Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has had a very Merry Christmas. This past month has been insane so to start November as many of you already know we learned that we were expecting a new little one. The due date is currently June 4th. I would have posted sooner but we were waiting to tell family in person. After learning this exciting news we also realized we would be needing a new house. We had been in a 2 bedroom (S called it 1 and 1/2) the girls room was so small that A's twin bed and B's crib barely fit let alone moving B into a twin bed and leaving the crib up for the new addition. So we put into housing for a 3 bedroom. They had one available that we had to get into before S left at Thanksgiving. So the first half of November was spent moving. We then had about one week to get ready for Thanksgiving. We had a special dinner with our pastor, his wife and some church friends. Then S began preparing for his deployment. He left the day before Thanksgiving and the girls and I followed the next week for a couple of weeks home with family. We had a wonderful time in Georgia (even if we did spend most of it sick). We arrived in Orlando with no delays until the last leg about half-way into the drive from Florida to Georgia we had car trouble and had to get a tow to a hotel for the night. I was then hit with a stomach bug so thankfully my parents were there to care for and entertain the girls for the night. We were all suffering from jet-lag so after sleeping most of the day and the night we finally started gaining some energy. We finally had to rent a car to get the rest of the way home. Once there we had a wonderful visit with all of our family. A learned how to say Merry Christmas at the Christmas parade, we also got to see several friends that we may not have seen other wise. We also got to take a family trip up to Pine Mountain and view the Callaway Gardens Fantasy of Lights. This was a big hit with the kids, A has since called Christmas lights "Toys". Before leaving we also got a wonderful surprise. My parents dog had puppies! A was fascinated and while she was a young mommy, the pups mom was very patience with us checking on her puppies. She even let A and B hold them before we left. Although, I'm not sure she really knew it was going to happen at first. A was "checking" on the babies when I hear one start to holler. A then comes walking in grinning from ear to ear and informed me that she "stole this one", Momma was right on her heels looking at me like "would you please control your child and make her give me my baby back!!" We spent our last week visiting friends and family and getting to do some shopping that we can't get done on the island. Before we knew it it was time to head back to Florida to catch our plane. Both of the girls were running fevers and I was still fighting congestion from a sinus infection I had earlier in the trip. Needless to say the girls were not has well behaved as they were coming to Ga. Even being sick they still weren't too bad. A only had one break down and that was on the 6hour flight to Seattle. We arrived back in Kodiak to some wonderful friends that met us at the airport and gave us a ride home. It wasn't until much later in the day that I realized that our car battery was dead, nothing like S being gone to kill the battery. Our paster came and gave us a jump the next morning so we were able to get some errends done. After finally getting caught up on everything from the last month and set up for another week of waiting to see if S made it home from his deployment. Thankfully he did make it back the night before Christmas Eve and was the best present we could have asked for. The girls have been all about daddy every since he got back. The one day he has had to go to work they asked me all day about daddy. We have been having a blast enjoying the snow and being able to relax with everyone home. I hope everyone had as wonderful a Christmas as we did.

WOW!!

Has it really been three months since my last post??? We have been running around like a couple of chickens with our heads cut off that I almost don't remember the last few months! Let me see if I can catch up real quick, then I'll try to post more in-depths in the next few day. So September brought back the cold weather. Surprisingly it stays around the 40s and 50s. I got certified to provide in home child care however I have only watched a couple of kids mostly just friends kids however the base is very strict about watching kids in base housing without having training. Which I think is crazy.
October brought very cold weather. We had our first slush/ snow which had to come on halloween when all the kids wanted to be out getting candy. A friend sent us costumes for the girls so we had an adorable bumble bee and fairy. The girls had a blast dressing up all month and continue to even now. They also were amazing sharer giving their candy to kids that came by. I was very impressed with A as she looked for kids to share with. At one point she was standing in the garage door yelling for kids to come to the house. There weren't very many out due to the cold though.
NOvember is also proving to be a very busy month as Scott is preparing to leave for a deployment and the girls and I prepare for our first trip home. We will be traveling for just over 24 hours. I am very much looking forward to seeing old friends and family for the holidays. Hopefully I will get pictures up in the next couple of days and can update somemore.

