Finishing up 2018: August 15 - December 31, 2018 (4 1/2 years old)

OK, I'm finally finishing up 2018…

Kadin and Baiba in Rehobeth on the kiddy rides - August 2018

Kadin visits his cousin Maddox - August 2018

We took the flag-stop train to a pretty camping spot along a river.  Nice fall camping trip (September).

Kadin's first school picture - Preschool

Yes, he is repetitively stabbing his pumpkin with knives.  No, I am not overly worried about this.  :-)

Kadin all dressed up for Suzy and Kassie's wedding in November.  This is one of the few photos when he wasn't wearing a mask due to all of the smoke from the Paradise Fires.

Feliz Navidad mi amor

December 1 - 15, 2017 - 3 years 5 months

Kadin pulls another kid with his awesome balance bike on skis during the Wilderness Woman's Contest in Downtown Talkeetna. 

An early gift of my original MatchBox Cars Carrying Case with about 20 of my cars that I've kept for all of these years.  I'm glad he was as excited to receive it as I was to give it to him.

This year we did a "composite" tree with two little sprucelings zip tied together to make one Alaskan Christmas Tree.  

Biking in the gravel pit at sunset – that means at 3:30pm.  Arrrgh!

After all that biking, Kadin didn't even want his hot cocoa and even with a cookie in his hand, he still was about to say, "Me no like fotos, Mama!"  Arrrgh!

September 5 - 15, 2017 - 3 years 2 months

Daycare dress-up - ladybug outfit with a safety orange construction hat.  And note how he learned from all the girls in daycare how to hold the edges of the skirt up! 

Well, we missed the blueberry season this year but didn't want to come home empty handed.  Lots of high bush cranberries everywhere! 

What a fun time!  We were at the playground when it started raining so we headed home.  But then I had to pull over at the overlook because there was a rainbow… Pfff. Rainbow.  The next thing I knew, Kadin was running around like crazy, putting all of his firefighter gear on and putting out fires left and right.  We must have spent an hour there, having too much fun!

Hanging out at the Station parking lot, Kadin on his bicycle.  Notice the little froggy harness thing his wearing?  It's a leash!!  It had just arrived in the mail and I was trying it out on him… for use in Mexico and big cities for my little independent explorer.

And, last but not least, Patch, hanging out on the couch with me when Kadin isn't here.

Video:  Kadin putting out "muchos incendios" (many fires)!

Video: Kadin up on the old firetruck and climbing back down.

March 5 - 15, 2017 - 2 years 8 months

Back in Alaska!  

It was a beautiful day with a biting wind...

Kadin always seems to get these red lower eyelid lesions… always on the right side.  He gets a water balloon compress on it and if he lets me do it easily enought, he gets to play with the balloon afterwards. 

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!

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!  

September 1 - 15, 2016 - 2 years 2 months

Kadin wanted to play with a hairband and loved trying to see himself in the mirror with a ponytail. 

We went berrying picking and there weren't any left because someone had arrived before us!  I actually got to see the black bear briefly as he/she was sneaking by, trying to avoid us.

Kadin slept through most of the berry picking and bear sighting!

As we made our way home, Kadin had a big tantrum about something… can't even remember what.  

Best cure for the tantrum blues…. SNACKTIME!

Kadito, el cocinero.  Kadin loves anything to do with cooking!

Kadin and Farah running around naked together… what cute little tooshies!

My mini garden - chives and sorrel!  

Kadin helps in the office at daycare.

More blueberry picking!  This time, we were up on the tundra.  It was still late in the season and we didn't get enough to keep us happy for the whole winter, but it certainly was fun!  Kadin has learned that instead of picking them and eating them, he can just confiscate our jar and eat and eat and eat!!!

It's autumm and all the plants are turning.  This is Kadin's favorite… high bush cranberry.

Kadin "wearing" his undies!   

Gorgeous double rainbow made my day when everything else happening was rotten. Can't have rainbows without rain, right?!

Kadin enjoying the rainbow.

Short attention span! Been there, done that, time to go home now Mama...

Best buds, snuggling at bedtime.

The video is of Kadin chasing a laser pointer… and figuring out it's just a speck of light. 

Here's the link for the video if you can't watch it on the blog: https://youtu.be/GTHtbHjiDkY