The Three Year Old Bug

Last weekend was our little Ailee Bug's third birthday. As per her request, we had a lot of pink that day. Pink cake, pink ice cream, pink presents, the Birthday Elves left her a pink crown and wand....she even picked out a pink shirt to wear that day. This girl loves pink.

Blowing out the candles:

My mom sent her a box with a pink skirt, and pink dress up jewelry. This picture makes me think of the movie, "Robin Hood." You know, the cartoon...where Maid Mariam's a fox? It reminds me of Prince John's character, but instead of taxes, Ailee is obsessed with pink.

Pink! Ah ha! Beautiful, lovely pink! Ah ha! Ah ha!

My favorite part was watching her open her princesses. These have been setting in my closet for months, and I've been dieing to give them to her. She loved walking by and looking at them every time we went to Target.

They have been well played with, by both Ailee and Maryn.

Happy Birthday, Ailee! We love you, little girl!

Alaskan Adventure--The Finale

Dramamine is a very important medicine to our family. Though I don't usually get motion sick, Kade and the girls do. It's not pretty. We made sure to dose up on it before we hopped on the boat for our whale watching cruise. If you ever make it to Alaska, I highly recommend this cruise. It's pricey--I won't lie--but totally worth it! Here are some of the sights we saw along our six hour tour.

Beautiful scenery, even with the low cloud cover--

We came upon a cute little seal, just hangin' out on the rocks--A bald eagle, hiding in the trees--Sea lions chillaxin'--Our boat sailed right up to this glacier. If you zoom into this picture, you can see part of it breaking off, and falling into the water at the bottom. We sat in the water, and admired the glacier for quite some time. I kept hoping to see a huge section break, but this was the best we could get.Icy Roundys--M'kay. Here's my favorite part of the cruise...Whales! They were hard to get pictures of. One second they were there, the next they had disappeared beneath the water. Our first sighting was of a Fin Whale--

Can you believe it? I got to see a whale! In the wild! So cool!

The Killer Whales (Orcas) were super fun to watch. There are usually several within a pod, which make up their families. I think they were checking out our boat.We also got to see Humpback Whales, too. I was pretty bummed that I was holding Cora inside the cabin, and on the wrong side of the boat, when a Humpback jumped up and out of the water. I missed it. But Kade told me it was pretty great. Booo.

Seriously--that was the best boat ride I've ever been on.

Back on land, the boys decided we needed to head up to yet another glacier. Exit Glacier wasn't too far away, so we drove out, and hiked up the trail. The trail got a little too rough for the strollers, so Allison and I hung out with the little ones and threw rocks into the run off, while Kade and Shad took the older girls up.

This is a pretty serious icee--

The next day, we made the long drive back to Fairbanks. Once again, Denali was hiding from me. I had to improvise--

This will have to do, I suppose.

The following day, I think we wanted to do anything but sit in a car for a long time. Pioneer Park did the trick for us. We went out and enjoyed the pretty day while the kids played. I realized I had spent most of my time taking pictures of scenery and animals. I felt the need to work my novice photography skills and get a few pictures of the kids.

Cora, being a good sport about being her stroller--

Ailee- Maryn--

Dash. See water...must throw rocks in--

Cute little Amaya. She was the best sport about me taking pictures of her. I just can't get enough of those delicate little features--

And, Ella-- Now THAT was a fun vacation. I can't believe how much we were able to see and do. I think it helped that we had fantastic tour guides. Thanks, Shad, Allison, and family for the great time!

Alaskan Adventure--Part 2

After an night in Anchorage, we got up and explored the town for a few hours. A couple of stops in some souvenir shops later, we came upon a little concert in a park. We listened to music while the kids got some energy out:

(Ella)

Next was lunch, complete with delicious pizza and root beer, before we took the next leg of our journey to Seward. Along we the way, we had some fabulous scenery:

Seriously, does it get any more breath taking than this?