Don't Blink, You Might Miss It!!!

WOW! Summer is finally here, but don't blink or you might miss it!! I can't believe it has been over a month since I last posted. Sorry about that everybody the time has really gotten away from me. The end of last month Barometer finally got green all the way to the top, and everything on the island swung into high gear!

The salmon berries and blueberries are in abundance and I'm attempting to learn how to make jams and jellies from them. We have been berry picking several times and my freezer is trying to overflow with items that I want to make into jam. Aside from the berries the wildlife on the island has also started coming out more. We have seen several bears that are very curious and adorable!!

This little guy just knew there was a fish in those rocks.

After giving up on the rocks he took a stroll down the creek chasing fish.




After playing in the grass this guy decided to get in the river to get some dinner and take an actual bath.

All of the bears have been very bashful. We were even fishing one day and a bear crossed the road between S, who was caring 2 fish and the car. The bear across with his head turned away from S like "I can't see you, you can't see me". It was very cute!

Fishing has also been in high gear. The pink salmon have pretty much finished their run and are dieing off and the silvers have just started their run. However the weather has been so beautiful with very little rain the last several weeks that the rivers are almost too low for them to get up. In all of our fishing the last several weeks S has only caught 1 Silver. We even talked to a guy that had put out a gill net and in 5hrs had only caught 3silvers.

The girls have also been thoroughly enjoying the warmer (mid 70's) weather. We have been outside almost everyday with some kid of activity, even if it is only playing on the front porch. They are getting so big on the me!

B has gotten a very independent attitude and copies everything A does. She has finally gotten some teeth in and has a grand total of about 5 1/2.

A has also been growing by leaps and bounds. She is completely potty trained and acts very much like a little momma!

Her hair has also gotten long enough for her first pony tail.

Once again sorry it has been so long I will try to do better in the future. I really have lots to write about I just can't seem to get it all together to post when I finally find the time!

Home Alone

So this is the start of a couple of weeks without the hubby around. It's crazy we are in Florida for 3 years and he never leaves for more than a few days. We are in Alaska for 3months and he gets sent to a 2week long school in Oregon. About three weeks after he gets back they have him scheduled for another school in Hawaii. I'm not going to complain about the Hawaii school yet, its still up in the air as to whether or not the girls and I get to go with him. That would be AMAZING!
For the next two weeks however we will sit around missing daddy and trying to carry on. I've decided the best thing to do is make myself so busy that the next 2 weeks fly by and hopefully get half of the stuff I've added to my "to do" list complete. I'm not off to a very good start, so far I have only succeeded in bathing and putting the girls to bed then curling up with a bowl of ice cream and a movie. However, tomorrow is my first day and I have a lot to do so I guess I should actually go to bed. That's probably also not going to happen as I sat down to work on next weeks menu and got side tracked posting this blog. So I must refocus get my menu done then head to bed. It's going to be a very long two weeks!!

