July 16 - 31, 2016 - 2 years old

Wholesome food at daycare

Our tadpoles are now froggies!! This is in the froggerarium I made for them in the house.

And a few days later, we released 3 little froggies near the pond on my property, where we had collected the eggs.

Good luck little froggie!

Kadin helped me let the froggies loose, enjoying the soft mossy area near the pond.

Every morning, Kadin jumps up and goes to the foot of the bed to hug Birch.

Just too cute, I can't stand it.  Oh, and look at Birch's little paws in the corner.  Birch loves Kadin just as much.

Here he is… my new associate veterinarian.  

This is the second shot, a bit blurry, but it has it's own appeal...

Apparently at daycare, when Kadin goes under the table, it's because he's pooping.  Hee hee.

Mia made the kids at daycare a yummy smoothie and Kadin was the only one who liked it!  That's because he's used to my concoctions with the Ninja!  

Kadin helps me pick up my local veggies… including this cabbage that is bigger than his head!

We went to drop off a bunch of recycling in Wasilla and they have a little nature trail with various creatures made from discarded scraps.  

Every so often, Kadin gets a sudden desire for green things and binges on them.  Here, he just attacked my salad and shoveled it in as fast as he could.

July 13, 2016 - July 15, 2016 - 2 YEARS OLD!!! A 3-DAY CELEBRATION...

Happy 2nd Birthday, mi amor!!!

We had a mini party for him on the 13th… with carrot cake and paper airplanes, a bunch of kiddos and a baby pool.  Fun, Fun, Fun.

The morning of his actual birthday, the 14th, we enjoyed a mellow morning with leftover cake for breakfast and silly antics with balloons.  I haven't laughed so hard in a long time!!  

(you have to see the video to really get the silliness)

He received a cute card that sang out "Happy Birthdaaaaaayyy" and within minutes, my little engineer had taken it apart and found the battery and circuit board.

We then packed up the car and headed to Byer's Lake, for two nights of camping, pack rafting in the warm water, and enjoying the long summer days.  

Kadin's friend Farah came up with her mom Rachel to help celebrate!

This is Kadin's new "smile for the camera" face...

Kadin had found a speck of pollen and carried it all the way to the lake.  He'd drop it and miraculously, we'd look around and find it every time!

Making friends with a random doggie...

Kadin's first marshmellow roasting!

Here's the link to the video if you can't see it on the blog: https://youtu.be/QfnUmQ-IrMk

Here's the link to the video if you can't see it on the blog:  https://youtu.be/nufSkr2ZHAE

And of course, don't forget about our tadpoles… who now have hindlegs!!

July 6, 2016 - July 12, 2016 - 23 months and 3+ weeks

My beautiful little nature boy!

Fun times at day care: Kadin is always raiding the food cabinet with crackers in it!!

Fun times at day care: Kadin got a bit rambunctious on the swing and toppled off, scraping his cheek.

Fun times at day care: Mia says it's definitely time to go home now and gives Kadin and Calvin a wagon ride out to their moms' cars.

July 4, 2016 - July 7, 2016 – 23 months and 3 weeks – PART 3: FOURTH OF JULY and BACK TO NORMAL LIFE

 Fourth of July at the Fire Station.  They somehow fill a fire hose with soap bubbles and make a giant bubbly puddle to play in!  Too much fun!

 Video!

Back to daycare and regular life.  Whew!  All that fun is exhausting! 

July 1, 2016 - July 3, 2016 – 23 months and 3 weeks – PART 2: FOREST FAIR IN GIRDWOOD

Ama went off to visit other friends in Copper Landing and we packed up our camping gear and headed to Girdwood for the Forest Fair. 

Here, Kadin and I stop at Burrito King in Anchorage for dinner before driving one more hour south.

Friday evening, we set up camp and catch the last music show.  The popcorn booth was closed, but Kadin pulled his best labrador puppy imitation and begged a shirt full off of a nice lady and her daugher (you can see them in the background).

The next morning, Kadin was heading off to the festival in true Girdwood style – naked!  I managed to throw a quick outfit on him and we went off to hear some more awesome music (and Kadin was on the look-out for more popcorn).

Chillin' at the Youth Stage

Met up with Regan, Ben, and their kids, Nia and Teo.  Amazing to see how big they are!!!

We met up with Tressa too, although I didn't get a photo of her, she took this one as we listened and danced to more music.

Tressa and Regan both only stayed for the day, and in the evening I grabbed dinner for Kadin and I and went into the beer garden for a drink before heading back to camp.  I should have know that the beer garden was where all the kids were!  Kadin ate a bit of dinner, spied a young girl with popcorn, and had a new best friend.  Soon, there were about 8-10 kids playing in a mini-forest grove with the parents chatting, enjoying their beers, and keeping an eye on all the little ones.  AWESOME!

(BTW, Kadin is just in front of the kid with the tye-dyed shirt, not quite in view in this photo.)

More kids in the beer garden...

After the kid party broke up, I was about to head to our camp, when Kadin spotted another group of "kids" with popcorn.  He ran over to a group of 8+ college friends and asked the big blonde guy to pick him up.  What a hoot!  They were originally from Kodiak, seemed tickled pink to hang out with a silly toddler, and Kadin hung out with them for more than an hour.  

He actually hung out with one more group of adults who also had popcorn, but by then he was finally fading and we crawled home and read stories in the tent until we both passed out around midnight.

Our final day at the Fair and we finally got our own GIANT bag of popcorn!