Alaska

 Our time in Alaska was bittersweet. It was great to be with family and friends and hard to say goodbye to the family we had lost. In June, my Grandma Jane passed away and in July, my cousin Loren. We got stuck in Chicago and missed Loren's funeral, which was one of the worst days of my life. Everything went wrong. But we made it there eventually and we were just glad to arrive. We had a small service at the house for my Grandma Jane and saw family and friends. I hadn't seen my mom's cousin Tom in years and he said to me, "So, how are you doing? Every time I turn around you're swelling up with babies. You guys done yet?" HA! So blunt~that's our family. We laughed and cried. The whole trip. 

The kids' first time playing together at the park. They are all eating tootsie rolls in this picture.

We went to Sourdough Mining Company for dinner one night and Andrew had his fill of crab and I stuffed myself with halibut and corn fritters.

We all went bowling together, one of my family's favorite things to do. This is my Aunt Carol.

Gramma and Ella at the Saturday Market having lunch. 

The night of my 10 year reunion. Where does the time go? We had a nice time and it was fun for me to introduce my old friends to Andrew and show pictures of the kiddos.

Saturday Market with the family.

This was one of the only nights I got to see the mountains while we were there. The weather was cloudy so much of the time, but this picture captures how close and huge the peaks are to Anchorage.

I always have to make a trip to Great Harvest for fresh bread.  This was our trip there. 

My mom insists on us all getting matching shirts and going out for the day. Here we are this year in those shirts. 

The guys before a fishing trip. It was about 7am here and they caught quite a few that day. Bill, John, Andrew and Michael.

Pop Pops with John and Emerson. Those 2 are only 5 weeks apart from each other.  TROUBLE.

5 Cousins under 4. Ella, John, Emerson, Levi, and Peter. 

My cousin Michael holding John. 

Our silly and very last minute trip to Whittier. It was sunny in Anchorage so we piled all the kids in the cars and headed out. We drove right to the rain and had to wear clothes from Renee's trunk that were on their way to Salvation Army. We were all thankful for that bag because we were not prepared for the weather. It was fun anyway.

This is a little wagon I saw and I love what it says and the background of the Whittier board walk and boats.

Getting all these kids in a picture is a challenge, but they were having fun in the rain and eating candy.

Emerson was learning about snorting and I happened to catch this picture of him one night. He's just stinkin funny and so cute :)

My Grandpa had given us a bag of clothes for the kids and there happened to be some really old stuff in there that we couldn't resist putting on the kids. It was a serious flashback to our childhood and we laughed so hard. I love how Peter looks like a little posed 80's child model. 

My cousin Loren, who passed away, this is his daughter Regan. She is almost 2 and the kids loved playing with her. She looks a lot like Loren and my Aunt Carol. She's a sweet little one and I look forward to seeing her again. 

While we were in AK, John was learning to crawl. These little towers were  what he wanted to reach for most, so we would set them up and watch him go. By the time we left, he was up on all fours and getting a few knee lengths.

Regan and I. 

All the cousins!

S'mores face on Levi! Our last night we had a fire and roasted marshmallows. 

Baths followed after the marshmallows. 

Bath, bed, and we flew out the next morning for Oregon.

Parade and Packing

Just a quick little blurb before we head off on our big summer adventure. We went to the Iron Heritage Festival Parade last night. The kids waited by the door for 30 minutes with their backpacks ready to catch candy and toys! The are starting to really be excited about parades. Ella even thought we were supposed to wear costumes, but I told her that was for the Halloween parade only and her "bone jams" would be way too hot for this one. They had a nice time and the rain held off this year. The past two Heritage parades have been accompanied by one Grandma or the other and Ella said, "Is my Grandma going to be there?" I told her not this year, maybe next year :).

We sure are getting excited about heading to the airport tomorrow morning. The kids cannot wait to fly on the airplane. I'm not sure if it's about the new DVD player, all the packed up snacks and books, or just that they are plain giddy about seeing family. Yes, that's totally it. They have been talking about Alaska and Oregon for weeks now. We have all been sick today in one form or another. Just really praying it's over by the morning. Flying with the flu is unbearable when you have 3 kids to look after. Not that I've done that before, but I can just imagine the atrocity. We already get stared at like we are a flyer freak show. Anyway, farewell Pennsylvania for 5 weeks. My friends will be missed, the weather will not and neither will the awful giant bugs. My prayer for this trip is for safety, fun, and lots of great memories with the family. We are so glad Andrew gets to come with us for a week. See you soon!