Fishing Adventures

Sorry it has been so long since the last post. Every time I sit down my mind seems to go blank except for the million other things that I need to be doing. We have been staying busy and having lots of adventures the last few weeks. The biggest adventures have been experienced by S on his almost nightly fishing trips. Being on nights has given him the opportunity to fish just before work while the girls and I are in bed. Late night fishing however also seems to be the best time for bear viewing. His first encounter was just over a week ago with a young bear that ran him off from his fishing spot. While S though he would try to be cute and inform the bear that "he was fishin there first", the young bear didn't appreciate his tone and began pouncing and clicking his teeth, which are signs that a bear feels threatened and is aggressive. So S politely gave up his fishing spot without any other back talk and a very sincere apology. In general the bears that are the biggest threat are the young males that are high on hormones and wanting to set up their dominance and mothers with cubs. Even so there has only been 1bear attack on the island in the last 20 years.
S next encounter wasn't near as exciting as the first. A few nights after meeting the young buck at the river S ran into a much older and larger bear. He was much more laid back and didn't mind sharing his fishing whole with other people. However, the people seem to have a problem sharing it with him so they gather their things and move down the river to the next spot.
Then just a few nights ago S ran into the BIG DADDY of bears. Kodiak bears are known for their size they are the largest bears in the nation (so I've been told). So you would think S would be surprised to see a bear that appears to be around 11ft step out of the bushes however he was very surprised. I'm not sure if it was the size that caught him off guard or the ease in which these 1000lb+ animals move through thick woods and rivers without making a sound! So you can be fishing in absolute silence get a whiff of some funny odor look up and be 50 feet away from an 11ft 1000lb bear and never even heard it coming!!
Currently we have heard reports of 4 bears and 3 cubs being at the Buskin river. The Big Daddy bear, the big bear, the young bear and a momma with 3 babies. We haven't had the privilege to meet the momma and I don't think I want to.
I even got a chance to see my first bear, which was amazing! Last night after leaving a friend's house we ran to the river to see if we could spot one. Sure enough the young bear was at one of his favorite fishing holes. S and another guy went down first to see if he was down there, and the bear and S both popped out of the bushes about the same time. Scared the mess out of both grown men IT WAS HILARIOUS! The bear crossed to the other side of the river to check us out and the other guys wife and I got a chance to see him. He was so cute but smelled awful. For the most part he ignored us and tried to fish then realizing we weren't leaving he moved down stream some more. So there are some of our wild life adventures.
We have been thoroughly enjoying the fresh caught fish and the wonderful weather here lately hopefully it will stay around and continue to warm up. We've hit the 60's several days now. While it feels great outside it gets a little toasty inside. We even hit 80 in the house the other day, so we opened the doors and cooled it off.

Happy 4th of July!!

Happy late 4th of July everyone. We hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, we sure did! We took the opportunity to take our first family camping trip.

Another family that S works with invited us to join them and another family for a weekend of camping and hopefully sun. So we all headed out to a beach about an hour away. We planned to stay Sat. and Sun. however rain and a cold front moved in Sunday evening so we cut the trip a little short. Leaving town we were a little concerned because it was raining in town however we kept getting reports that the weather was great at Pasadshak, where we were heading. So we headed out and sure enough it was! We set up camp overlooking a beautiful beach with sea-lions playing in the water. They playing or feeding in the surf right at the breakers, however they were very bashful. Anytime we walked to the beach to get a better view they swam farther out. Surfers came out at one point and the sea lions completely left. I don't think they cared much for having to share their beach for the 4th.

After setting up camp we spent our first night sitting around the fire getting to know the other families. While the kids enjoyed getting to run free and being outside for a while. While the sun didn't fully set we still set off fire works just after mid-night, when it was about as dark as it was going to get. Sunday morning was just as beautiful as Sat night and came VERY earlier. With the girls not being use to sleeping with S and myself B was very excited when she rolled over at 6am and found mommy and daddy next to her. We couldn't get her back to sleep after that kind of shock so S got up with her, they went for a walk and let me sleep a little longer with A.

After finally waking up we enjoyed hiking some of the cliffs and hills surrounding us. Around lunch time however the rain moved in. The girls had to put on their rain gear which made them look like large walking pink marsh mellows. A enjoyed hers because it was big enough on her that she could carry her puppy on her back, so I didn't make her keep him in the tent.

The also enjoyed getting to play with a para-shoot S found a few years ago. They even invented a new sport, Extreme Wind Climbing. The wind would fill the para-shoot then pull two of them up the side of a hill. They had a blast and were completely exhausted by the time they were done.

A also got a chance to help daddy with the para-shoot and had a blast!! She even took a ride across the beach in it, for a little while I wasn't sure we would be able to convince her to come out of it.

