June 1-15, 2018 - 3 years 11 months

Shut yer mouth, kid!
(just kidding, he did it to himself, for fun!)

Munching on some curly fries and at Live at 5.

The dogs LOVE his dump truck!

Mama, me do this?  When me hombre?

Spending quality time with Kadin, catching mosquitos as they feed on me, putting them into the spiderweb, and watching the spider wrap up the tasty morsel.  Kadin now loves spiders and doesn't kill them.  Yay!

Hey Mama, is that plant thirsty? It want agua?
(We had a sudden downpour of rain and he rain out onto the patio at Twister and was essentially showering in the drips from the rain gutter as he filled up the bucket to give to the plants.)

Watch this Mom!  Just like the Dukes of Hazard!

How did he get so big?  Relaxing and reading a book while I go inside and order us some food.  

Happy Birthday to me!  "Jota para ti Mama!"  ("J is for you Mom"

Kadin loves hanging out with Mr. Ernie and his grandkids at the library.

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 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!

February 2-15, 2018 – 3 years 7 months – Fun INDOORS!

Sorry, too many photos again, so I had to split the 2-week period (the fortnight, if you will) into 2 posts, again…

We baked yummy bread shapes using a recipe in a Spanish Sesame Street recipe book.  Kadin loved it!  And the bread was  actually really good.  We shared it that evening with Franny and Jorie during a salmon dinner.

Completely different day.  After swimming we went to eat chinese food and Kadito is adamant about using the chopsticks.  Look at that face of concentration!

This should have been a video, but I didn't get a second chance and only got a series of stills… Fun in his playroom jumping onto the beanbag.

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!

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!  

October 28 - 31, 2017 - 3 years 3 months - HALLOWEEN!

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.