Mt. Redoubt

Mt. Redoubt has been blowing steam and spewing ash for a couple of weeks now. We've had a small amount of ash. Today we went for a little drive and got a couple of pictures of it. I'm still learning how to use our new camera...suppose I should read the manual again. Apparently I missed something because most of the pictures came out blurry.

Josh has been working 5 10hrs days in Homer during the week on the hospital there. He comes home on the weekends. This morning he stayed home with kids while I got to go have coffee with some of the church ladies and then got my cut too. It was nice to get out by myself.

Here's a cute video of Ryan playing his little music box, bouncing and clapping. He's still not 'crawling' at 11 months old but he still gets around by scooting on his bottom. He's pulling up on furniture and standing.

Another beautiful but cold day.

The sun was out but the wind was a bit chilly. Haley, Nathan and I went out to play. Ryan doesn't like the wind so we waited until he napped like we usually do when it's too cold for him. We went sledding down the road/hill that turns into our driveway. We live at the end of the road. Nathan, the silly boy walked back to the house and came back with his Tonka Truck and told me he wanted to ride it down the hill. I think I mentioned in a blog this last fall about him crashing the same one in the ditch. Anyhow no crashing this time and he had fun.

Haley, Nathan and Josh on the snowmachine.

Here are some recent pictures of Ryan. He's got 4 teeth and 2 more trying to get through. He's teething just like Nathan did...one right after the other, it's been rough!

What a beautiful day!

Today was the start of the Last Great Race, The Iditarod. We watched the start this morning on tv. The sun came out and it warmed up so we decided to take a drive up to Skilak Lake. It's a nice (approx. 20 mile) dirt road off the main highway. There are several lakes, camping places and hiking trails along the way. A local recreation area. Some people even own cabins on Caribou Island in the middle of Skilak Lake. They take a boat in the summer and a snowmachine in the winter. Here's a map of our adventure, I tried to start it from our house but apparently Google is a little off.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Salmon+Cir,+Soldotna,+Kenai+Peninsula,+Alaska+99669&daddr=S-480%2FSkilak+Lake+Rd+to:60.528239,-150.56488&geocode=%3BFaCJmgMdWiEM9w%3B&hl=en&mra=dme&mrcr=1&mrsp=2&sz=10&sll=60.579548,-150.757141&sspn=0.265108,0.707245&ie=UTF8&ll=60.555929,-150.757141&spn=0.265302,0.707245&z=10
Anyway I packed some snacks & water, the kids' snow gear and an extra blanket (just in case). Josh threw in the snow shovel and tow chain (just in case) *wink*. There aren't many people up there this time of year so we had to be prepared. It's bear country too...but they should still be snoozing.
The boys slept the whole way so we didn't really get out of the van many times. There was quite a bit of snow on the road. We had to keep the wheels spinning so we wouldn't get stuck. It was nice to get away for a couple hours and just drive.

Pretty view of snow covered mountains.

Looking across Skilak Lake.

Snowmachine tracks on the lake.

Josh & Haley checking out the view

This is what they were looking at. The kenai River flows in on the left side.

Who needs sand and a warm beach?

We got more snow!! Josh had to work Saturday so it was just the kids and I. I took Haley and Nathan outside while Ryan napped, don't worry I took the phone monitor with me so I could hear if he woke in between checking on him every little bit. :) That way I didn't have to bundle him up only to have him out for a few minutes. He's not very fond of winter yet...he must get that from his mother. ;) We attempted to make a snow castle but that soon became frustrating as the boy in Nathan wanted to destroy it as soon as we would mold it!

Mermaid haha

Then we decided to do a little sledding. Did I mention we got a new camera? I'm still trying to figure it out but I love it so far. I don't miss as many shots anymore. You know...the funny ones you always miss?!

NOOOO NATHAN NOT YET!!!!!!

Weeeeeee

I can't forget pictures of Ryan so I'm putting in a few of those and a video of him jumping in the Jumperoo. He gets so excited. :) He is 10 months old now.

I thought this was cute.

Mmmm Chocolate for breakfast!

Happy Valentine's Day! We don't have any special plans for today. We might rent some movies and hang around the house. Ryan woke at 7am...so much for sleeping in on the weekend hehehe. I nursed him for a while then we cuddled in bed until around 7:30. I just got done pooring the water into the coffee pot when Haley came out and Nathan followed a few minutes behind her. I gave them their Valentine's chocolates and they wanted "just one Mommy". Haley was a good girl and ate only one but Nathan snuck a 2nd one, the little stinker.