By the time we started getting supper ready the rain had picked up a little so we all decided to head home rather than sleep in the rain and pack up the next morning. So we headed home exhausted but having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The girls and S all fell asleep on the way home and then slept in this morning. We are all looking forward to our next chance to get to go camping again though.

I had some Amazing pictures but I can't get them loaded so check back for an update!!

BIG eaters!

I don't think I will have to worry about the girls going hungry any time soon! I tried a new recipe the other day. It was a citrus baja marinade for the salmon S had caught. It was very good and since we had some left over we finished it up with lunch yesterday. While A didn't really care for, she's never really been a fish girl. B on the other hand licked her plate clean. LITTERALLY!

She still had quite a mess but overall she did quite well feeding herself.

While A decided to skip lunch yesterday she made up with it at breakfast this morning. She was a big help to S, too. We have a crazy fire alarm. Heat from the oven and even microwave will set it off, even with no smoke, so we generally have to stop several time while cooking to go fan at the alarm in order to get it to stop. So this morning anytime S opened the oven after it had heated up the fire alarm would go off. A would then run to it grab a jacket off her hook and attempt to make the alarm stop.

She was a little short so S had to come help her. When she wasn't turning off the fire alarm she was an excellent breakfast taster.

After checking on B, S came back into the kitchen to discover that A was helping herself to breakfast, before it was even ready. Needless to say she enjoyed it much better when it was all ready.

My Baby's Growing Up

My baby's getting big!! B has finally gotten rid of her paci. As of last night she has been 24hours without a paci. Not that she used it that much any ways the only time she generally got it was for nap and bedtime. She had learned when I go in to get her to put her paci back in the bed. That way we didn't have to worry about keeping track of it. The paci has been replaced with a baby doll. The church is starting a mission for anyone interested to make salvation dolls. To promote this new mission some pre-made dolls were handed out at church Sunday. B hasn't left left the doll alone for more than a few hours. Yesterday while we were busy getting A out of the sink b went upstairs and got her paci and baby doll. We haven't found the paci since and she has gone to bed and nap just fine without it. As long as she has her baby doll. She's getting so big on me! I can't believe she's already 15months. It doesn't seem like its been that long. My baby's growing up!!

Little Helpers

The girls have each turned into little helpers the past few weeks, not that weren't before however there has definitely been an increase in the amount of help I have been receiving doing everyday house work. A has always enjoyed helping me sweep so, just about every morning after breakfast she holds the dust pan while I sweep. We then move on to the dishes. She hands me one dish at a time while I put them way, since she can't reach the cabinets. Earlier this week she discovered that she can stand on a foot stool and see into the silverware drawer. So now when we finish the dishes she pulls her stool around and does the silverware herself. Then on to the sink. If there are any dirty dishes they get a full rinse before begin handed over to me to go into the dishwasher. If the sink is empty then it gets a good scrubbing while I finish up the kitchen. Even B has started, I turned around the other day to find her sitting on the table

scrubbing away with a dishrag I had just laid down. These little helpers don't stop in the kitchen however. S has found that he has more helping hands then he knows what to do with on little projects. Such as this toy that needed a slight motor adjustment.

We also had more help planting our new flower bed. After helping me spread some flower seed A then helped daddy water them in good.

Laundry day has also become much easier.

I think A listens for when the washer stops! She thinks it's the best thing in the world to move the clean (aka all done) clothes to the dry.

