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| Those bloody leeches! I can't remember if we kept the one that did this to Kadin as a pet or not. At least they are kind enough to apply a topical anesthetic first. Didn't hurt at all. |
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| Shut yer mouth, kid! (just kidding, he did it to himself, for fun!) |
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| Munching on some curly fries and at Live at 5. |
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| The dogs LOVE his dump truck! |
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| Mama, me do this? When me hombre? |
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| Spending quality time with Kadin, catching mosquitos as they feed on me, putting them into the spiderweb, and watching the spider wrap up the tasty morsel. Kadin now loves spiders and doesn't kill them. Yay! |
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| Hey Mama, is that plant thirsty? It want agua? (We had a sudden downpour of rain and he rain out onto the patio at Twister and was essentially showering in the drips from the rain gutter as he filled up the bucket to give to the plants.) |
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| How did he get so big? Relaxing and reading a book while I go inside and order us some food. |
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| Happy Birthday to me! "Jota para ti Mama!" ("J is for you Mom" |
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| Kadin loves hanging out with Mr. Ernie and his grandkids at the library. |
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| To break up the drive, we stopped for a few hours at the Soldotna playground… where we discovered that Bucky enjoyed going down the slide as much as Kadin! |
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| A nature walk along the docks, exploring all of the sea creatures there. Kadin loved it! This one is an ochre sea star. |
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| An "Otters and Eiders" boat tour where Kadito and a kid he met on board get to sit in the captain's seat. (The Captain is pictured to the left). Lots of otters, lots of running laps around the deck. No eiders (a cool sea duck). |
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| Kadin slept through it, but I awoke to the crunch of underbrush and chomping of leaves right outside of the tent. |
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| Awww! Love this shot of Kadito and Bucky… best of friends whenever Kadin has either food or a ball in his hand! |
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| Proud Mama moment… I ordered breaded green beans for us at the Sheep Creek Lodge as a lame attempt to provide my child with a vegetable and guess what! He not only loved them but peeled the greasy breading off and ate only the green bean part and said, "Yummy!!" |
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| Later on, a band started up, playing fun rockabilly and lounge music and Kadin said, "Too loud" and would only watch from outside. (Can you spot him?!) |
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| My little helper these days… "Me help Mom, ok?" And he cleaned every window on my car, including the sideview mirrors. He started to try to wash the entire car, and I managed to convince him that he had already helped out plenty. |
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| OK, this might be one of my favorites… picturing him as a 30-year-old intellectual in his university office… absolutely too cute! |
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| We must have spent over an hour playing in an old log pile, climbing up and down, "catching fish in the lake" (the bottom of the pile was the lake, sticks were our catch), and getting Bucky to follow him down the rabbit hole. |
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| Buckarooni! |
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| Our new favorite bathing spot on the 2nd floor of the Fairview. It's my favorite because, one, I can get in the tub as well, and, two, they let me order a drink and bring it up to the bath. Heavenly! |
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| The Elementary School had an art show… this is the group project of The Scream! |
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| The next day, it was Earth Day, and Kadin spent most of it up in this alder, trying to climb as high as the older boys and girls. In this pic, Sawyer is the boy to the right. |
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| We are trying to grow some sunflower starts this year since last year they never flowered when we planted them directly into the soil outside. Whatever they do, it's a fun activity with Kadin. We poured the soil in, made a little bed for each seed and then covered them up with a dirt blanket. When we were done, he said, "We plant seeds, go to bed, and tomorrow we eat plants!" |
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| I have one or two of these shots from when Kadin was an infant. It still feels just as amazing now, 3 years later. |
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| Biking, biking, and more biking. He LOVES his new pedal bike and is out riding in rain or shine. See videos below… |
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| Of course, jumping off the bike to dive into the snow bank is just as much fun! Even in the rain… He tried to get me to join him but I declined. |
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| We made newspaper boats, just like in the Curious George book, and floated them in an icy puddle. It was Kadito's idea to tie a "rope" to his so he could pull it along. |
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| After the boats got soggy and sank, we met up with another little boy named Cruz, about a year younger than Kadito and they raced back and forth on their bikes. Too cute! |
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| I tweaked this photo a bit to bring out the wispy hair and baby-red lips. I just can't stand how adorable he is and it reminds me that he is still so little (which is hard to remember when he is racing around on a pedal bike or climbing giant hills or getting into things he shouldn't!) |
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| Lunch at the Flying Squirrel Cafe and Kadito is always serving up yummy muffins, ice cream, and pizza. We were biking before this and once his helmet is on, he never wants to take it off… |
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| Due to a last-minute realization that we were both going to the start of the Oosik ski race, I got to spend a few hours with Kadin in the middle of March (the 17th). He was super excited to see me and we played on the giant snow mountain and had a wonderful time. |
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| Here's the first snowman we ever built together! He has hair on top of his head; Kadin's addition. |
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| Sliding down the hill, over and over again, with Bucky chasing after us. I felt like a river otter! Weeeeee! |
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| A few hours later, Kadin takes on a more contemplative look… |
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| Kadin was back with me again on the 31st, just in time for Easter egg dyeing and pizza! |
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| After the eggs and pizza, we went out to the river to play in the snow with Bucky. I love you Kadin. |
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| Kadin would climb up the willow trunks and go "nnneeighhh!" like a horsey. |
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| Even the walk back to our car was an adventure, as Kadito climbed up and traversed the snowplow ridge alongside Main Street, navegating steep hills and icy downclimbs. |
