More Hawai'i

What a perfect time we had! Really, could have only been better if we'd had more folks to share it with!

As it was, we happened to be on the island with my dear friend, Jody. Wow! We spent more time with her and her man, Brian, in the past two weeks than we have in the past two years. That was so cool.


We also had a little of everything, surf, beach, aquarium, food, naps, sightseeing, whales, rainbows, and just time together.

Jody and her boyfriend

Lele at the mama tree in Lahaina

Aum

Siesta in the Sand

Maui Ocean Center

Keet said when we got home:
"New House? Airplane Again! New Airplane!"

Champion traveler. This was his sixth trip so far, and certainly the easiest. The trick? Good health, a carry-on suitcase full of changes of clothes for the whole family, and couple of comic books, and an ipad. YEAH!

Whale of a time

One of the highlights of our trip was going on a Whale Watch with the Pacific Whale Foundation in Maui. Here's a very amazing close encounter we had with a young Humpback Whale.

Happy new year!

Aloha! Greetings from Maui. Rain and shine, rainbows and peacocks.
Traveled the Hana Hwy (hurlway). Poor baby Keet! He's such a great
traveler, even when car sick. He loves our "new house" here in
Kailua. The host family has been wonderful. They have a 2 1/2 year
old, Na'ia (dolphin) and a 4 year old, Logan. We spent new years eve
with them, lighting fireworks and sitting on their deck. The cabin has
everything you want, including boogie boards, kids books, full
kitchen, and of course, good company!

Spent new years day at mama's Fish house beach where all the beach
goers seemed to be local families with kids. Keet's pretty timid
around the water, but he loves the sand.

Then today, we headed back up the Hana Highway to the Garden of Eden
arboretum. Totally worth the fee for travel with little ones. We
attempted two other hikes earlier in the day, but both were too risky
with a two year old on my back. This one had wide paths, great views
and ducks, frogs, and peacocks a plenty.

Merry Santa Yeil!

Holiday rush

I know. He's growing up and you are missing it! I am too. Believe me.
It's happening so fast!
I swear he was only saying two or maybe three words at Thanksgiving.
Now, it's abstract sentences. "Baby Luna, where? Sleep. Wake up!"

I'm testing some new hardware, and looks like I can't include photos
in this email. Cheap. More soon!

Zapped from Somewhere.

Up a little early

Keet is 2!!

Keet and Mama on the Birthday Day

My little 2 year old is anything but terrible.
I figure, when you are 2, your birthday should be memorable. So we celebrated it 3 times!

First we celebrated while "Papa Perro" was in town. Papa had to leave the morning of Keet's birthday, so we did an eve celebration just before.

Nana on Keet's Birthday Eve's Party

 

Papa with Mama and Keet

Papa had a long weekend with us here in Fairbanks. We kept a pretty simple schedule with a few meals outside, but most of the time we hung out at home and visited. Papa left the morning of Keet's birthday, so he was able to celebrate with us the night before and morning of.

The following weekend we had a birthday party for Keet, with about 8 kids and 15 adults. It was a very fun event for all! I made a big bowl of Mac and Cheese (for kids and adults) as well as a fresh pumpkin rasin cake with cream cheese icing. Yum!

From Keet: The Unoffical Story

Florian (a week younger than Keet), Emma (3) and the birthday boy.

Keet and Emma go way back. Remember this one?

Last spring from Heather's baby shower. At Keet's party the two were like glue.

Mr. Two - Birthday Morning

Pretending

Today Keet handed me a phone case for a mobile phone. No phone inside. I started to talk on it, and told him it was Akka and passed him the phone. He said "Hello! Yeah Good! Fun! Bye" and hung up.
Da-ka in in California ("airplane Mackiki" - Keet reminds me he's with MacKenzie). He'll be giving an artist talk at UC Davis tomorrow with his Uncle Larry McNeil.

This picture reveals my true parenting skills. Just in time for Halloween!

