The Birthday Girls

Emily Kile a few hours old and her Aunt Jill 31 years old

Christmas 2009

Christmas time was a lot of fun this year. Lucy was so excited with all of the festivities. She helped decorate the tree and make cookies. She marveled at all the lights on the outside of the house. She loved all the presents with her name on them, of course. Gramps came for a nice long visit (more on that later) which we all enjoyed. All in all, it was a great holiday for all of us!

Mommy and Lucy in our matching Christmas pjs.

Auntie Deanna keeping the kiddos occupied while I cooked dinner. We had veal and chicken parmesan with pasta. Italian for dinner is my Christmas tradition.

On of her many wonderful presents.

The unveiling of her new kitchen. We covered it with a table cloth and eventually had to point it out to her. She was very excited and jumped right in.

Dinner at Gramma's on Christmas day. All dressed up in her holiday best!

Santa's Lap

She only likes him from a distance, I guess...

Thanksgiving in Seattle

As always, I'm so late with this post, but we had a wonderful time. Dinner was so yummy and the company we had was wonderful.

An afternoon at the aquarium.

Lunch at Pike Place Market with cousin Ashley. Since we've been home she is always "calling" Ashley on her play phone.

Reading with Grandma.

Chicago November 2009 Part 1

We spent a few days in Chicago this fall. The main event was Maggie and Ralph's wedding. She's one of my best friends and cousin. I'm still waiting on some photos from the big day, so I'll do another post when they come in. We came in a few days before the wedding so we had some time to visit with my big sister, Nancy. We took a trip to the Nature Museum down by the lake on the first day.

They had a neat butterfly room. Hundreds of butterflies flying freely in their own big room. Lucy was a little apprehensive at first, but then she thought it was pretty neat. Especially when this one landed on Daddy's brightly colored shirt.

Afterward, we had time to play in the leaves a bit. We just don't get the volume of leaves up here like they do in Chicago :(

On day 2, I was busy helping with my wedding duties for the big day so the family headed out with out me. They went down to Navy Pier and visited the Children's Museum. The main attraction for Lucy was all the water activities. They provided rain gear to keep your kids dry. From what I heard, she would have stayed there all day if she could have!

Finally some down time with cousin Jack at Aunt Nancy's house. Aren't they adorable?

Happy Halloween!

Lucy dressed up as a ladybug for Halloween this year. I think she was a little bit confused, but got the hang of it quickly. She helped pass out candy to the other kids and we went to a few houses on our block. She learned how to say "trick-or-treat", but was too shy to say it once anyone opened their door. Unfortunately for Lucy, we wouldn't let her actually eat any of her loot. She doesn't know what candy is yet though and she was thrilled to sort the tiny packages and take them in and out (and in and out and in and out) of her pail.

Brian used left over supplies from house projects (the french drain from last summer and the garage door insulation from this fall) to make a very shinny robot costume.

We also checked out Trick or Treat Town here in Anchorage. It was kind of a bust. Super crowded and too expensive. It was a good warm up to the real event though.

Baby Stats - 18 months

I went to the doctor today for my 18 month check up. Here's how I'm doing:

• Weight: 29 pounds 8 ounces (95%)
• Length: 33 inches (90%)
• Head: 49 centemeters (95%)

1 hour 45 minutes and 4 shots later and we were done. She was such a trooper!

Pigtails!

One of many reasons...

... I love living in Alaska. I got this lucky view on my way to the grocery store one evening.

Bubbles, bubbles, everywhere!

This was in September. Lucy put on her rainsuit for an afternoon of fun with bubbles. She chased bubbles with Daddy in the yard first.

Then she moved on to her play carwash.

Eagle River Nature Center

We took a trip out to the Eagle River Nature Center with my friend Jen and her twin boys Avery and Noah. It was a short hike down to the Beaver Pond. No beavers, but plenty of spawning salmon. They had signs posted warning of bear sightings so we were a little nervous. We got to a fork in the trail and another pair of hikers warned us away from one part of the trail, where they had just seen a grizzly. No bear encounters for us that day, thank goodness!

Lucy's checking out those fish!

Noah, Jen, Avery and a beautiful day.

Lucy with her boyfriends, Eeewee and Eeewee. She couldn't get the concept that they have different names. Maybe because they are always together?? She was really angling for Avery snacks, but he wasn't having it. Poor Noah was offering his, but she only had eyes for Avery that day. Little ones are so cute together!

Homer in the Fall

We had a great time in Homer at the end of summer. We took this trip in late August. The Jones' let us borrow their RV and it was perfect. We stayed out on the famous Homer Spit for three nights. We explored all the little shops, played on the beach, visited the local musuem and had a campfire. Lucy was in toddler heaven since she had the run of the RV plus all those rocks to throw on the beach!

Stopping to smell the flowers

A quick cuddle with mom.

Exhausted after a long day of fun!

The Mosers come for a visit

I know this is a really late post, but I didn't want to skip over this fun visit. It was rainy the whole time, but we still made the best of it! The first four pictures are of our hike in the Alaskan rainforest. It's about a mile and a half from Crow Creek Mine in Girdwood out to the bridge over Winner Creek gorge. Along the way, you have to use the hand tram to pull yourself over Glacier Creek canyon. It was a first for us too and it was just beautiful.

These next three are from our side trip up to Chelatna Lake. Brian's dad, Larry, built a cabin there and flew us out for the night. Unfortunately, we got weathered in for an extra night, but we made the best of it. Even though there seemed to be a never ending supply of rain, we got out in the boat and tried some fishing. The boys went on short hike too.

This was just a quick stop at Bird Point along the scenic Seward Highway to stretch our legs and take some photos.

This last picture is of Jack with his Uncle Brian panning for gold in Hatcher's Pass.

A walk at Beluga Point

It was a pretty calm day on the Turnagain Arm. We had a picnic lunch and took a walk around Beluga Point.

Airplane!

Awe, kisses for mommy

Bike riding with the family

Isn't she cute?

We had to stop for a snack.

Music at the library

There's a live band that plays kid music at the library. This was the last week, but we finally made it for one! Lucy loves all things musical and this was no exception.

Lucy with her little friend Rory...

... and Avery...

... and Noah.

Time to go home!