Child's Glacier

It was Papa's last weekend of summer as he starts back to work on Monday. When I asked him what he wanted to do, he said spend time as a family. Since it was a beautiful day on Saturday, we decided to head out to Child's Glacier.

The further out of town we got, the cloudier it got :o( Needless to say, we did not have warm clothes with us and it was quite chilly! We did manage to tough it out about half an hour before Leinna had had enough of the cold and wind (well, momma too!) We did see some action from the glacier so it wasn't a total bust.

When we returned to town, it was warm and beautiful. We decided to pull out some chairs and enjoy the new deck. Leinna was cracking us up by trying to walk "normal" with her hands down by her side. Here she was just about to fall down and up went the hands to catch her balance. She continues to improve her walking each day :O)

Leinna thought she'd be a big girl and kick Papa out of his chair.

She was so proud of herself!!

After a fun filled day on Saturday, we spent Sunday cleaning house. It promises to be a busy week of transitions with Papa going back to work and Leinna starting day care, but I know everything will work out in the end!

Sheridan Glacier Fun!

We've had beautiful weather this past week and as I was busy at work I kept hoping the weather would stay nice through the weekend. While it did cloud up on Saturday, we were still able to get out and do some hiking! Our friend, Heidi and her dog Beau, made a trip to come see us. Our destination was out to Sheridan Glacier.

We had a perfect hike with a slight breeze to keep the bugs away! The dogs couldn't wait to reach the water :o)

While the dogs had fun playing in the water, Leinna had fun telling stories to Heidi.

Koda had had enough of the water and found some cool grass to lay in. So cute to see Leinna hang out with her buddy!

After our hike, we had a light snack. Leinna's pretty much figured out how to walk on her own and she sticks her hands in the air to keep her balance. Needless to say, she had a blast walking around in the wide open spaces!

Heidi and Beau had to head back to Anchorage this morning. :o( We were sad to see them leave so soon, but thankful for the time we had! We've had heavy rain today, so it's on to cleaning the house! Fun, fun, fun.... Have a wonderful week everyone!

The Greatest Play-Pen On Earth!

What a crazy week we've had! We were in Anchorage last week for Leinna's one year check up, arrived home on Tuesday night with Grandma and Grandpa Jacobsen, and then the rest of the week involved building the greatest play-pen on Earth! (The new deck :o) )

While Leinna had fun with Grandma, (Momma was busy at work and Papa and Grandpa were busy with the deck) she was patiently waiting to take her toy outside and play. You can see she even had her shades on! Thankfully the guys had great weather by Cordova standards to build the deck.

Here's a photo of the deck before ....

Demo begins :o)

Ta-da! You can see the full remodel on my facebook page...

Here you can see that Papa was wise enough to make sure the new stair case was wider, but yet not too wide! (can you see the baby gate?!?) The old deck did not have railing- so Leinna could have crawled right over the edge if momma and papa were not paying attention.

Now- she can crawl/walk around to her heart's content!

We were so thankful for Grandpa and Grandma's help this past week! So sad to see them leave this morning, but we have a special friends visiting this weekend! I wonder what adventures we'll have to share?! Have a wonderful week!

1 year check-up and all is well!

This past weekend we headed to Anchorage for Leinna's 1 year check-up. The photo below was taken a few weeks ago, however while we were in Anchorage, cousin Oliver sent us a picture of him being "Cool Dude" in his shades so we sent this one back saying "Tough Girl" in her shades!

While on the ferry- Leinna thought she was such a big girl sitting in the seat all by herself. You can also see in the background a compass rose- Leinna was cracking us up by crawling back and forth in the direction of North and South. She wouldn't go anywhere else for the longest time. Silly girl...

While we were in Whittier waiting to load onto the ferry, Leinna discovered herself in the side mirror of the truck. She says, "Hi" in the way that Leinna sings it with a sing-song tone. It was too cute!

Her appointment went well! 30.5 inches long- Leif had to remind me that she's grown 10 inches over the last year- imagine if we continued that growth rate throughout our lives? We'd be ginormous! Everything else is right on track :O) In fact, Leinna was so cooperative that our doctor said this was probably the easiest 1 year check-up she's ever done.

We've got a busy week to finish up with Grandma and Grandpa Jacobsen here to help Leif build the deck. I will post pictures soon when the project is complete so you can see the step-by-step progress.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

Happy 1st Birthday Leinna!

Well, after a busy day at my summer job, I found myself running late to get home. Thankfully, Leif did an amazing job with getting all the food and stuff ready to go! Didn't take too many pictures of us eating, but we a few friends over for burger, brauts and birthday cake! While we did the finishing touches for dinner, Leinna decided it would be fun to hang out with her friend Amelia and her daddy!

After dinner, it was time for presents!

The first present- Leinna wasn't quite sure what was going on.

But she, soon discovered that there were neat toys under the paper!

One of her favorite new toys was HER first doll. I emphasize HER, because she has played with a doll from my childhood, however this baby doll has a much more realistic face to it.

Half way through she finally figured out this could be lots of fun. With a little assistance from momma to get the paper started, she had fun doing the rest on her own!

Yes, we now have toys that make noise!

Our dear friends and co-workers gave Leinna her own 3 piece band! He,he... so thankful I'm working this summer :o) Actually, Leif said it wasn't too bad. I thought to myself, just wait until she figures out what she can really do with those!

This is just too precious- Leinna and her buddy Amelia checking out the new toy.

Tell everyone "Thank You" for the wonderful gifts!

Time for some cake!
I made a white-jello cake with cool whip topping. Leinna's never really had anything so sweet - and she thought it was delicious!

By this picture it would seem that Leinna was full of sugar and ready to party the night away! However, the excitement of the evening got the best of her and after cake we stuck her right in the tub for a bath. Once in her jammies, she played with her new toys for about 15 minutes and then was ready bed! Thank goodness, because I was ready for bed too!

I realize that 1 year olds don't truly understand what birthdays are all about- however, I think this first birthday is more of a celebration for parents!

Whew- we made it- a whole year and so far - we are all doing well!

We would have had Leinna's party this weekend so we could have had more time to visit with our friends, however we are headed to Anchorage for her 1 year check up. Grandma and Grandpa Jacobsen will meet us in Anchorage and then are coming back with us to help Leif rebuild or deck and hopefully get some fishing in.

By the way... Leinna's other present was to show us that she is almost WALKING!! :o) She is able to 'walk' between Leif and I for about 5 or 6 steps unassisted. Tonight, once you got her up and started, she walked quite a few steps on her own. I'm guessing any day, she's going to figure out that she doesn't need momma or papa to get her started... oh, boy... let's hope in another year I can still say we survived and are all doing well - ha,ha,ha....

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend!

Big 1st birthday is this week- will have a full update then!