weekending: fall festival at the reindeer farm

The Reindeer Farm on Bodenburg Loop is open again this year every Saturday in October for fall festival fun for the whole family. Steve was working (boo) but we went anyway and met friends there right after they opened at 10am. It snowed last night but by the time we got there it was already starting to melt, and the sun was even peeking out from behind the clouds.

 Perfect day for a fall festival, before fall is gone for good!

We moved Raina to the back seat and she seemed to do pretty good.

I think she likes to see her big brother riding along next to her.

Griffin and Riggs were so excited to explore the 'pumpkin patch' ♥

 Pony rides of the real and plastic variety...

Raina was there too. She slept most of the time.

She did wake up in the barn to watch the boys

play in the corn. Life as a baby is so exciting!

It was a great way to spend the morning, and best of all, I actually got to interact with adults instead of just watching the kids have fun! All that fall fun wore them out so much that Riggs fell asleep during the five minute (if that) drive home.

If you're an Alaskan friend I highly suggest making it out for one of the Saturdays they are open in October. See some pictures from our other visits to the Reindeer Farm, here and here.

Riggs has had a stuffy nose and sore throat for the last two days and last night Steve and I both got hit with it too. It was a restless night and to top things off Raina woke up really stuffy this morning too. So no church for us, looks like we'll be miserable little hermits for the day. Hope your Sunday is at least more healthy than ours!

our baby shower!

Our church had a baby shower for us last week (hosted by Sarah at her house) and we had so much fun oohing-and ahhing over Raina (and her little purple mouth). I had so much fun that I barely took any pictures - which is crazy for me. I only managed to snap some before and after the shower, and a few pictures were taken for me when I was opening presents.

Despite my meager photo taking skills, I wanted to share some of the pictures I did manage to take during our evening of fellowship with a lovely group of ladies. I felt so blessed to have so much love poured out on me and my sweet baby girl.

the little star of the show :)

fun with the Pippit App

There's a new social media/blogging app out there called Pippit and I'm just loving it so far! It was created through collaboration by Joy from Oh Joy! blog and Naomi & Josh at Love Taza blog. It's only available on iPhone (find it in the app store, here) and is in it's beta stage but it's obvious that it's going to be a very popular app. Take some time today to check it out, and be sure to follow along with me there [lifealaskanstyle].

April, come she will

April is an interesting month when you live in Alaska. Everywhere else it seems like spring is in full bloom and summer is truly right around the corner. Here, it's just April. There's really no other way to describe it. It's not winter anymore really, but it's not spring either. It's about 40 degrees the entire month, and there's usually a good snowfall or two. It doesn't even begin to get green here until late May. Need proof? Check out this post from last year on May 23rd. See what I mean? So I have one small little favor I need to ask all you non-Alaskan blog friends of mine, please please please enjoy all that lovely green for me!

It has been sunny and warm (at least to us) lately and we have really been enjoying getting outside without worrying about snowpants and snowboots. Both Riggs and I are completely comfortable in long pants, thick sweatshirts and usually a hat for Riggs. After the cold temps of winter, 45 degrees in the full sun just feels so incredibly warm. 

We got to go over to Papa and Grammy's house this weekend (one of our very favorite spots to be) and Riggs had so much fun riding the horses and helping Papa with the chores. He is so lucky to have friends who are more like family that care about him so much! We just love them ♥

helping Papa get the horses groomed and saddled up

this sight made me smile as we went in for dinner

Monday Riggs and I had ran errands in town and then made a stop at the Palmer Train Depot to play out in the sun a little bit. He loved the train and spent about 30 minutes climbing all over it. I was just happy to stand out in the sun for a bit. I love downtown Palmer. Last summer we spent lots of time just wandering around, and I can't wait to do the same this summer.

Today Steve was off and so he got to come along with Riggs and I to Library Group. This week the theme was spring gardening so during craft time the kids made a tissue/origami flower and a 'garden' with foam stickers and constructions paper. Riggs was glad to have mommy and daddy to help him, and after he finished he kept pointing to his projects and saying, "mamma help" with a huge smile at me then looking at Steve and saying, "daddy help!" with an even bigger smile. Afterwards we kicked the ball around a bit in the park next to the library.

I think people were a little scared watching me and my pregnant belly run around after the ball, but I wasn't going to sit on the bench and just watch them have all the fun. A pretty lovely way to spend a sunny Tuesday.

roadtrip | part two: beach combing

After getting to Homer late and meeting our sweet new niece, we all crashed for the night. After a fun morning hanging out and soaking up those new baby snuggles, we needed to give mama and baby some quiet time. It was another warm, sunny day so we headed down to Bishop's Beach for some exploring. 

Bishop's Beach is such a fun place for kids and you can walk on and on in both directions for quite a while. We even lived in a little beach shack/cabin right up from the beach the summer before we moved back to Anchorage. And the best part is that Two Sisters Bakery (our favorite yum) is right up the street. I worked there when I lived in Homer and it's just such a fun place to see old friends and kick back for an hour or two. Riggs loves playing in their little yard, which they have set up for kids with lots of toys and plenty of seating for moms and dads (read this great article about Homer and especially Two Sisters if you have a minute).

he clung to that sea shell for dear life for about 3.5 minutes, then threw it in the ocean. silly boy

looking out across the bay to where Oma and Opa live

can't wait to visit Little Tutka soon (the bay not our dog, who isn't little but is named after Steve's childhood home)

We walked back up towards the Bakery and took the Slough trail to get there. Riggs really wanted to walk on the boardwalk, he loved 'racing' up and down in front of me as fast as he could. I was just thankful he didn't trip over his boots (which he has been known to do ha) and fall head first into the stinky muck that is the slough this time of year.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of the cinnamon roll I devoured ate at Two Sisters, but alas, I was much more interested in eating it than photographing it. Next time maybe? Or even better yet, go to Homer yourself and have one! You won't regret it :)