Adventures Fixing the Car

Why is it that fixing the car is always an adventure?  We went in to get new tires before the winter season began and discovered that we needed new wheel-bearings behind three out of four of the tire hubs.  If you have to do three you might as well do four.  It is expensive to have done at a shop so Mike did them himself in addition to the back shocks that needed replaced.  Tait loved being daddy's little helper.  He thought that mechanic gloves were awesome and useful for transporting sockets to the car.  The sockets were then placed in the trailer hitch because...um, I don't know.  Next he proceeded to use the wrench part of the socket to hammer on the wheel hub since he'd seen daddy hammering on them.

Of course changing the wheel-bearings turned out to be no easy feat.  We ended up buying several new tools and at least three new sockets because the front and back and shocks all had a different size nut.  We also had to figure out how/where to get the bearing pressed in and out of the middle of the hub (it is a cylinder that 'slides' into the center of the hub for those who don't know.  Anyway, it would have cost a couple hundred dollars (possibly each) to have just that part done at the shop.  Our great friend Roger works on airplanes at the airport and had access to a press.  He and Mike spent a couple hours on the press.  Those bearings get pretty stuck after being in there for years and they aren't really meant to move freely anyway.  One of them was so stuck that it basically exploded out of the hub when it let go.  I could hear the POP from Mike's car outside (where I sat with a crying toddler because what we imagined would take half an hour became much more and he was hungry and I had no snack...note to self: NEVER assume you won't need a snack!).

All in all I have new shocks and new wheel-bearings (and the fourth one was about to fail so it was a good thing we replaced it).  It took hours and hours because the parts just couldn't cooperate and Mike ended up working on some of our rainiest Saturdays this fall.  It truly was an ADVENTURE ;)!

Icy Adventures

One cold fall afternoon Tait and I took a walk after school.  One of the best things about the location of our house is that it is less than a block from a trailhead.  We bundled up and headed out.  Tait's gloves didn't stay on more than five minutes.  I don't blame him since they are mitten style but don't even have thumbs.  We had a really cold clear snap this fall, so each morning for about a week we had a layer of frost that built up on the previous day's frost.  By now we have some really pretty hoar frost.  Tait discovered that if you stomp on the frosty grasses they make crunching sounds.  Needless to say we didn't make it very far on our walk because we stopped often to explore.  Here's the best part of our walk...for me anyway...

We have drainage ditches behind our houses.  When it's cold and icy it's also very dry.  So there had been water in the ditch from a rainy summer but it had started to subside.  Apparently as it froze it was still dropping.  It caused ice that looked like a topographic map.  Of course I had to stop and take pictures (and make sure my toddler stayed up out of the ditch - I didn't want him falling down the ditch AND I didn't want him to break the beautiful ice).

After stopping to capture this really cool phenomenon we walked on.  We found more leaves to stomp on.  Tait loves to stomp...or as he says to 'omp.  I love impromptu adventures!

Egg Hunt Adventures

 My friend Kara (who is about eight months pregnant right now) wanted something to keep her busy and decided to put on an Easter egg hunt.  We all donated a dozen or so eggs and met at Auke Rec on Saturday.  Kara collected all the eggs and hid them before we all arrived.  A couple of the dads and toddlers had to shoo off ravens who were stealing eggs while we waited for everyone to arrive.  Tait and I took a walk on the beach in his new to him Xtratuf boots.  (BTW, they are so stinking cute in his size.)  They don't seem really easy to walk in, but he loves to kick them off.


Once everyone arrived we started the hunt.  Tait was young enough to grab eggs on the grass, but old enough he may want to try the big kid area.  I sent him after one on the grass and told him to put it in his basket.  He dropped it right in, so we headed to the little bit harder ones.  He caught right on and LOVED picking them up and leaving them in the basket.  He had to shake every single one.  The hollow chocolate ones weren't exciting, but that didn't stop him from keeping them.  Once we were done he was still looking around to find more.  It was apparently a fun game.  We'll have to try it around the house just for fun maybe.

The rest of our time was filled with roasting hot dogs, chatting with friends, and kicking the boots off so Daddy would put them back on.  Good job Kara on a successful egg hunt.


 The tongue hanging out in the above picture cracks me up.  Pretty sure he got that from me.  Tongue hanging out when you're doing something intense.  Or it is pre-language practicing with his tongue; totally normal at this age.  Anyway', he was pretty excited to 'find' each egg I pointed out.  One egg was hidden by a devils club plant. I was just sure he was going to reach for it.  He probably wouldn't have if I'd have just ignored it.  He didn't touch it but he thought about grabbing it.

