Fun With Gee Gee

Grandma McGee, affectionately known as Gee Gee, Geekmeister, Geekasauras, Geekapotamus,

Geekarooni, and just plain Geek came to visit us in Fairbanks for about 2 1/2 weeks.

We LOVED having her here and we did so many fun things.

Chance took this picture right before Kelly and Marianne left for their fishing trip to Valdez.

We stopped by Santa Claus House to visit the red suited man, but he was in his workshop apparently, so we sat in his chair anyway.

Kelly and Marianne came home with 5 of these salmon after a long day of fishing.

Apparently it was a little slow that day!

We went cranberry picking at Birch Hill ski trails.

We came prepared with Ice Cream buckets and all.

This is Evelyn and Julia, some friends of ours that picked berries and ran up and down the trails with us too. It was LOTS of fun.

One day we went on a formal goldpanning tour and got to ride a train and listen to a presentation. However, on this day we went to a little creek that had some "paydirt" close by that we could pan for. Kelly found just a little bit.

Hunter is very good at panning for gold and enjoys it too.

Kelly is REALLY addicted though!

This is Marianne yelling "Big Money, come on Big Money!!!"

(That's not really what she was saying, but it was funny anyhow.)

Chance mostly just liked to throw dirt and rocks and splash Hunter.

Hunter and Chance found this big hole and with Dad's help they filled it up with water and it became a .............

SWIMMING HOLE!!!!!!!

Marianne became the official storybook reader in our house for two weeks.

She also did lots of dishes, swept floors, folded laundry etc... I didn't intend to make her work, but she did and I ENJOYED and APPRECIATED the extra hands.

This HOT MAMA turned 61 while she was here and we celebrated with homemade REAL BLUEBERRY pancakes for breakfast.

Chance was sad that it wasn't his birthday, but did enjoy singing to Gee Gee.

Hunter had his first day of preschool while Marianne was in town. He is really enjoying spending time with friends and learning new things.

This HOTTIE turned 35 the day after Marianne's birthday. He requested BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE for his birthday dessert. It really was delicious.

Happy Birthday LUV!

Kelly also decided that he was tired of giving himself a haircut and the boys should do it for him.

So they did, and boy did they have fun!

Turned out great...don't you think?

We played lots of hockey while Geek was here to show her our MOVES.

We improvise for skates on the laminate flooring.

Chancey prefers his high heel Fisher Price stacking rings.

These two are something else.

We tried to take some cute pictures, but somebody needed a nap (hint: it wasn't Gee Gee).

This is the best we ended up with for now.

We love having Geekarooni come and stay with us, we hope she will do it again and again!!

This One Can Go In The Record Books!!

It was a nice peaceful Sunday evening. Chance was tired for lack of nap, so while we waited for the lasagna to cook, I let him take a little rest on me. It was sweet and SWEATY!

Chance is a HOT sleeper.

It was nice to have some quiet time together before this happened.........

Yes, look at that!!!! One big whoppin' goose egg!!

It looks like he has an extra piece of bone on his head from this view.

Lovely!

So, here is the story. Chance and Hunter were playing superheroes. Chance was spiderman, with a cool outfit and mask on. Well, Chance was running full speed ahead into his bedroom when he tripped over the legs of the costume (it is too big for him), and slid into the leg of the bed, right on the corner.

Kelly was in the room when it happened, but thought that he just bonked his head a little bit, but when the cries came out they proved to be something more than a little bonk. Kelly took of the mask, and it was AMAZING! Really, we have never seen someone's head get so big, so fast.

It was really so sad!

Later, after he calmed down and rested for a minute we took him to the bathroom mirror so he could see the damage. The look on his face was PRICELESS! It was the "Oh my word, I am so embarrased by this huge knot on my head, what am I going to do? There is no way I can go out in public" sort of look. He really looked disgusted with himself.

He looked up from the mirror still mad and we smiled and he started laughing, and looking in the mirror some more.

