Fish Lake

It's been awhile since we've been camping, so we decided to go head up north (about a 30 min. drive from Topeka) to Fish Lake. We went with our friends, the Budges. The Jacksons also had dinner with us and stayed until it got dark. The kiddos enjoyed playing with the balls and hula hoops and especially loved roasting marshmallows for s'mores.

Jaelyn played with the kids - they love her!
Maddie played in the tent for a little bit. It was pretty windy up until bed time.
Abbie and her Capri Sun.

Jeremy with Brayton the next morning. Notice the sausage on the grill...we had a delicious breakfast!

Everyone paitently waiting for their sausage and egg breakfast.
Good morning sleepy head! Abigail was the last to get up out of bed.

The girls were just checking out the field. I thought it was cute to see them all together.
Abbie enjoying a bit of watermelon after breakfast.

We took down the camp and headed home just hours before a tornado warning. We all had a great time and can't wait to go again!

Tuesdays in Kansas City

Last week on Tuesday we headed to KC and grabbed some BBQ at Gates (a bit spicy, but still pretty good) and then headed to a Royals game. The girls had a great time dancing to the intermittent music, watching the HUGE jumbo-tron (which, I'm told, is standard in size...but coming from Alaska we have never seen such a monstrosity) and really enjoyed their cotton candy (thank goodness for baby wipes!). It's always a treat to go to Kansas City!

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This past Tuesday we took another nice drive to KC for some suits for Jeremy (K&Gs has GREAT deals), enjoyed dinner at Fazoli's (why isn't there one of these in AK?), and then headed back home after a loooong stop at Cabela's. We wanted to brag to my hunter/fisher dads that we got to go to Cabela's. We finally felt a bit more at home in there with all the taxedermied animals, camo, and the display mountain (full of Alaskan fauna). It'll be nice to see real mountains again soon...
The girls (and Jeremy too, of course) wanted to get a closer look at the plane. And oh yeah, the large red bullets on the right are mailboxes. I know a few people that would LOVE one (not us).

Maddie liked pretending to shoot big game.

Then she got Abbie to join in. Mostly, they danced and marched to the music from the game.

Maddie in the mule deer exhibit. There had to be like 75 stuffed deer in there...and one robotic male camper that scared the girls as he talked about deer.

Whew! We'll see what next Tuesday will bring...

The Joy of Flight

"When once you have tasted flight,

you will forever walk the earth

with your eyes turned skyward,

for there you have been,

and there you will always long to return."

~ Anonymous

Jeremy is a 3rd generation Alaskan bush pilot. It's in his blood, and now, it is in our children's blood. Each one of our precious babes knew flight while they were still in the womb. Our girls have flown across Alaska. They have had quasi-command of the controls. They have felt the lightness and freedom flight can provide.
Madeline and Jeremy in the spring of 2006.
Madeline liked being in her car seat in the plane so she could see, and so she would keep her hands off all the instruments.

Abbie riding in the cargo area just behind the seats on July 4, 2007. We were on our way to visit Dee at Chena Hot Springs.

Abigail loved to be in Jeremy's lap, holding the yolk, while Maddie gazed out the window sitting in my lap until the purr of the engine lulled her to sleep. We had peaceful times in the air. Brayton has since joined in his share of flights (two to date) and is more calm than he is in the car...maybe because I get to hold him...

Nonetheless, our children have been around, been in, and up in planes their entire lives. They were fearless!

Notice I said "were"?

It's been about a year since they've been flying with daddy because we no longer have access to grandma Dee's Cessna 150. Jeremy thought that going for a plane ride would be a fun family activity on Friday night. We loaded into the plane (a 4-seater this time!) and once the girls were buckled, the screams of terror began. Maddie started and then freaked Abbie out, but Brayton just thought they were both crazy. The guy at the front desk could hear them screaming from the tarmac before we even got moving! Here's what we listened to until takeoff (note: turn your volume down a bit).



Their screams didn't stop us (even though I thought we'd scar them from ever wanting to become that 4th generation pilot) so I held Brayton, held the girls' hands, and after saying a prayer with the kiddos, we were off. They calmed down and enjoyed seeing what they could of Topeka (we should have put a few phone books on their seats). We were only up for 15 minutes and when it was time to land, Madeline started screaming again asking, "are we going to land or crash?" We had a good laugh to ourselves about that one. After reassuring her that daddy is a good pilot, and having a safe landing, we grabbed some ice cream.
The girls before takeoff. Yes, those are teardrops on Abbie's shirt.
Here's the view from the front. Our serious little boy and sobbing little girl.