So ease the boringness of a long drive, we stopped at an Wildlife Park, to take in some of nature's finest, close up. We got to see buffalo (bison...whatever they are. Big hairy beasts with horns)Elk--Bears--(this one popped out of the brush, just as we walked by. Great timing, eh?)Musk Ox--A bald eagle--and a few others not pictured--Reindeer, moose, and and owl. I also spotted some other common wildlife along the way:

(a Kade and a Cora)(an Allison and a Shad)(an Ailee and an Ella)Somewhere at the beginning of the very very very long path around the bald eagle reserve, Maryn tripped.My poor kids. They have my grace. Or lack thereof. I've learned to pack band aids (or "stickers" if you're Ailee) when we go on adventures that require extended use of basic skills, such as walking. Luckily uncle Shad has experience cleaning up wounds (though this patient didn't obtain her injury in a bar fight), and was there to get Maryn back on her feet.

Maryn managed one smile despite her wounded knee, so we could get a picture of our wild family.

Probably, we need a fence around us, too.

Stay tuned for part 3! It's cool!

An Alaskan Adventure--Part 1

The state of Alaska--Best. Purchase. Ever.

Kade's brother, Shad and his family, relocated to the 49th state just last year. Opportunities like this don't always come along, so we thought we should hop on it, and take advantage of having family there to impose ourselves upon. Plus, this August is our 10 year anniversary, so this trip was thought of as our.....reward.

We started our trip with a wonderful red-eye flight into Fairbanks. It's pretty cool to watch the sun set from an airplane. At 1 in the morning. And by set, I mean that it turns from daylight to dusk.

For the first few days, we were plagued by rain. But with all the rain, and all the daylight, we were bound to get a few of these:On Monday, the 4th, we trekked out to Denali National Park. It was just my luck...due to the cloud cover, we were unable to see Denali (Mt. McKinley), which towers at over 20,000 ft. Despite the little bit of rain, we found a trail and went for a hike. We even caught a glimpse of a moose roaming through the trees. Here are a few pictures from our hike:

Little girls enjoying the scenery--

Roundy Family #1--Roundy Family #2--Here's the gang, minus the picture taker (me) and the baby strapped to the picture taker (Cora), taking a break--(Kade, Shad, Ella, Maryn, Ailee, Dash, Amaya, and Allison)

Ailee and Dashle. Who knows what these two were up to--Kade and Shad....pondering the mysteries of life, I'm sure--That afternoon, the guys took off to go back to Fairbanks with the older girls, Maryn and Ella, so that Shad could work a half day the next day. (yay! we love military leave policies! not.) Allison and I continued on with the rest of the kids, down closer to Anchorage, so we could get in some much needed shopping time at a certain beloved store (Target), and meet up with an old high school friend of Allison's the next day.

After a good Target fix, we headed out to Kincaid Park (I believe that's the name), where we spent a good portion of the afternoon. It gave us great views of the beautiful mountains surrounding the ocean. Now, I don't normally post pictures of just myself...I'm way too self conscious for that. However, I thought this one of me actually turned out kinda decent. And, it's hard to see them, but there are lots of pretty mountains in the background.I have to laugh at this picture. Little Ailee is just like her big sister. It doesn't take much more that a few minutes at a park before her face is smeared with dirt.

It was a beautiful day to be outdoors. It was also a great day to drive past Denali--which is what Kade and Shad did as they drove down to Anchorage to meet us. Since, during our trip, I was the bad luck charm, and was never able to see it, Kade was good enough to pull out his phone and take some pictures for me.

Maryn and Kade, with Denali in the distance--

And, I believe this picture was taken through one of those telescopes. Looks pretty chilly up there!

There is oh so much more to come about our trip to Alaska. Buffalo, whales, glaciers....so stay tuned!

Deep Thoughts By Maryn Roundy

The following is written on a piece of paper, taped up on our wall:

Sweet

Mom and Dad

I fill
sweet
when
you love
me
and I
love you
too




What a kid!