Fall/ Winter 2019 - DK

Sooooo, here's some truth.  It is Fall 2020 as I am just now working on the post for Fall 2019.  Many of you probably stopped following our blog since it takes A YEAR for me to publish something new. (Adam is of course better at it).  But our goal for the blog has shifted a bit.  It was initially created to keep our friends and family updated on our adventures.  Then Adam's mom, Jeanette, began printing the blog as memory books for us to pass on to our kiddos.  So here I am, hiding from my children in a room downstairs (they think I've left the house and they're watching a movie with daddy) so that I can record these memories for them to enjoy one day in the future. 

It was a rough start.  After I searched photos, making a list of which to upload, I began to select photos one by one to be included in this entry......miraculously they all uploaded!......but just my luck, they're in backwards order.  I can't backtrack the process without uploading each one again and am not about to go ask Adam for help and show myself to the kids.  Soooo, here we go, in reverse order, because this is better than nothing.

Please start at the bottom and work up! HA!

9/16/2020 - This is Adam. I can't stand issues that are correctable, yet accepted. I spent time correcting and formatting everything appropriately (at 2 AM for many consecutive nights). 

Ashton chose our family costume....spiderman!  We thoroughly enjoyed trick-or-treat in the heat with our neighbors.  This is an event first created to provide a last Halloween experience for a child battling cancer, his neighborhood had trick-or-treating in early September for him.  This tradition has been continued as an opportunity to honor the boy, raise money for local charities, and for children to dress up before the snow starts falling in Alaska.

Pumpkin mess, I mean fun

Our old kitty Angel had to be put to sleep around Halloween. She was over 20 years old and lived an amazing life (from barn yard, to kitten birth, to farm house, to college apartments, to driving to Alaska, to Anchorage, and to her final moments in Eagle River). Rest in peace sweet Angel.

Don't worry Angel, Josie will pick up where you left off with the sassyness. 

Josie the climber.  Climbing up Ashton's loft ladder at only 13 months old and oh so proud.  We often found her on top of things she wasn't suppose to be on, smiling ear to ear with pride and it terrified me! Only once has she fallen and gotten an injury- bit her tongue but not bad enough to need medical attention.

Aaahhhh the reindeer farm's fall festival.  I was SO looking forward to doing this in 2020 as a family  Adam wasn't able to go with us, so I ventured out with the kids and had an absolute blast.  These are just a few pictures of what makes this fall festival unique from others.  They of course had tractor rides, pumpkins, a corn pit, pony rides etc.  But these photos were unique experiences.

Tube slides!

bouncing horsies

Feeding reindeer!

Tubes for rolling around like hamsters

The reindeer train! Powered by an ATV and decorated with real reindeer antlers

Trying out a freshly pulled carrot, dirt and all

Obviously impressed with the potato he dug from our garden!

Eklutna Lake, after hiking the Twin Peaks trail

We were in love with our newest toy, a cab over camper.  We were comfortably camping even after the snow had hit the ground!  We feel spoiled and a little guilty over our "glamping" 

A fall hiking, small game hunting, camping trip.  Brought home a couple grouse off this trail! 
Bonnie Lake

The spoils

Not a bad place to search for birds

Josie loves fishies just as much as her brother! Mirror Lake

Te neighbor down the block had rotten crab apples falling off their tree. Well, a brown bear knew they were there and kept visiting the tree almost each night and sometimes before sunset. 

They let me setup trail cams but it was too close to the road and batteries went dead before I got any footage due to videoing every car and person going by. 

First snow!

Biggest flakes I've ever seen. Incredible!

Snow is fun!!!

Everyone loves an epic fort! We pulled the mattress off our bed and slept here too.

Adam, Ashton, and Tundra decided to take a guys weekend. They took the camper and snowmachine to Long Lake for a weekend of hunting. Ashton had a blast and I'm sure they did many things I would not approve of. 

Bottomless hot chocolate

Ashton stepped in the ice hole while fishing. Adam was prepared and quickly got him to the truck to warm up and change. Nothing like a quick nap to shred the shivers.

Our setup. The trailer is a good little play area. 

This is the snow mountain by the parking lot. It's also the launch pad of the fireworks that heard rumor of.

This one's for you GG

Fish in one hand, clean the hole with the other

Hey Santa! We've been good, just a little bad.

The airfort from Santa was a hit... and is used often.

Back to the midwest for Christmas!  We can't say Iowa anymore since Adam's parents have moved to their retirement lake house on Table Rock Lake!  The sunshine and warm temperatures were re-energizing!  Ashton doing what he loves best, catching baby fish.

