Northern Exposure

We live in Alaska, you know that. People think we see wildlife every day; wolves, bear, fox, etc. We do happen on these animals every once in a while, but not as often as you would think. But this year alone we have seen moose in our yard three times. I might mention that this is the only time in three years we have seen these large hairy four legged animals in our neck of the woods.

Once in December we were all very excited, to the point we were running outside in -20 degrees to take pictures. Jeanette was disgusted and asked us if we had never seen moose before.

Second time my Mom was home alone with Kalin. The dogs were outside and happened to charge after Oscar and Kami a few times. Kalin talked about this for months, still does. "MOM, moose... num nums...." (Mom the moose were eating food!) Gram told her the moose were eating in the yard. Even tonight Jon was shouting, "Sis, MOOSE!" To which she freaked, turned and ran toward me.

Third time Matthew was home alone and couldn't figure out what the dogs were barking at. He called me at work and I told him to grab the camera and take some pictures. He got some great ones! I'm wondering if this same cow and calves keep frequenting our yard....

Loud!

We have Auntie Babe to thank for this. They practice "quiet" and "loud" at her house. Sis really likes to practice the "loud."

She's found her voice, and its loud!!

Just Dance People

Spring in Alaska

We think spring might be here. And we have the pictures to prove it.

Today, finally, was a gorgeous spring day. It was around 40 degrees, sunny and just plain nice. We geared up, went and stole our LeClair girl and off we went to the bike path.
The big girls got to ride their big girl bikes.

Sis did her own thing with her new trike.
I even got them to pose for a few pictures. Dang, they are cute aren't they?

Did I mention puddles? There are lots of puddles in Dillingham now. Sis loved every single one of them, she even fell face first into one.This one actually. But that was yesterday.

She's pretty happy in this picture. We learned that she needs to hold either Mommy or Daddy's hand, just to be on the safe side.

What a great day. I wish you were here with us, you just can't beat a gorgeous spring day in Dillingham.

Visiting Grandma

So the whole purpose of our Boston trip was to see my Grandma, who I hadn't seen in about 6 years, since she lived in Chicago. Kiley and Kalin had never met her, and since she was turning 90 I thought it was a perfect time for the Clouse girls to meet their Great-Grandma.

I think we wore grandma out a bit with the crazy energy from the five year old and almost 2 year old. It was worth it, we enjoyed every minute of her. I must have sounded like a broken record telling the girls to "use an inside voice" and "remember your manners" and "no running!" ack, I wasn't sure how the other elderly people at Grandma's retirement home would respond to all their energy!

Grandma said now that she knows Kiley and Kalin she just wants to spend more time with them and wished we lived closer. Oh, me too.

We were so lucky to have the opportunity to stay with my cousin Lisa and her family. Kiley enjoyed meeting and playing with Katie and Nicholas, Kalin liked "Weeeba" aka Reba the family dog. Jon and I couldn't get over how hospitable and just plain awesome Lisa and Jeannie were, we both enjoyed getting to know them and spending time with them too. Our only wish with the whole trip was that we wished we lived closer so we could visit more often! I made sure to tell Lisa at least a dozen times that a visit to Alaska is a must for the family!

Bbbbback to Bbbboston

Got a little side tracked with Sis's birthday and Easter. By the way, on Easter I called my grandma and it was 80 degrees in Boston and 10 degrees in Dillingham. Not fair :(.

So while we were at the Aquarium with our friend Brendan we also got the chance to go down town to do a little site seeing. It just happened to be St. Patrick's day and about 65 degrees. All in all, heaven. What an amazing place Boston is! We got to see so much in such a short amount of time, and we still wanted to do so much more.

I seemed to be more in awe of the big city then my kids or Jon, but doesn't that just look cool?

This is not a statue, I repeat NOT a statue. And she really freaked Kiley out! :)

We had some delish food and just enjoyed all there was to see in this area. It was almost impossible not to with the gorgeous weather and company!

See all the green? Showing some Irish pride!

I sadly did not get to go in here, it was too packed on St. Patty's Day. But I heart Irish Pubs!

Oh man, at the end of the day my dogs were tiiiired!