Sunday, July 5th

Sunday we had a family picnic at Tom and Barb's house. Grandma and Grandpa joined us. Aunt Jane stopped by; Laura, Glenn and Carlee and Cree, Tyler and Thomas joined us for fireworks later in the day. The kids had a blast...but I think the ice cream was the biggest hit!
Aunt Jane - helping Hailey eat her push up pop.

Dominic isn't sure - but he kept eating it!

Grandma and Grandpa Magee

Kaelin likes it!

Uncle Brad and Dominic - who likes to kick Uncle Justin with each swing!

Uncle Jasey and Kaelin

Wagon time - of course Hailey started crying as soon as I tried to take a picture!

Kaelin and Tyler - they would stop and stare at each firework after the boom, and then go right back to playing.

Kaelin holding her first sparkler.

I am not sure who is having more fun here - Daddy or Kaelin?

Hailey is 11 months old!

Oh my goodness! It isn't shocking to me that Hailey is 11 months old, but it is shocking that in one month she will be a YEAR old! (I know, I am weird!) She is such a joy!

In case I forgot to mention it - she took her first steps while we were in Alaska! She got up to 9 steps in a row - however, it seems once we arrived home she has forgotton how! That's ok - no pressure from me - she can take all the time she wants!

She still only has two bottom teeth, but eats just about anything. Here favorite food is bread (can't imagine where she gets that from :) ) She is slowly coming out of her fearful stage. For a while she was afraid of beach balls (but not other balls), door bells, the play accordian, and men. We are still working on the play accordian, and most men - though she is getting better.

Here are some pictures from today and yesterday - Enjoy!

Here is a picture of her big sister too! (yes I am also amazed that Kaelin will be 3 in a little over a month! Where has the time gone?!)

More P.P. Pictures

Here are some more pictures from our Victorian Tea Party adventure! We think Kaelin looks like a Holly Hobbie Doll in some of the pictures (yes Barb it is Hobbie - Tom was right! I looked it up on Google.).

Piccadilly Parlour

Grandma Barb took us to lunch today to Piccadilly Parlour - a Victorian Tea Room. They have dresses, boas, jewelry, hats, purses, clip on ties...etc. Kaelin had so much fun! I took some pictures - you can tell she is having a blast! Unfortunately I only took one picture of Hailey in her hat and it was fuzzy...I will have to get some from Grandma!

Our tea - sandwiches, quiche, and desserts - it was yummy!

Dominic in his tie and hat. We even got a suit jacket on him at some point.

Even Aunti Amy joined in!

PS - for those of you who have tried to reach us - they finally fixed our dsl internet and home phone for good today (we hope!).

Landscape Pictures

Ok, here they are! Jecca got much better pictures I am sure!

Notice the water is very grey - that is because of the recent volcano eruptions - there is a lot of ash everywhere - even the mud is grey (trust me, I don't think my shoes will ever be white again!)

Our Trip...

As I said before, Jecca took most of our Alaska pictures, and I haven't gotten them yet - but I came up with a few from the earlier days of the trip I can share!

The girls were a joy and it was so fun to see them with my family! Hailey even warmed up to all the men (eventually :) )! Our first week there it was just us, my parents and sister. We went to the zoo and to Chuck E Cheese...and Kaelin got the ice cream promised by Papa Bob as soon as we walked out of the airport!

About a week later Jecca and Chris joined us. We spent that weekend visiting Matanuska Glacier, the Wolf farm outside Palmer, and touring the Anchorage gift shops. My Coolest Aunti Brenda, Uncle Dude and their kids (RJ and Bailey) also arrived, followed by my Great Aunt Barb and Uncle Frank, and my Grandma and Grandpa Nooey....also a few of my sister's friends from her New Zealand mission and my brother - needless to say it was a full house!!!

The two weeks there also held a lot of wedding details - favors, programs...etc. My sister handled the ups and downs (including the wrong flowers coming in - not something you can fix last minute in Alaska) very gracefully! We had a shower for Bobbi that turned out beautifully and had a girls' night in at a friend's house. The rehearsal dinner was a BBQ (a bit chilly) at Hatcher's Pass (right outside Independence Mine - an old gold mine). Bobbi and Ben were also blessed with nice weather for their special day - including NO RAIN - a small miracle this time of year!

Oh yeah - we found out that Kaelin is allergic to mosquitoes while we were there!

Take that Uncle Ben Ben!

Mmm. Cotton Candy!

Papa Bob is SO FUNNY!

...and so is Clifford.

Kaelin is such a good driver - yeah.

Aunti Bobbi helping Hailey down the slide.

Hmm, I don't know about this fellow!

Hailey - driving at Wonderland Park

Kaelin - driving at Wonderland Park.

My mom built this for prom. She saved it for Kaelin and made the guys put it up outside for her to play in! So cool!

Hailey - enjoying the outdoors!

Hailey and I with Corneisha

Grandma Donna with Kaelin. Yes, that is a clip-on earring on her lip. Kaelin informed us she was like Jesse (one of my sister's friends who has his lip pierced). *awesome* (sarcasm)

Hailey's first pedicure by Coolest Aunti Brenda (with assitance from Mom)

For those of you who want more - I will post some landscape pictures soon!

We are back...

...in OH and on the Internet! As of Monday we arrived back in Ohio, unfortunately our internet was not repaired until this morning (About 10 minutes ago). Our Alaska trip was good! However, I have no pictures - because I didn't take any!! I have to get pictures from Jecca (thankfully we had our photographer with us!).

I will post some stories (and hopefully pictures) soon!