We have run into the occasional problem of B wanting to help. She is an excellent door shutter. However, she sometimes shuts the washer door before A is done moving the clothes to the dry. While A is reopening the washer she then moves to the dryer and shuts that door, then round and round they go!! A also enjoys when I start the laundry. I think she feels like she's making it happen. After shutting the door and turning it A stands in front of the washer going "1 . .2 . .3. . GO!!" Generally she gets it right on and they washer starts spinning. If she's a little late she just skips 3 and yells GO! If she's early the counting starts over. While I have been thoroughly enjoying the girls help we do occasionally run into problems. The girls start fighting over who gets to do it or just a general lack of understanding of the cleaning process, such as this morning. A was doing her typical cleaning of the sink after everything had been done. S and I were having a discussion. Having just gotten off S wanted to sit in the living room to finish talking. Since A was happy cleaning daddy's coffee cup we left her alone thinking she would get bored and join us. It wasn't long however before we hear the sound of water hitting the kitchen floor. S and I both rolled our eyes and headed to the kitchen expecting to find that A had dumped a cup of water on the floor. NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!!

We find instead a very happy 2 year old giving herself a "BATH MOMMY!!!" There was at least an inch of water covering the kitchen floor. S and I were laughing so hard it took us a second to realize the water was still running spilling even more water on the floor. She had shoved all the dishrags into the drain to keep the water from draining out. After the pictures and an explanation of why she can't do that (I'm not sure she took it seriously with all the laughter) we headed upstairs to get changed while S mopped up the water. He then decided he'd had too much excitement for one morning and headed to bed. Moral of the story do not leave water loving children alone with water!

Settling In

Welcome to our island home. While the town of Kodiak is turning greener everyday the mountains surrounding the town are still very white with snow. Barometer mountain is almost halfway green so we should have almost 4more months of summer before it starts snowing, at least that's what I've been told.

So catching up from crab fest which was a lot of fun and had very large delicious crabs.

We haven't had very many sunny days since then maybe one or two a week. At crab fest we met some very nice missionaries, that we actually spent most of the weekend with. It was a little different being on the receiving end of a mission trip. Although, it was a little funny when the first guy approached us and started his "do remember the day you excepted Jesus Christ into your lives," we cut him a little short when we both answered yes. He moved on to the next group of people however one of his team members continued to talk with us. She had kids back home that she was missing so she enjoyed the girls for a few minutes. We were then invited to their host church for Sunday service and a cook out followed by a "no talent talent show". We've been enjoying the church ever since. So on to family life. . .

We have all continued to adjust to the area and changes in settings. S has enjoyed the chances to fish since being on nights. He even caught his first salmon. A red that was delicious!! A couple of days after catching it however they closed his favorite fishing river so that the salmon in that river could repopulate this year. So he hasn't really been able to fish since then so he has been practicing his guitar instead. He's hoping to start the drums as well. The church is in need of some instrument players as their worship band has all recently been transferred.

I can't believe how much the girls have changed in just the month and a half they have been here. A is moving into 3T (some 4t) clothes and B is almost in 18mo clothes. A has also become little miss independent. She wants to do it herself for everything, to include potting, getting her own snack and drinks, or coloring. You name it she wants to do it herself!

She discovered that frozen blueberries make a wonderful snack. It started with a "boo-boo" that needed ice, as ALL boo-boo's do now. Only instead of getting ice she grabbed a bag of frozen blueberries. While putting them back a few fell out and all of sudden she has a new favorite snack. For several days I couldn't keep her out of them. It only took once for her to see me put some in a bowl for her and from then on she would help herself to a bowl of blueberries at snack time. She is even nice enough to share these wonderful snacks with her sister, who then leaves blue hand prints everywhere.
She's turning into such a little "mommy". From taking care of her baby dolls to caring for B and now that S is on nights she makes sure to tuck him in when he gets in in the mornings to include hugs and kisses on the head so he can go "night night". She insists on helping me sweep and unload the dish washer. Shes even pretty good at it. She takes things out of the dishwasher hands them to me and I put them way. It works pretty well most days. At meals and snack she insists on setting the table and getting baby's food. In this instance she got baby's food before it was ready. B didn't mind getting all the cookies instead of just a few.

B has also become more independent now that she is walking much better. I think the only reason she decided to start walking was because crawling was hurting her knees. She and A were playing chase in the house earlier and after crawling on the linoleum in the entryway she came walking back to me crying.

