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.

March 16-31, 2018 - 3 years 8 months

Due to a last-minute realization that we were both going to the start of the Oosik ski race, I got to spend a few hours with Kadin in the middle of March (the 17th).  He was super excited to see me and we played on the giant snow mountain and had a wonderful time.

Here's the first snowman we ever built together!  He has hair on top of his head; Kadin's addition.

Sliding down the hill, over and over again, with Bucky chasing after us.  I felt like a river otter!  Weeeeee!

A few hours later, Kadin takes on a more contemplative look…

 And then, there were two more weeks of 

"beznjenica" 

which I just learned is Serbian for 

"a space or time without a loved one".

Kadin was back with me again on the 31st, just in time for Easter egg dyeing and pizza!  

After the eggs and pizza, we went out to the river to play in the snow with Bucky.  I love you Kadin.

Kadin would climb up the willow trunks and go "nnneeighhh!" like a horsey.

Even the walk back to our car was an adventure, as Kadito climbed up and traversed the snowplow ridge alongside Main Street, navegating steep hills and icy downclimbs.

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And these last two shots are candidates for a Historic Downtown Talkeetna Calendar, highlighting two of our local establishments with a classic style. 

 (I swear these are not posed… Kadito hates posing for the camera!!)

January 22-23, 2018 - Playa del Carmen, Mexico (3 years 6 months) - THE TOWN

On the bus to Playa del Carmen, Kadin wanted to play with my hair ties and asked me to put them in his hair.  Too cute!!!  Unfortunately, he says, "Mi niña!" now, and I had to tell him that boys can wear ponytails too but if he wants to pretend he is a girl, that's ok too!  

We stayed in a really nasty hostel only one night, but it's advantage was that it was right next to this plaza (Parque Los Fundadores), where lots of exciting things were happening.  The beach was right here as well, but we didn't hang out on the beach that much in this town.

Our first night in Playa, we watched the Mayan Dancers.  They were super colorful and fun.  You could ask to have your picture taken with them but Kadito was a bit leary of some of the dancers who were dressed up as animals and a skeleton.

Kadito liked the dancers but he LOVED the Voladores de Papantla (Flyers from Papantla).   He heard the drums going indicating it was about to start and took off running to see them fly. 

It's a blurry photo, but this is how Kadin watched the flyers, riveted in his seat, fascinated.  I asked if he wanted to do it and he said, "Mi hombre, me do it." (When I'm a man, I'll do it)

And here they are… Los Voladores de Papantla… This video is from YouTube because none of mine turned out.

I finally convinced Kadin to leave the Flyers and go out for dinner.  Here he is with a mouth full of pizza, watching the musicians play in the restaurant.  "Too loud!", he said.  My little monkey.

Another blurry photo, but too adorable to leave out and I wanted to include a photo of him wearing his surfer-boy necklace made out of a cut shell embedded with crushed blue stones.

The next morning, we left the nasty hostel and walked for about an hour to our new place, a sweet little condo I found on Air B&B.  It was already pretty hot so we got some ice cream… and even with ice cream in his hand, the little punk wouldn't smile for the camera.   He was happy, I swear!

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!  

March 30, 2016 - April 5, 2016 - 20 months and 3 weeks

Fairly mellow week, back to work, day care, and the occacional romp up and down the driveway.  I'm sure more exciting things happened, but since I didn't get a photo of them, I really don't remember anymore!

Kadin's new favorite toy – an old flip phone of mine.  Wonder who he's talking too!

Off and running!  Not an exciting photo, but it was all I could do to keep up with him.  The video is a lot cuter!

Just found a few more pictures.  Here are two I like in black and white – he was playing with a timer while I looked at a puppy.