ziplining!

for several years, i've wanted to go ziplining.  i first watched ben have all the fun in san diego, when we took a babymoon before dylan's arrival.  at the san diego safari park, he soared 2/3 of a mile over the rhinos (!) and such.   then, this past march, we booked an 8-line zipline up in ka'anapali, but were weathered out!  well, on my drive up to sheep mountain, i saw a sign off the highway, advertising ZIPLINE!  i called and booked a flight for the man and i - a well-deserved, much-needed day date!  thank you, nana lynn for entertaining... or rather, being entertained - the kiddos love their time with you!

super-flattering harnesses

 all geared up and ready to go.

(and, don't you just love that warning?)

 about 40 feet up

(excuse my lens flare... eek.)

 super-fun!

 nice pictures, benji!

ben's turn!

back in my sheep mountain post, i commented on all the fun names and sayings off the side of the road.  since we didn't have the kiddos in tow, we were able to jump out and create our own something.  after a little deliberation, we came up with this:

{!!!}

we are obviously thrilled and feeling completely blessed to welcome another miebs hellion beauty.  it's a little surreal to imagine what another will look and be like.  we have one of each already; we know what a miebs' girl and boy look like.  so, it's fun to chatter about what qualities and quirks this one will carry.  as of now, we're compiling favorite names; not finding out baby's gender; planning a home birth and being extremely lazy.  i forgot how much the first trimester sucks the life outta ya!

butte.

oh, it was hot.  we should not have hiked on this day, but when jackie woke me up that morning, that was the first thing he requested (usually, it's for his vitamins).

mama, yet's hike da butte today!

so we packed snacks, water bottles with half-ice, half-water and made the trek to palmer.  when we exited the truck, the thermometer read 68 degrees.  oooh, i knew it was gonna be brutal.  sure enough, we weren't five minutes up and both kids were red-faced.  jack shed his t-shirt, and they each requested their nalgenes.


this was also the first hike where i didn't have dylan in the ERGObaby carrier.  the past few hikes, she's wanted in, out, in, out so i thought today would be the start of dylan's hiking career.  sure enough, she did great.  but.  she fell.  a lot.  A LOT a lot.  hence, the dirty face.  arms.  and legs.  ok, so she was a total dirtball, but she had a super time.
      

within minutes of starting.  

they're totally siblings.

knik glacier waaay back there...

love cotton candy clouds

(look past the creepiness on my part - i just wanted to capture the moment.)  

can't even express my jealousy of those girls, taking a snooze and sunning themselves.  

my future mount marathon-er

no fear - running down the butte!

history repeats itself.

as a toddler, i was known to sleep on the stairs.  i think this was during the not-wanting-to-go-to-bed (stay-in-bed) phase, and eventually, the sandman would catch up to me.  is it a coincidence that some of my earliest memories are listening to the cheers theme song?!

i'm not one to let the kiddos play on the stairs, but i couldn't help but capture this moment.  it's been a while since i've done a comparison shot, anyway...

 circa 1983

of course, mister mister couldn't be left out of the fun. 

 or the bullydog.

(she looks thrilled, huh?)

sheep mountain

we've been trying to plan this road trip for way too long.  there seems to be a pattern, however, that when i try to plan things, something ALWAYS comes up!  i had been promising my gf, sam, that as soon as there was a clear day, we would jump in the truck and head north.  finally, this mini-vaca came to fruition ten days ago.  it would have been easy to stick to the house and play in the water, but we needed to see our friendly friends.  perfect day for a 90-mile drive.  

chugach mountains

matanuska river

 we only had one of these stops...

 standing on top of the guardrail proved tricky.

 but oh - look to jackie's left!

see the power poles on the left?  my super-fab husband built this line before they blew through this mountain.  this is a fairly new section of highway, and he was fortunate enough to build the line while there was still mountain beneath him.  the wire is unnoticeable, but the two aeriel marker balls are just barely visible...

 first view of matanuska glacier

see the fun names written in rock?  i couldn't brave that feat with the kiddos, but just this weekend, ben and i wrote our own little something when we were up that way, but that's for another blog...

  

 mat glacier

at sam's cabin, ali's dada constructed what he refers to as

the white trash playground

 the girls have so much fun together.

and boy, aren't they cute?!

jack likes ali, too.

just a tad.

we made our way over to the lodge for cold drinks and ice cream.  although, dylan's the only one wearing her ice cream.  mmm, chocolate.  the lodge had a sandbox and a wagon for the kiddos (and two lawn chairs for the mamas!)  perfect chance for us to relax, talk it up and laugh at our wee ones.

we stayed long enough to tire the kids out as we weren't 5 minutes down the road when i noticed 4 shut eyelids.  it was then, when i turned on my driving music mix (consisting of fleetwood mac, jim croce, jason mraz and tom petty) that it finally felt like a true road trip.  perfect end to a super-fun afternoon.    

splish splash

we've only had a handful of summer days where we've been able to throw on swimsuits and drag out the pool.  it's been nice, but not that nice. so naturally, when the skies are clear and our thermometer reads 68+, we make a beeline for the hose and sprinklers.

i'm not sure how bunny ended up outside, but he went for a dip, as well.

best drink name EVER:

appley ever after

once the kiddos were red-cheeked and wrinkly-fingered, we made our way inside to a cozy-warm bath.  and what's the first thing you want to do after swimming or playing in the sunshine?  fuel up.  whatta treat to watch a movie and have dinner in bed; grilled cheese, green apples, carrots & ranch and a sippy of milk.  man, i wanna be a kid again!    

about a week later, we had another sunny day.  so obviously, we took full advantage again.  this time, a certain little fellow was waiting for us:  the very hungry caterpillar.  jack has LOVED this book for years.  over the past few months, i've caught him reading the book to dylan.  he even reads it with the same inflection that i use - whatta crack up!  we have three copies of this book (in all shapes and sizes) and yet, the kids still fight over who gets the little one, who gets the largest one, etc.  so seeing our own hungry caterpillar was quite a welcomed surprise.  (but, the poo on jb's hand was not welcomed...)

 "he started to look for some food..."

later that night, dada brought home a surprise for the kids: a frog!  he found it at work and brought it home in an empty water bottle.  he thought (we both thought!) the kids would be thrilled - oh, we assume! - but they wanted nothing to do with it!  dylan screamed.  jack shrieked.  we laughed.  it was a nice idea at the time.

 keeping a safe distance