Ellie's first trip to Alaska!

We made the trek to Alaska this summer with Ellie...an absolute blast!

Sorry Punkin, you're not heading to Disneyland...luckily you have no idea what that means, so you can continue to stare at the giant Mickey Mouse plane. 

Finally in AK!

We spent our first weekend with our adopted alaska family, the Baines.  It had been a loooong time since we had seen them.  And it was the first time all of the munchkins had played together!

 Yep, Auntie Heidi made matching hippo pants for the zoo...literally an hour before we left.  She is so crafty and the two "E's" looked adorable.

A very intense game of dragon...Ellie quickly learned that the dragon needs more food (preferably the soft plush IKEA veggies) in order to prepare for his dragon race.  Apparently farmer Ellie, decided the game was so intense, clothes were not necessary!

So very Alaskan!  Dave and Cooper spent Saturday down in Kasilof commercial fishing...Sunday brought a day of fish processing. 

 Discovering where her food comes from.

 Chatting over fish with one my favorite peeps!

Filleting and rinsing...the men hard at work! 

Then it was time to head to Nikiski to spend time with Grandma Sandy and "Papa" Jerry.  There was some serious watering going on.  Ellie discovered how much she loves (LOVES) to water plants.

Another important part of yard work, accessories!

 Gloves, check.  Glasses, check.  Grandma, check.  Time to get down to business!

Ellie practicing her stand up routine with Grandma...apparently it's a pretty good one.

Time for the beach!  One of Greg's favorite childhood memories, looking for agates.  And now it might be Ellie's new favorite past time.  

 Also throwing rocks...very fun.  Maybe more fun than collecting the rocks.

 Proud of her find!

Super intense search!

First haircut.  First sucker.  

Pretty sure the sucker was the memory maker for her.  She had no idea what to do with it when we took the wrapper off.  She quickly discovered it went on her tongue and it was delicious!

Best. Playground. Ever.

Nikiski may have the best playground I have and will ever see.  It is pretty awesome.  A great way to tucker someone out :-)

 Big girl slide!  The first time down, she had a look of terror - that ended with a smile.  That was the first of 15 trips...

 Hopefully this park scared Ellie straight with some jail time!  Okay actually the bars are a xylophone and the structure is full of musical instruments...seriously pretty impressive play area!

Jumping...why don't we do this more often?!  How many times can a toddler jump off a short ledge?  At least 27.

Homer!!

Enjoying some halibut...oh Ellie, you have no idea that these are the best "fish sticks" you'll ever taste!

 Hanging at home with Grandma and "Papa"

Summer is flying by...

Ellie's been a busy little bee this summer.  She's discovering that playing in the dirt is a lot of fun...until she realizes she's dirty, then she throws out an "uh oh" and tries to clean off the bottom of her shoes.  Hopefully this tidiness will carry over to her teen years and keeping her room clean.

We headed to Cape Lookout State Park near Tillamook in June.  Ellie had quite a great time hiking through the woods...and then stopping along the trail, opening her lunch box and having a snack.  I think the dirt coated knees shows she had a pretty good day!

 Happy Girl!

 "Grandma, I think the beach is that way."

Giggles McGee

Snack time...again!

And it only made sense to head to the Tillamook Cheese Factory on our way home.  Where Ellie proceeded to taste her first delicious ice cream cone (yep her parents forgot ice cream with her birthday cake this year)  I think she was a fan!

 I don't know what I was saying in the picture...but I promise it wasn't as serious as it looks...probably, "quickly it's melting!"  And yes, she does have a new outfit in front of the sign...Grandma couldn't help but replace the ice cream smattered onesie (which replaced the muddy mess of an orange onesie) with an adorable Tillamook tee.



Other discoveries this summer, have been a bit more on the girlie side...

 "Where did I put those keys...oh there they are!  I'm outta here."