ladder has to be FUN!  So, we got out all the old colors from the stripes I had painted in our powder bathroom... perfectly FUN and free!

 The decking was done, so Parker wanted to have a pancake breakfast out in the tree house.  Many more of those to come ~ I'm sure of it!

 It's getting closer to being done and it's Noah's turn to be helping out!

It's done for now!  woohoo!  Kep is going to add a zipline to the left of the ladder and then someday Kep might add a roof over the right 1/2 of the tree house!  For now, it's one BIG sturdy play area that will bring many fun memories for our kids and friends!

we be gardeners!

we are, we are and it's so fun!  This year I thought  we'd take a try at vegetable gardening and it has been so fun for the kids and I to watch these plants grow.  Back in May, Noah helped me plant the snap peas in these little soil starters.  We have not invested in the indoor greenhouse rack system with lights so I really had my doubts that any of my gardening efforts would work... but they did!  

We have 2 types of gardens and we differentiate them by calling them our gangster gardens (above) and our ghetto garden (below)!  The gangster gardens got their name because I got 5 free Lo Pro(file) tires from our local tire business.  I had heard that you can plant seed potatoes in a tire and when their sprouts grow to 6 inches tall, you pour in 3 more inches of soil and you keep doing this until the end of the season, adding another Lo Pro tire as you go!  The potatoes are supposed to grow each time you add another layer of soil and in August we hope to kick over the 3 tires and find tons of potatoes!  We tried Blue Potatoes this summer so it will be fun to see what those taste like.  Even the potato sprouts had a hint of blue to them, so cool!  Then, we also planted summer squash in the other 2 tires because they love the extra warmth that the tire gives them!

2 of our kids picking and eating our Leaf Lettuce!  They all think it's so fun to open our ghetto (plastic) garden and eat lettuce as a snack!  We used the PVC/visqueen greenhouse method because I didn't want any chance of the moose eating all my hard work (which happens way too often around here) and it has helped the plants stay extra happy on this cooler than normal summer!

 All 3 of our kids are out in the biggest rainstorm we've had in a LONG time picking lettuce for our first salad, on Father's Day!  Parker was a little anxious to try it after I had rinsed all the dirt off!

After that huge rainstorm, the area around our garden was a mud hole so we went and got some rock... here's our finished product!  YaY~ we can't wait to eat the strawberries, snap peas, carrots, brussels sprouts, summer squash and blue potatoes at the end of summer!

road bike season

tis the season for road bike races and we love going to watch Kep!  the best part about the races for our kids, is the fun times with David and Abby!  it was so precious to watch all four of them pick dandelions in between cheering their dad on for the next 8 mile loop!

 there he is with a beautiful mountain backdrop behind him!

 Noah, my little nature boy, sat and watch this bee forever!

 After racing hard for over 2 hours... he's done!  Great Job Kep~ we're so proud of you!

Memorial weekend portaging

Over Memorial Day camping we also tried out portaging for the first time!  Near our campground, there were a ton of little lakes and 6 of them are connected if you decide to "portage" through the bit of land that separates the lakes.  So, Sarah had the great idea that all of us should do it!  It was a very drizzly day and most other campers were packing up and heading out but not our crazy bunch, we were determined to find the best way to get even more wet... canoeing! 

The Kroon clan in their "classy" canoe that has leaks!  Since our kids don't have rain pants, we took the covers off their carseats so we could be true "Valley Trash" for the day!  It actually worked like a charm and I wouldn't be surprised if we opt to do this for future canoe rides.  The carseats kept all of them totally still (no tipping), dry and comfy!  I love that our kids are game for any adventure!

The DuHad clan!

Our kiddos on one of the portage boardwalks patiently waiting for their parents to catch up.  Those canoes were heavy but it was a good arm workout! ;o)

Beaver dams were everywhere in these lakes.  We didn't spot any beavers but we were all amazed at how much work it would be too build this dam on top of the water but then there is all that detail under the water, too!  wowzers!

The Kroon kids are ready for the next lake!  Notice Parker is still wearing his mask!?!  haha!

Novak and DuHad canoes are ready to go!

All of us were wet and the ladies' arms were too tired to complete the 6 Lake portage route so we opted to do 1/2 the route.  On the way home, the men helped carry all 3 canoes across the longest portage while the women and children roasted marshmallows and got toasty!

Only in AK would there still be snow back at the parking lot and of course a snowball fight broke out!

There they are... these 3 canoes served us well and helped make many new memories!  What fun!