The Jordans- Cherish, Sean, Autumn and Emelia

Sean and I have been to Denali three times now. This was our first trip there with Autumn and the first time we camped rather than stay in a hotel. This is our adventure. Stopping to take a break and stretch our legs during the 4.5 hour trip to Denali. You can really tell it is fall. Autumn walked through this part, but for some weird reason, it really scared her. Maybe it was because the grasses blocked her view, maybe she knew there was some wild Alaskan animal stalking her. I don't know, but nonetheless, there was crying. Sean and crying Autumn. Why does Autumn always have a weird expression on her face in pictures of her and I? Once we arrived at Denali, we checked in at the Wilderness Access Center. Autumn and I roamed around while Sean took care of checking in. Autumn LOVES bears. Here she is giving the bear a kiss. Sean got our road lottery pass (which gives us permission to drive into Denali National Park past Savage River- you would normally have to take a guided ...

I wish I could take credit for the recipe, but alas, it belongs to Tyler Florence. The dish, Egg Plant Parmesan. I'd give it a rating of 9.8 out of 10. My complaints: it was A LOT of work, but it was so good. I halved the recipe and still have quite a bit for leftovers. The jury is still out on whether it will reheat well or not. The line up: tomato sauce, fried egg plant, ricotta mixture, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, buttered casserole dish. Layer one. Going in the oven. Coming out of the oven. Plating up! Overall, an excellent meal!

We recently discovered that Autumn can climb onto our kitchen counter. Today, I was upstairs sorting and folding laundry when I heard the clanking of a spoon. I smiled and thought, Autumn must be putting away my dishes (and at least they are clean). I made my way downstairs fully expecting to see Autumn in the dishwasher when I discover this: That is right. I grabbed my camera. I wanted proof of the badness. See that look on her face? That clanking spoon sound, that spoon on the counter near her foot. She is climbing up my bar stools to get on the counter. This morning I moved them away from the counter top so that I could vacuum and I thought, maybe that would deter her from getting up there. Well, the trouble with a smart baby is this: She moved them. She even had placed them in such a way that if she pulled too hard on one, it would lean up against the other. Yesterday, Autumn tried to climb up one and the whole thing came crashing down on her. I thought, OK maybe she w...

Big steps. Kick off my shoes and throw 'em in the floor. Dance in the kitchen 'till the morning light. Louisiana Saturday Night. Your mom wears combat boots. Yes Autumn, at one time, now you wear your dad's! Help me.

Let me begin by saying that part of the reason we debated on camping at all is because at night, it is getting down to the upper 30's and low 40's. That is cold for sleeping outside (especially with Autumn). We found ourselves a tent heater though and decided we would give it a go. When it was time to go to bed, Autumn was so excited to be sleeping between Sean and I. She was laughing and playing, that is when I shot this little video. Can I just add that I was also excited about this tent heater and the fact that Autumn had her very own sleeping bag. I felt fairly confident I would at least be warm even if I didn't sleep a wink. I hear every little noise when we are in a tent and think a bear is out to get us! I had the shot gun on my side of the bed and Sean had his pistol and we finally got Autumn to lay down. It was cold! The tent heater didn't keep us warm. I think most of the problem was the tent. It wasn't designed for 30+ temperatures. We bought it...

After much thought about what to do this weekend, we decided on camping. We did some tent camping this trip and went down to Skilak. We had such an exciting time on this trip that I'm going to have to post two entries to get all the information and pictures in. On our way down to Skilak via Death Highway (aka Seward Highway) we took a little side trip to Byron Glacier. Autumn and I just went there not very long ago, but if you will recall, the weather was horrible!!!!!!!!!!! Since it was sunny and clear, we decided we should go again. Our first stop, a motorcycle accident. This lady laid her bike down on Porter Glacier road, but it wasn't the first time we saw her. She passed us on Seward Highway. She was driving too close to us, too fast and passed us in an unsafe way. As much as I was surprised she was laid out on the side of the road, I wasn't surprised. Sean got out to access the situation. She'll be OK. She still had all her limbs and appendages, just a b...