Laura, Jeff & Ada

since kids are so messy we make ours sit in a cardboard box…  kidding… we got a new couch and ada has really taken to one of the boxes and calls it her “house”.  she has various pillows and toys in there.  in this shot she is watching curious george which is very spell binding!

her latest thing is “kayak game”.  the bathrobe belt is the kayak, of course.  she runs around with it yelling “kayak”.  i have no idea where she got this from.  anyway, this week she decided to dress up as elton john for kayak game.

and here’s a video of the kayak girl….

we went to maine over the weekend for a family gathering…

aunt ruth helping ada feed the chipmunks

ada on her first boat ride, complete with snacks!

we saw several loons on our boat ride, mostly preening…

saturday night we had a lobstah bake with clams, mussels, potatoes and corn!

we had a fun time at the sprinkler park this afternoon with buddy hannah! 

first a popsicle from the ice cream truck.

jump!

lisa, brian and tilley were up visiting from mississippi and we all enjoyed a day around the boston common.  it was pretty hot, so the girls first enjoyed the frog pond:

then they took a ride on the carousel, ada’s first!

then the swan boats!

then the “make way for ducklings” statue, obviously a favorite kid photo spot:

i think this about concludes the required tourist photos!

this photo is destined to become a classic…  jeff put ada for a nap the other day and this is how she very adamantly chose to nap.  she normally has 2 burp cloths, a water sippy and pink bear.  but it’s normally in the bed.  she really needed the bear hat on her head backwards and the bunny pillow on the floor.  not to mention the lack of clothing due to the heat.

completely hilarious.

poor sick ada:

fun in the playground in north pole:

ada’s wagon for the trip… good for transporting croquet balls…

her special travel mattress…  there was usually a loose interpretation of sleeping -on- the mattress.

we spent 2 days in denali national park, about 2 hours south of fairbanks, home of north america’s tallest peak: denali (the erstwhile mt. mckinley).  it is an extremely rare site to see it in its entirety, but we lucked out big time, i am still excited:

more mountain vistas…  ada wanted to climb on the top of them all…

savage river trail:

there is a new trail they are building at about mile 12 of the park road, it’s got gorgeous scenery and a view of denali (if it’s out).  we snuck back a bit on the trail, it’s going to be a nice walk when it’s open.

this is about as high as ada got:

and another special siting, a moose and calf on the way back home:

this morning, ada and i went to creamer’s field to meet up with my friend and her grand-daughter.  ada was excited to see the large field at the start…

then we got into the woods and the mosquitoes were happy to note that we seasoned ourselves with deet.  makes us taste better apparently.

back of the barn and the blue sky breaking through…

ada was pretty excited by all the boardwalks which she called bridges…

we even spotted a few sandhill cranes!  thought they’d be long gone, but they must’ve nested here.

me and patricia:

surprisingly, i had never been to the botanical gardens before.  so, on thursday morning, nana, papa, jeff, ada and i headed into town to check it out.  the bees were busy and especially liked the giant chives and all of the orange flowers:

besides flowers there are lots of veggies, highlighting what veggies to grow and how to grow them up north:

nana and ada check out a waterfall.  there was a koi pond, but the koi were being shy.

they are starting a children’s area and there was a small log cabin built already.  ada LOVED it.

tending to the stove:

on monday, aunt hope and i took ada to the musk ox farm in fairbanks, officially known as LARS.  they have musk ox and reindeer on a large farm research facility.  we took the tour and saw some of them up close.  here’s a musk ox snacking on a willow branch.

turns out reindeer like willow too… but they really went nuts over the lichen.  in the foreground is a caribou hide.

ada petting a musk ox hide:

but mostly she was running around like a complete nut:

and making friends:

and playing on giant tractors while aunt hope and i traded off visiting the gift shop.