May 17-31, 2018 - 3 years 10 months

Birch's favorite time with Kadin is when the little rambunctious boy is sleeping!

Buenos Días Kadito!  He's always a bit grumpy in the morning and especially in front of the camera.

We finally hung the birdhouse Kadin made at the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival.  We're a bit late in the season, but hopefully a chickadee will decide to make it a home.

Out on a hike in the forest around town and the river and Kadito climbed up on the hump at the base of this spruce and posed for a perfect portrait.  ¡Te quiro tanto Kadito, mi monito!

May 10-16, 2018 - 3 years 10 months - Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival

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! 

A nature walk along the docks, exploring all of the sea creatures there.  Kadin loved it!  This one is an ochre sea star.

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). 

Kadin slept through it, but I awoke to the crunch of underbrush and chomping of leaves right outside of the tent.

Awww!  Love this shot of Kadito and Bucky… best of friends whenever Kadin has either food or a ball in his hand!

May 16 - 31, 2017 - 2 years 10 months

Can we take her home?  (We ended up leaving her there, although I was tempted… she was as tall as Kadin!)

Arts and crafts at the library.

Popsicles at the library.

Yummy first cake beater - chocolate and peanut butter squares.

Hanging out at the sandbox at the Talkeetna Fly-in.

Balsa wood toy plane flying contest!

Kadin is figuring out how to wind up the balsa wood airplane.

The next day was still sunny and warm, so we tried out our new raft on the lake… Short but fun little trip!

Nice posture, kiddo!

Mama draws a plane at the restaurant to keep Kadin's attention off the t.v.  He helped me by naming all the parts as I drew them.

Marigold planting at the library.  Kadin had planted the marigold seed a few weeks ago and now helped put them in the garden.  

He wasn't the most gentle with them, and may have buried one or two, but he certainly had fun!

Playing on the double swing at Daycare, with Soleil and Judy.  He was having so much fun, I had a hard time getting him into the car!

This time, we had to have a bath at home, not from too much mud, but from the other, yuckier, brown stuff.  :-)
It sure turned an unpleasant struggle into a fun event!

An artistic moment, while he's flying the orange dragon up high in the sky.

Another weekend, another party!  This time, it was a Square-dancing Shakedown Benefit for the Daycare.  Kadin initially was going to have a bunny rabbit face but got distracted mid-paint and ran around for a few hours with just a white face.

In the end, he went with the tiger-face, just like 5 other little boys… ;-)

Swimming in the deep end of the pool… and loving it!

Mi querido delfín.

May 9 - 15, 2017 - 2 years 10 months

First lake swim of the season!  Kadin made me go under twice because he liked the funny face I made as I surfaced - Aaaah!  Brrr!

Cute sandy/gravelly bum.

Ouch!!!  It was time for his nap and he was fussy and wouldn't get into his carseat… instead he ran away from me as fast as he could and fell onto the asphalt parking lot (of the Fire Station).  Probably his ugliest double scrape yet.

Back to smiling after a nap and a Paw Patrol bandaid.  He even let me clean the wounds and get the dirt and gravel out.

Sally and Kadin enjoy a short trip in a canoe.  They both did great!

Kadin's super-excited face!

May 4 - 8, 2017 - 2 years 10 months CORDOVA SHOREBIRD TRIP

Kadin and I spent a week in Cordova, at the Copper River Shorebird Festival where every spring hundreds of thousands of shorebirds pass through on their migration north.  

First 3 days, we camped and had bald eagles swooping through the camp area.

Glad we had Pee Wee Herman with us!

At the festival reception, there was a very large Western Sandpiper that both scared and fascinated Kadin.  He wanted me to follow it wherever it went, but I had to carry him and he'd hide if I got too close.

Finally, he got up the nerve to approach the Sandpiper but still wouldn't touch her feathers.

On a boat tour for the birders, we saw a black bear on the beach.

Kadin had to try out my binoculars to get a better look at that bear (or maybe at the clouds?!)

Our last two nights we spent at the Orca Lodge and Kadin decided that it was time to brush Jorge Curioso's teeth.

Teeth nice and clean, Jorge was now ready to put on his boots...

And go for a walk!  Hey… where are you two going?  Wait for me Kadin!  (He didn't wait, of course, and I finally caught up with him in the lobby!)

Rainy and windy day, but we braved the elements to look at all those little peeps on the mudflats - predominently the true Western Sandpiper which is quite a bit smaller in real life.

My intrepid little birder!

Dinner at the Taco Bus and rain or shine, Kadin was outside playing in their courtyard which was full of awesome toys and trucks and stuff.

Our last night in Cordova, and we went out for an evening stroll in the drizzling rain.  As they say, there's no such thing as bad weather if you have good gear (and a good attitude)!

Aye, aye, Capitán!

Exploring the barnacle covered rocks and seaweed on the shore.  

Cool new playground in Anchorage with a "moose" in a "pond" and lots of other fake natural things to play on.

Video of Kadin throwing rocks and seaweed into the ocean with the raucous calling of gulls out at the  dilapidated pier.  At the end, he says, "Baja... Agua." which litterally translates as waterfall (cascada in Spanish) which is exactly what he is looking at in the distance.