Zoo Days

My very best friend at work has a daughter who is 9 months older than Boyd, so her May birthday pretty much ushers in summer for us. This year, the birthday girl had her celebration at the Alaska Zoo. We joined her friends for snacks and cake in the chalet, and then ventured out to see the animals!

B LOVES the zoo. Like, big time. Although, he does ask for whales and turtles every time and I'm like, wrong zoo, kiddo.

CAKE! The birthday girl's mama made a very labor-intensive rainbow cake. It was awesome, and delicious - as evidenced by Boyd's almost-clean plate. 

Future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.

Snow leopards are one of our favorite zoo stops. 

Yak attack. 

Aren't they so super adorable? 

My friend Char was back there holding him up!

This next set of photos is from late April - a couple weeks before the birthday party. Was definitely a bit colder and not as sunny. We spent a lot of time in the Petting Zoo with the goats - one of which used my boot as a head-butting station.

Boyd & goat's rear end. 

The Zoo gift shop is also a good place in which to wander around. 

Christmas memories - part 2

More photos from Christmas morning!

D was a gift-giving rockstar this year. He gave me extremely thoughtful presents - some that I didn't even expect. I was really touched.  Boyd wasn't too into opening gifts - he would rip the paper once we prompted him. His favorite gift of the day? The $0.50 pack of crayons that D slipped into Boyd's stocking. It was really comical to see our kid pass over the cool stuff we bought him, just to go back to coloring!

The magic of Christmas morning. Daddy put crayons in everyone's stockings, so Boyd got to check them all out.

A mini-Drift figurine from Daddy! Crayons in hand.

Seriously, all he wanted to do was play with the crayons all morning.

Cool Pillow Pet from Grandma and Grandpa Patrick. I love these things - Boyd sleeps with his every night.

Na na na na na na na Batman (hat)!

Unveiling our big gift for the kiddo...

Melissa and Doug wooden play kitchen! It took me hours to put together (by hand). I'm sure D could have completed it faster but I'm glad I did it.

He likes it!

We also got him some nice wooden kitchen accessories, and added some play food that he already had in the house.

Super cool learning toy from Jim & Barbara. He loves the buttons. :-)

Big thanks to our families and friends for the gifts and edible treats that we received. So generous of you all to think of us, and especially to provide wonderful gifts to our son. We love you all!

Friday update

So much snow has arrived - we're flush with it! Two big snowfalls within a week, with very cold below-zero temperatures in between. I am hopeless when it comes to estimating depths. I'll say to D, "what do you think we got, like 6 inches?" And he'll reply, "Audry, that's at least a foot of snow." Rish and Gabe got a snow blower, so Gabe stopped by to do our driveway. What a guy!

I waited until after we visited Santa to start on our Christmas cards, so we'll be a bit behind on getting those out. But not to worry, you all will receive a card chock-full of adorable little Boyd photos!

My friend at work took this camera phone photo of my boy and I after meeting Santa.

Other news: we have a new CEO at my workplace, a dynamic lady from out of state. Really have high hopes that she'll re-energize our staff and bring morale up! We also filmed some TV commercials this week to promote one of our service lines - those spots will start airing next week.

On the travel front, D, Boyd and I will hop on an airplane and visit San Diego to see some of my family members. Wish us luck with this new experience!

Being silly. The thing he's sitting on is a PlasmaCar. I got it for free (plus free shipping!) from Pampers Rewards. All of those diaper codes finally paid off.

Trying to stay warm in cold Alaskan weather. We've been reminding Boyd to put his hands in his pockets when it's cold.

My supper club met this week  Great minds apparently think alike, because 4 out of 8 of us gave a gift having something to do with a mason jar! It was funny to see all the canning jars being exchanged. There were jars filled with candy, hot chocolate mix with snowman poop (marshmallows), and even a redneck wineglass (mason jar with a candlestick base). I packaged a Starbucks hot chocolate packet with a mini bottle of Bailey's Irish Creme (the liquor store sales girl didn't blink an eye when I asked for 10 mini bottles of the stuff) inside of a jar, complete with daisy-cut metal lid, striped straw and holiday tag.

My holiday gift to friends at work.

The good stuff to go in the jars!

Boyd did this all by himself! We looked down and he had pulled all of the bottles out to line them up in a curve.

Boyd has been teething for the last couple weeks, plus this week he picked up a cold from somewhere. Those nights of uninterrupted sleep have been few and far between lately! Last night he was just so restless, tossing and turning with a stuffy nose and asking for water every 15 minutes. I tried to sleep on the couch with Boyd but we were both pretty exhausted this morning. D and Gabe left super early to take the boat out for a winter hunting trip to Prince William Sound. Please send good vibes their way for a successful and safe deer hunt!

Odds and ends

In June, our neighborhood was host to a resident mama moose and her two babies. They hung around for a week or so - my in-laws took a bunch of great photos of them as they lounged in our yard (I've included one below - thanks Mim!)

D and I celebrated our 3-year anniversary on June 26. What a ride it has been! We met in 2005, purchased our house in 2007, became engaged in 2009 and married in 2010. Boyd arrived in 2012, and who knows what the future will hold for our family?

To celebrate our anniversary, D took me to Orso and we had a lovely evening out while my mom watched Boyd (thanks Mom!). There was a snafu during dinner - our food was delivered to another table so we waited while the cook made new dishes, but they comped us with an appetizer and a free dessert since it was a special occasion. We picked creme brulee - one of our favorites!

Since I purchased an annual zoo pass, we've visited the animals quite a few times this summer. It's fun to see Boyd interact with them a little more each time we go.

And a few photos from the Sushi Party that Risha and I presented in June...