My Cousin Loren

May he be resting in the Arms of Love. He was such a fun person and he will be truly missed forever. When I was little, my mom watched both Loren and Michael (her sister's boys) while my Aunt worked. Needless to say, they are more like brothers to my brother, sister, and I. At one point, I actually shared a bunk bed and room with all three of them. Loren would always make us laugh and usually it meant getting in trouble because it was at the dinner table. The 5 of us cousins did a whole lot together growing up. The State Fair, movies, ice skating, bowling, shopping, and the occasional sleep over. When it came time for weddings, the boys were involved in all 3 of ours in some way. When we went fishing, even though Loren didn't love fishing, he'd come along for the ride and I always wanted him there for the company. The last time we went fishing together, we ended the night by running across a bear. The first thing we all did was stop in our tracks and see that the bear could easily cross the river to us. So everyone started putting their hands up in the air and walking slowly. I was about to pee my pants, I am so scared of bears. Loren was right next to me saying, "I'm not even 16, I cannot die right now." I said, "None of us can, keep walking." So we did, arms in the air, laughing and wanting to cry the whole time. Another one of my favorite stories of his hilarity was when we were in MN for John's wedding and we had ordered a pizza from the hotel restaurant, which doubled as the hotel lobby. We waited almost 2 hours, sitting and visiting when the pizza finally came. It looked like it had come from a cardboard box. I made note of this out loud and Loren quickly piped up and said, "Don't worry, it's not delivery, it's DIGIORNO." The laughter went on for a long time that night. I used to write Loren and Michael letters from college and for Loren, I would always include stickers I got from my favorite little skate shop. Loren was such a smart guy, both intellectually and in his quick wit and humor. His huge smile and silly glasses will always be imprinted in my memory. Back when he wanted to use contacts, I tried to teach him how to put them in and he spent the whole day with watery tears running down his face, shortly after deciding he would stick with glasses. Holidays and huge extended family gatherings were always a good time with him around. I remember when my Aunt was pregnant with him and she made her belly into a huge pumpkin for halloween. I remember using his baby monitor like a walkie-talky and realizing that since baby monitors only go one way, the person on the receiving end always had to yell the message. I was so excited when Loren starting going to church and working at camp, when he dedicated his life to the Lord and when I knew for sure I would see him again in heaven no matter what. Life has not been a cakewalk for him and these past few years I wish I lived closer for many reasons. I was so proud of him for loving his little Reagan and sticking with a good job, for having hopes and dreams of working for the Military. I'm so sad that he won't be around to live out those goals and see his baby girl grow up. She will always be loved by those of us left, he can rest in that. Family gatherings will never be the same, he will always be so missed.

Michael, Peter (4mos) and Loren at Jenna's wedding 2009

Loren and Reagan.

Loren reading a book to Peter.

Loren, thank you for always being so good with my children. I sure wish you could have met John Lewis. You would have loved him. Ella keeps pointing at the picture of you with Michael and your mom and saying that we are going to see you soon in Alaska. I can't even begin to tell her that you are with Jesus. I pray for the strength when that time comes.

And here he SITS!

John has been sitting up well for about a month now and I'm just so obsessed with how cute he looks when he sits and plays. It's like I see him in a whole new light watching his whole body learn as he reaches with his hands and kicks with his feet. He loves to sit and watch Ella and Peter run around. He also really likes things that crinkle and make noise. I can't believe how fast time seems to go with him and that on the 21st he will be 9 months already. Still no teeth and only eating baby foods with no chunks (it seems as if he may have my problem with textures :). He, unlike the other 2 by this age is still nursing in the morning and at night. I don't care, it's my time with him and during the day those moments are so few and far between. The kids still call him "John Lew" which Andrew and I love and have even taken to doing ourselves sometimes. I am soaking up these chubby cuddly days because they sure seem to be going fast.

Those cheeks! I love them!

He fell asleep on me after eating and this doesn't happen all the time anymore.

Contemplating a future in soccer.

Rickett's Glen Lake ~ Once again a Peter Rescue

As many of you know, last summer there was a near disaster with my Peter in Whittier, Alaska involving a stroller, a steep ramp, and a body of water. This time, however, no ramps or strollers, just a toddler who likes to decide for himself how he will learn his valuable lessons. We decided not to go to the coast when my mom was here, and just take a day trip to a lake about an hour away. It was going "swimmingly" until Peter decided to test his ability to follow Ella out into the waist deep water. By this time the kids had played in the sand, had some lunch, made a few potty trips, and were ready to go back out into the water. My mom took John for a walk so he might fall asleep in the stroller while we played some more. About 5 minutes after she left we went to the water's edge and started playing. I was telling Ella that she needed to come closer to me because she was getting a little brave and too far out. Peter thought it might be fun to experiment with his wading capabilities and began to wander toward her. By then I was telling both of them to come back and I started out into the water, camera in hand. Ella turned back toward me and at that moment, Peter lost his footing, attempted and failed at an impression of "Michael Phelps" and went under. Fully clothed (again, camera in hand) I leaped about 6-10 times before I reached him and pulled him up. Ella was scared, Peter was scared, I was ticked and scared, but everyone was safe, and my camera survived a complete water logging (go Canon). I can only imagine what those moms on the shore were thinking, "She shouldn't have let them wander out there..." "Maybe now he'll learn his lesson..." "Boy, I think I'll just sit here on my rear and watch that mom rescue her son and not even ask if they need anything..." I don't know, either way, if I ever see that happen to a mom, I WILL NOT sit and watch with nasty judging eyes, I will go and ask if there is something I can do to help and make sure she and her kids are okay. Geez. God sure has taught me a lot through my adventurous and disobedient son Peter, and we are on a track to some new ways of correcting his behavior and saving his life apparently. The last picture in this post is the one I took right before pulling him out of the water. I'm thankful it was not deep water and that I was as close as I had been, but the kids sure got a talking to about how they do not know how to swim and how dangerous it is to disobey around water. Lessons learned, hopefully forever.