My Little Girl (#1)

I was feeling a little nostalgic this evening. Looking at pictures of Caitlyn I am still having a hard time believing that she is 16. Here are a few pics of my first-born.Caitlyn 9/2/94 This was 2 days after Cait-Bug's 2nd birthday. She had fallen while playing outside and had a nice busted lip for her 2 year picture. Still ADORABLE!!

Caitlyn with sister Haley and Great-Grandpa Kale when G'ma and Pa came for a visit. (Sumter, SC February 1996)

Cutie-pie at age 4 (1997)
Caitlyn and Ed on the day she graduated kindergarten from Willow Drive Elementary School, Sumter, South Carolina, June 1998. (Yeah...I cried)

11 years later...Caitlyn is a junior at Palmer High School.

Where has the time gone?

Rliey's 10th B-day (I know...WAY late)

We had a party for the cousins and a few friends for Riley's 10th birthday. The theme? Well..since "That Hannah Montana is SO hot right now," that's what the theme was. I am definitely Hannah Montana'd out! Riley had fun though.

The kids started out by making mini pizzas and then we moved to "Pass the Hannah Bear." They had fun with that. We took a little "fashion" liberty with my adorable nepnew Aiden (who would make an equally adorable niece). And then cake, ice cream, and play time ensued!

Pass the Hannah Montana Bear to, yup, you guessed it, HM's (AKA Miley Cyrus) latest CD.

Aiden can even wear the shoes from Riley's HM Bear (From Build-A-Bear)

Aiden likes the Hannah Montana wig. I wonder what the name of his alter-ego is...

Riley is all smiles as she looks at her b-day cake complete with HM guitar!

Riley opens her presents as her friends look on.

The melodious sounds of children "cha-cha-chaing" their best wished to Sarah Riley!

Twinkle Toes

Riley started taking ballet in January 2008, after months of nagging mom and dad! After her first recital in May, she decided that she wanted to add tap to her repitoire as well. So, beginning in June, she had 2 hours of dance every Wedensday. She didn't go to Midnight Sun Bible camp this year, because she wanted to dance. She even made sure that she could go to dance when her Grandma Cook came up to visit! She now has dance 2 afternoons a week. 2 hours on Tuesday and 1 hour on Thursday! She's lovin' it!


I wanted to put a video on here, but both the tap and ballet are too big. In an update, however...Riley had auditions for the Nutcracker last Saturday and she got 2 (TWO) parts! She is VERY excited. I am going to try to figure out how to edit the videos to get them down to a smaller file size.

Until then...

Last Full Day... =(

On the 5th day of the visit, we went back to Wildberry Products, Wildberry Park, Sourdough Mining Co., the 5th Avenue Mall, and ended to day with the World Famous Bread Pudding of the Glacier Brewhouse. Yeah...no pics that day. However on the last full day of Mom and Aunt Linda's visit, we went to the Friday Fling in Palmer. We tried to keep the day low key because they flew out Saturday.

Here's Aunt Linda and Mom with a musk-ox in the Palmer visitor's center. We also were able to walk (hobble) around the flower gardens just outside of the visitor's center.

After we left the "Fling" we drove out to Knik to the Iditarod Headquarters so Aunt Linda could see some real sled dogs. Aunt Linda and the girls got a ride on a dog sled pulled my real Iditarod Dogs!

Haley, Aunt Linda, and Riley

Mom and Aunt Linda

It was a great visit that went by WAY too quickly. Hopefully next summer, we will head down to the lower 48 for a visit!

Mom's Visit: Day 4

Day 4 was great! We slept in. I started physical therapy and Riley had ballet and tap classes for 2 hours. After we picked Riley up from the dance studio, we drove up to Hatcher's Pass and Independence Gold Mine.

Here are Haley, Caitlyn, Aunt Linda, Mom, and Riley at Independence Mine.
Some of the rebuilt and some of the broken down/rotting buildings of Independence Mine at Hatcher's Pass.
We had a ground squirrel make an appearance. Just popping in to say "Hi!"
Caitlyn was our tour guide around the mine again this trip!
Look Ma! No crutches! I think the girls were holding them. But here is a pic of me and my handsome hubby with the beautiful natural landscape providing a great backdrop!

We ended the day with Ed sparking up the grill for dogs, brauts, burgers and corn on the cob! I love it when he cooks!

Day 3 of Mom's visit

Sorry it's taken so long to get back to posting. School started up and I kind of fall of the radar for the first few weeks. Anyway, back to the summer (ah...chilly bliss!)

We stayed a little closer to home on day 3, after all, we were still kind of tuckered out from day 2. Our first stop was the "Chocolate Factory" (AKA Alaska Wildberry Products in Anchorage).

We began with a tour of the kitchen, complete with hair nets (and beard net). My favorite part? The samples, of course!

After filling a bag with 2 pounds of Jelly Belly's, we posed for pics in front of the Chocolate "Waterfall" that flows with 3,400 pounds of chocolate! Here we are sporting a 10 pound bar of chocolate.
After hanging out at Wildberry Products, we crossed the street to eat lunch in a "gold mine" called Sourdough Mining Company. We LOVE that restaurant. Great corn fritters...YUM! (insert a photo of the Cook family drooling). We followed lunch up with a trip to the Bear and Raven Experience Theater. We watched a movie about the Iditarod and on about bears. Then the girls took part in some adventures! Haley and Riley caught a virtual 35 pound king salmon. We then hopped into a "hot air balloon" and "floated" over the Prince William Sound. The girls then put on their parkas and "mushed" their little doggies!

We ended the day with new haircuts for Haley and Riley.

Now these girls are going to look sharp for the new school year!

Day 2 with Mom and Aunt Linda

The second day of Joan and Linda's visit began VERY early. We took the train from Anchorage to Seward, and then went on a Kenai Fjords Cruise in Resurection Bay. We had to check in at the train depot in Anchorage at 5:30 AM. That meant leaving the Valley at about 4:30 AM. You can do the math to figure out when Ed and I had to roll out of bed. The girls stayed home for this trip. They got to sleep in. We got home around 11:45 PM or so.

Linda and Joan on the train, ready for a great adventure!
We passed some great scenery that you can't access from the road.
It's hard to see, but there are a bunch of Stellar Sea Lions on the rock, basking in the sun.
Thankfully, near the end of the cruise, a humpback whale popped up to say hello! It put on quite a show for a while.
On the way home, we followed Turnagain Arm, and were welcomed back to Anchorage with a beautiful sunset.

What a long, fun-filled day! Stay tuned for day 3 pics and postings.