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.

May 10-16, 2018 - 3 years 10 months - Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival

To break up the drive, we stopped for a few hours at the Soldotna playground… where we discovered that Bucky enjoyed going down the slide as much as Kadin! 

A nature walk along the docks, exploring all of the sea creatures there.  Kadin loved it!  This one is an ochre sea star.

An "Otters and Eiders" boat tour where Kadito and a kid he met on board get to sit in the captain's seat.  (The Captain is pictured to the left).  Lots of otters, lots of running laps around the deck.  No eiders (a cool sea duck). 

Kadin slept through it, but I awoke to the crunch of underbrush and chomping of leaves right outside of the tent.

Awww!  Love this shot of Kadito and Bucky… best of friends whenever Kadin has either food or a ball in his hand!

January 4, 2019 - One night in Cancun, Mexico (3 years 6 months)

My little world traveler.

Oh my god, he's behind a wheel and it has a motor…

And he is having SO MUCH FUN!

After the cars and the rides, we found a playground nearby.  There were at least 30-50 kids running around like crazy.  It was occasionally so overwhelming for Kadin he would just run a lap around everything, stop, jump up and down, and then run back into the mayhem.  It was still packed at 10pm but we were exhausted from all the travel that day and I carried him back to our hostel.  

October 16 - 27, 2017 - 3 years 3 months

October 1 - 15, 2017 - 3 years 3 months

We went out for sushi and Kadin did a great job with his chopsticks!

ARGGH.  He LOVED the calamari.  He actually ate everything but wasn't too excited about the raw salmon.

As a surprise reward for being so good in the restaurant and in Value Village, I let Kadin pick out a toy and he is super excited about his new pirate ship!

It even has little mini wheels so it can smoothly sail the concrete seas.

Soleil's Birthday Party!!! Soleil is the girl to the far left.  

Mr. Monkey Acrobat in the bath.

In aerial yoga, this would be the orangutan pose.

Throwing rocks and sticks and leaves and watching them sink or float down the coast like a pirate ship.  (Everything is a pirate ship these days!)

It took Kadin over an hour to finally work up the courage to approach Sparky, the fire dog.  Sparky was quiet and patient and eventually Kadin wanted to show him all of his toys and art.  He even started to "read" the fire activity book to him!

We visited Wendy for a lovely tea and biscuits and a fun romp with her dogs.  Kadin found a feather on her window sill and he let me put it in his hair.  I love his facial expression in this picture for some reason.  

Yes, he's still running around naked.  But the awesome thing is that he had watched me mop the floor a few minutes prior to this and then immediately picked up the mop, mopped the floor, and used the squeegie thing to get the water out.  Kids' amazing ability to watch and imitate never ceases to surprise me.

July 17 - 31, 2017 - 3 years

We weren't able to keep Sally as a pet.  She wanted to eat our cat Birch and didn't appreciate Kadin's hugs and high energy on a constant level.  But we do still get to take her out for bike rides and forest frolicking which makes all of us happy!

And, we do have a new pet… meet Patch, our 6 year old Nigerian Dwarf goat! 

We went to T-Ball today, where Kadin picked up a bat for the first time and did great!
The "coach" kept trying to get Kadin to do everything just the way it's supposed to be done (one hand here, one there, you stand there, now put the bat here, etc…) and they both got frustrated.  I just handed Dito the bat and said, ok, hit the ball, and he did it – his own way.  It's a good thing to figure stuff out on your own, yet, if that trait sticks around, it might make school a bit challenging… 

Kadin was so excited to help me thin out the carrots that he went a bit overboard and started pulling all of our new-born baby carrots out of the ground and eating them!  They may be small but sure were yummy.

Kadin lined out all of the trucks at the playground today.
If it has wheels and moving parts, he's going to be interested in it! 

Kadito brought all of the mini-carrots he picked with him to show Mia.  I think in the end, Patch ate most of them... 

He was just so photogenic today!  I just can't stand how adorable my little Dito is.
(Of course, he'd correct me: "Dito no pequeño, Dito grande!")

Patch meets Kadin

Third time's a charm

May 4 - 8, 2017 - 2 years 10 months CORDOVA SHOREBIRD TRIP

Kadin and I spent a week in Cordova, at the Copper River Shorebird Festival where every spring hundreds of thousands of shorebirds pass through on their migration north.  

First 3 days, we camped and had bald eagles swooping through the camp area.

Glad we had Pee Wee Herman with us!

At the festival reception, there was a very large Western Sandpiper that both scared and fascinated Kadin.  He wanted me to follow it wherever it went, but I had to carry him and he'd hide if I got too close.

Finally, he got up the nerve to approach the Sandpiper but still wouldn't touch her feathers.

On a boat tour for the birders, we saw a black bear on the beach.

Kadin had to try out my binoculars to get a better look at that bear (or maybe at the clouds?!)

Our last two nights we spent at the Orca Lodge and Kadin decided that it was time to brush Jorge Curioso's teeth.

Teeth nice and clean, Jorge was now ready to put on his boots...

And go for a walk!  Hey… where are you two going?  Wait for me Kadin!  (He didn't wait, of course, and I finally caught up with him in the lobby!)

Rainy and windy day, but we braved the elements to look at all those little peeps on the mudflats - predominently the true Western Sandpiper which is quite a bit smaller in real life.

My intrepid little birder!

Dinner at the Taco Bus and rain or shine, Kadin was outside playing in their courtyard which was full of awesome toys and trucks and stuff.

Our last night in Cordova, and we went out for an evening stroll in the drizzling rain.  As they say, there's no such thing as bad weather if you have good gear (and a good attitude)!

Aye, aye, Capitán!

Exploring the barnacle covered rocks and seaweed on the shore.  

Cool new playground in Anchorage with a "moose" in a "pond" and lots of other fake natural things to play on.

Video of Kadin throwing rocks and seaweed into the ocean with the raucous calling of gulls out at the  dilapidated pier.  At the end, he says, "Baja... Agua." which litterally translates as waterfall (cascada in Spanish) which is exactly what he is looking at in the distance.