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!

Happy Birthday Sis!

Here was a conversation on Kalin's birthday:
Mom, "Hi Sis, Happy Birthday! How old are you today?"
Sis, "Good."
Mom, "No Sis, HOW OLD ARE YOU?""
Sis, "GOOD."
Ahhh, we practiced all day and the best we got was, "ONE." She's cute, but quite stubborn!

My baby is two, how did this happen? How time flies... we celebrated the birthday girls big day with an Elmo theme. Elmo cake and decorations. Kalin loves Elmo, but I think I love to hear her say "Elmo" more. It is the cutest, especially with that tongue hanging out! We kept it low key. Her favorite dinner "sgetti", lots of balloons, and Elmo. Of course aunties, uncles, and cousins had to come over too. What a fun day. I think she got that everyone was there for her by the time we were singing happy birthday :).

New England Aquarium

What an adventure the aquarium was! Both girls got such a kick out of the penguins, sharks, jelly fish, and the funny looking fish. Kiley's favorite part of the day was the "giant turtle." I loved it too. We finally got to see our friend Brendan, who couldn't meet us at the children's museum due to his flooding basement.

The two days couldn't have been more different! We went to the "big city" on Monday in torrential rain, and on Wednesday it was gorgeous and in the mid-60's. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Brendan did a great job showing us the sites, the knowledge he has about his city is amazing! Boston and MA in general is just about over whelming. We definitely need to go back and spend some more time since we just scratched the surface.

We went to the aquarium on St. Patrick's day and couldn't get over the intoxicated people at 3:00 in the afternoon! It was crazy, but fun.

Boston's Children's Museum

We decided to go to the Children's museum on a very rainy day. A very cold, wet, wet day. Our poor friend Brendan was going to meet us with his son but his house was flooding. Literally the basement was flooded and he had to stay up until 4:30 am pumping the water out. So when I say it was raining, I really mean it was raining. Like the most rain MA had seen in 50 years, 3 months combined of rain in three days.

One good decision was made and that was to take the Alewife train into Boston and then walk to the museum. I was happy we didn't have to hear people honking or yelling at us because we didn't know where to go.

So it was raining sideways, windy and cccold on our jaunt to the museum. But we toughed it out, we are Alaskans after all, and come to find out it was well worth our trouble.

This is what we saw when we first walked in, Kiley could have spent all day in it.

The water table was a huge hit

Look at her climb! She had to go back to the rock wall a few times.

Hello there Monkey George. One monkey to another.....

On the way out we decided to buy two umbrellas so we wouldn't get quite so soaked. It was a good idea. But the storm we were facing thought it was pretty funny. As soon as we opened those suckers up they literally collapsed, useless. It was all worth it. The girls must have played for about 4 hours pretty much non stop.

Next stop; Boston Aquarium

Bahston Baby- The Beginning

We made it to the east coast and back again! Phew, lots of hours traveling (round trip about 18 air hours!) but it was so worth it. We decided in October that we would make the trip to Boston to celebrate my Grandma's 90th birthday. A great opportunity to see her and for her to finally meet Kiley and Kalin. I am so glad we went, it was an amazing trip.

The Clouses did as much as humanly possible with an almost two year old and a five year old in Boston. They were amazing in the airplane and in the car. I was really worried that Kalin would not do so well traveling in the car, and afraid of her screams in the airplane, but she did amazingly well. Kiley is now a seasoned traveller as a five year old- the DS comes out or the DVD player and she is as good as gold.

I am going to break this up a bit and do a few different posts to share all the pictures we took.
First stop, Boston's Children's Museum in the Torrential Rain. More about that later.....

Slushies in all kinds of weather

We suck down slushies, summer, fall, winter or spring. If you aren't sure what a slushie is, I'll tell you. Basically they are crushed up ice with super sweet flavorings poured on top. Kids love them, my kids love them.

In these particular sets of pictures, taken by my dear friend Robyn, it was about -20 outside. Cold, very, very cold. They are used to the cold, it doesn't seem to bother them that much. But my girls wanted slushies.

We love them, "we" meaning Kiley and Kalin.

Especially Kalin. I think her tongue grew an extra five inches just to suck up the last remaining drops of this blue "slush."

Precious, isn't she?

Kiley Racing at Beaver Round-Up

Here she is sporting her new helmet and racing during Beaver Round Up. She did pretty well and we are so proud of her!

Just a glimpse at Sis....

Well it has been crazy around here and I need to sit down and do a few posts. We just finished up a week of Beaver Round-Up, the local spring festival here in Dillingham. Kiley raced her snow-machine in the kid drag races, Jon caught it on video. I was in Anchorage for the Alaska Library Conference where the Iditarod took place. It was my first time seeing the ceremonial start, quite the experience. So it has been busy around the Clouse House.

Jon put together this compilation of Sis video clips. She is quite the character this one! You can see her jumping off the couch, torturing the cat, and wearing her big sister's helmet.

The New 120....

Breathe GB, BREATHE!

She does not have a helmet on, we realize that. We will be fixing that shortly.

But the excitement was too great to be contained.

Kiley finally got her "very own snow-go", and it is just about the coolest thing ever. I think she would sleep with it if she could. Every second of the day is consumed with "riding."

Unfortunately, Aunt Stephanie, it is not the 4-legged grass loving variety but the gas powered snow loving type. A Polaris 120, to be exact.

