Pictures from, oh, about the past month!

Here goes my longest post so far! This will bring me up to date, starting with were I left off...Easter.

"Quick-nic" 2008
My family always goes on what we call a "Quick-nic" in Alaska, because it is too cold on Easter for a real picnic. They are short, on the side of the Seward Highway on your way to Girdwood or just after and half in the car and halfway out! Down here, we just try to keep them to 45 min max! This year was 30 minutes, I believe. Last year we went to this park and so we picked up Andy again and went to the same place. Poor kids, just when they really start to have fun, I tell them it is time to go. But that is what a "Quick-nic" is all about!
Wes was a bit nervous on the monkey bars, last year at this time is when he fell off the monkey bars and broke his humerus and was in a cast from his armpit to knuckles for 8 weeks! I made him stay up there until I got a picture. He just wanted Andy to stand by him.

Of course, anything Wes does, Brooke has to do. Andy was holding her so she wouldn't fall.

This wheel spins around, it was kinda hard to do with only one hand. Andy is a fun uncle to play with!

Wes' Piano Recital

Where are the pictures of Wes? Well, I took a video of him playing just for the blog and it turned out to be 189 MB and won't load! So all we have of this night is Brooke on the chair with his piano book!

Wes's teacher said he picks up playing the piano really fast. He is amazing when it comes to music. He has a true fascination for classical music. He is one smart boy. For the recital they got to choose which songs they wanted to play, he choose a song about a train and one about chimes (it sounds like chimes from a coo-coo clock).

Now let me introduce to you Brooke's first crush, Hayden. He is 10 years old and lives up the street. His mom and I are good friends. Brooke tells me everyday that, "Hayden awesome." , "I love a Hayden." and "Hayden a cool." Last year Hayden taught Brooke how to give hi-five. He thought that was pretty cool too, so now they are best friends. I really like this picture!

School Field Trip to Bean Museum

This picture is just in here from this past month to show you how tall Wes is! These are kids from his class. I think the little girl on the right is so stinking cute.

Toast and Jam
Brooke and Wes love toast and jam, however, when Brooke eats it, she always ends up looking like this!

Dinner With Becky's Family

One Sunday Becky's family came over for dinner, Brooke was especially excited. Lately she has been wanting to be called "Ashley" when she gets out of the bath and is all wrapped up in her towel and having her hair brushed.

Becky, Ashley (Brooke's cousin) and "Ashley"!

Becky decided to do Brooke's hair. I don't know how, but somehow it ended up in two braids, with one of them swooping around to meet the first! Pretty creative. Brooke loved it and once again did her princess dance.

Ahhh, Becky sleeping on our couch with Ashley.


Brooke Getting Her Ears Pierced

Brooke has been trying to pierce her own ears for a while now, so I finally took her in to have them done. Dave went next door and brought back a little drink of Orange Julious for her to help distract her.

She tells everyone "I have my earrings a pierced."

Spring Break Dinosaur Museum

One of our activities we did for spring break this year was go to the dinosaur museum with our neighbors, the Mason's. Brooke loved it and now is obsessed with dinosaurs.

The only reason this first picture is in here is so you can see that she really did have on a nice shirt at the beginning of the day at the museum.

There is an erosion table for the kids to play in. It has coarse sand and plastic trees and dinosaurs for the kids to play with and then every once in a while the water is let out and washes away what they worked so hard to build.
Brooke got her shirt so wet that I had to take it off of her and hang it over the stroller to dry out before we went back outside where it was windy and cold! So in the next few pictures you will see her in her onsie with her princess stickers plastered on it from using her potty earlier in the day (before getting ready to leave).

Hannah, Wes, and Emily playing.

Rachel and Brooke. Rachel hardly got dirty in the sand and water.

I turned the corner and Rachel and Brooke were right up in the sharks mouth! I thought it was cute. Sharks are another think Brooke is obsessed with, she is always talking about them.

At the dinosaur museum there are 13 gnomes in the wall murals. I took a close up of one of them here so you know what to look for next time anyone goes there. They are fun to find. I haven't found all of them yet, and they won't tell you where they are either.


My Model

One day I braided Brooke's hair and I asked her if she wanted me to take a picture of it for Papa, she said "Yyyyeeeesssss!" So we went into the front room and I let her do what ever she wanted, I didn't pose anything, I did open the blinds and that was all. The rest was up to her and I cracked up. You will see, I just sat in the corner and that was all, I didn't even prompt her. You will see why she is "My Model"

Seaka's 1st Hair Cut

Dave has been pressuring me to get rid of Brooke's "rocker mullet". That was part of the deal with her "earrings a pierced". So here are some before and after pictures at the salon. I took her to the girl that cuts my hair. Brooke had been eating chocolate that the receptionist gave her, so it is all around her mouth.



She loved getting her hair cut. For a couple of days before I would talk to her about it, what my friend Aimee was going to do, like spray her hair and comb it, put a drape on her and cut it with scissors. She sat completely still and smiled the entire time.

When she was finished she did her famous princess dance over and over for everyone who would watch her, they were all clapping and smiling at her. It was the cutest thing ever! So later that day we went back to the salon because a friend from out of town was getting her hair cut and when Amanda was finished, Brooke went right up to the chair and sat down and wanted her hair done again by Aimee! It was funny. Brooke is such a girl, Dave and I love it.


Dinner with Grandma Kay, Tepanyaki Style

Dave and I wanted to go to a movie the other night and Grandma had a better idea, going to dinner. So we went to Tepanyaki. It was a lot of fun. Brooke was terrified of the fire at all the stations and Wes was afraid of catching shrimp in his mouth.

Wes thought the chef's skills were pretty cool with the utensils here. Look at Brooke, she had the napkin on her head in anticipation of the fire. But the next thing he knew the grill was on fire!

Where did Wes go? Now you see him, now you don't. He ducked under the table once it lit up!

When it came time to catch the shrimp Wes was finally excited to try it and that made Brooke all excited. Between the two of them we were cracking up. She sat there with her mouth wide open waiting for one to fly right in. It didn't happen that way.

Wes tried and tried, with no success. You can see the shrimp in the air, which I think hit him in the face. They tried 4 or 5 times and non of them went in his mouth. Poor kid.

Thanks Grandma for a yummy dinner and left overs! We loved it.

Ahhh, finally, done. I need to get Wes's piano video working. He really is quite good at it.