Movie Night!  Missouri was filled with outdoor fun.  The kiddos enjoyed rides on the tractor, lawn mower, 4wheeler, paddleboat, and wagons.  We went fishing, on walks, played in massive piles of leaves, caught insects (and put the container of them on the kitchen table), fed the deer, cracked geods, had a bonfire, searched for critters and more!

Enjoyed some time with extended family as well, long over due!  Adam's Uncle Don, Aunt Bonnie, cousins Doug and Becky and their families came over to visit as well.  We appreciated the time they took to come see us!

Papa, GG, and 5 of their 7 grandchildren.  We were missing the rest of the fam- Jessi and her family had moved to North Carolina to begin her residency at Duke hospital!

Couldn't keep him off this thing

We found a baby Copperhead!

Bottomless rocks to throw

Goofs

She wanted to do everything Ashton did

Time with Grandma Grandma! She had recently moved to Shell Knob as well, so we got to visit with her and see her new place.

STINKY FEET!

We had a blast cracking open the hundreds of geodes Emma and GG found.

Paddle boat excursion

wagon ride!  Bumpity bump bump

Emma braving a wheeler ride with uncle Adam!

Cousins!  Adam's sister and her family met us there as well.  Quality time with Emma, Owen, and Delainey

On to Iowa.  Adam drove us through the night from southern Missouri to my family's home in Traer.... but not before making a mandatory detour stop to visit Great Aunt Shirley.   

These bounce balloons provided hours of entertainment for the cousins, well, and the adults!.  Shockingly, one of the balloons lasted from Christmas 2019 until our visit in July 2020, not even one bit deflated!

The oddest thing.  We could see numerous eagles around my parents' house, mainly flying over the town lagoon across the creek and fields.  We drove over to check out the commotion and saw dozens of carp that had been caught and dropped below the pine trees near the lagoon.  Rotting and flopping fish everywhere!  Some had been pecked at and some had not.  My college roomie, Jenny, and her kiddos were lucky enough to visit us this day and partook in this crazy experience with us!  

On a squirrel hunt!  These kids are ruthless but those squirrels were tasty!  Kane's shots. (11 year old nephew)

with Grandpa Kucera <3

Kucera family Christmas!

Bowling for New Year's Eve in Grundy Center, Iowa!

Ashton had been waiting a very, very long time for a nerf war with his cousins!

Brooklyn <3, Brandon's second oldest who will be graduating this year.  Which means a visit to us!

My brother Brandon and some of his family. Deanna, Kane, Shanin, Breanna

Sydney <3  My brother, Brandon's oldest

The kiddos!

The cousins have chosen an experience together versus material gifts for the past couple Christmases.  This year they chose to go to Get Air trampoline park.  We got there at opening and had the place to ourselves for a little while.  We all had SO MUCH FUN!  Adults included.  I think the highlights were the family dodgeball game and uncle Adam swinging up, jumping, and touching the ceiling.

Bapa and Nana Kucera!  We always have such a good time with family and visiting friends at their house and my brother, Brandon's. Lots of outdoor space to play and explore with animals, barns, creeks, and woods.

Loving on all the critters.  Horses, kitties, dogs, chickens, galore!

Here kitty kitty

Ashton had to expose his hands out of the Spider Man costume to help with the cake... also exposed his biscuits too!

Kiddos with my brother Adam and his family. Autumn, Heidi, Annie

Ashton got to go on his first boys' only fishing trip!  Adam, friend Kevin, and Ashton snowmachined in about 15 miles to a lake to catch pike.  He LOVED it of course

sibling love

If he's not shooting his guns, he's building them

skiing with Erin near Willow.  She also has a chariot behind her!

Our little Alaskans with fish pulled through the ice

All snug and cozy for a ski on the lake.  Mommy needed exercise and the kids needed a nap!

Snowmachine ride with daddy/Uncle Adam

The boys' turn to pull!  The road near Shawn and Erin's cabin has a hill that's great for sledding down.  Daddy's got exercise pulling the kids back up!

Ashton's second year on skiis!  Improvement even though we didn't get out on the slopes as much as we had hoped

Ashton turned 4!  He requested a dinosaur cake and a party!  We invited friends and neighbors for an ice-fishing party!

We rented a chalet on JBER that overlooks a lake with a great hill for sledding down.

Fishing was terrible but the kids still had fun and got to see one fish!

  

Josie and her fish

Our little dino family

Ashton is getting good at dribbling

Meet Adam Harris, Director of Quality Assurance for Texas West Capital. Adam picked up a side gig as he expands his reach in cryptocurrencies. His mom calls it "funny money" but he insists he will have the last laugh. You can check out their initial site here: https://howtotradetowin.com/