January 16, 2018 - Mahahual, Mexico (3 years 6 months)

Morning walk along the beach.  He would comment on every boat, especially if it had two outboard motors instead of just one.
He would run out to a pier by himself sometimes, so I made him wear his life jacket!

Kadin is really into learning his letters right now – especially O, K, J, and S – and was practicing in the sand.  I love that sometimes he calls me "Jota", which is the letter J in Spanish.

Kadin met two twins, Sebastian and Tristan, at our campsite beach and LOVED playing with them for hours.  We even hopped on their golf cart for a final ride before they got back onto their cruise ship and left.  As they left, he cried and every time he saw a cruise ship he mentioned them.  I realized it's kind of hard on him to meet kids for just a quick playday and then never see them again and it renewed my quest to find a more permanent community to go to every year.

More cool discoveries… I think he's asking me what made all the holes in the sand.  I believe it's little clams in there.

Later on, we met up with a few more kids and they all started collecting these teensy clams.  Kadin was proud to show the girl how many he'd found.

Video:  Kadin playing in the water.  "Mi mano bote" = my hand is a boat!  "Big bote bajo aqua" = it's a big boat going under water!

May 18, 2016 - May 24, 2016 - 22 months and 1 week

The frog eggs are now… tadpoles!  Here is one of the little mini pond/swamp aquariums I set up.

And here are two tadpoles!  The one on the left is from May 18th and the one on the right is from May 24th.  Growing fast… just like Kadin!  He is just starting to notice that something is squirming around in the tank.

Kadin does yoga with me!  Downward dog… 

It was Will's birthday so a great excuse for a party.  Kadin got to run around like crazy with Sky and Judy again and was fascinated by the balloon that sang "Happy Birthday".  

We biked around downtown and Kadin got to see the train pass by!  It was his first time noticing the train and afterwards, he loved pointing out the trains in his books and saying, "Chugga chugga, chugga chugga" over and over again. 

We went over to Trapper Creek for Rick Ernst's memorial and Kadin took the John Muir quote to heart and frolicked in the meadow, collecting dandelion tops for me.

This is a portion of the John Muir quote:  

"Let children walk with nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star…" 

April 6, 2016 - April 12, 2016 - 20 months and 4 weeks

Kadin loves grabbing my camera and taking the occasional selfie.  Cute! 

Now that the snow is gone, Kadin has exchanged his sled for the cargo cart!  He'll pull it for a while but then decides to hop in and catch a ride. 

Kadin must remember his earlier days when I bathed him in this stock pot.  But he doesn't fit at all anymore!!!

Just a reminder… here he is when he was just 27 days old!

March 16, 2016 - March 22, 2016 - 20 months and 1 week

Kadin still loves eating snow.

Afternoon walk with little Miss Annie.

Ended the day with Bucky entertaining Kadin with his amazing snowball catching abilities!

He's so good at it, the snowball was headed right at right at Kadin and… whoosh… in comes Buck to save the day!

Here comes another one….

Ooops.  Bucky is still trying to figure out what happened to the snowball.  Kadin could have told him if his mouth wasn't so filled up with snow!!

February 10, 2016 - February 16, 2016 - 19 months

Kadin hangs out with me at the EMS station, and loves running around with the Run Reports Box, which is like his own little suitcase!

I bought some chalkboard tape and drew a little portrait of our family to inspire Kadin to use it.  He promptly scribbled all over it and then broke the chalk into half, tried to eat it, and proceeded to scribble over the wood bench, the stairs, and the walls.  My little artist!

January 20, 2016 - January 26, 2016 - 18 months and 1 week

At the hostel in San Gerardo de Rivas, they had a stone bathtub room, with candles and hot water and pretty homemade soaps.  I suppose it was supposed to be romantic, but we thought it was just good family fun!

In the town of Zarcero, with a church park full of topiary bushes carved into crazy figures and tunnels, it was playtime paradise!

Also in Zarcero, Kadin found his own walking stick and was so excited.  He also really liked watching the students practice their marching drum skills and tried to join them several times.

Just a cute shot of him chillin' on the steps of the Zarcero church.

At the hostel pool in Fortuna, sportin' the shades.

Hummingbird Nest!!! 

I got Kadin a little brown dress to wear for better ventilation in the hot weather and easier diaper changes on the trail.  To me, it's no different than a little girl in cargo pants, practical for the situation (and cute too, I think!)

The beautiful cloud forest at 7000', about half way up the Chirripó trail (we didn't hike to the summit, just around the foothills).

November 25 - December 1, 2015 - 16 months and 2 weeks

It was supposed to be a "napping" walk, but Kadin struggled out of the carrier, took his hat off, and was practically dancing in the streets!

We got lots of snow this week.  My poor moose is up to his antlers in it!

Kadin and his brother Birch are happy to watch the chickadees from the window instead of going out in -10ºF weather.

The next day was warmer, so we went for a little hike around our pond and within minutes of taking these photos, Kadin was fast asleep.

Another favorite indoor activy of Kadin's is snacking on a bowl full of snow!  I now have 10 snowballs in the freezer to pull out as snacks here and there.  I've "spiked" them with juice, but so far, he actually prefers them plain.  

November 11 - November 17, 2015 - 16 months

Random assortment from the week…

Kadin is quite the little helper, helping me collect and split and stack the firewood.  He also LOVES helping me get the woodstove going and watching the fire.

Bathtime!

The EMS Station's newest employee - the well-dressed janitor. 

Snuggle-time with his siblings, the doggies Rudder (left) and Rivet (right).

Woo hoo!  Blue tarp ball and fashion show!  Super fun and Kadin was quite the charmer in his moment in the starlight.

During the few hours of naptime each day, I've been working on getting a woodshed up.  Brrr, it was -20ºF here, as I was finishing the roof.

October 14 - October 20, 2015 - 15 months

A fun autumn week, hanging out around home and work.

Autumn hike to the pond

Woof woof! 

This is the second of 3 injuries to the same eye within 2 weeks.  A stick, a table edge, and a gravel road.  What an intrepid explorer!!

July 8, 2015 - 11 Months, 24 Days Old

Woo Hoo!! We had a mellow day, doing chores and laundry, when suddenly, in the evening, Kadin changes everything and starts WALKING!!!!!!

So, I got the very very first steps on stills - I was trying to just get a photo of him standing, so I moved the little car out of my way and as I went to take the photo, he looked up at me and then started walking towards me!  I love his facial expressions as he's moving along!

A few minutes later we got the video…

Video: