It's a Sun-day

When someone says 'Sunday' in Juneau, it does not necessarily mean the first day of the week. Often it means that it is sunny outside: Sun-day. And I understand that Sun-days do not come around much at this point of the year. So today we took the opportunity to spend the afternoon outside. We went to the Mendenhall glacier in hopes of possibly seeing a bear. But we were out of luck. We did have a nice walk around the grounds though.


This is Bill preparing to go. He's wearing his cowboy hat, flannel jacket (it was so warm he almost went in short-sleeves but I convinced him otherwise and it was a good thing because the temperature dropped about 10 degrees while we were out), and the rain boots in case we got into some muddy places.

This is a view of the glacier from one of the upper trails. Notice the little icebergs in the lake.

Marie stayed in her stroller the whole time. She was constantly looking around at all the trees and sky.

We met a family on the trail and the husband graciously took our picture. Notice the sky - there is not a cloud in it!!!

We had a wonderful Sun-day.

-Amanda

Future Gymnist

While discussing the future for our little girl, Amanda and I have noticed a theme in some of Marie's curious behaviors. In this picture, we see that she is practicing her acceptance of gold medals, while closing her eyes in prayer of thanks.
Here we have Marie developing her balance skills and core muscles for the balance beam. She will be jazzercising that baby chub right off with these great leg lifts. It seems that she can hold this pose for hours:)

And finally, we have Marie stretching for floor routines, you never know when you might pull a hamstring doing cartwheels, round-offs, flips and such.

It will only take 15 years or so before olympic gold will be coming her way. Yep, no doubt about it. Our baby will be world class material in the gymnist arena.

Bill and Amanda

Snow and Sleep

When I went outside late Friday night to take Yoda out, I opened the door to this! I knew the snow was coming but I did not know it would be here this soon. It was pretty, but thankfully, it has already melted.
Amanda


And when we went in to get Marie up this Monday morning, we walked in to see this! Marie sleeping on her stomach. I have been waiting to see how long it would take her to turn over in the bed by herself. Well, looks like a little over five months. Our baby is getting to be a big girl. Hopefully, she won't grow up too fast. It already seems like so much has changed.
Bill

5 months and swimming

This is my (Amanda) first blog. It's taken awhile, but now that I've sorta figured this thing out I will try to post semi-frequently.
The biggest thing in our life right now is Marie - new things she does, cute moments, etc . . . Bill and I are on a quest to find potential future boyfriends. Watch out Paden boys! Right now she's been hanging out with boys her own age. Her favorite is Elijah. In fact, they went on their first 'date' last Thursday. Of course, it was chaperoned by both sets of parents. They took a swim at the Juneau public pool. Elijah played hard-to-get while Marie stared at the kite-looking things on the ceiling. They enjoyed their first date so much that they repeated it last night.


Marie turned 5 months old this week. When we first moved to Juneau, she had somewhat of a hard time adjusting. But now she's back to her old self.

Marie made a new friend at her 5 month photo shoot this week. This is Marie with Bernard the bear. Jake and Kristina picked out Bernard while I was still pregnant with Marie. But they knew he would be a great friend.