The two of them are also playing together much better and will even sit and played NICELY for 15-30mins some days. They really enjoy B's basketball and A's doll house.

The two of them have also finally settled into their new home and surroundings. When we first got here A was a nightmare come nap time and bedtime, she refused to stay in bed. She didn't want to go to sleep unless one of us was in the room with her. If we left the room she would get in bed with B and snuggle in. It would take us 2-3 hours to get her settled down enough to go to sleep. The past almost 2 weeks have been much better. She is finally staying in bed even if she doesn't go to sleep she lays there nicely or plays quietly with stormy.

I'm also settling in as well. I'm hoping to start an in-home child care center that will provide a little more income and help me to become more structured. So this weekend we have the summer solstice, which will be the longest day on the island. The recreation department is having a family day tomorrow to celebrate. Currently the sun isn't really setting it simply dips below the horizon travels back to the east then rises again. So we should have a very fun weekend that will hopefully also be beautiful.

Late update and New CARPET!!!

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted. Things have been a little busy combined with more computer issues that we have hopefully gotten worked out!! So since Crab Fest the other week we have been having a blast. S was moved to nights, so he is now working from midnight to 8 in the morning. It is actually working out a lot better than I had originally thought. We get to have breakfast with him when he gets home and winds down from work then he heads to bed till around 4. Since this is the time that he would normally get home the girls and I haven't really seen a difference during the day. So we have normal after noons then sometimes he takes a nap with me when I head to bed or he takes a couple of hours to himself before work.
One of those nights when he just wasn't that tired he headed to the river for a little fishing. So we have our first catch of the season. A nice red salmon maybe somewhere between 5 and 8lbs, I'm not a good judge of fish, but he would definitely be a keeper from a Ga pond!! Although, any sized Alaskan salmon caught in Ga would probably be a keeper no matter the size.
Since moving into our new home we have been dealing with a few issues, most of which have been resolved this week. Since we are in base housing they have an office we report to with any house issues and I'm pretty sure they are tired of hearing from us. My theory is that the house was turned around and we moved in so quickly that not everything was finished as well as if they had a month to get the stuff done. Most of it has been minor issues such as the front door not wanting to stay shut and the back door not not wanting to open then not wanting to close when it is open. The biggest issue however has been the smell of the house.
We assumed when we moved in that it was because the house had been shut up for a couple of weeks and just needed to air out. I was under the impression that the houses received new carpet when the previous tenants moved out, that is incorrect!!! We also learned from our neighbor that the previous tenants had several more pets than what was reported to the housing office. So we decided to call and see what could be done. Originally it was decided to simply steam clean the carpet and see if that would get rid of the smell. However, before the work order could get drawn up S decided to take a closer look with a black light. It is amazing what a black light will show!!! However what is even more amazing to me is that people willingly live in that kind of filth and are then lazy enough to not even attempt to clean it for the next tenants! Needless to say we refused to place B on the carpet in the their room which became obvious was the dogs room before. Also, after speaking with the housing office again we received a call within 48hours that the carpet would be replaced the following day.
I felt so bad for the moving and carpet workers that came in. It is not common to change carpet after tenants have moved in so a separate work order had to be issued to provide movers to move our stuff around the carpet workers. They were all amazing and actually finished the entire house by the time the girls got up from their nap at the neighbors. We also got an even better idea of how filthy the carpet was when the entire crew came and asks to wash theirs after pulling the carpet in our bedroom. The boss then came to tell me that the carpet would have to wait in the closet until another worker could get to the house with a special paint to put on the wood flooring to kill anything left on the floor. This was a precaution to make sure the smell didn't come back and also because there was "black and green stuff" growing on the carpet pad! Even with the new carpet and the "kills paint" on the wood under it there is a slight odor in our closet that I'm hoping will go away as I wash all the clothes in there. If it doesn't go away the boss of the carpet crew doesn't have any other options for me other than to move houses.
While S and I have been having pet withdrawal here lately, me more so than him. This has definitely helped us put that behind us.
With that task behind us now we have moved on to potty training. A is doing an amazing job and while this is only day 2, she has only had 2 accidents today one of which was after she went to bed. I don't think bed wetting should count against her on her second day. I'm a little concerned on how training her to not wet the bed is going to go. So far we have continued to keep her big girl panties and see if she will just start waking up and learning to hold it when she wakes up until she gets to the bathroom. I'm going to try to give her a week to see improvements, as I really don't want to go down the pull ups route. Any ideas on potty training at night and naps, I'll take all the help I can get.

