fly with Bapak

Blogging marathon... Ok, now I am all caught up with our Montana trip with the following 4 posts:

My dad is a fabulous pilot and I have always loved going on rides in his li'l airplane. So, this was the first time our boys got to fly with Bap. Noah loved wearing these headphones and talking to Bap through the li'l mic. I loved seeing my li'l guy smile from ear to ear throughout the whole flight. Then, as we were landing I asked him if he had fun and in Noah lingo, he exclaimed... "Ya- I wan MO!"

Parker is equally excited as he got to sit in front and see Bapak maneuver all the many buttons and levers.

Here's Bap's sharp airplane landing next to the Flathead River.

AND, this is what our fun li'l flight did to Parker- put him to sleep! He wasn't bored, just tuckered out after a week of crazy days and late nights! I don't think I'll ever fly with Parker if he becomes a pilot! :)

This was Malea's first flight, too. You can tell she is super pumped to fly in Bap's plane! We love your plane rides, Bap, THANKS!

4th with family

I love Independence day because it always means we are doing something with my family. I am so glad we traveled down here because it would have been very hard to spend the 4th, alone, in Alaska. Here are 6 of the cousins all geared up in their red/white/blue on a gorgeous day.

This was one of my favorite 4ths as we all had a blast boating out to Wild Horse Island in the Flathead Lake. Noah is Bapak's li'l shadow- life is fabulous when he is by Bap's side and I am so thankful he gets to bond with his Bap!

More posing with Bap, Nan and Malea!

Here is Noah and I taking a spin on my sister's SeaDoo. I could not believe it when Noah chose to hop on with me and THEN he LOVED it! YAY- I have a brave one- anytime I would slow down for the boat waves, he would say "No, mommy, GO!" :)

After our fun-filled 4th, we got back to the house around 9pm to light off our own fireworks. Parker was just extatic to see all the fireworks lined up but then he was not as excited to hear them pop!

Malea loving her sparkler. This li'l girl is such a blessing to our family- she is adorable in every way and I LOVE her sweet and fiesty personality

Parker amazed by his first sparkler. Fortunately, no one's clothing or hair caught on fire!

Splashing galore

Malea, Kiersten and Parker look like they are swimming in the tropical waters or at a 5* hotel. Nope, my dad built this li'l splash pool/pond last summer and it is a humongo hit with the cousins. It is only 2 1/2 feet deep... so, our children are able to goof around and stay cool while us sissies sunbathe on the grass. Perfect for both parties!!!

Savannah is very slowly getting closer to the pool- she is not super brave!

And, here is the view from my parents' deck. Aren't we lucky- thanks Bap for all your hard work for our kiddos.

The kids love to see these deer visit throughout the day. It looks like there is also a sea snake but it is just a black hose that moves around the pool to keep the deer from sharing their nasty germs!!!

cousins!!!

YAY for cousins. My kiddos are so blessed to have 9 cousins that are so sweet and helpful! Here is Madison lovin' on Savannah!

Noah loves to be cuddled and catered to! Kiersten is great at both of these jobs.

Bapak found white sand for the sandbox this year. It's awesome as it keeps our children cleaner and it stays cooler on the 80 degree days. Noah could push trucks in this sandbox all day!

Down time with cutie Carson. We have been busy, busy, busy and here are the two blondies vegging together. They are only 3 months apart and I hope they grow up to be best of buddies.

More cousin down time. Notice Noah is being cuddled by his sweet cous... Kiersten!

three toddlers traveling

My family lives in Montana, so I have made the trek down there every summer while Kep goes commercial fishing. Each summer, the trek gets more stressful (and expensive) but it is all worth it once we arrive with all the cousins, aunts 'n uncles and Bapak 'n Nana. This summer, I thought I was a little too scared to make the trip with a 15-month old, 2 1/2 year old and 4 1/2 year old. But, four days before Kep was scheduled to leave... I realized I would rather be stressed for a day and spend the extravagant airline prices in order to see my family. So, here is li'l sissy excited for the trip! And, it was actually a very pleasant trip. Savannah decided to make herself heard loud n clear for 10 minutes ;(, but other than that... our 3 toddlers rose to the occasion and kept me from falling apart! And, now we are having a blast with the cousins!

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

random pix-mix

On Memorial Day we went to Eklutna Lake, my FAV lake in Alaska, for a family bike ride. Noah got glacier silt on his finger and spread it around his mouth- classic Noah look! This lake is always a great spot for exploring and throwing rocks in the creek/lake!

Kroon clones! This picture doesn't do the lake any justice... in person, it is bright blue with mountains jetting out of it!

Parker rode 4 miles on that li'l bike and as of today... he's a real biker! He finally convinced himself to take the training WHEEL off! For the past couple months, that silly guy was riding around with just one training wheel, even though he was able to balance on the 2 bike wheels. He wanted to keep the training wheel on "just in case he lost his balance"!!! And, for some reason, today was the day he woke up with extra confidence and randomly asked me to take his training wheel off! So, it's off and he's riding around like a champ! Today was... #5... Parker's last day of Li'l Kickers. We had so much fun spending the last 12 Friday mornings with our friends. All our kids got a lot more aggressive!

Savannah's sportin' a new Pebbles due! Her hair is finally long enough to hold a little clippie! She needs practice holding her head still but it's pretty cute once mommy wins the head-bob-shake-clippie-battle!