July 1-9, 2018 - 3 years 11.5 months - Forest Fair Weekend!

I found a leech on Kadin's nether regions and after letting him play with it a bit, Kadin asked me, "Can we keep him?  I want to name him poopie-poopie."  OK… time to Google "how to care for your pet leech."  Wow, gotta love Google.  I am NOT the first Mom to ask that question!

We went to the Forest Fair in Girdwood this weekend and the kids just took over the place, running across the stage and having a blast.

  

Here's a video of him dancing to the live tunes!

And then playing with the corn hole toss game in the beer garden (while Mama sat on the side and had a beer).

After the playground, Kadin wanted to check out the skatepark next door and was fascinated by all the tricks the skaters were doing on the ramps.  I think we spent 2 hours here.  The skaters loved him and even lent him a board to play around with.

Mostly Kadito has way too much energy to sit and do art, but this was a rare after-lunch quiet moment and we spent about an hour at the kid's table, making an octopus and decorating butterflies.

Walking around the festival and randomly finding a few hula hoops to try out.

January 24-25, 2018 - Playa del Carmen, Mexico (3 years 6 months) - THE CENOTES

Kadin started to get a bit of a sand rash from his sandals so we switched to flip flops!  It took him a bit of practice to walk in them but he would NOT switch back and just kept on practicing.  They have Dora la Exploradora on them.

Speaking of flip flops, Kadito found this one at the cenote and it instantly became a boat… you can see his lips going Brrrroom like the motor.  He almost didn't let me throw it away afterwards - wanted to keep it as his toy boat!

Kadito was amazingly drawn to this girl.  He wanted to play with her and would follow her around the Cenote, asking me, "¡¿La niña, donde está la niña?!" (The girl, where's the girl?!)  Finally, they sat down and Dito could show her all of his toys.  Her name was Anuk.

I was supposed to pick just one of these four photos but just couldn't decide.  So now they are a collage of my little swimmer boy happy in the water.

Kadin is swimming like a champ!  All those Wednesdays at the pool in Wasilla are really paying off.  

There are these little fish in the cenotes that like to eat your dead skin.  Kinda gross but really, more than anything, kinda fun and TICKLISH!  It was hard to not laugh/giggle the whole time!

Our last night in Playa we went to a restaurant that was built within a cave (Restaurante Alux).  We didn't eat there but explored the cave and had a lot of fun.  This video is a bit dark, but Kadin was rockin' out to the music!

Ooops… forgot a photo… my version of a "volante" (a flyer!)… Jumping off the 20' cliff at the Cenote.  Kadito stayed on the pier with Anuk's mom and loved watching me jump.  The first shot is a close up of the second one.

January 22-23, 2018 - Playa del Carmen, Mexico (3 years 6 months) - THE TOWN

On the bus to Playa del Carmen, Kadin wanted to play with my hair ties and asked me to put them in his hair.  Too cute!!!  Unfortunately, he says, "Mi niña!" now, and I had to tell him that boys can wear ponytails too but if he wants to pretend he is a girl, that's ok too!  

We stayed in a really nasty hostel only one night, but it's advantage was that it was right next to this plaza (Parque Los Fundadores), where lots of exciting things were happening.  The beach was right here as well, but we didn't hang out on the beach that much in this town.

Our first night in Playa, we watched the Mayan Dancers.  They were super colorful and fun.  You could ask to have your picture taken with them but Kadito was a bit leary of some of the dancers who were dressed up as animals and a skeleton.

Kadito liked the dancers but he LOVED the Voladores de Papantla (Flyers from Papantla).   He heard the drums going indicating it was about to start and took off running to see them fly. 

It's a blurry photo, but this is how Kadin watched the flyers, riveted in his seat, fascinated.  I asked if he wanted to do it and he said, "Mi hombre, me do it." (When I'm a man, I'll do it)

And here they are… Los Voladores de Papantla… This video is from YouTube because none of mine turned out.

I finally convinced Kadin to leave the Flyers and go out for dinner.  Here he is with a mouth full of pizza, watching the musicians play in the restaurant.  "Too loud!", he said.  My little monkey.

Another blurry photo, but too adorable to leave out and I wanted to include a photo of him wearing his surfer-boy necklace made out of a cut shell embedded with crushed blue stones.

The next morning, we left the nasty hostel and walked for about an hour to our new place, a sweet little condo I found on Air B&B.  It was already pretty hot so we got some ice cream… and even with ice cream in his hand, the little punk wouldn't smile for the camera.   He was happy, I swear!

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.

June 8, 2016 - June 14, 2016 - 23 months

 A day at the playground and silly dancing at home with Scout.

April 20, 2016 - April 26, 2016 - 21 months and 1 week

Spent the day outside for Earth Day, with Kadin just barely still fitting into his Being Green shirt.  Birch the cat LOVES Kadin for some reason and follows us wherever we go outside.  Kadin laughs and chases him and even occasionally grabs his tail (only if I'm too slow!) but Birch just sprints away, turns around, and comes back again.  
Later in the week, having pizza with Nana Baiba and getting dressed up to celebrate the showing of Hairspray with swing dance lessons, open dancing, and lots of kids running amok!