OTBN!

Need I say more? What a great day to start in on our Italy collection, that has been waiting for me since before I was pregnant. It is the 10th anniversary of the 'Open That Bottle Night' started by a husband and wife team from the Wall Street Journal. All I can say is what a great idea - we celebrated by breaking into our collection and drinking Il Botticello, a San Gimignano Rosso from San Quirico, 2002. Absolutely fabulous - full bodied but slightly dry with a lighter feeling :).

Okay, and a couple super cute photos of our little darling who was so cooperative and slept through OTBN.

Harper in her hoodie

Playing with el Guapo on the activity mat

Crashed out with el Guapo after playing hard

Family walk on the mud flats

Tummy time!

Happy V-Day!

Harper had a great first Valentine's Day, on that will be hard to live up to in the future! She was spoiled with diamonds and furs...and we don't mean Neil Diamond (although my husband assures me there is nothing wrong with that). Grandma Trude & Grandpa Mikal gave Harper a beautiful white gold heart necklace with some diamonds in it - so beautiful and I can't wait until Harper is old enough to wear it! We then went for a hike on Flat Top with some friends, and it was so cold we decided to go have hot tea and shopping for fur coats. Because it was Valentine's Day, the furrier we went to was giving away fur 'roses' to all the ladies, so we got one for Harper. She loves how soft it is and is grabbing it already. It's going to be hard to top this one next year!

Harper and her 'fur rose'

Happy Valentine's Day hike - boy was it windy cold!

Will you be my Valentine?

'Yes Daddy'...our a cute little Valentine!

'Grandma' Trude & 'Grandpa' Mikal - Valentine's Day visitors

Fast and (semi) furious

We had a great (but short) visit from my sister this week in Anchorage - Harper had fun meeting another member of the family, and we think Darci had fun playing with her niece. We filled the three days with talking and playing with Harper, and when she slept we cooked and scrap booked (new to me, good thing my sis is a pro). She also brought me a TON of GF food, most of which I can't buy here in AK. And the BEST part, was the GF fried calamari from Abrusci's - my FAVORITE!!

Auntie and Harper - midday feeding and smiling

Harper in her swing (she LOVES it here)

Harper looking particularly cute (and chubby) in her sweatshirt

We're looking forward to our next visitor - Grandpa - coming soon in March!!

Super Vacation - We love Kauai!

Harper loved Kauai so much she gained a ton of weight!! We guess the sun and warmth helped her in her three month growth spurt - she ate an amazing amount of food during the trip and gained at least a pound and a half, if not almost two pounds. Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip:

In the Honolulu Airport, waiting for or flight to Kauai

Last day of the trip - such a BIG difference!!

At Waialua Falls - there usually are only two streams of water flowing over the falls, but there had been so much rain that is was one giant flow

Aunt Sue, me & Harper & Grandma W at the falls

Harper chillaxing on Shipwreck beach

Dad & Harper on the Sheraton beach

Grandma W & Harper in front of the dive shop (Mom's favorite!)

OK, really, Lappert's ice cream is Mom's favorite (try the coconut mac nut fudge)!

Grandma W playing with Harper before bedtime

Goodnight sun, goodnight sailboat, goodnight monk seal

Brennecke's - our favorite lunch spot

Harper and Grandma D

Harper's first swim in the ocean...not that happy about it though!

Harper hula dancing in her bouncer on the beach

Waking up from her afternoon nap

Playing with Mr. Fan (aka ceiling fan) - favorite activity of the trip

I'm so glad this monkey isn't Harper!

OK, so it was really a chimpanzee to be exact, but I'm still glad it wasn't Harper. Originally I had wanted to take Harper with me on a 'mommy and me' Ski for Women run, but it was -1 degree F at the start line at 10:30 am so I gave our bundled up little girl to Dan and put the chimp in the Baby Bjorn. About 2K into the race I noticed the chimp bouncing around like crazy so I turned to my teammates and exclaimed the title of this blog. All I was thinking of was Harper's little head bouncing around like the chimp's, and I was glad that I left her in the warmth of her father's arms (and his down jacket!). Team 'Moms on Skis' made their debut with 'babes' in tow in our multicolored Baby Bjorn's (babes in the forms of a teddy bear, stuffed husky dog and the aforementioned stuffed chimp), with at least one of our three team members completing her first ski race! Great job ladies!! Looking forward to doing it again next year, and Dan even came up with a possible team name for next year too - Winkin'-no blinkin'-Skiin' Mamas.





It was a blue bird amazing Alaska day, with fresh new snow on the ground and a chilly bite in the air...days like today remind me of why I do love it here. The volcano complied and allowed us to have our fun, it was great to get out and get on skis again after nearly a month of being off skis due to cold weather and Hawaiian vacations :).