Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun...

Amazing how many more pictures I take when the sun is shining! 

When the sun shines in Cordova, everything comes to a stop and you go outside and enjoy every moment you can!   We've been blessed with a few sunny and warm (almost 70 degrees!) weather the past few days. What a difference a little sunshine can make in a person's attitude and outlook on life. The whole town just seems happier!

Our sunshine weather means we've been walking Leinna to her day care provider. She lives about a mile from our house and Leinna enjoys riding in the stroller.  Here she is enjoying the sunshine with one of her day care buddies.

We've also been bringing Lukkas to Ms. Sarah's so they can get to know each other. Lukkas will start up in August as I will be going back to work full time next school year. I'm sad that I won't be with my baby during the day, but so very, very thankful Ms. Sarah has a spot for Lukkas!

Now that the sun is out- it means the slugs are too!  You can see Leinna still has a jacket on - it wasn't quiet warm enough until...

a few days later! Yep- check that out- hair in a pony-tail, shorts, bare feet! LOVE IT!! 

We've enjoyed many beautiful walks out at Hartney Bay. We love walking out there as there is very little traffic and Leinna can run, run, run to her hearts content!

Sunshine - also means summer time meals.

 Leinna LOVED eating corn on the cob. Fresh produce can be rather expensive in Cordova- especially when I grew up with a garden and the thought of spending $1 for ONE ear of corn, about makes my heart stop.  However, it was worth every penny to watch Leinna enjoy eating the corn on the cob. She actually ate an entire ear by herself!

Mr. Lukkas is enjoying the warm weather too! 

Can't believe it's been 12 weeks since my baby boy joined our family. 

He's so much fun and such a good baby.

Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun- won't you please shine down on me!

To my friends and family who read our adventures... This week we'll be headed to Fairbanks to spend some time with Uncle Lars (Papa's brother) and his family and Grandma and Grandpa Jacobsen. We will be gone for almost a month -  we will do our best to update our adventures - but may not be able to update weekly!  Thanks for checking in with us and following our adventures :-)

Father's Day Part 2

Well, Mother Nature decided to give us a break from the rain and we took advantage of it! After Leinna woke up from her nap, we loaded everyone up and headed out the road. Haystack is one of our favorite trails. Its relatively close to town and it's a short enough hike to complete in an evening.

 

It was a great hike and with a little self photography we captured our hike at the top of the trail.

And even though we STILL have snow in the yard...

we found that spring does exist in Cordova!

And better yet- the weather forecast for the rest of the week...

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

I love Father's Day!

 It's such a wonderful day to take time to celebrate the first man I loved in my life :-)

I have many special memories of my dad, but the ones that stick out are the times we spent outdoors. I love that he encouraged me to get dirty, play with worms, and the art of throwing the fish back in the lake for a score of 10! 

This Father's Day is also special because my family is now complete. Leif and I do not (I repeat- do not) plan to have any more children. So this Father's Day is our first with our completed family.  The weather is not looking to promising to do much outdoors, but I'm sure we'll find something fun to do. 

A couple of weeks ago, Leif instructed Leinna in the fine art of throwing rocks in the water. He could spend hours throwing/skipping rocks. She loved it and now wants to go throw rocks all the time- even in the rain!

Lukkas loves his snuggle time with his Papa.

Happy Papa's Day to Leif! He's an amazing Papa and I look forward to the years to come when he can share his passions with his kids, like my dad shared his with me.

Lukkas is 11 weeks old now - that's almost 3 months! Man- where does the time go!

Leinna playing catch with the balloon. I can't believe we are planning her 2nd birthday in a few short weeks. We will be in Fairbanks this year for her birthday - so it will be fun to celebrate with family.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Father's Day!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to me!

On June 10th, at 11:43pm, a little girl was born. She was born on her maternal grandfather's birthday (I miss you Grandpa Sam).   Little did the new parents know, this little girl would soon be fighting for her life. Spinal meningitis would try to take this little girl's life, but God had other plans. After the watchful eye of the doctors and her parents, this little girl made a full recovery and is living an amazing life!

Having my own children now, I can't imagine what it must have been like for my mom and dad. I was their first born child and to be so sick at such a young age must have been terrifying!  One things for sure, as I celebrate my birthday today, I have a better understanding of a mother's love. Thank you to my mom and dad for loving and supporting me in all my successes and challenges over the past ... we won't say how many years :-) 

So how did we spend the last week- cleaning up puke!  Ha,ha,ha... You wouldn't be able to tell by the picture above, but Leinna came home on Monday afternoon after being sick during her nap at day care. You could hardly tell she didn't feel well as she kept playing away.  However, she continued to be sick at dinner time and didn't eat much for the next few days.  Then Papa and I were both sick on Wednesday night- I'm not sure if it was the same bug Leinna had or if we had a touch of food poisoning.  In either case, it should be against the laws of nature to have both parents sick at the same time with two young children. We had a very challenging couple of days to say the least.

We did find time to play, as Leinna is doing a great job of teaching Lukkas the fine art of talking on the phone.  When you'd ask Leinna who she was talking to, it ranged from friends at day care to family members. The part I loved is that she didn't even hesitate to tell you who she was talking to. 

 

 

We also found time to play Leggos, which Leinna is very serious about. You don't mess with her Leggo towers! 

