Alaska Adventure...Finally!

You just have to go with the flow while you read this because its a little fragmented but that basically sums up our trip. We knew having four toddlers at different ages and stages would be quite entertaining and challenging.

The plane ride was a success, the airport wasn't! To much open space for Mason to run full blast. I was exhausted by the time we got on the plane and so was Mason...which was the plan. The first half of the 5.5 hour trip was spent playing iphone games, opening some silly gifts, and watching DVD's. The second half was spent sleeping...Mason sleeping. He could not get comfortable in his car seat so he slept on me. The wonderful grandma sitting with us was so sweet and kept giving Mason compliments on how great he was acting...if she only knew his other side:)

Since we arrived at night we could not see the gorgeous scenery awaiting us the next morning. I have been to Alaska a handful of times and everytime I am taken back by the scenery.

The Sims family lives in Eagle River which is about 30 minutes outside of Anchorage. They are surrounded by Mountains and we were there during the peak of the fall colors. GORGEOUS!

After a not so restful night of sleep and a two hour time change, we made it upstairs to see the house in the daylight. Mason was eager to attack the play room and Eme and Fischer woke to greet him. The last time I saw Emerson aka Eme was at my wedding, she was 6 weeks old. Now she is a vibrant, sweet and intelligent three year old. She says the funniest things and she loves Popsicles. She is a good mix of Kai and John and Mason is still talking about her.

The Sims Family has a seriously awesome playroom that spent most of its time looking like this. When you have four toddlers running the coop it is organized chaos.

Having toddlers did not lend to a lot of things we could do. We enjoyed going with the flow and participating in Fischer and Eme's activities. A fun grocery store run!

The backyard was quite fun as well.

The Sims house, amazing setting, amazing home.

The second night there I got to meet some great neighbors of Kai and John's. They have become really good friends of theirs and I was eager to finally meet them and their 3 beautiful children. Kai suggested after we got the kids to bed us girls go for a hike. I was little hesitant because I was exhausted but it was well worth it to have some adult time. I do have to admit the whole time we were walking in the dark (even though we were on a road) I was thinking Grizzly Bear..Moose...but the two of them seemed so relaxed so I figured Alaska girls are tough this Colorado girl can be too!

                                                                                                             

One of the days we joined Eme's class for a fieldtrip at the Eagle River Nature Center and Mason got introduced to some of the "departed" wildlife Alaska has to offer.

This grizzlies mouth was quite fascinating to Mason...he kept saying "Bite"...you got that right!

A grizzly bear's track.

I think I am more scared of Moose than grizzlies.

After a short but educational hike

We joined the rest of the class in a large yurt for story time and snacks.

and then headed down to the beaver ponds to see the Salmon spawning...they were huge and bright red. It was so fun to be a part of the field trip.

The logistics of having three toddlers in a car is a little much and when we added the fourth we had to add another car. But before Ruthie and Jack joined us, Mason was fully entertained being sandwiched between Fischer and Eme.

We also got to go to the local skating rink two days in a row. One for Eme's skating lesson and the next  for Fischer's hockey practice. They start them young in AK. Mason is still talking about skating which makes my dad excited because he played hockey growing up. We are planning to give it a try this winter.

Fischer is so cute and quite the competitor...I wonder where he gets that from?

After Fischer's hockey practice we hurried home to see Ruthie and Jack. They arrived a few days after Mason and I got there, they had an interim stop in Seattle to visit Ruthie's cousin.

Jack getting acclimated to the backyard while John helped them with their hitting.

Let me tell you Kai and John have wonderful children. Fischer is four and he is sweet, smart, and super kind to the little kids. He is such a good big brother. Mason just loved being around them.

Ruthie and Jack. Jack was the youngest of the bunch and thank goodness he is so easy going because Mason did not like sharing with Jack. Something we worked on and Kai had some great suggestions on how to do that.

Fischer took this picture for us, I let him use my camera which resulted in a lot of pictures around the neighborhood. I think he may have a new hobby.

We spent a lot of time at the Sims playground, swings are such a hit.

Our gracious hosts. Can you believe Kai is 19 weeks pregnant in this picture? Ok maybe hard to tell with her vest but she carries babies so well...anyways, this is the elementary school John attended and most likely where Fischer and Eme and baby to be will go.

