Catch Up

This summer seems to be flying by so fast...probably because we are both back at work and all our 'free' time is not really as advertised! Here's a few fun photos from the past couple months...

Mom & Harper at the Alaska Run for Women - we've got our pink on! It was a great day for a great cause - our team from work raised the most money of any team!

Holly coming into the bike-to-run transition at the Gold Nugget Triathlon

Holly and Harper post Bike for Women race - what a great sign to see when you are racing!

Dad and Harper post-Eklutna Challenge race (run-bike duathlon)

Dan on the bike, coming into the finish at the Eklutna Challenge

Dan during the run portion of the Eklutna Challenge

Mom & Haper at the zoo with an Amur tiger lurking in the grasses

Teething!

Having fun playing with the rattles

Meeting the fox at the Alaska Zoo

Hanging out in the backpack on a midday stroll through the Zoo

At the BP Family Picnic

Happy Father's Day

Happy first Father's Day!! The top three reasons you're a great Dad are:

1. You take Harper on super fun excursions
   
2. You know how to turn Harper's tears to laughter
   
3. When Harper wakes you up you're happy, and you always kiss Harper goodnight
   

We spent Father's Day weekend at Sheep Mountain Lodge and hiking around the Matanuska Glacier - it was a fun activity with Harper even though she slept for most of the hike! Dan spent the actual Father's Day running in the Bird Ridge Mountain Race - he beat his time from last year despite only doing a few training runs! It was a good race, minus the downpour of rain at the base and the 35 degrees F and snow at the summit - can't believe it is June 21st!

Not really Father's Day photos, but Dan had the camera and I had the Girl...

5th Anniversary and Happy Solstice!

June 20th 2004

June 20th 2009

We spent our 5th anniversary at one of our favorite places - Sheep Mountain Lodge! It wasn't the best weather, but I guess it's way better to have the blue bird sunny sky on our wedding day five years ago than to have it today. We definitely had a better photographer on our wedding day...the camera bag didn't make such a good prop!

It's also one of our favorite days of the year - the longest day of the year - Happy Solstice!

Way to go Dad!

Dan's work participates in the Dave Thorsness Championship rowing competition each year, and today they defended their championship title! It was a great day to sit by Jewel Lake in the sunshine, have a picnic and watch a rowing competition. Harper and I had a lot of fun playing with the grass and discovering all sorts of new bugs - dragonflies seemed to be her favorite. Harper tried a new food for the first time - it was her first summer picnic so I thought she should have some watermelon too! We had fun sitting lakeside in the sunshine, and the best part for Harper was chewing on the medal that Dan won.

Great spot near the lake

Another big hit toy - the plastic water bottle seems fun to chew on

Medals make great teething toys!

First watermelon...seemed to be a big hit!

Harper didn't even cry after she dropped it...I fully expected a protest but she giggled instead!

Baby Class

We took a quick trip to California again this week and this time we flew first class...it was the only ticket Dan could get at short notice so I upgraded mine. We were first on the plane (babies board early) and so we got to see the less than thrilled facial expressions of the other first class passengers when they boarded. Luckily Harper flies great and rarely makes any noise (knock on wood) on the plane, and we had a few compliments as to what a well behaved baby she is (too bad we can't take credit for that!). The flights to Burbank went smoothly and we had a hectic few days of trading off work and baby watching, since Dan was working in the evenings. We didn't get out to see too many sights, but we did go to see the Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood sign! Definitely the highlight of the trip for us. On one of our flight legs back to AK, there were 3 infants in first class - it was great fun to see them interact with each other and with the other passengers.

Harper in the morning before we left AK, a bit tired

Is this spoiling her?

Bird to Gird

Harper took her first trip to Girdwood over the weekend (I can't believe we have not been to Girdwood for more than seven months?!). We biked along the pathway near the Seward Highway from Bird Point to the Bake Shop in Girdwood and back. Despite the wind at the beginning of the ride, it was a fun filled afternoon with great friends!

Hooray for Colorado jerseys! Thanks Dad!

William and Harper

Post-ride cuddles!