A Grand-MOTHER's DAY

This year Lil' Monster prepared early for Mother's Day.

First he made a card for Granmaw G.

He put flowers all over it because he knows she loves to garden.

 Then he used the format of "Roses are Red" poem and put his own words in the last part.

Because Granmaw G lives far away we sent it off in the mail.

For Mamma, Lil' Monster made these:

These made Mamma so happy!
Aren't they lovely?


We invited our adopted Grandma R for Mother's Day dinner to celebrate.

She is teaching Mamma how to perfect her crochet skill.

She loves on Lil' Monster and is so delighted with him.

 

Lil' Monster is sharing his Baby book with her.

She is real special to him,

because he doesn't share it with just anyone. 

 It is fun explaining to her all about it.

And telling her all about his life.

Lil' Monster sure loves his Mamma and many Grandmas.

Have a Happy Mother's Day!

The Land of the Free...Candy

Last year for Independance Day,

we were blessed with BEAUTIFUL weather,

so we went the Distance. (Read about it Here)

This year we stuck closer to home.

We attended the Independence Parade in our neighboring city.

We arrived early and placed ourselves at the beginning mark of the route.

Bundled up, as it was freezing.

By the end of the parade

we could hardly feel our fingers and noses were running.

 Nevertheless, our hearts and souls were warm with joy.

Waiting for it to begin.

As each float, car, or group passed us by, something or other was handed out:

such as flags, sweets, advertisements for local happenings, and more sweets.

This cute group of senior women had a dance they performed.

These deafening bikes thrilled Lil' Monster and about made Mamma deaf for an hour.

Each child received a bag to hold their treats.
Lil' Monster filled his to the brim by the end.

Pabbi and Mamma had to hold his bag so he could have free hands to chase after the candy.

We've never seen so much candy! I, along with other parade-watching Mammas, all tried to give each other their children's candy so we didn't go home with so many bags. Lil' Monster did not even care about the candy - he just liked to chase into the street to grab what was thrown.

Pabbi and I joked that this parade was easier than Halloween. For Halloween, we have to dress the up in costumes, take him from door to door (or in some cases trunk to trunk) to collect a bag full of candy. However, for this Holiday, the paraders have to come decked out and in costumes, with tricks, and they walk block after block passing the candy out....

Motorcycles, sports cars, buses, go-carts....

vehicle after vehicle.

The boy LOVED it!

Since it ended up raining we were unable to have a typical All-American BBQ post-parade.

So we settled on the next best All American meal:

Pizza.

Then we curled up together and Thanked God for our Freedom to enjoy.

We also prayed that Uncle M and his fellow soldiers currently in the Middle East were protected.

Thank you Uncle M for fighting for us.

Thanks Auntie B for your sacrifice.

Happy Independence Day!

Fall Foliage Frisking

Every year we go on a
hunt
in the
Autumn.

A hunt for
COLORS
hand-painted by
God.

The key elements of this hunt are:

*We eat delicious pastries and drink hot chocolate.

*We play a special music play list for the season.

*We make a day (or two or three...) of it.

*We take a bazillions pictures...

most of which are never as good as what our eyes can see.

*We don't care about the weather...though it usually is nippy.

*We usually find new jaunts

and revisit ones we have loved from years past.

We have done it for years.

Years ago, we dreamed of times when we would hunt with our kids.

Now

We actually do it with our child.

It's tradition!

This year we had to find a path

and

new types of pastries

having moved across country.

The pastries we settled on Pumpkin-licious donuts and muffins from the local

"The Moose is Loose."

The path was Skilak Loop up to Cooper Landing and back home.

The weather was grey and rainy.

The sun only peeked out about the time we got home.

Our favorite playlist (including Johnny Mathis, John Denver, Karen Carpenter, Tony Bennett, etc) is still waiting to be brought up from the lower 48...

so we had to settle on substitutes or 2nd favorites.

But we still had a blast!

And so it began:

 

Dancing and singing while waiting
for Pabbi to get some bear spray (a must for Alaskan Adventures).
Lil' Monster had his rain-boots and coats
and some warm chocolate milk
to go with our delicious pumpkin treats!

Lil' Monster showing his "afraid of bears" face
while holding the bear spray!

 Alaska's famous Fireweed

 The tree colors are mostly yellow which turns to brown.

 Skilak Lake

 Lil' Monster has to pick up sticks and leaves to throw in the water.

 Pabbi is mostly worried about bears.
Gotta protect his own cub.

 Mr Elskan always knows how to make me weak in the knees.
I could photograph him all day long.