Mason loved this swing. He also said his name for the first time while swinging here. Kind of a big moment when he realized his name is not Matt:)

Those Sims are some serious swingers...get your mind out of the gutter.

One of the last days we decided to take the kids to the "House of Bounce." A great energy depletor. Jack was happy to do the jumping in the safety of his Mama's arms.

Love you girls and Jack too!

I would like one of these bounce houses in our yard. Mason climbed this thing a lot and was wiped out after.

Ruthie and Jack got in on the action too!

Jack is so stinking cute and such a Happy little soul.

     

After House of Bounce we headed into downtown Anchorage for lunch at the Brew House...a little daring with four kids but they did great. And the meal was awesome too.

Eme eating her clam chowder, she cracks me up. She wanted to try tomato juice and she liked it. This girl loves tomato's.

Oh this is why lunch was easy...because Mason slept through it! This never happens...meaning Mason falling asleep on me in a restaurant. I tell you House of Bounce where's em' out.

                                                                                                                                        

 

Our last day there we woke to foggy rainy/snowing weather. We drove Ruthie and Jack to the airport in the morning and headed back to hang out until our flight. While Mason took a four hour nap, Kai and I drove around Eagle River in search of Jalapenos. Then she taught me how to make jalapeno jelly. Kai and her fun cooking ideas. It was delish and I got to take some home.

The clouds cleared later that day and the snow covered mountains were spectacular. What a lasting picture. So after a lovely dinner, we packed our things, said our goodbyes and headed to the airport.

Mason and I were on a 11:00 PM flight out of Anchorage AKA the "RED EYE." His four hour nap was a blessing because he was able to run around the airport. I checked the car seat on the way back thinking he would be able to sprawl out...he did great on the flight but did not sleep a lot. The flight was full...hot...and there was a medical emergency half way, the person was ok.

Again thank god for the wonderful Grandfather sitting with us who let Mason try to sleep on him, kick him and look at his Dr. Seuss iPhone apps.

We had a wonderful trip with lots of lasting memories. Thank you Sims family for having us.

Mason is talking so much more, he made three wonderful friends, and every time we pull out a winter hat, he says "Alaska hat."

I loved being able to spend time with friends, learned some new parenting tips and great recipes, and really enjoyed being with all the kiddos. Plus now I know Mason can travel to Hawaii:)

BUT we do have to say we were really excited to see this handsome face in Denver.

Old picture but you get the point!

Sorta Cold Turkey, ABC's and Art, and No No doggie

Just a quick update about "kick'n the baba" for those who are wondering if I stuck to it...I DID, it never entered the crib with him but he did get one bottle when he got up in the morning:) So he has taken two naps and gone to bed without it!

I think it is weird that something this insignificant seems so SIGNIFICANT. I am trying to put my selfish emotions aside, every time I wash a bottle or take them out of the dishwasher I want to cry...my baby is growing up! And than I want to procreate so we can have more babies around to give bottles to. Is that how people end up with 19 kids? Oh wow, glad I had that thought.

Anyways, Mason is handling this transition much better than I thought. Its seems as though he wants to give them up and be a big boy but he is sad about it. He is lost at bedtime, squirming around, chewing on his blanket like its a piece of nicorette gum. He trys to not ask for them and if he does he immediately asks for juice right after. He refuses to drink Milk out of a sippy but we will keep trying. Maybe this is a preparation for potty training and moving to a regular bed?

Warning bragging mom moment, last night Mason recited his ABC's in full...seriously adorable. I love the L mnop part he kind of clumps it together!

We are also loving our art class at the Golden Community Center..OK maybe I love it more than Mason because he would rather stare at the attractive blond teacher and run around with the glue stick. I realized yesterday during class that I have some control issues...ya no shocker there...but when we were doing the cutting part I couldn't let him do it. I needed the lines cut straight and the tree glued on decently. I kept telling myself "Micah these are two year olds", gonna have to work on letting his creative juices flow and suppressing my type A juices. 