Summer visitors

It's been a fantastic summer for family and friend visits! My dad's cousin Aileen came up for the wedding and stayed on for some exploring of Southcentral Alaska. Darin's brother Doug and his girlfriend Jamie were up for a week and we had a really fun time with those two - fishing and enjoying my in-laws' hospitality on the Kenai. And one of my best friends and college roomies, Stephanie, came up for a long weekend visit. It's so quiet around here now - I miss everyone!

A zoo day with Boyd, Grandma Ann and Aileen.

We had a day of visitor overlap - Doug, Jamie and Stephanie. Dinner was a salmon feast out on the deck as we all enjoyed the warm, sunny weather.

Stephanie, Boyd and I visited the Glen Alps trail head to do a short hike on Powerline Pass and marvel at the Anchorage skyline.

Love this girl! We were missing our 3rd Musketeer - Emily - who is in Texas with a brand new baby girl.

The busy season

Oh wow, it's a whirlwind of activity around here! One of my oldest friends (we met in high school 22 years ago!) was married this past Saturday, and as a bridesmaid I've had a very busy month, especially this last week. Between her wedding, work, trying to squeeze in family and friend time, I feel like it's been go, Go, GO all of the time! But the wedding was beautiful, as was the bride - and we all had a wonderful time.

Risha's wedding is this Saturday (already!), and my mom and I are throwing her bridal shower tomorrow (yikes!). Busy times all around. But we've had a month of sunny and scorching hot weather (up in the 80's at one point) so that was fun. This week it has cooled off considerably and the clouds have rolled in. Please cross your fingers for NO RAIN on Saturday for Risha & Gabe's outdoor wedding.

Work is ridiculously overwhelming right now. My boss is in Europe for 2.5 weeks and I'm up to my eyeballs in projects. But I'm holding my own and feeling good about what I've accomplished in the midst of all of this stress and activity. And I'm looking forward to MY 2.5 week vacation starting July 4th! Sounds like my brother-in-law and his girlfriend are coming up in July, and my awesome friend Stephanie will be here for a long weekend in July as well. SO FUN!

Thanks for hanging in there with these postings - I'll have Boyd's 16.5 month update up shortly.

Video: Bears at the Zoo - 15.25 months

A few weeks ago I met up with Risha, Jillian, and some friends of theirs for a morning at the Alaska Zoo. I finally broke down and purchased a 1-person season pass since Boyd seems to love this place. We mention the word "zoo" and he breaks out in a big grin.

 In the following video you can hear our group getting excited about the show the bear is putting on for us!

Snowpocalypse 2013

D and Gabe left town this past weekend to fish the Homer Winter King Tournament. Although they didn't win the top prize ($40,000!!!) a nice white king was brought home and we all enjoyed a lovely family dinner last night. I don't think there is anything better than fresh king salmon - it just melts in your mouth with each bite.

While the boys were fishing hard in Kachemak Bay, Boyd and I had a busy weekend around town. On Saturday, he and I joined my mom and Risha for brunch at Simon & Seafort's downtown. Our table overlooked the Coastal Trail, Cook Inlet and Sleeping Lady (mountain). Even saw the AK Railroad train go by - Boyd got a kick out of that. Boyd did really well that day - two naps and I was even able to organize his clothes and closet. He is mostly wearing 18 month sizes now!

Sunday I attended another mama brunch at a friend's house. Our third mama and baby decided to stay home due to sickness, which I'm happy about. I don't need an illness on top of an already teething and nap-refusing baby. Monday was our first official Music Together class. Boyd was totally into it and I'm looking forward to a fun semester. The classes run through May 13th, so we'll be done well in advance of Memorial Day.

Oh and we also had an epic snow dump beginning Sunday and continuing on into Monday evening. Over a foot of snow at our house. I cleared a few inches late Sunday afternoon and D did the rest on Monday. Boyd had a fun time hanging out in the sled and then crawling around while watching me shovel. Even got a few giggles out of him as I showed off my snow-removal techniques.

Another new hat! I got it on super sale from the Gap for around $8. I do love it, but need to affix some sort of ribbon to the flaps so it stays put and snug on Boyd's little head.

Our back deck was almost completely bare in some places. Not anymore.

Since diabetes has robbed our dog of sight, he makes his way around by memory. The snow really messed with his paths around the deck and backyard.

In the news

Boyd, Risha, the little girl Risha nannys and I attended a free music class demonstration on Monday. Channel 2 News was also there to film a story about the class and we all ended up getting some brief screen time.

Video link here: KTUU Music Canvas story

Boyd LOVED this class! I think he was fascinated by the sounds, plus he also wanted to move around and look at the other kids.We had a great time so I signed us both up for the Monday sessions. Risha's employer signed up his youngest so she and Risha will be in the class as well. They're not cheap - $165 for 8 sessions - but I had a free $25 credit so that took each class down to $17.50 each. $15.50 if you factor in the demo.

I think we'll have fun - I'm just hoping Boyd's nap schedule cooperates!

Care Bears unite!

Our Care Bears costumes were a hit! The weather was perfect - in the 20's - and the trails had plenty of snow. Our shuttle bus was running late so we missed the costume judging, but we made it in time for the Party Wave start. Since we were in the back the going was a little slow in the beginning, but I kind of liked not dealing with the crazy crush of skiers in the beginning. There were bottlenecks here and there, especially before a hill.

It was great to see all of the ladies (around 1,300) out skiing on Superbowl Sunday to suport domestic violence awareness. I loved watching the little kiddos on their little skis - so cute!

Here are a ton of photos from the Anchorage Daily News. And one from the race photographer at the race finish of us girls.

On the shuttle bus, heading to the course. Our 5th member got sick, so she stayed home. :-(

We worked on our costumes individually, but Susie made our red butt hearts that say Care Bears.