Spring Break Adventures, Part 2

This week has been so beautiful.  It reminds me of the first week we had when we moved here, except it was warmer.  Mike and I had a beautiful, sunny, warm week to play and explore Juneau.  This week is just as beautiful and sunny, but probably about half the temperature (30s maybe hitting 40 all week).  Today was one of the days that actually hit 40 or 41.

Todays adventures included playing with Playdoh, which is a fairly new experience.  Tait had fun molding, cutting and pushing around the 'doh.'  I showed him how to roll a ball between his hands and he picked that right up.  I showed him how to roll a snake and he had fun copying me.  His dexterity seems amazing to me, I love to watch him.  I made him a cute puppy out of the 'doh' and he immediately took after it with the knife; future surgeon maybe?  We practiced with the rolling pin and said "roll, roll, roll" or "oh, oh, oh."

Our afternoon adventures involved a walk on the airport trail with my friend Andrea and her two kids.  Tait wasn't thrilled a first with the wind, but once we turned the corner it wasn't so bad.  We let him out of the stroller to walk the trail.  This was a first for him since he learned to walk over the winter.  This was our first opportunity out on a 'trail.'  He thought the pine cones along the way were pretty awesome. He even traded for a 'better' one a couple of times.  Luckily we didn't have to bring any home.  It was such a blessing just to be outside today enjoying the sunshine.  I can't wait for summer when the snow is gone and we can start hiking trails and checking out new geocaches!

Spring Break Adventures

I am SO happy for spring break!  I am loving every minute with my little man.  He is super snuggly (and super clingy).  After nap today he sat in my lap with his head on my shoulder for like 20 minutes.  He's also a lot of trouble getting into everything he shouldn't.  We've really enjoyed watching his vocabulary blossoming lately.  His favorite words are "yay," "wee," "i-e" (translation: slide), "ah" (translation: cat) and "arf, arf."  He has recently learned to sign HOME (and say "ohm") and learned that cows say "moo" or if you ask him "mmm."  So excited to see what he learns this week as we play together.
Yesterday's adventures included playing at Garrett and Rainah's house while Mommy had an appointment.  Tait thought it was great to pray together at lunch and couldn't wait until the end of the pray to say "amen" and clap, hehe.  He also loved Rainah's kitty piano.
Today's adventure was a drive out to Auke Rec.  Tait wanted so badly to run up and down the stairs with the big kids.  Instead he played with another friend's toy caterpillar excavator and a toy shovel.  Note to self: we need to buy outside beach/playground toys.  The best part though was going to the water's edge and throwing rocks in with his little friend Nathan.
We are all SO happy to see some sunshine and be outside.  Too bad the temperature is still in the 30s.  I was really hoping the snow would be gone by spring break.  More adventures to come...tomorrow is more fireweed honey, which I haven't actually blogged about...

Tait and his friend throwing rocks into the water.

Good job Tait says Nathan.

Yay, clap, clap says Tait.

Waffle Adventures

"Stirring" the flour mix

 Tait is learning to help cook lately.  He helped us make waffles on Saturday morning.  Each time I turned to get a new ingredient he would 'stir' the flour.  As you can see he thoroughly dusted himself.  He felt like such a big boy helping mix the waffles.  I think his favorite part was wielding the whisk and pouring in the sugar.  It took us all four tablespoons to get a good picture of it pouring out of the spoon :).  Actually, maybe his favorite part was eating them slathered with peanut butter, hehe.  That's gotta be one of his top favorite foods.

He felt like such a BIG boy

 Earlier in the week Tait helped make stuffed peppers.  He helped me brown the chorizo on the stove and make the yellow rice.  He didn't get to help with the jalapenos of course. That was really his first time to help mommy and daddy cook.

Pouring in the sugar

On Sunday Tait helped me make hummus in the food processor.  He LOVES to push buttons, so this was even more of a blast than the waffles.  He got to help pour in/put in all the ingredients and push the button to start and stop it. 
I think maybe we're raising a future chef/foodie.  He is certainly not afraid to try new foods and has liked helping cook.

Block Adventures

We went to visit my family for Thanksgiving of 2010.  While we were there Tait received a set of so blocks.  You can slide a picture into one side of the block for baby to see while he plays.  Tait has rediscovered them lately.  He is starting to really enjoy building with blocks himself.  I got some cute video of him playing with the blocks the other day.  He had a great time throwing the blocks with daddy.  He also decided that the one that looks like a roof would be good for bouncing on.  Who knows what goes on inside the head of toddlers.  I'm sure it would amaze us even more than it already does.  I'm also sure we'd be even more baffled.  It's like our own version of "Kids Say the Darndest Things" but we'd call it "Kids Do the Darndest (or maybe Silliest) Things."  Life is never boring with a toddler around!