Kid pictures

We took these last summer of the kids on Lazy Mountain. they turned out well and I've never had a chance to post them before now. Enjoy!

Oahu

Roger and I had a great time in Oahu. We visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial, hiked Diamond Head, drove around the island, went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, went to a luau and laid out on the beach. The kids had a great time at home with my parents and I think had mixed feelings when we came home- Grandma and Grandpa are much more fun!

I've posted a few pictures here - the rest are on our little camera I have yet to download.

Halloween/Grace birthday

Grace had several friends over for her birthday party. We went to our church's harvest festival, where the girls (and Nate, who was Thomas the Tank engine, again) had fun playing all the games and winning prizes. I'm not sure when they went to bed but they were conked out when I checked at 1 a.m. Saturday was the last day of a 4-day windstorm - we had 75 mph gusts - and very few ventured out into the cold. We took Nate to the Halloween Howl Secret Santa fundraiser at the fairgrounds and then stayed inside to carve pumpkins. Grace went to a party with a friend and then managed to run the neighborhood with Dad's help, wearing only her skimpy costume, panty hose, high heels and a jacket. She came home with purple hands and a full bag of candy. This is the same girl who whines nonstop whenever we go for a hike...maybe if we put candy on top of the mountain, she'd be okay with it.

(Check out our new cabinets in the laundry room. Luke and I painted them, Roger installed them and we put in a 10-ft counter this weekend. It's almost finished!!) Luke is still out of commission with his broken foot but his ETA on the ice is Nov. 23. He is very anxious to be done with this - it's almost like he's been grounded for a month because he can't go anywhere or do anything. He is starting to go crazy!

the beginning - fall 2009

I'm buckling and finally creating a blog. I'm not sure how much I'll use it but at least it's a spot where I can post pictures without gumming up email addresses. Anyway, all but one of these photos are of a hike we took up Lazy Mtn over Labor day. The one with Luke by the water is at the end of Archangel Road in Hatcher Pass at a beaver dam where he did some trapping last year. The picture of the three kids is near that same place - Luke went backpacking with the youth group this summer up the pass behind them. This hiking trail heads to Bomber glacier which would be a great hike someday when Nate is older. We went blueberry picking both places and had more luck up on Lazy... which is a MUCH harder climb than Hatcher. (Matanuska Peak is behind the family photo.) I think we climbed to 6,300 feet. There's also a shot of Grace and Nate at Thunderbird Falls. I have a couple movies to post also so I'll try to figure that out later.