Here she is, most likely making her debut at the 2010 Dillingham Beaver Round Up Snow-machine races!

The new sled at our favorite spot....

Sledding in 2010 has never been better! Papa Paul and GB gave K girls a very very awesome sled for Christmas this year. We all love it, as you will see in the picture Dad even loves it! We've made it to our favorite sledding spot quite a few times so far this year, here's a short clip of one of our adventures.

Happy Boootaay to Meee

Twenty-Nine plus, not bad. 2010 is a good year to be my age!

I had a great week in Anchorage and my sister took me out on the town the Friday before my big day. I got to go and have a fab dinner with my cousin Karen, sister and a friend and then drinks and a lot of fun! I won't bore you with the details, but I didn't get home until 3:00 am, yeah. I brought the birthday in with a bang.

I finally made it home the evening of my birthday and got to eat cake and pie with my family! I am such a lucky girl. My Mom made my favorite peanut butter pie (out of this world!), an apple pie, a cherry pie and a chocolate cake! Holy cow! To say the least everyone left very satisfied. Kiley and Kalin had lots of cousin interaction and we had fun hanging out and being with the fam.

My Dad was in Kotzebue at a tournament, just like he was the day I was born! He actually went out to breakfast with the man that drove him to the airport to meet my mom while I was being born.

Photo Fun

Kiley has become quite the amateur photographer lately. I always find the most interesting pictures on the camera these days. Max and Camryn stopped by the house last night and Jon found these pictures after they left.

"Sisisms"

Here are some of the much spoken "Sisisms" at our house. Sis is talking all the time now, and we have fun interpreting what she has to say. Some words are easier than others. See if you can figure them out:

"gle gle"

No clue? The toughest one first.

Popsicle silly!

"pease!"

That's an easy one. Please! She tried this one on her Dad the other day for some type of goody- he melted, almost immediately.

"Ditder"

Not sure? Sister!

"Oker"

This is one of Sis's first words- Oscar, the beloved monster dog that torments her with his tongue and tail.

"Shnax"

Tried to give you a hint by capitalizing that one. That's Max, as in Uncle Max.

A recent one, with a little twist on a favorite "Kileyism" would be

"dippa"

Hmmm, tricky. I wouldn't have been too clear on this one if I wasn't there talking about it with her. It's "lippa!" as in anything you put on your lips with a little flavor and/ or color.

and last but not least...

"Nam"

Of course this makes Gram the proudest, its "Gram!"

The Giant

Kiley and Jon were talking about my birthday today. Kiley was giving her Dad some ideas on what to get me, she's thoughtful like that. I guess she came up with some pretty good ideas, like gloves.

She must have also thought of clothes because they got onto the subject of size. So Jon was asking her what size she thought I was, and like a smart 5 year old she said, "medium".

Smart kid.

She decided that Sis was, "baby" and she was, "little."

Well Jon was on a roll and asked her what size she thought he was, she thought a bit and said, "giant."

Such an insightful child, that is why we love her so much!

Sis

Wow our baby is really starting to grow up. Really.

She talks, or at least tries to all the time. I will call home and right away I hear, "MOM, hi mom. MOM MOM, hi mom!" I'll answer and say, "Hi Sis, what are you doing?" and she answers, "Hi Mom".......ahh she tries.

Kalin is getting closer to 2 every day. Her favorite word is,"no", not," NO" but, "noooooo". Which is of course, much cuter. But it gets less and less cute every day when it is the only answer she gives to every question!


Sis likes to tattle, she uses words and waves her arms around a lot to let us know what she is talking about. She'll run into the bathroom, "Mom! Mom! Ditder..." (pointing to her sister) "Mom, Ditder....." Point, sad face, point, wave arms. I get the picture and try to solve the problem.

Kalin also likes to talk about the "kitty kitty" and the "dawgs". I think they might be two of her favorite subjects actually. She let's them know how much she loves them by petting (pounding) and of course screaming KITTY KITTY and DAWG whenever they are near.

Sis is also growing hair, enough for me to give her much deserved horns!

Happy New Year

We brought in the new year with a bang, wow 2010! Jon and I went to the 2nd Annual Mushers Ball with my sister Jeanette. We had a fabulous dinner and got to listen to a fun live band, quite the evening in Dillingham! The girls got to spend the night with Papa and Gram and of course be spoiled rotten. Kiley even went back to spend the night again a few nights later! Our girl is starting to grow up!

Here's hoping 2010 is even better than 2009!!

More Christmas pictures

Woot! A new game for the Wii!

Kalin was very interested in the cookies that Santa didn't have room for.....

Sis could barely sit still for a picture.....

Christmas day was soooo wonderful! Jon surprised us with a family gift (hah hah, really its all for me.....) of a new computer! I rearranged my living room with the help of my sister and mom to accommodate the computer desk and computer in the living room. Jon hooked it up and rewired the Sunday after Christmas day.

Ahhhh, I have been in heaven surfing and playing with iPhoto, iTunes and Pages (oh and a little Facebook and email are also thrown in there.....). Kiley got a Webkin kitty cat she named Lola, and got online to name it and feed it and do whatever else needed to be done. Jon down loaded a few baby games for Kalin so she can pound on the key board and not hurt anything. We are all getting our fair share of the new awesome computer!

So here are a few more pictures from Christmas day and Christmas Eve. We also had a wonderful Christmas Eve with the entire family going to the Candle Service at the Moravian Church.

New pictures from 2010 to follow......