Where is Keet-O?

 

We went to the Quyana Nights at the Alaska Federation of Natives on Thursday night, and guess who ended up in the paper on Sunday. This is an invitational dance, so everyone is invited to join in. 

Where is Keet?

One last nod to Fall- Cheese and a Moose

Fall was beautiful, but over already. We've had snow on the ground since 10/10/10. I managed to film a bit of the first snow, and will upload that soon to the One Day on Earth film project.

School is crazy busy as always, and Keet seems to have adjusted to being away from us 36 hours a week. Of course, I was reading a "parenting" book yesterday that said I SHOULD feel guilty about being away from my toddler when I could be staying at home instead. Thanks La Leche Leauge!

We're in the market for a new daycare setup, as Miss Nicole is expecting baby #4 in April! Great for her, but not so great for Keet. We'll find something suitable, but it makes the work challenge even harder.

The days are darker, but we have a new Happy Light, so maybe that will make the change less shocking to the system. Plus, Hawaii awaits! THANK YOU TOOTH FAIRY!!!

Nana!

Keet and Nana

Snow

He's Famous...

From:	Julian Hibbard

Dear Da-ka-xeen and Maya, 

I wanted to write and express my joy and appreciation 

at seeing the video you posted of Paul reading his ABC's on YouTube. Your son looks 

adorable and the footage absolutely captivated me.  I hope you don't mind but I created

a link to it on my website and shared the information with my publisher who also 

posted a link on their blog - 

http://markbattypublisher.com/blog/baby-reading-noir-a-z/ 

Thank you for purchasing my book and sharing such a special moment. 

Fairbanks, Alaska looks like a wonderful environment for Paul to grow up in and

I wish you all a life of much love and happiness together. 

Best wishes, 

Julian

http://www.julianhibbard.com

Gorgeous Fall Walk

Snack on the Mountain

Mother and Son - Fall 2010

Keet and I enjoyed a long walk a few weeks ago, and I took these photos then. The weather has turned to winter winds, the leaves are mostly gone from the tree tops. We spent the weekend tightening up the loose ends in the "yarden" and are we're mostly ready for the snow to fly. It's not quite October!

Freezer if full of salmon, moose, and locally raised beef, berries from the mountains, and vegetables from the garden. Plus the case of HOT Hatch Green Chili that I special ordered from our local grocery store and roasted earlier this fall! I'm certainly not the best gardner in the area, but I am glad to report that Keet likes to eat Kale fresh off the plant.

The boy is talking up a storm, and knows his ABCs for sure. His Tlingit pronunciation is rather impressive as well as we still only are allowed to listen to "Gaaw Songs" in the car.

"the boys"

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nicole
Date: Tue, Sep 21, 2010 at 11:14 AM
Subject: Fw: "the boys"
To: Maya

They were so cute sitting next to each other talking on the phone I just had to get a picture and send it your way!

Drumming on the Mountianside

Click on the video itself to watch it compressed for slower connections.

More Wickersham Dome photos

Wickersham Dome photos

Hiked up Wichersham dome with Heather, Matt, and Lucy this past weekend. What a beautiful day we had! I'm still a bit sore after the five hours with Keet in the backpack, but it was a blast!

Here are some of the photos that Heather took.

She wrote me:

Hiya,

That was so much fun yesterday! Thanks for a delicious and healthy dinner too :o)

Mmmmmbeer.

I'm sending all the photos (big file size) though some are not as great as others...that way you can decide which you'd like to keep.

See you soon,

:o)

Heather

ABC's

For about 2 weeks now Keet has been reading his ABC's. He is doing capital letters mostly, and from sign language too. He usually quits around T-U-V but gets the rest no problem.

I think he's brilliant. The book Da-ka and Keet are reading is the Noir A-Z that Daka picked up at the International Center for Photography in NYC shortly after Keet was born. It's a little over (all) of our heads, but we get the ABC part!