Crab Fest!!

So the biggest festival to come to the island is Finally HERE!!! Crab Fest began yesterday and it was a beautiful day to go to the fair. While it doesn't compare to the national fair in Ga it was still a lot of fun. The festival will continue for several days with different activities everyday. Saturday will have a parade and cook off with Sunday having the memorial for all the fishermen lost last year. There will also be races for kids, survivor suit swim across the bay and a Coast Guard search and rescue show. The next few days promise lots of activities, hopefully the weather will cooperate and be beautiful. However, I've been told it has rained the last 3years at the festival and that a rainy festival means it will be a pretty year so I think everyone else is hoping it rains. The first day of the festival however started out great with blue skies and almost 60 degrees. Around dinner time some clouds rolled in but it never rained. We took the opportunity to let A enjoy her first fair.

She got in her first fishing trip and even caught 2 fish! and a prize!

A somewhat deformed ducky that she absolutely loved. She tried to trade with several other game operators but she couldn't get any takers. Next she got her first fair rides.


The train was the best starter ride. She was thrilled.




Then we went to the fun house with daddy. I wasn't sure we were going to get her out of there.

The rolling entrances was slow enough she actually was able to walk it.

At one point she reminded me of Papa in the gerbil wheel at Chuck-e-Cheese in Vegas.

This was her "I'm Innocent I tell ya" impersonation.

These three couldn't figure out that the spinning disk on the floor wouldn't hold all of them. So one or two of them would be spinning the third would get on, it would stop they would all get off, so it would start spinning and they would crack up!!

Then on to the shifting floor. They was too funny for words! She giggled all the way across it.

Finally she was ready for the really big swing!!

It took a minute to warm up to it but as long as daddy held on to she was having blast. By the end I wasn't sure she would get off.

So that was our first day at the fair. We are looking forward to Saturdays event as well hopefully we will have another beautiful day.

Computer Fix

Yay!! I have the desktop back. We still aren't sure what happened. Apparently we had a surge protector on the outlet that the computer was plugged into. So the guy that fixed it doesn't think it was the power outage that made it fritz. The only thing they could find wrong with it was the hard drive had lost its letter. So when the computer went to open the hard drive it didn't know where it was going. S described it as the Boot Manager went down the hall to get the files from the hard drive and couldn't find it. So it then freaked out and dumped everything. Thankfully, we were able to copy the pictures off the hard drive. However, it copied everything!! So we have about 60,000 pictures to sort through. Everything that was on the computer and that was ever emailed to us is on there. So all of those cute forwards with all the pretty scenery and animals that people send around we have to sort those out. As well as some websites that downloaded pictures . It's insane the things that got stored on there. But at least we have some wedding and baby pictures. We did lose the video however; S thinks the originals may still be on the camera and phones though so we will see. I wish I had the camera at the moment as A is has put my pants on and is trying to figure out how to button and tie them they are up to her arm pits and the legs are all bunched up so her toes stick out the end of them. Anyways, back to the computer. We are still trying to get it set up again but hopefully I will be back to blogging and posting pictures regularly. Now she has decided to wear "daddy's sock" and shoes. I really need the camera!!!

