How cute is this? On a scale of 1 to 10 - I expect a rating!!!

Always such a happy-go-lucky girl! I know that the picture is a little green, but she is just so durn happy!

This brings all new meaning to the phrase "cutie-patootie"!!!

Piggy, Piggy, Piggy

I don't know about all of the grown-ups, but the kids had a fantastic time. There were about 10 kids that didn't get into the picture (including the Bug).

This little one was not happy about being confined to the stroller while the excitement was obviously happening just feet away. She missed her afternoon nap, but still managed to be adorable for most of the afternoon.

Here is Wade and his favorite helper getting the pig ready for roasting. We use this awesome grill that Wade's friend Jamie made and 4 bags of charcoal. This year we started the 109 pounds of pig at 9:30am and it was done by about 4:30pm. Moist and delicious was an apt description of this finely cooked critter.

The little man passed out after all the guests were gone and did not stir for the next 10 hours. Lucky for him some of the kids were still in town and he got to spend several more hours playing the next day :) and the next and the day after that too :)

Sometimes nature is gross!

So there has been a robin nesting in our yard all spring - pretty cool stuff for a little boy of almost 3. Although he is not terribly verbal he is always "telling" people about the nest in his own way - "Shhhhhh, nest ... bird" and pointing. After we spotted the nest, in a tree near the play area in our yard, we made a point of not disturbing her and observing from a distance.

When we returned from clamming there no longer a mama bird on the nest and we explained that the babies may have hatched and she was out getting food. After my assistant was in bed for the night I went to check - and to my delight there was one fluffy chick filling the bottom of the nest. Over the course of the next couple of days we did not see a robin go anywhere near the nest. This time I was worried about the baby and went to check ... no baby bird, just three little blue eggs. I checked under the nest to see if the chick fell, but something must have got it :( This is sad, but part of nature and not the gross part.

So after several more days we are sure that the nest is abandoned. A friend from the university said the other eggs never hatched and lots of things could have happened to the baby. Knowing that the eggs were "dead" I thought that Slater would get a kick out of seeing them in the nest and holding one. Why am I so dumb??? So we sneak up on the nest - "Shhhh, bird ... nest". I pluck out an egg and hand it to him, the look on his face is pure awe. Then ... he stuck his fingers through it and splattered *rotten egg* all over both of us ... ugh. Lots of scrubbing does not seem to have done the trick, so we both just get to smell a little weird for the next 24 hours.

Yup, nature is gross.

Twelve years ago today!

Twelve Years ago today.

Twelve years ago today,
I heard two words that changed me in every way

I don’t remember what else the preacher said
but my answer was clear in my head,

As I waited for my turn
the tears made my eyes burn,

And then finally, I said it, I DO!
Because I will always love you.


Happy Anniversary Robyn.
Twelve years seems to have passed so quickly but when I look back at our adventures I can count them up. I can’t wait to see what is in store for us in the next twelve.

Hangin' with Kelly

Thank you for the visit Kelly and for taking a picture that I will love forever!!

Dad is such a softie, he lets me drive whenever I want too.

The Kenai beach!!! The waves looked huge crashing 20 feet out, but were gentle by the time that they reached us.

Camping in Kelly's front yard. Slater LOVED her dogs, Nikki and Pepper. Hopefully we will be uploading video-footage of them playing soon!!! (hint hint Wade)
The campers!

Clams: 1 Clammers: 0

The whole clamming party: Jenn and her kids, Kylie and Finley, Us, Cori and her min-pins. Kelly was taking the picture so I put in a separate shot of her!
My favorite picture of the day

Clam digger extraordinaire and our personal guide!

Working hard in the sun! We dug lots of holes, there just weren't any clams at the bottom ;( Which is not completely true, we did find two baby clams, no one else on the beach was finding any so we didn't feel to bad.

The new car on the beach - not sure if this was the best idea, but it did well.

The kids were thrilled to be out of the wind for a few minutes.

Kelly patiently took a family photo! It was blowing like crazy and beyond beautiful.

The beach was covered with the best selection of skipping stones on earth. Naturally Jade wanted to put everyone of them in her mouth.

Side Note: MinPins are not clam sniffing dogs and they are rather wimpy in windy weather :)

Twins at Colony Days and the zoo

While on our trip we stopped to see three different sets of twins and their siblings. All the kids were a kick!! One child sang his own song for us, others showed off their biking skills and all of them were great about sharing and playing with the younger kids.

The highest point that he could reach!
A look of pure exhilaration!!

What a face :)

The best shot that I could get of the twins (M and G) and Slater. After all the great stuff at Colony Days the boys liked this old engine best. We tried to get them to pose in front of it, but ...

My monkey's at the zoo. Slater's favorite things: a squirrel, a chickadee, the ducks, and climbing the fences to place that he wasn't allowed *sigh*. Jade's favorite thing: Slater watching.

The best shot I could get of the twins (M and D) and Slater. I am sure that you have noticed Slater is not there - he was off to see the next thing.

Love this picture of sweet baby Jade! She enjoyed watching the kids and had lots of big smiles for MK.

MK caught this photo of Slater running away from his dad :) He loved having kids to run with. We hope that his listening skills improve over time, but were glad to see that four year old boys are just as adventurous!