Mint Hut Hike

20 miles and 4000 ft later...I am sore:)

Great times were had by all!

Thank you to my awesome hubby and Grandma Patty for taking great care of the little ones (esp. Dave the Sickie!) so I could have a wonderful time out in the woods...I mean brush.  Love you.

Shel

Starting Hike

 

Is it lunch yet?

 

Hello Marmot!

 

7 hours later we finally reached the hut.

 

back of hut

 

front of hut

view from hut

 

next day (today)--hike up to Jewel Lake

 

View from Jewel Lake

 

Hiking with good friend and God father "uncle" Steve

 

Back to hut

 

Our decent...to the car and then home!

 

Dave's 1 year photos - from Shelley Biss

Hello and welcome to jcpenney portraits. Shelley Biss is excited to share these wonderful portrait memories from jcpenney portraits with you. We can't believe David is already 1 year old! How time flies! Shel Click here to view these portraits. You can even create an account and add this album, so you can come back to it again later. It's fast, easy and convenient. Once you have picked up the album, you can view the images at your leisure, order portraits for yourself and even create your own portrait gift products with these images.

This email was sent by: Lifetouch Portrait Studios Inc. 11000 Viking Dr., Suite 200 Eden Prairie, MN, 55344, USA

Fwd: Dave and Marian's 1st Birthday

Al, Shelley, Anika, and David Biss

6600 Cutty Sark St.

Anchorage AK 99502

(907) 229-9437

Begin forwarded message:

From: Allison Biss <shelal@gci.net>

Date: July 23, 2011 8:27:41 PM GMT-08:00

To: Burt and Patty Biss in AK <bissbp@mtaonline.net>, Teresa and Ron Johnson/Jones <jazzieTeresa@gmail.com>, Paul Markwell <pmarkwell@gmail.com>, Cheryl Markwell <2a662@charter.net>, Dick and Charlie Markwell <r.markwell@comcast.net>, Aran And Erica Winn <ericawinns@gmail.com>, Rain Hill <rainleep@gmail.com>, Erika and Brad Quad <erikajadegotschall@hotmail.com>, Aaron and Tracy Morrison <purple4eclipse@yahoo.com>, Lindsey Holmes <Rep_Lindsey_Holmes@legis.state.ak.us>, Aaron Morrison <ajmorrison@pcl.com>, Salina Vreeling <gemini.flower@gmail.com>, Tim Hroza <throza@colaska.com>, Keith Felberg <projectmajestic@gmail.com>, Goya <rehwina@hotmail.com>, curb113order@m.facebook.com, Jacque and Joe Flynn <jflynn1@juno.com>

Subject: Dave and Marian's 1st Birthday

We celebrated Dave's 1st birthday today with our friends who had a baby girl 12 hours before us, named Marian. We had a great time.  Thank you to all who came!

Shel

Before the party

 

Nice flowers

 

Hi Mom, I'm 1!

 

Grandma and Dave

 

My attempt at decorating cakes.

 

We love our juice boxes!

 

Mom, I look like a dork.

 

Birthday Babies

 

Happy Birthday Marian!

 

Dig In Dave!

 

The Fam

 

God Mommy "Auntie" Linds

 

I Love Cake!

 

Pinata: wacking the monkey.  

 

The candy Grab

 

Playing in Our Back Yard. Delightful Dave--what a Ham!

Anika attended her first Vacation Bible School this week. Lovely Mrs. Donna was her teacher. A truly wonderful and Godly woman! She was so patient with Anika, understanding that she gets overstimulated with load noises and many people. She praised Anika's strengths in reading and while acknowledging her weaknesses, did not catastrophize them into some kind of syndrome. I pray that Anika will have a teacher like Mrs. Donna when she goes to public school. You can see her preforming the songs she learned at VBS "Commencement" in this video I downloaded on Youtube. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT8NZ91VPGM

I can't believe our lovely children's boutique Junior Towne is closing tomorrow. I LOVE that store. 70% off everything meant that I got Anika dresses and shoes galore! I think she is set on clothes until she moves out. So long Junior Towne. I will miss you!

How much David eat in a day...

One cup lentil soup, 2 ice cubes spinach and tofu, 2 cups berry yogurt, 1 cup salmon chowder, 1 cup banana prune quinoa, 1 cup apricot banana apple tofu...the list goes on and on. How can one little baby put away this much food???

Alaska Zoo Field Trip

Sunday was fairly nice weather, so we decided to take a family trip to
the zoo. Needless to say that the kids were very whiny and
unwieldy. We didn't stay long, esp. since Anika's favorite
"animal" (Bees) were not on display.

This week has been fun-filled. Dave just had his professional 9 month photos taken yesterday. It was fun seeing him in his baptismal/dedication digs again. I really enjoy JCPenney's photos and am glad that we have been diligent in getting so many photos of the children these last few months. I am looking forward to having more printed to hang on our walls.

We have had some successes and misses with Anika's potty training. She is now in "big girl pants" only, forgoing all pull ups and diapers. She has yet to go poo on the potty, making clean ups messy and just plain gross. But I am determined to have her potty trained by the time we go visit the family in Oregon and for sure by the time she enters preschool in the Fall. Not much seems to be working--both positive and negative reinforcement has been tried to no avail. I am hoping that just feeling icky enough for long enough will get her to go in the potty. Enough with the messes already!

I went to bookclub today. I really enjoy the women in the group. I can't believe it has been 7 years since I started the club! Time has flown by. This month we will be reading a book called Comfort Food. Sounds fun and light for the summer. Just what I feel like reading!

I finished the Gold Nugget Triathlon this last weekend and really enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I have been evaluating doing more of them. Thanks to good friend Tracy Morrison, I think that I might come to like this swimming/biking/jogging thing. I really feel more healthy and strong by doing this type of cross training. Only time will tell if I stick to it.

Garage sales are in full swing. While I love the close proximity of the community-wide ones, they seem to be getting more and more crowded and "cut throat". Maybe I am getting too lazy, but I just don't feel like haggling over a 5 cent item. Perhaps my garage selling days are coming to a close. Thrift stores, on the other hand...

Onto another topic--hair styles. I have had the same one since, say, third grade. I think that it is time for something new. So I went onto this virtual hairstyle website and found some styles I like. If anyone feels like commenting, I would love any and all opinions. I plan to get something done in a few weeks. So what one do you like best?

Our Last Bossa Nova Preformance

The Gold Nugget

I am overjoyed to be finished with the gold nugget. I placed #4 in
the most improved catagory, thanks to being 9 months pregnant last
year! I was able to place better than two years ago by about 250
places. Overall, I am very proud to have done it this year. Thank
you Tracy Morrison for having the patience to put up with my griping
and for encouraging to accomplish this!

Today my band, Nouveau Bossa Amore, played at East High School. We were resident artists there, teaching the band students about Bossa Nova. It was great practice for the band. We had a great time. Thank you students for having us!

I have neglected to blog for a few months. Since my last posting, Dave has grown 6 months and is now about 9.5 months old. He is a delight! Here are our photos from Easter.