December 30, 2015 - January 5, 2016 - 17 months and 3 weeks

Costa Rica!!  Our first week, arriving in Liberia and traveling to and around Monte Verde, the cloud forest.

First, the long, long flight (5 1/2 hours to LAX, another 5 1/2 hours to CR).  Kadin did great, I was exhausted. 

Then, two buses to get us up to Monte Verde.  Only minor glitches, but we had a great time waiting at the bus stop restaurant!

Sadly, these two were the only Tapirs we saw on our trip.

 Yay!  Finally out hiking in the cloud forest.  Kadin was so excited about everything he saw — leaves, bugs, birds, ants, etc.

 He was even excited to see other hikers!  Everyone was so friendly, he began running up to people, especially men who liked or had kids, and holding out his arms, asking to be picked up.   These two were from Spain.

This hike had some awesome suspension bridges.  My favorite spanned a huge green gorge and the clouds slowly descended upon us as we approached it.

Kadin got all excited and started pointing at the ground.  I went over to see what he found and it was a beautiful walking stick insect!  My little naturalist!

Hiking was always putting Kadin to sleep, to the point where we decided to take a photo during his naps to be able to show him what he missed!

Many of the places we stayed had resident dogs, and this 10 month old golden retriever loved Kadin.  Kadin liked him too, although he was a bit too rambunctious and mouthy for him.

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And now for a few beautiful nature shots… 

This is a venomous Side-striped Palm Pit Viper (Bothriechis lateralis)

And, a friendly Costa Rican Orange-kneed Tarantula.

Tons of hummingbirds at a coffee shop near the entrance of Monte Verde National Park. 

This is a Green-crowned Brilliant (Heliodoxa jacula)

This one is a Magenta-Throated Woodstar (Calliphlox Bryantae).

and this is a female Purple-throated Mountain-gem (Lampornis calolaema).  

December 23 - December 29, 2015 - 17 months and 2 weeks

Merry Christmas! 

We had a lovely family morning, opening gifts under the tree, snuggling with the dogs, and then going outside to try out Kadin's new skis!

We then headed over to Mia's for a lovely dinner and fun times.

When Kadin first saw "Santa", he burst out crying and was scared of me until I talked in my normal voice AND pulled off the beard.  By the afternoon, he was used to it though, so hopefully when Santa visits next year, it won't be such a scary surprise!

December 16 - December 22, 2015 - 17 months and 1 week

Kadin and I went outside to admire the Northern Lights.  The white vapor is my breath in the cold air.

More Northern Lights, aka Aurora Borealis.
For the first time, it seemed as if Kadin could see the distant lights dancing in the sky and he pointed up at them and said his universal word for "what's that?" which is "Dah!"

December 9 - December 15, 2015 - 17 months

We went up to Cantwell for a couple of days, hiking and sledding in the open country.  Kadin had a wonderful time and barely seemed to mind the -10ºF weather.  Although he didn't try to pull his mittens or hat off either...

Fun photo editing to enhance the classic beauty of our hand-me-down wooden sled.

December 2 - December 8, 2015 - 16 months and 3 weeks

Another week around town…

I'm trying to teach him the main rule of snow-eating – Do not eat the yellow snow!!  (So far, so good, although I'm watching out for him too.)

Storytime at the library ends with a craft project (see next photo) and a bunch of kids playing with the new library's activity wall.  Choo choo!

This was one of the few times I tried to help Kadin with the craft project after storytime.  Actually, what happened was that I made the snowman, despite Kadin's attempts to eat the styrofoam, tear the eyes off, and pull his head and arms off!  We both had fun though...

Another fun meal!

November 25 - December 1, 2015 - 16 months and 2 weeks

It was supposed to be a "napping" walk, but Kadin struggled out of the carrier, took his hat off, and was practically dancing in the streets!

We got lots of snow this week.  My poor moose is up to his antlers in it!

Kadin and his brother Birch are happy to watch the chickadees from the window instead of going out in -10ºF weather.

The next day was warmer, so we went for a little hike around our pond and within minutes of taking these photos, Kadin was fast asleep.

Another favorite indoor activy of Kadin's is snacking on a bowl full of snow!  I now have 10 snowballs in the freezer to pull out as snacks here and there.  I've "spiked" them with juice, but so far, he actually prefers them plain.  

November 18 - November 24, 2015 - 16 months and 1 week

It's all about playing in the snow these days…  

Already got 2-3 feet of snow on the ground – woo hoo!

A musher with a small dog team passed us… Kadin was fascinated!! 

Dreaming of being out in the snow with his own dog team...

November 11 - November 17, 2015 - 16 months

Random assortment from the week…

Kadin is quite the little helper, helping me collect and split and stack the firewood.  He also LOVES helping me get the woodstove going and watching the fire.

Bathtime!

The EMS Station's newest employee - the well-dressed janitor. 

Snuggle-time with his siblings, the doggies Rudder (left) and Rivet (right).

Woo hoo!  Blue tarp ball and fashion show!  Super fun and Kadin was quite the charmer in his moment in the starlight.

During the few hours of naptime each day, I've been working on getting a woodshed up.  Brrr, it was -20ºF here, as I was finishing the roof.

November 4 - November 10, 2015 - 15 months and 3 weeks

Winter-time:  snuggling cozy at home, pizza-eating in our now-quiet town, and sledding down the road to go dig out our car from under 8 inches of snow...