Not permitted but acceptable in every way

Here are some fun pictures all from today.
EI wearing her brother's flip flops. She loves all shoes and is always walking around in somebody's.


She also likes to hang out in strange places.



She has decided that the crack between the refrigerator and the wall is hers, and she gets very upset when IM thinks that he would like to get in there too.



AK had her first piano lesson today. She is very excited and came home and started practicing right away. Notice EI helping her out.



Meanwhile, here is what IM and papa are doing. This is the awesome storage shed ML has been building. It is almost done. Yea!




p.s. I just realized that these pictures are not all from today. The two of EI in strange places are from yesterday. I don't know what I was thinking.

HIKE

CJ hiked up Wolverine Peak the other day. The trailhead is just ten minutes from our house and the mountain is 4500 feet high, overlooking Anchorage. It was a nice day but clouds were shrouding the top of the mountain.

A trail marker about half way up.

A wrecked airplane near the top of the mountain.

The view, or lack thereof, into the valley on the backside of the mountain. I actually could see the river at the bottom of the valley but it doesn't show up on the camera. Luckily, while we were up there the clouds did blow away a bit and give us a pretty good view for just a few seconds.

The view of Anchorage on the way back down.

Two Kids

IM decided he could not be outdone by his sister, so at the age of four years and two months, he has also learned how to ride his bike without training wheels.

To get these pictures I had to get him started (since he still can't get going on his own), and then run as fast as I could to get far enough ahead of him to get the picture as he was riding toward me. It was quite interesting.

IM and EI have had to entertain themselves this week since AK has been at school. Papa has been gone this week too, at his school's high school retreat, so it has been very quiet around here.

Here is the girly girl on the lawn mower. She loves being outside. She will bring me her shoes and sit down and wait for me to put them on. Whenever we come in from playing outside she cries. Yesterday she sat down right in the middle of a puddle and started splashing her hands like she was in the bathtub. When I brought her inside to change her into dry clothes she had a fit. When we went back outside she made a beeline for the puddle again, but I headed her off and distracted her. At the rate she's going, she's going to be riding a bike soon too.

CJ's First Post

My extremely limited computer skills have finally advanced to the point of being able to compose a blog post. This is a big step for me. Here is my first effort.

EI at the playground

The I man riding his bike

A strange pirate who appeared in my house

E going incognito

And last but certainly not least, A has finally learned how to ride her bike at the age of 8 years and 2 months. We thought it would never happen, but one of the training wheels broke off after lasting way longer than it was ever meant to, so she didn't have much choice. She is very excited, and so are the rest of us. In fact, IM is pretty sure he is ready to ride his bike without training wheels too.

IM out and about

The boy and I went on an overnight expedition with the youth group. Kenai Lake in August was beautiful. Here is a little recap. Our tent with the zipper issues.

Here is the little camper with the sleepy eyes.

I found a piece of bark and carved this "Arkansas Toothpick."

Self portrait of IM and I. Notice the perfect weather.

So much excitement left IM with no energy left in the middle of the day and while I was digging bullets out of an old log he laid down and took a nap.

Later

Get Lost

CJ and a friend went and ran the Lost Lake Trail the other day and had a very cool time. This is a run/hike that is still on my list of haven't done yet. I keep hearing it is an amazing run and it does look to be that way.

Approximately 15.75 miles, cross-country, peak elevation is 2,100 feet, using U.S. Forest Service Trail through Lost Lake, Chugach National Park, ending at Bear Creek Fire Department Parking Lot. The trail is well marked but has hazardous areas.

Later

Oh what fun

We went to the greatest spot the other day, can you guess where. To my sister, no we didn't see any of the Deadliest Catch and no we didn't go to the bar where they hang. We did walk by and the place was packed with tourists. What we did was comb the beach and look at the boats and check the Better Sweater and check the Homer Clayworks and go to the GREAT Parents house for an incredible time of food and fun. This is a trip CJ and I have grown to love, it doesn't seem like summer without at least one visit to Homer.