I also caught our furry yellow child doing this yesterday, WTF Fisher you know you are not suppose to lay on our couches! Only at Grandma and Grandpa's is this allowed. But really can you blame the poor guy, hard wood floors that are cold are far less appealing than the couch. Someone recently asked me "Do you still have your dogs? I never see them on your blog." Well here you go, we still love them and spoil them but some other golden haired child took first seat...I guess that is what happens.

One more thing: I sware we went to Alaska and if Blogger would stopping being a bad word I will post pictures, hopefully soon.

Cold Turkey

This is one of those things I am not proud of as a mom. One of those things that I have sat in judgement by friends, the pediatrician, and all those books I read about parenting, one of those things that I know could ruin his baby teeth...but still I do did it. Putting Mason to bed with a bottle...there I said it. I know its not like I am handing him crack cocaine but it is something I feel a lot of guilt about. His bottle is his crutch, its our crutch! A sleep mechanism which allowed us the path of least resistance to get SLEEP! Something I did not have a lot of his first 9 months and now bask in almost every night.

We have been talking about kicking his habit for the past months always coming up with some reason we didn't want to commit.

This is how my afternoon went: pick Mason up from Marilyn around 4:30 and she tells me he is kind of grumpy today...well I have nothing for dinner so a late afternoon grocery store run is a must...this  resulted in a uber tantrum over Elmo canned soup which he threw out of the cart and I promptly took away...at home the grocery store trip from hell was put to shame by incomprehensible tears, screaming and flailing at the dinner table because we would not turn on the TV to watch Elmo Potty Time for the 400th time this week...we decided it was bed time.

We did put him down with a bottle, which was thrown at the wall after being finished with a request for "more baba" and "I want out"...we did not refill the bottle and he did not get out, we just decided "No time like the present." Wow I sound like I am bragging but really I am just insane!

So here I am an hour after listening to Mason scream and cry "Mama" and "Dada". After going in every 10 minutes to lay him back down while dodging his favorite lovies being chucked at us...it is quiet...and I am sobbing. Every cell in my being hurts because I wanted to give in so bad to him. To make his pain go away but I knew I couldn't, that and Matt wouldn't let me.

 I know there are much bigger problems in the world than my current parenting dilemma, that I will laughg about this one day, and that really this is part of being a parent but for now our little Team Entrada world feels spun around...today is a start...please wish me luck for tomorrow, my enforcer will be at work!

In the mean time

While I organize our Alaska pictures I will post a recap our lovely first weekend in October, priceless really!

I started it off with lunch with two of my dearest friends and favorite little Sawyer at the Cheesecake factory! Counting down the days for Kathryn, isn't she beaming and gorgeous!

 We then did a "toddler" makeover on Mason's room. After our Alaska visit I knew Mason was ready for a table and chair set and some other functional furniture in his room. So I went to a Firefly Furnishings http://www.fireflyfurnishings.com/ in Cherry Creek in search of a floor model. I bargained the owner down and got a $200.00 savings on this great table and two chairs.

We also took some time to appreciate this gorgeous state we live in. We headed up Golden Gate Canyon and stopped at their nature center to get a park pass. This bear has nothing on the Alaska grizzlies but fun all the same.

They have some seriously huge trout at this place, Matt was drooling wishing he could hook one.

Instead we used a quarter at the fish-food machine and let Mason feed them. He got quite a kick out of this.

A few photo oops.

Make my heart melt, will ya?

This is a little out of place it was suppose to start this section but I am feeling lazy and don't want to deal with blogger...so here it will stay.

We drove the loop from golden gate around to Black Hawk and the colors were still beaming in some sections.

I bet a week ago they would have been even more stunning, but I did get my fix in Alaska!

Saturday morning I hit up the Golden Farmer's market for its last weekend this season. I bought a lot of apples! After coring and pealing over 20 apples I made my first from scratch Apple pie. I also made applesauce which I hadn't done in a year because I use to make it for Mason a little to frequently. He ate it like he was meeting up with an old friend. But back to my pie, it was seriously great. I make pies a bit because my husband is a "pie guy not a cake guy" but his fruit of choice would be cherry. He complimented the baker immediately with the best compliment, "the crust is awesome." Thanks Grandma June, your pie crusts were always the best.