We had such a wonderful Easter today and it felt so nice to have such a happy day after the last two Easters (You may recall, but if not, check it out here and here.)
Daddy and I were grumbling quite a bit when the alarm rang at 5:00 am, but it was so worth it! It was amazingly beautiful at the glacier this morning with the fog rolling in and the hint of a sunrise behind the clouds. These pictures don't really do it justice at all, but here's where we had our Easter service this morning. When it's a beautiful day in Juneau, there really is no more beautiful place on earth and we were blessed with that today! Quite fitting, don't you think? :)
Here's Dane at the service. I managed not to take too many shots as it was rather cold without my mittens on. :)
After the service, we went home to find out what the Easter Bunny left us. The boys were pretty excited with the the chocolate bunny, Legos, and Bubble gun machine they got.
After the excitement of the indoor Easter egg hunt and Easter egg basket opening had died down, we took advantage of the beautiful day and went for a bike ride to our neighborhood park.
A snapshot of our Easter lunch.
We also enjoyed lots of great Facetime conversations! What an amazing thing technology is - it felt like we had our morning chai tea with Nannie and Guy and our lunch with Auntie Amy and Uncle Tim! Our afternoon was topped with a wonderful conversation with Grandma Heidi and Auntie Mary. Doesn't get much better than that!
We enrolled Dane in karate a few months ago and he immediately fell in love. Jaeger was just watching from the sidelines until one afternoon Sensei Young invited him to join the class because several students were absent. Despite being so small and young, Jaeger did great and Sensei Young officially added him to his roster! He is beyond thrilled to be participating with his very own Gi just like Dane. :)
Here's Jaeger before he was an official member. Sensei Young is the man squatting down behind Dane. And, by the way, he's a FIREFIGHTER!!! Needless to say, the boys think he's pretty cool. :)
Mokuso - Each class begins and ends with a short quiet or meditation time.
Here they are running around the gym. They love this part of the class and there is always lots of giggling.
And below here they are about to practice some of their karate moves with a partner.
It was absolutely gorgeous (COLD though!) last week, so we thought we'd pull the Eurovan out of the hangar and take it for a spin last night. We had such a great time driving the open road once again. The boys were SO EXCITED to get back in the Eurovan. I guess they have pretty fond memories of our summer trip.
We headed to Eagle Beach to watch an amazing sunset and ate our dinner in front of a million dollar view. We're all ready for more fun and adventures this spring and summer. :)
I can't believe how long it's been since I've last blogged!! I hope I can remember how to do it. :) I'd have to blame my absence on the iPad. It's way too easy to sit on my couch these days looking at my favorite websites, then post to my own (which I can't do from the iPad!) Hopefully, I'll get back into the groove. :) It doesn't hurt to be given a push every now and again though (hint hint --- Nannie and Guy! ;) )
December was a WONDERFUL month!! Not only did we have all the magic Christmas brings, but we got to have some amazing visitors too. At the beginning of the month, one of my most favorite people came to visit us...Auntie Mary. The boys and I absolutely LOVED having her here. It was the perfect way to ring in the Christmas season. We spent time making cookies, cross country skiing, listening to Christmas music, visiting all the downtown shops on a special Friday night gallery event, sledding, reading stories to the boys, and just spending quality time together drinking tea (or wine -- depending on what time it was!) in our pjs. It truly was blissful and I was already wanting more the second she got on the plane to head back to California. Actually, I'm getting a wee bit teary eyed right now seeing all of these photos. Come back Auntie Mary (the house next door is still for sale!)
Here we are out on the trail.
The boys absolutely adored Auntie Mary!
Making bracelets early one morning. And sweet Auntie Mary was on her hands and knees picking up every last bead that inevitably dropped out of the container! (Well, almost every last bead - we did just find one last week!)
And her she is reading the nightly Christmas story to the boys while they indulge in hot chocolate. This was a new tradition that we started this year and one we'll definitely continue to do in future years. I wrapped 24 Christmas books and put them under the tree on December 1 and each day we opened a new one. The boys sipped on hot chocolate while we read the stories. They really looked forward to opening up a new book each day.
Making Auntie Mary's Grandma's famous Rooster cookies with Jaeger Ray.
While cross country skiing one morning, we had quite a scare. Mary was directly under a tree that dumped a ridiculous amount of snow and she was covered in snow. The scariest part was the sound - it sounded like an avalanche was heading our way!
More fun pictures below.
As if having Auntie Mary here wasn't enough, the cherry on top was having my Mom and Mike here for Christmas! OH...MY....we were in Heaven!! Our Christmas could not have been any more perfect. Having Grandma and Grandpa here was so much fun. It was a Christmas that we will cherish forever.
Jaeger Ray absolutely LOVES Grandpa Mike! And I think the feeling is pretty mutual. ;) Here they are giggling after Jaeger played with Grandpa's beard for what seemed like hours.
Dr. Dane in action. Anyone need a kidney taken out? If so, he's your guy.
(Grandma Heidi was so patient!!! She played doctor, policeman, firefighter, pirates and what ever else the boys could imagine for HOURS!!! She's amazing! And on top of that, she managed to keep the house clean, do our laundry and make us dinner!)
A beautiful day for a walk on the glacier!
We went sledding at the glacier one afternoon and I'd have to say that these two youngins' had the best time of all!!!
The boys loved watching silly videos online with Grandpa and somehow it became our nightly routine. We'd all pile into Grandma and Grandpa's bed and watch a few videos before sleepytime. It was a blast and the boys loved doing this.
Here was our all time favorite video that we all loved watching OVER and OVER again. In fact, I just watched it again and was cracking up!!
A sweet group picture! We love you Grandma and Grandpa! And we want you to come back - like right now!!!! :)
Here are some other fun December pictures.
Jaeger Ray and the big guy! :)
Here's Jaeger all decked out for his Christmas program at school. I just love the picture of him dancing on his way up to the stands. This kid is such a HAM!
A few Christmas morning shots!
And, lastly, here is Dane's gift from Santa! I imagine Dane threw good 'Ol Saint Nick for a loop when he asked for pixie dust, but Santa didn't even blink an eye and he managed to make it happen. :)
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A few Christmas morning shots!