A great thing about rain boots:
you can play in the water and not worry about wet feet afterwards

 Mrs. Elskan peeking through the leaves.

 Mamma tempted everyone to get their feet wet - just for the fun of it.

 Another favorite shot.

Lil' Monster leading Pabbi into the cold waters.

Running on water is only possible when a strong father lends support.

 Our journey not only lent itself to beautiful plants
but also to wildlife:
(Bears not included)

Bald Eagle takes flight.

Red Salmon take a swim


What Fall Traditions do you have?

Making Movie Night Memories

Growing up and moving around a lot, reinforced the belief that

Family Traditions

are a must to keep a secure, safe, cohesive and connected feeling.

My home was often new and temporary so I rarely developed a connection with my surroundings.

So, my parents focused on acts and events to create traditions and a connected feeling.

Some were annual, some seasonal, some monthly, weekly and/or daily.

A common and loved tradition during my teens was

Movie Night.

Many people might think:
movie theater,
popcorn,
candy,
and soda.

In my family it was:
 ordering pizza
(such a treat!)
and
watching a TV movie or borrowing/renting a movie.

Sometimes there was soda.
Sometimes treats.

Mostly it was pizza.

Eating Pizza -
granted it was the super cheap kind, as we were a LARGE lower-income family -

was a little taste of heaven for us!

But what was even more fun was "watching" AND "eating" at the same time. Most of my friends ate every meal in front of the TV - however, in my family, dinner was ALWAYS a family dinner around a table with no outside distractions. But watching a movie AND eating pizza - now that was an event!!

So we started that tradition with our son. It is a new development and we are still trying to make it something fun for him to work towards all week long. He does his part for the week and we will actually eat and watch at the same time (so far - a great motivator). It is fun because this boy doesn't ever watch TV and doesn't even have a basis for most of what his peers know. What is "Cars"? Or "Toy Story," let alone classics like "Mary Poppins" or "Dumbo." So we are exploring these genres of film and eating pizza .

Here we are watching an episode of the old TV classic

"Dennis the Menace."

 Lil' Monster reacts to embarrassment the same way his dear

old Pabbi does: he has to hide his eyes!

These two sit on the edge waiting for a catastrophe of some sort, as Dennis gets into more trouble!

 Despite embarrassing moments Lil' Monster is still laughing and having fun!

I think this tradition is a keeper.
My favorite part is watching them watch the show.

What is a tradition from your youth that you enjoy sharing with your family?

Santa in September

This Labor Day we drove north to spend some time with Uncle M and Auntie B.

Lil' Monster has been ecstatic for a week knowing we were going to spend time with his hero.

He couldn't wait to see him; it's been a few months.

He was so surprised to discover that instead of celebrating Labor Day they would be celebrating Christmas.

Uncle M is deploying very soon to Afghanistan and

wanted to celebrate Christmas with us.

Lil' Monster could not have been happier with this.

His dream came true: A true blue Monster Truck.

He also, received dart guns;
but Pabbi and Mamma had the most fun with those.

Pabbi trying to hide from Mamma on the couch.

Mamma outwitting Pabbi, who thinks she is still sitting on the couch.

And she got him too!!!

Thanks Uncle M and Auntie B for a wonderful Christmas Surprise.

Home(r) of the Brave...



Lil' Monster enjoying his Independence Dinner

Being newcomers to the area, holiday traditions are having to be reinvented and remade based on our surroundings. When Mamma was looking to plan something special she found lots of options to be explored. The cities and towns here all had something planned, it we just figuring out what to do, and what the weather would allow us to do.

So, the decision was made, Pabbi would take Lil' Monster to an early parade in the neighboring city of Kenai - while mamma prepared at home. That afternoon the American Legion Post # 18 in Ninilchik was hosting activities and an Independence lunch/dinner. After that we would drive to the farthest town south on the Kenai Peninsula, Homer, for their late afternoon parade.

When the Fourth arrived, we were astounded by the beautiful weather and couldn't wait to get out in it. The "Guys" went to the parade and collected some sweets. Then we all headed south. Instead of going straight to our destination in Homer, we stopped several times along the way marveling at the beauty of the Kenai Peninsula.

Homer Parade

Don't eat it, darling!

Trying to figure how these work.

Yeah! He did it!

Look, Mamma! Candy!!

Vehicles and candy were the favorites.

Who's coming?

 What parade is any good unless without a special guest appearance?

Santa was a highlight of the Parade.

What a wonderful day it was.

We took so many photos.

It makes living here feel just a little more like home.