November 1 - 15, 2017 - 3 years 4 months

That's one happy kid!

Yum, ice!  With his bare hands no less!  Brrrrr.

The gravel pit, with it's snow-covered "mountains" makes a great place to explore and play and run along the mountaintops.

Near the gravel pit, Kadin led me into an alder and willow grove, that I called the fairy forest.  It was a perfect Kadin-sized forest too.

Kadin snuggles with Tony while Mama Trinity sits close.  We fostered a mom and her two kitties for a while.  In the end, I decided not to keep any of them.  The kittens were a bit shy/nervous/feral and needed a quieter home.

Eating snow again… Captain Snowbeard!

Kadin was working really hard to push up this hill.  It's a bit steeper than it looks in the photo.

After all that biking, Kadin crashed in the sled and I pulled him the last bit down the road to the car.

Kadin working hard again, this time my little "alpinista" is summiting the mountain.  Half way up he says, "This hard Mom," and towards the top his asking me to wait where I am while he goes the rest of the way up.

Kadin bike-skis down a hill, with Denali and the beautiful Alaska range in the background.  In the beginning of it, I wasn't sure what he was saying, maybe "run"?  Then he says, "Mama mas cerca arboles," which means, "Mama, closer to the trees."  Ie back up!  

September 16 - 30, 2017 - 3 years 2 months

Grandma Baiba and Grandpa Butchie come to Talkeetna for a visit!  First stop… Twister!

While the grandparents are resting, Kadin and I wander through the railroad station and Kadin enjoyed his time behind bars. 

Butch shops the local "produce" while Kadin races around on his bicycle.

Weeeeeee!!!

I had to stop into the VFW to meet up with a friend and Kadin was instantly fascinated with the pool table.  He watched every shot, gave recommendations, and waited for the ball to travel from the pocket to the storage underneath.
Physics scientist or pool shark to be? 

Finally, a break in the rain and we get to be back on our bikes.  If you can see how muddy his legs are, on this trip we went looking for all the big mud puddles! In fact, he had a communication melt down when I went onto the bike path… yelling, no, no, bdda, bdda, (or something like that) and pointing across the street to the dirt trail.  I wasn't thinking in English and it took me forever to figure out he was saying "Puddles!  Puddles!"  I confirmed it with, "Oh, ¿quieres charcos?" Yes!!!!!
We turned around as soon as I figured it out and had a muddy fun time.

Fun little BBQ and bonfire at Sarah's place with Sarah, Drover, and Franny.  Kadin and Jorie ran around like crazy, ate hotdogs and roasted marshmellows, and then finally chilled out by the fire.

Silly times with bubbles.  Somehow Mom stopped this video just before Kadin ran after the bubble and came back telling us there were Trolls behind the building. 

addendum after Baiba's comments:

Kadin's beautiful and silly and wonderful Grandma Baiba…. Alaska's cold in September!

February 16 - 24, 2017 - 2 years 7 months - Chacala, Mexico, 3rd week

Another selfie! 

One of my favorite photos!  Mr. Cutie-Pie, happy as can be playing in the dirt!

Portable bathtub with bubbles! 

Town visit for groceries and bank. 

Kadin helps Concha's grandkids knead the masa for tortillas.

Boat ride up the Tovara River - on the look-out for birds and crocodiles. 

¡Cocodrilo!

January 1 - 15, 2017 - 2 years 6 months

I finally broke down and trimmed Kadin's bangs since they were hanging in his face.  He actually was really good for it!

What a cutie!

Kadin wanted to pull me in the sled!

Kadin missed a day or two of daycare due to a possible pink-eye or some other eye allergy or irritant.  He could barely see when he'd woken up this morning.

Ahhhh, nothing like a relaxing warm bubble bath!

Kadin was wiped out by another kid sledding down the hill as he was hiking uphill (she lost control and veered to the side where everyone was going up).  He got a nice bloody nose from the impact but after about a half hour of crying and cleaning him up, he said he wanted to go sledding some more instead of going home!  

Here we are, heading back down the hill.  Weeee!
After the collision, Kadin was obsessed about the safety of others below him and would not go down the hill if someone else was walking up!  

Daycare dress up and here's my little bumblebee!

October 27 - 29, 2016 - 2 years 3 months… (very short) Trip to Oakland, CA!

The morning we arrived at Emily and Jen's place, we chilled in their backyard, recovering from the flight.

But that same afternoon, we headed out on a lovely hike with Suzy, Bug, Mya (pictured here), and Emily/Jen's dog Juneau in the Oakland Hills.  It rained intermittently, and Kadin was definitely a bit "fragile", but he loved watched the dogs and the birds and the raindrops.

The next morning, Kadin was eager to explore Emily's garage/workshop and quickly went to work with a screwdriver.  Cole would have been jealous, but he was already off to daycare.

Pre-wedding-ceremony fun, hanging out with the band and meeting new friends.

After the ceremony, there was an awesome puppet show by Miss Butterfly and Kadin skeddaddled his way up front and was enthralled.  More than once he needed some gentle encouragement to just watch and not try to participate by grabbing the puppets himself!
[also note that there are no photos of the ceremony… we lasted about 5 minutes and then had to find someplace else to go and fidget/run around.  Miss Butterfly helped us out then as well, escorting us to the play room where he could run around.]

Kadin was enthralled with a few of the older kids who could blow bubbles for him.

Suddenly alone in the spotlight, he wasn't quite sure what to do and looked right at me in all his adorableness.

Yay, the other kids are back and… with more ba-was!!!!

Oh what a night… 

Didn't even budge as I took off his shoes and jeans….

The next day, I left Kadin with Emily and Cole and went to a post-wedding brunch.  Here is the lovely bride Ama with her daughter Maya.  

Meanwhile, Kadin and Cole had a blast, playing (and fighting) with all of Cole's toys.
[BTW Cole, THANK YOU for sharing all your toys with Kadin – it was definitely a highlight of his trip!]

Emily, Cole, and Kadin spent the morning at the playground.  I haven't gotten any of the playground photos yet, but from this shot, I suspect they had a good time!