Thunderbird Falls

Remember this tree Aunt Teresa?

Wednesday has come and gone and so has another field trip!!! We chose Thunderbird Falls for this weeks adventure. It has FINALLY felt like summer here the last few days so we wanted to take advantage of the sunny weather. We brought along Lexi's friend Grace which actually worked out really well because she was able to take pictures of all of us together. I was on the other side of the camera for a change!!! The down side is that it is WAY hard to get three children to look at the camera and smile nicely all at the same time. We have lots of pics but none of them turned out to be spectacular. Oh well...at least we documented the day right?!? It had been forever since I had hiked to the falls. They were alot bigger as I remembered....but then again I was alot smaller way back when!

Ole 556

One field trip down, eleven to go. Last week Jeremy forgot his cell phone at home and rather than field the 1001 calls he gets a day I decided to make a quick trip into Anchorage and hand deliver his phone. What a wife huh! :) With gas prices so astronomical I decided it was the perfect opportunity to stop at the park strip and see the "legendary" Ole 556. This year Lexi read the book Ole 556 for the Battle of the Books. It is a book about the first train on the Alaska Railroad and how it saved the day when a "new" modern train got into trouble. It was actually an interesting book with alot of Alaskan facts about the railroad. When Ole 556 was retired it was made into a monument on the park strip. After reading the book the girls really wanted to see the "first train in AK!" A few pics to capture the moment! Landin really thought it was cool and he thought it was even better when he found a ball to throw around.

This weekend at the cabin...

We had a rare find at the cabin this weekend. While four wheeling in the woods Jeremy and the kids spotted a bear skull. They brought it back to the cabin along with a vertebra. It was pretty cool. Later that day the kids took me out four wheeling and wanted to show me where they found the skull. When we got there I did a little digging and found nearly the entire skeleton!!! I decided to turn it into a little science project and we took it back to the cabin to reassemble it. The owl pellet (we dissected owl pellets and reassembled mice skeleton) day in Lexi's class turned out to be very useful information. It was great fun and I think I may have enjoyed it more than the kids did. :) I am sad to say I did not do to well with the pictures but I got a few.

Before the ribs


The sun was really bright!!!

Summer Vacation Plans!!!

It has been a LONG winter and I want to get out a enjoy the summer as much as possible so I have devised a schedule for the summer. Here it is, I hope it works out.

Monday: catch up/clean up days
Tuesday: Nana day ..... My mom is awesome and takes the kids ALL day so I can have
a "day off" and Jeremy and I can have a date night. Thanks Mom ...
I love you and I love Tuesdays!
Wednesday: Field trip day ( more about that in a second )
Thursday: Errand day... also library and go visit JC day
Friday: Free day
Weekend: Family adventures

Ok more about the field trip days. I figure we have 12 weeks until school starts again so I have made a list of twelve activities so that we can pick one out for every week. Here they are:

1.climb the butte
2.hike Thunderbird Falls
3.Go see 'ole 556.....the first train in the Alaska railroad it is located on the park strip in Anchorage. Lexi read a book about it and now the kids want to go and see it.
4.Go to the Anchorage museum
5.Go to the Wasilla museum and the park probably
6.Go berry picking
7.Go to the u-pick farm
8.Take the kids on a camping trip with "just mom"
9.spend a week at the cabin
10.hike Lazy mountain
11.go fishing
12.go on a bike ride...probably the coastal trail

So there it is, our summer vacation. The list is not set in stone so if you have better suggestions let me know. Stay tuned for pictures as I am sure I will be blogging most of our adventures.

Smooth transition.....not so much.

Ok, well we survived the "transition week" from school to summer vacation. You know, the week that everybody adjusts to being home ALL the time, entertaining themselves, and playing (or bickering) with their brothers and sisters full time. Meanwhile mom has to adjust to three kids and three trails of mess instead of one. It was not easy, in all my anticipation of this fun filled summer I have planned I forgot all about the dreaded "transition week." Since I was falsely floating blissfully into summer vacation, good ole Murphy or Mother Nature or whatever you want to call it threw me a few curve balls. It started with Landin coming down with some sort of cold/flu. Usually when one of my kids get sick it is really no big deal, they just lay on the couch, watch a few movies, take a few naps and then "presto" they are well and off playing in no time. Not the case with Landin.... I personally think it is because he is a MAN!!!! It is a well known fact that men are terrible sick people, I have concluded that this fact also includes little men. All he wanted to do was to have me hold him and watch his airplane movie on the couch. If I got two feet away he would whine and cry, not to mention he hardly slept...day or night. If I am just sitting on the couch watching airplanes you can imagine what my house is starting to look like, and how high my laundry is starting to pile. On top of that it was cold and windy outside so the girls were stuck inside for the week. Just as we were starting to see daylight Lainie had a trip to the ER to get a few stitches in her head. Let me tell you now that:

giant conch shell + shelf + gravity + head = 3 stitches in the back of the head

Lainie was a champ though, she took the stitches without a wince and is back to normal. No worse for the wear... we made it and are into the second week of summer vacation!

Lainie's head after the stitches

One of the RARE naps Landin took while sick...poor baby :(

My son is so stinking cute!!!

I might be a little biased but he really is stinking cute!!! :) All these posts about the girls, I just had to add one about our little man. He is a total boy through and through! Guns, airplanes, tools, and growling at things are his major interests these days. He just had to shoot the .22 this past weekend because big sis was. There was no way he was going to be happy until he did. He kept yelling "NUN, NUN!" It was really cute, Dad and Grandpa loved it despite the gun was pink!!

Lexi's last day of school

I am also officially the mother of a fourth grader. Can you believe it...FOURTH grade? I can't, it doesn't seem like that much time has passed. It has though and the fact of the matter is that almost 10 years of the mold able 18 years that we have are OVER!!! That is over half. People keep saying that time goes faster the older I get, I can't get any older because it really can't go any faster. Ok enough about me and my mini freak out. Lexi had a really unique third grade. Her teacher's name was Mr. Nighswonger, this was her first male teacher and his teaching style was very different than anything else that she will probably have the rest of her school career. She learned so much this year and really blossomed in herself throughout the year. Mr. Nighswonger keyed into both her strengths and weaknesses and turned everything into strengths. I know he has impacted and changed her forever. It was an extremely fun and interesting year. A few highlights of her field day.

Lainie's last day of school

Summer vacation has finally arrived! I am super stoked!!!!! I officially am the mother of a first grader. This I am not super stoked about. I can not believe that my little baby girl is growing up so fast. She had a great year in kindergarten with the best kindergarten teacher EVER. My children have been so blessed to have had Mrs. Bates for their first teacher. (Lexi also had her) She has been the perfect person to bridge the gap between the comfortable,sheltered home life and the harsh realities of the world they are entering... without their mommy by their side!!! It comforts me to know that I already have her booked for Landin. :) Lainie has grown so much this year and has learned even more. Watch out first grade here she comes!!!
The kids had "field day" today in honor of the last day. The school rented inflatable play things and had water games. Jeremy and I went and spent the whole day with the girls. Here are a few highlights of the day.

A trip around town!

Lexi had her end of the year trip a couple weeks ago. It was a walking field trip around town. Lainie also had her Mothers day/end of the year program at school that afternoon. It was a busy day for me!!! We started by walking to the Dorothy Page Museum, which was surprisingly interesting! Who knew? We are planning to go back this summer so we can explore and enjoy a little more of what it has to offer. Seventy third graders spoils the atmosphere of a museum just a little. :) After the museum we started across town to Wonderland Park to eat lunch and burn a little energy. When we got to Wonderland I snapped a couple pictures of the kids eating lunch and then it was back to the school to get a good seat for the program. Lainie was so cute, she was one of the "three blind mice" in one of the skits. As I sat there watching my little girl growing up right in front of me I remembered it wasn't that long ago that I sat in this very same spot listening to my other grown up little girl sing these very same songs about how much they love me, and how quickly they are growing up and sprouting wings! Talk about a tear jerker!!! When they were finished with the program Lainie took me into the classroom where she served cake and punch while presenting me with all sorts of homemade goodies. It was a special time. Finished up with the program I put Lainie and Landin into the car with Grandma and she dropped me off at the City Hall where I met back up with Lexi and the troop. We met with the Mayor and elected city officials to have a public hearing. Lexi missed being elected Mayor by one vote! When the hearing discussing the "prized pea eating rabbits" ended the kids collected their free loot courtesy of the city and we hightailed it back to the school. All in all it was a great day.

Lainie is no longer a kindegartner!

The caribou were REALLY stinky!!!


Thank You Mrs. Bates...get ready for Landin!!!

Well, it is official, Lainie is officially a "grade schooler." Even though there are two days left of school, the kindegarten "zoo field trip" marks the end of your kindegarten career. I was able to go on the field trip this time. (Lexi's zoo field trip was the day after I got my wisdom teeth pulled) Grandma Patti and Landin tagged along. It was REALLY cold. I think summer almost forgot us this year, and I am really bitter about it... but that is another blog altogether.

Landin's dedication

My Mothers Day was extra special this year, we had Landin dedicated at church. Dedication is a public announcement for the family to say that they are dedicating their child to the Lord and they pledge to raise the child up to know what Jesus Christ our Savior stands for and who he is. We also ask our church family to keep us accountable to this. It is such a blessing to be able to have our church family there and witness this occasion , but to have my parents and brother, Jeremy's parents and siblings, lots of cousins, and Grammie there, to stand with us in the ceremony, now that is an extra special blessing!!! You may notice that Landin is wearing a dress. There is a very good reason for this. That dress is 120 years old and has had five generations of Pepperds dedicated in that very dress. It was originally Greg's grandfathers dress and it has been passed down generation to generation. All of my children have now been dedicated in the same dress that their father, grandfather and two great's have been. What a Christian legacy!

We're gonna try this!?!

For months now I have been reading all of my friends wonderful, beautiful blogs and every time I think "WOW, how neat! What a great way to archive your everyday life for friends and family." With school coming to an end (2 days left... YAY!!!) and the plans of a very eventful and fun filled summer on the horizon, I decided that I might be able to pull off an interesting enough blog to keep you all entertained. I am making no promises though. :) So here it goes, we'll see what happens, or I should say... You'll see what happens!!! Stay tuned.