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

January 26 - January 29, 2018 - Isla Mujeres, Mexico (3 years 6 months) – First 3 days

On the ferry crossing from Cancun to Isla Mujeres

At our hotel, there was a perfect little pool with a long strip of shallow water where Kadito could run, swim, and play without me holding onto him.  See video below for the live action version – "Mama, watch this!"

Arrrgh!  Inside a shark's mouth on one of the piers.  We were having a blast, pretending to be scared, and just as I was about to take the photo, of course, he covers his eyes… ¡No fotos!

The hotel had a (somewhat sad) little tank of slider turtles and Kadin loved watching them.  One waiter let us pick up the littlest one but the next day another waiter said we couldn't because one of them bit a kid once.  They aren't mean turtles so I suspect the kid wasn't handling him properly, but oh well, no more picking them up.
I love Dito's wispy hair, necklace, and bare foot in this photo. 

We had a day of rain on the Island and so Kadito and I went to the bar to play some pool. We must have spent over an hour there.  He loved hitting them, of course, but he also loved listening to them go down the tubes and running the tray to pull them out again.

At the beach… popcorn was our favorite snack.  Kadin would walk up and down the beach looking for the popcorn vendors.  I love that in Spanish, popcorn is "palomitas" which means "little doves".

The waves weren't very big on Isla Mujeres, but big enough to still have fun!  I left Kadin's blue life jacket at a bus station by mistake and found this inflatable one at a mega store in Cancun.

September 1 - 4, 2017 - Ama and Maya Visit Part 2 (3 years 2 months)

Ama, Maya, Kadin, and I spent a few days in Seward, camping in the rain, eating yummy King Crab, and enjoying being by the ocean.  It was a special treat to stay one night in Anchorage at a hotel with a pool.  The next morning, Kadin and I headed home and Ama and Maya relaxed in town until their flight that night.  

Morning ocean viewing from our campsite in Seward - Kadin commented on the comings and goings of every boat he saw.

We went on a wildlife and glaciar cruise and Kadin loved being on the boat and spotting the otters and birds and whales and other boats.   

The next day, we went to the Sea Life Center and the Stellar Sea Lion tank was definitely one of his favorite spots.

The touch-and-feel tidepool exhibit was also a favorite… although he was a bit hesitant at first.

First the sea star, and then he tried the sea anemone, one of my personal favorites.

Aye, aye, Capitán!

We spent the night at a hotel in Anchorage and made sure we found one with a pool!  Fun and games before bedtime.

Ama and Maya had just as much fun!

Wee!!!

August 16 - 30, 2017 - 3 years 1 month

Kadin loves climbing up on the old fire truck at the station and can even climb down without my help.  My little monkey!

Kadin wasn't there for loading up the logs onto a trailer, but it is still one of his favorite videos to watch.  The bigger the machinery the better in his world!

Kadin will now put on the googles but still won't go under the water with them on.

After swimming, Kadin and I went out to lunch with Alden and his family.  Here, Kadin and Alden are both using the butter knife to try to cut up the ice cubes.  They are definitely two kindred spirits.

Alden's mom, Nikki, and his sister, Althea, read books together while the other two were playing with knives.

It wouldn't be summer in Alaska without at least one puddle photo.  Here, Kadin's shoe came off in the sticky mud and he just kept on running with out it.  I also tried to keep his cute red Converses out of the mud, but I knew that it was not going to last.

The rains began in August, and along with them, many beautiful rainbows.  Kadin would only pose for the photo if his curly fries could be part of it.

One rainy day, we drove down to the Alaska Transportation Museum and fortunately, it stopped raining intermittently and we enjoyed the outside exhibits.  Kadin sure looks little next to these giant planes!

He was quite disappointed to find out that we were not allowed to climb inside the planes!  

There was a train set up that he could climb into and he would race through each car as fast as he could, jumping on the seats, grabbing any levers he found, and avoiding the scary barmaid manequin in the dining car.

A gift arrived in the mail for Kadin and after opening it, he studied it closely to figure out what it was….

Tinkerbell stickers!!!! Yay!!!!  Thanks Abuela Baiba!! 

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.