Pictures and pictures and pictures

And almost all of them are of Michaela. A little because she makes a good subject and a lot because I'm pretty sure her grandparents would kill me if I didn't include them.

Let's start with the (mostly) non-Michaela stuff...

It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL the last couple days here in Kodiak. Jason finally got back from three weeks in Mobile (1.5 of which I was traveling, too) on Saturday, so we took the chance to do some family stuff for the first time in a while.

It's the time of year when the whales start to come back to Alaskan waters, so we hopped in the car, made a pit stop at Java Flats (our favorite local sandwich shop), and headed out the road. We went out toward Narrow Cape - Pasagshak - where we ate our lunches in the car on the beach, watching the whales right off the beach. Unfortunately, even the super-mega-zoom lens wasn't enough to capture them, but it was awesome to watch. Lunch done, we bundled up and headed for what turned out to be a VERY short walk on the beach. It was FREEZING!! The thermometer said 45 and it was sunny, but the wind made it bitterly cold. Michaela, my little Alaska girl, loved it!

Besides the whales, Pasagshak is also the place to see Kodiak's wild-ish buffalo herd. For these guys, the super-mega-zoom was handy!

When we got back from Pasagshak (with both a morning and afternoon nap out of the way in the car!.... um, for the baby....), we still had the business of taking the dog out for a walk to attend to. So we headed to another cape - Spruce Cape - to get some exercise for Fred. He was kind enough to pause for a moment and pose for me.

Michaela posed, too. Oh, and I would like to point out that it was May 2nd yesterday. And she's wearing her snow suit and winter hat.

The business of fun out of the way, we headed back home where my to-do list failed to be completed and it took me way too long to get up-to-date on the finances that I hadn't touched in the three weeks since we'd last been home together. Ugh. I still have that to-do list to get to, but figured catching up here was more important!

Moving on to the Michaela show.... here are some of my favorite pictures from the last few weeks. We'll start with one I took in the car after we went to visit Grammie (my grandmother) when I was in CT. We should see if we can have a happy baby next time, right?

Next up - crazy hair day for daycare last week. April was the Month of the Military Child, so they had a different theme to each day last week... pajama day, dress up like mom or dad, crazy hair, etc...

I tried to do something crazy to her hair, but it's so fine that mousse wouldn't even make it stick up. I probably could've tried gel, but like every other day while Jason is gone, we were already running late, so I went with Plan B - clippies!

She also figured out how to dump over her toy bin in the living room while I was busy getting everything ready to go. Oh, and this was the 2nd to last day that it was safe to leave her alone - because she's now MOBILE!!! Yep, stinker finally decided to crawl on Friday, right at 9.5 months old. We're thinking it's going to be short-lived, though, since she's already learned that walking/cruising/standing in general are more fun. See?

And, finally, a series of pictures from tonight. The light was great in the kitchen and she was having fun playing with the magnets I put on the lower part of the fridge for her. Just for the record, she has about a million dollars worth of toys. But she'd rather play with anything that isn't really a toy - like paper, plastic water bottles, cups, and magnets. Oh, and the sunglasses are new and I'm trying to get her used to having the band around her head. Enjoy the Michaela goodness!

And, some close-ups. In addition to a happy baby next time, we're going to try for a cute one, too...Oh, and the tear is because she'd had a crying fit a minute before I set her up with the magnets because Daddy had the nerve to cook dinner, and Mommy had the nerve to go to the bathroom, leaving her all alone (in the middle of the kitchen, where Daddy was) for about two and a half minutes.

She's also a little ham who stops whatever she's doing to have her picture taken. Cracks us up. I was sitting all the way across the room, using a zoom lens, in an effort to get her without her "posing," but that only worked part-way. She's just too much!!

As far as Michaela's parents - we're doing well. We're down to about 2 months left here in Kodiak. Jason got a bunch of stuff taken care of with the new house during his trip and we'll be closing in less than 2 weeks! We still have a cross-country trip to plan, a house to finish selling here (we're under contract), a house to get ready for movers, etc, etc. The next couple months are going to be crazy, but that's ok... we're up for it since it means heading back to the "real world!"

Ok, it's after 10, I have to be up in time to really be on time for work tomorrow (it's so good to be the boss since that's not usually an issue), I haven't gotten my Mother's Day card(s) ready to send to Mom yet, and I should already be in bed. Hope you enjoyed the update. I know I always say it, but I really will try to be better over the next couple months if I can!!!