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!

April 2-15, 2018 - 3 years 9 months

Yay!  Spring is (sort of) here!  Warm weather and lots of daylight… some snow to play in still but also some open dirt, water, and pavement to run and bike and boat in!  Good times…

Video:  We went biking in the woods with his Strider bike (no pedals) and stopped at a fun snowy hill to play with Bucky.  Kadito is often fairly conservative with risks, but not today!  He also often cries and gets mad when he falls, but not today!

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. 

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!

Video:  Kadito's first day on his bright green pedal bike.  He still needs a bit of a hand getting started and then… off he goes!  He's too fast for me to walk with so in the future, I'll have to have my bike with me too.

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!)

Video:  I broke down and got Kadito a little remote control car that was on sale.  Of course, he loved it, but what was even funnier was how much Bucky loved it too!

Video:  One more video, especially made for Abuela Baiba (BaBa).  

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…

April 1, 2018 - 3 years 9 months - EASTER DAY

Easter was a busy and fun day!  So busy, it's getting is's own blog entry.

We started the day with a hike with Laura and her dog, Ricca.  During the hike, we ran into Mark, Laura's husband, and Kadito took a spin on his snow machine, helping Mark clear some down trees.

Towards the end of the hike, we explored a snow cave that Laura's teenaged daughters had built over the winter.  It was a little sunken and a tight fit.  Kadin wouldn't go in it until I did and then he loved it.

Kadito wouldn't leave the snow cave until Laura was coaxed to go in there with him.  She's a bit claustrophobic but didn't want to disappoint nor scare Kadito so in the cave she went and then they both crawed out.  Thanks Laura!

Back at the house, we pulled out the EasyBake Oven and made some M&M sugar cookies to bring to Mia's house for Easter.  They are teensy!

I actually didn't get a chance to put together Kadito's Easter basket this year, so I was happy that Abu Baiba had sent him one.  So was Kadito!!

Yet more candy at the Easter egg hunt at Mia's house.  They were mostly the little red and white mints… Thank you Mia!

After Easter, Kadito was a little candy monster, searching the house for hidden sweets to the point that I finally had to give them all away or eat them myself and completely rid the house of candy.  (At least until Halloween, I guess.)
When I told him no more sweets, he said, "Mi sabo (Me knows), me eat candy, me loco."  Ha!

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!  

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!

July 1, 2016 - July 3, 2016 – 23 months and 3 weeks – PART 2: FOREST FAIR IN GIRDWOOD

Ama went off to visit other friends in Copper Landing and we packed up our camping gear and headed to Girdwood for the Forest Fair. 

Here, Kadin and I stop at Burrito King in Anchorage for dinner before driving one more hour south.

Friday evening, we set up camp and catch the last music show.  The popcorn booth was closed, but Kadin pulled his best labrador puppy imitation and begged a shirt full off of a nice lady and her daugher (you can see them in the background).

The next morning, Kadin was heading off to the festival in true Girdwood style – naked!  I managed to throw a quick outfit on him and we went off to hear some more awesome music (and Kadin was on the look-out for more popcorn).

Chillin' at the Youth Stage

Met up with Regan, Ben, and their kids, Nia and Teo.  Amazing to see how big they are!!!

We met up with Tressa too, although I didn't get a photo of her, she took this one as we listened and danced to more music.

Tressa and Regan both only stayed for the day, and in the evening I grabbed dinner for Kadin and I and went into the beer garden for a drink before heading back to camp.  I should have know that the beer garden was where all the kids were!  Kadin ate a bit of dinner, spied a young girl with popcorn, and had a new best friend.  Soon, there were about 8-10 kids playing in a mini-forest grove with the parents chatting, enjoying their beers, and keeping an eye on all the little ones.  AWESOME!

(BTW, Kadin is just in front of the kid with the tye-dyed shirt, not quite in view in this photo.)

More kids in the beer garden...

After the kid party broke up, I was about to head to our camp, when Kadin spotted another group of "kids" with popcorn.  He ran over to a group of 8+ college friends and asked the big blonde guy to pick him up.  What a hoot!  They were originally from Kodiak, seemed tickled pink to hang out with a silly toddler, and Kadin hung out with them for more than an hour.  

He actually hung out with one more group of adults who also had popcorn, but by then he was finally fading and we crawled home and read stories in the tent until we both passed out around midnight.

Our final day at the Fair and we finally got our own GIANT bag of popcorn!