Abbie is enjoying the flight now, although that smiles looks a bit apprehensive.

Here are the girls safely on the ground again. Abigail is more cold than scared and Maddie really needs that ice cream!

Could this mean that Madeline is potentially out of the running to be our next pilot? We sure hope she longs to return...

Coloring Shirts

My mom sent the girls some fabric crayons and t-shirts for a "just for fun" project. I remember first making shirts at my 10th birthday party and then when I just needed something to do. They got more extravagant and embellished each time...acrylic paint, puffy paint, etc.

Well, we just needed something to do and I thought it was something the girls could handle (yes, even a 2 year-old can do this!). First, they chose a picture from a coloring book. I traced it onto their shirts with permanent marker (tape the picture to cardboard or a book and then place the t-shirt over it, secure with tape and trace), and then they colored it in with special crayons that are made permanent when heated with an iron. It was a fun and quick (too quick I thought) project!

Abbie liked the tubby caterpillar for her shirt.

She colored parts of the bug and then decided the background needed some color too.
Madeline chose a tick (she liked its fangs) doing a magic trick.
And here's the finished product, complete with Maddie's signature "M".

ZzzzzzOO Day

It was a lovely warm day yesterday and after some appointments in the morning, we headed to the Topeka Zoo. Most animals were taking their naps and Abigail was a bit frustrated that the hippo wouldn't wake up. Yelling did no good.
We walked around a bit, played at the playground by the farm animals, made another loop around the zoo and by that time the animals were awake! We saw everything at least twice due to an unexpected dead end from construction. On a side note, the playground is not toddler friendly: Abbie climbed up the cargo ladder, asked where the slide was as she shrugged her shoulders (so cute!), and jumped into my arms because the only way down was via a pole, going down the stairs (boring!) or going hand-over-hand on the bars.
Anyhow, Madeline wanted to take pictures of the animals and here's what she caught:
There's a little yellow and black frog on a rock in there...Madeline remembered from the last time we were at the zoo (months ago) that it was properly named a Bumblebee Frog. What a good memory!

She wanted to have the lion statue lick her shoe. She thought it was the funniest thing!

Here are the girls riding the shoe-licking lion.

I had to pry Abigail off of this fence. She was so excited to see the elephant eating some greenery. We made our way back to the hippo, and Abbie got to see her eat too. Except it was pre-digested greenery. Hippos are so gross. Speaking of hippos, HERE's a post I recalled when we saw Mara, the hippo.

The rest of us were getting hot and tired. After 2 hours of being in the sun I realized that next time we'll need sunblock...we got a little burned...everyone except Brayton who was in the shade the whole time.

It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon exploring with the kids whether the animals were asleep or not.

Our Summer Home

OK, so just an update on our summer housing situation: we realized that since Jeremy is taking a summer class (AK Native Environmental law) at UAA, we can get into the family housing they have there. So we'll be living in Templewood Apartments (for those of you wanting to stalk us this summer). It's a furnished 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom, 2 car garage townhouse - there's even a fireplace! The big downer is that the beds are all twins...looks like Jeremy and I will be sleeping 1950s style. I'm just excited that there will be a washer and dryer in the unit and that the kiddos will have their own room! We are really excited to have housing in place - our prayers have been answered.

And NO, it will not look like the photo above when we get there in June.

Passports

We get to drive through Canada on our way home (can we call it home even though we don't have a home there anymore?) and if we want to get back into the United States, we will need passports as of June 1st. We're going with the cheaper option of passport cards (still over $200 for everyone). Anyhow, instead of paying the post office $15 per person for a photo, we did a shoot in our kitchen, found some free editing tool online and printed them out at Walmart. All for $.95! Here are the results, but first, I must tell you that the requirement of the photo is to NOT show any teeth or smile. Observe:


Jeremy dressed in his suit so he could look like an international businessman. I think it's a good mug shot for an international con man.


I did no dressing up whatsoever. This looks like a potential BEFORE photo on a makeover show. Annie, I need to give you a call about this hair...


Maddie couldn't help but smile just a little bit in front of the camera. At least she's not showing her teeth.

Abbie looks so sad, but cute. She was a bit upset that she had to stand there alone. And not smile.

Won't this be a cute passport card even just a year from now? I think the kids' cards are good for 5 years (or so) and it'll be funny to see Brayton identify himself with a baby picture.