Cute Baby Saturday: "Hollywood"

Name: Abbigail Grace "Hollywood" Heck

Age: Almost 3

Motto: Sassy attitude starts with sassy glasses
(and yes, they are upside down)

Ice Age

Here is my final post from our trip to Seward when my in-laws visited in early June. 

We had the opportunity to go to the Kenai Fjords National Park on one of the most beautiful days several weeks ago.  Not only was it a wonderful chance to go on a short hike with the kids, but also our first chance to WALK to one of the many existhing glaciers here in Alaska.  Situated on the Kenai Peninsula, the park is a crossroads of mountains, ice and the ocean...all of which meet and it was spectacular (even though we only saw a small spec of the park)!

The small river pictured here is flowing from the snow and ice of Exit Glacier. The glacier, in the middle of the picture, looks like it is spilling down the mountain side in the picture below.

Although it was a great view, at this point we weren't very close and had to use some binoculars.

Taking a short break before we headed up the trail to get a close-up view of Exit Glacier.

Almost there...

... getting closer...

Part of Exit Glacier

Like free spirit Alaskan birds, the kids "flew" down the trail from glacier to parking lot.

Behind us is Exit Glacier

It certainly was beautiful.

I'm certain we will be back again one day soon to hike up further into the park and witness more of Mother Nature's work.

Friday Night Leftovers (the Love edition)

• How is it even possible that it is practically July?  Where has the summer gone?  Of course, by Florida standards, it is still Spring up here in the Frontier, but summer it is by Alaska's standards.
• We are enjoying our visit with Nana (my mom) for the next 2 weeks.  There is nothing like having your mom here.  Seriously.
• With all the arguing, bickering, teasing, & yelling that happens between Thomas and Abbigail... it was so heartwarming to see this on the Trolley tour we went on today.  Pure love I tell ya.

• It looks like Marilyn is officially done with her naptime bottle (her choice, not mine).  In the next month or so, we will probably do away with the night time bottle. *sigh*  Another sign my baby girl is growing up.
• Have I mentioned how nice it is to not have any M.Ed coursework this summer?  Yep.  No homework feels darn good.
• We have some new neighbors that have just moved in next door.  I'm thrilled to report that their 4 children are all young like mine!  Yeah for new friends who have played together now every day since last weekend.

Twigs

All clean-cut and looking handsome!

Getting ready to have her crazy twigs cut

Although she refused to have the adorable little pink bow put in her hair,

her bangs were straight and she looked like a cute little princess in my eyes!

 Wondering why she couldn't have a spin on the barber chair

After she was done getting her hair "did"...

there were bubbles to blow and toys to play with!

Wordless Wednesday: Nana

Homemade with love

I'm not sure how many people out there have a loved one in their life who willingly designs and creates homemade curtains (as well as many other things) for your new home.  We do. 

My mother-in-law is extremely creative, detail-oriented and most importantly, knows our home decor taste quite well.

She created all of the curtains in our new house from only measurements we sent her & a short video tour of our house (before our furniture was even delivered).  That's it.  Nothing more.

I can't even begin to explain how grateful we are.  How impressed we are.  How appreciative we are for the homemade love she sent us.

Thank you Mary.

Masterbedroom

 Marilyn's room

 Playroom/Office

 Dining room/Kitchen

 Abbigail's room

Thomas' room

On a functional note, each of the bedrooms has 1) dark out shades, 2) blinds, and 3) homemade curtains.  All of this equals a nice cozy dark room which is extremely important during the summer months when there is more than 19 hours of sunlight each day.

Mess Free Painting

One of my girlfriends (Sippy Cups), who happens to have 3 little ones also, posted this beauty of a project this past spring - I just couldn't help myself and had to try it!  Paint without the Mess?  Count me in!

Materials needed: Paint, gallon bags, paper & painter's tape

Paper goes under bags that are filled with paint.

Watch imagination & ideas flow.

 Even baby girl got in on the action...

 ... once her big sister showed her a few tricks!

The Military Wife

A tribute to military wives

author: unknown

Sent to me by my fellow "sister" Kim W.

I am a military wife - a member of that sisterhood of women who have had the courage to watch their men go into battle, and the strength to survive until their return.  Our sorority knows no rank, for we earn our membership with a marriage license, traveling over miles, or over nations to begin a new life with our military husbands.  Within days, we turn a barren, echoing building into a home, and though our quarters are inevitably white-walled and un-papered, we decorate with the treasures of our travels, for we shop the markets of the globe.

Using hammer and nail, we tack our pictures to the wall and our roots to the floor as firmly as if we had lived there for a lifetime.  We hold a family together by the bootstraps, and raise the best of 'brats', instilling in them the motto: "Home is togetherness," whether motel, or guest house, apartment or duplex.  As military wives we soon realize that the only good in "Goodbye" is the "Hello again."  For as salesmen for freedom, our husbands are often on the road, at sea, or in the sky, leaving us behind for a week, a month, an assignment.

During separations we guard the home front, existing until the homecoming.  Unlike our civilian counterparts, we measure time, not by years, but tours - married in Florida, honeymoon in Costa Rica, first home in Portugal, babies born back in Florida, a promotion in Afganhistan, and an assignment in Alaska to mark 20 years in the military... and potentially our last.  We plant trees, and never see them grow tall, work on projects completed long after our departure, and enhance our community for the betterment of those who come after us.

We leave a part of ourselves at every stop.  Through experiences, we have learned to pack a suitcase, a car or hold baggage, and live indefinitely from the contents within: and though our fingers are sore from the patches we have sewn, and the silver we have shined, our hands are always ready to help those around us.

Women of peace, we pray for a world in harmoney, for the flag that leads our men into battle, will also blanket them in death.

Yet we are an optimistic group, thinking of the good, and forgetting the bad, cherishing yesterday, while anticipating tomorrow.  Never rich by monetary standards, our hearts are overflowing with a wealth of experiences common only those united by the special tradition of military life.  We pass on this legacy to every military bride, welcoming her with outstretched arms, with love and friendship, from one sister to another, sharing in the bounty of our unique, fulfilling military way of life.