 

And Mr. Lukkas continues to grow and change every day. He's starting to go a little longer during the night between feedings, which was greatly appreciated as we were getting over being sick. When he's awake, he's fully engaged in his environment, watching every little thing and trying his best to get his opinion heard.

Looking forward to spending my birthday with my family. 

Have a wonderful week everyone ~ Much Love

 

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband!

 6 years ago today, I married the perfect man for me. I started my day off getting up early to go golf with my dad. Yep- golfed my best game ever! I figured if Leif was going to go golf with his groomsmen, I was going to go golf too! One of the things Leif and I both miss about living in Cordova- no golf courses except on the Wii!

 We were married at Terry Peak, which is located in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota.  We were married out on the ski lodge deck and then had the reception inside.  I wanted a fall wedding but with the Jacobsen side of the family being all educators, that wasn't going to happen. So, fall color scheme would have to do. My bridesmaids all had different color Gerber daisy flowers: red, orange, yellow and pink and the groomsmen had ties that matched the color of the bridesmaid he walked with.  

It was such a wonderful day filled with so many memories. 

And now, I celebrate 6 years of marriage with...

 SNOW!  Not any new snow- thank the Lord. 

 But still plenty of snow in the yard.

 It is melting - slowly- but it is melting :0) 

It was such a treat to be in Anchorage and see that spring does exist this year!

Our past week in Anchorage was filled with busy doctor appointments for Papa and I. We did squeak sometime in at Lake Hood watching the float planes take off.

 When the plane would come by, Leinna would say the color of the plane and then wave to the pilot.

When the plane turned to take off, Leinna would scream, "BYE, BYE PLANE"

It was so stinking cute - almost as cute as Mr. Lukkas on the ferry.

 9 1/2 weeks old now and what a flirt! I tell you - he's all smiles and full of stories. He even chuckled out loud a few times on the ferry ride home.  

Nothing more precious then a sleeping toddler!

We had quite the battle getting her down for a nap- even had a few other passengers come back to make sure we were okay. Yep- we were fine, just my daughter screaming bloody murder because she didn't want to sleep.  We knew she was tired and she's been borderline with a cold and, after a busy few days in Anchorage, well... she was going to take a nap. Period.

Have a wonderful week!

 

Last Week of School!

While Papa was busy with the last week of school activities, we were busy exploring. Although it wasn't as sunny as last week, we did bundle up and go for a hike.

Did you say hike Momma?  

Well, more like a stroll through our local Nirvana Park. I love how a few steps in and you really feel like you drove out the road and are hiking around in the forest.  Leinna had a blast walking around all the little trails. 

Then we found the water :O) 

Once I showed her how fun throwing rocks can be, she was entertained for quite some time. She was cracking me up in the fact that she had to count to ten each time before she could throw the rock. Boy, I made the mistake one time of just trying to skip the rock without counting, and Leinna made sure to tell me we had to count to ten first. 

When the rain set in, we entertained ourselves by jumping on the bed. 

And yes, we had to count each jump to ten before she would laugh and fall down. 

Mister Lukkas is busy watching his big sister do all these fun activities. I can already see that he's trying to figure out how to keep up with her. 

Being 8 weeks old now, Lukkas sure is smiling and cooing. Leinna gets such a kick out of when Lukkas 'talks' to her.  

Here Lukkas and I are looking at each other in the mirror. He thought it was so funny and actually laughed out loud! So precious...

And yes, even though it's the middle of May and we are still wearing warm pants and coats...

we are still all smiles as we head out for our adventures. 

Our adventures next week include all of us (including the dog) heading to Anchorage for some unexpected doctor appointments for Momma and Papa. Should be a fun ride on the boat later this week. 

We wish everyone good health and a blessed week.

Happy Memorial Day and we are thankful for those who have served and those who continue to serve to keep us safe.  

Fun in the Sun!

This past week we had beautiful sunny days and we took advantage of them!

My apologies for the photo quality- a quick snap with the cell phone camera to capture our dog, Bailey, patiently waiting for us to get ready to go outside. 

After a quick photo shoot to document Lukkas being 7 weeks old, we headed outside!

 Leinna loved wearing her sunglasses and sitting in the chair - well for about 30 seconds. Then she was off collecting pinecones and rocks.  So thankful my house sits away from the road and I can just let Leinna roam around. She did test her boundaries a few times, but once she learned how far she could go- she did a great job of enjoying her time in the sun.

The City of Cordova recently opened a new and improved playground area.

I was impressed to see a smaller playground set-up for younger kids.  

Leinna was SO EXCITED! 

 We must have gone down the slide for a good 15 minutes, before Leinna realized there was other items to play on.

 This was Leinna's idea of climbing the cargo net :O) 

So the playground also has a bigger set for older kids. I thought for sure Leinna would be a little nervous about climbing up to the big slide. But - nope! No fear what-so-ever!!

 She didn't go down the big slide as much - but as you can see- she was all smiles all the way down! 

So you may be wondering- what was Mr. Lukkas doing while sister was enjoying the playground?

 Yep- there he is sound asleep in his car seat which fits into a stroller...

blowing bubbles.

So thankful for the past week of sunny and almost warm (57 degrees!) weather.