Happy Late Mother's Day

I hope all the wonderful mothers out there had a great day. We had a very relaxed one. After church S took me to the top of Pillar mountain where we had a picnic lunch overlooking the water. It was gorgeous. We had then planned to come home and get some things done around the house, however after putting the girls down I fell asleep as well. (Oops) Did I mention it was a relaxed day. While I was a sleep we apparently lost power for a little while and when it came back on it fried our computer. After fighting with it most of the afternoon we are thinking we may have to get a new one. I'm currently on our laptop. If anyone has any ideas on how to recover a fried computer I'll try them as all of our first three years are on it including all of A's and B's baby pictures and videos. The two errors we keep getting are that the "boot manager is missing" and the "kernal is corrupt or missing"?? Anyways hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's day.

Family Outing

Friday morning showed promise of a beautiful day. We woke up to a clear sky and almost 45deg. weather with little wind, so it was cool but comfortable. Since Thursday had started ugly and then turned clear and we had already seen how quickly the weather could change we decided to take the morning off from unpacking and go explore a local fort. Fort Abercrombie was an army based used during WWII. It is currently opened to the public to explore trails, camp and see old bunkers used during the war.

The trail was a little rugged however with B on daddy's back and puppy on A's, it's her new baby, we hit the trail. Those three were almost as much fun to watch as the scenery! The trail led us around Lake Gertrude to a small strip of land that separates the lake from the ocean.

We wandered through the woods, which are much different than back home. The trees were covered in moss (I think it was moss anyways), and aren't anything like Ga. pines. The limbs looked like ladders going all the way around and up the tree. They were too tempting not to climb on or at least over a fallen one.

We also went over brooks that flowed into the lake. I'm assuming they are formed by snow run off from the mountains. Wherever they come from they were cold but still wonderful to look at.

The trail had makeshift bridges built over them made from 2x4's it looked like, very high tech! The little bridges really added to the charm of the trial.

I was a little amazed at how well A did on this little hike. Some parts were quite steep however after daddy showed her how to run down them like they were a roller-coaster, with her hands up and squealing, she loved it!

The view from the tallest part was amazing it over looked both the lake and the ocean. With the day being so clear we were able to see more of Kodiak Island as well as some outlaying islands.

By the time we reached the ocean A was getting a little tired of walking so daddy turned into a pack horse and carried both his girls. We found a carrier over the weekend that we can put A in when we do more hiking. However, I don't think the carrier will compare to being on daddy's shoulders, the view is much better up there I'm sure. B also didn't seem to mind A being up which surprised me. I think she enjoyed the company.

We reached the beach around lunch time and took a small break before hiking the other half of the lake. A enjoyed playing on the beach and saving the shells that had washed up. We had made a short trip to the beach close the the house the day before. While we were there we found a hermit crab and a muscle of some sort that had been washed up during the tide. After examining them and saying "hi", A put them back in their home, the water. So she was very concerned to see all the sea life stuck to the rocks at the beach at Fort Abercrombie. After plucking a clam or something off the rock I convinced her that she didn't need to put them ALL back in the water they would be okay until the tide came back in.

Leaving the beach it was just a short walk to the WWII bunkers. While you can't go into most of them and some are collapsed, they were still very interesting. Some hiking trails still have trenches from the war as well, we didn't see any on this hike though.

After leaving the bunkers we came across a water fountain that you don't see very often. The camping at the fort is all primitive with only outhouses, no running water facilities. I wasn't expecting the water fountains to also be so primitive. S tried to get some water out of it but didn't have any luck, it was a little difficult to pump with the girls on his back and A trying to help from his shoulders. From the water on the ground we assumed that it did work we just could get the water up.

Finishing the hike back at the car we had a picknick of PB&J sandwiches then headed home for the girls naps and to finish up unpacking. It was a wonderful family outing and led into a beautiful weekend. The outing gave us the perfect break to keep us motivated to finish the house so we can go outside and play more. We should be coming into the prettiest part of the year for the island so we should be getting several more days like Friday to enjoy.