He seems to have recovered okay. He points at it and touches it occasionally, it really is still quite big. And I really do think this one is for the record books!

No Girls Allowed....Except for House Cleaning Purposes!!!!!

PRESENTING.....The log cabin that Kelly built!

Complete with door, two windows, a wood floor, and a non-leaking roof.


Time for a Camp Out!
Complete with Ramen Noodles cooked on the propane stove.

YummY!

What a handsome husband I have, and so talented too!

(He had a Mountain House meal instead of Ramen)

After dinner and some hot chocolate, the boys got Jammied up and we arranged the floor pad and sleeping bags.

Look how happy they are!

Daddy and Chance getting ready to get snugged down for the night.

(Note the window to the right, it is a REAL window with plexiglass framed in)

Warm and snuggy!

My three little campers

They told stories and made jokes, and had a great night. They fell asleep and stayed nice an warm. The only negative comment I heard was from Kelly and it was, "I don't think that cabin is made for a me to sleep in." He was pretty sore and tired the next day.

Fun Times At Chena Lakes

My friend Lora called and invited us to go to the lake. It wasn't the most gorgeous, warmest day to go, but we still had fun.

Hunter rode the Alligator

Chance shoveled the sand, and filled several buckets.

This is FUN!!!

We did have fun in the water too. However, it was just a little cooler than we like.

This is Lora with her twins Hayden and Canyon.

She is amazing and just goes about life as usual, even with twins.

Nothing stops this girl!!

One of our Blueberry Picking Trips

Here are a few pictures from one of our blueberry picking trips.

All in all we gathered about 3 gallons of blueberries all together. We are glad they freeze so well, so that we can enjoy them year round.

Chance is really good at picking the berries as long as they go straight to his mouth!

Daddy and his boys

Momma and her boys

Pickin' Pickin' Pickin

We love to pick blueberries!

And you thought Alaskans were WEIRD!?!

I admit that I knew Alaskans and had Canadian roomates who were completely weird.

I think about those people often and now wonder if we are the weirdos :)

Gardening in our underwear, ankle socks, and tennis shoes with a plastic spoon.

Constructing with a pee diaper, NO socks, and crazy crooked goggles.

We might be weird, crazy Alaskans, but we sure do have fun!!!

Gone Campin'

I have to start my blog with this picture even though it happened at the END

of our camping trip after we got home.

Chance is not really peeing, seeing that he isn't potty trained.

Maybe he is thinking that it would be very cool to pee outside though.

We hadn't officially gone camping this year, so we decided we needed to hurry and do it because our summer is quickly going to turn to fall.

We saw some wildlife on our trip, and Chance seemed to think this one was the most scary.



It was so funny to see him so terrified. I guess we must tell too many scary bear stories at our house.

Kelly was our camp cook. The most I ever had to do for meal prep. was boil some water.

Now that is AWESOME!!

Thanks Kel!

This was a beautiful SHALLOW lake that we camped next to, which had no fish in it.

DARN!

But we did go wade in it and fill up our squirt guns.

Chance really would be outside full time if we would let him.

Brace yourselves because I am about to reveal a fun camping activity.

I drew faces, monsters, houses, people, animals and lakes on rocks and the boys

thought they had died and gone to heaven. They played with these for hours.

Kelly asked, "Why do we buy toys???"

Little Camper

He really was playing with his shadow. It was fun to watch him trying to figure it out.

Hunter was our camp musician. He got a recorder for his birthday from his friend Maren, and he really had us rockin' out to some crazy campin' tunes.

The dirty camping faces that only a mother could love.

They are so dirty, but so cute!

Hunter discovered a great love of photography while we were in the wilderness. He took LOTS of pictures.

(Another face only a mother could love.)

This is a lovely picture of the truck taken by Hunter.

Candid shot of his brother

The beautiful view

A happy Dad

We saw this caribou as we were driving out of our camping area

We had a fun time together as a family. We spent time laughing, picking berries, relaxing, telling stories, singing, and staying warm by the campfire. What a great time!