Kid's Workshop

A few Saturday's ago we went to Home Depot to get some stuff. When we were walking around the store, Sydney kept asking what all that noise was. Naturally, I came up with some random explanation about the workers hammering in the back. Imagine my surprise when we turned a corner and found a whole bunch of kids were actually the ones hammering! Of course, Sydney wanted in on the action, so even though the kid's workshop said it was for ages 5 and up... it seemed simple enough and there were other younger kids participating. Sydney and Andy got to make a pencil box for her colored pencils while I played camera person and cheerleader. It was Sydney's first experience with nails, hammering, paint, and glue! She had a ton of fun. I think most Home Depot's hold kid's workshops for free in the morning the first Saturday of every month. We have it written on our calendar and definitely plan on going every month. It's so fun to see her start to make her own creations and be proud of them :). Plus the cute little apron they gave her to bring each time she comes is adorable and really handy at home as well!

I also have to point out Sydney's oufit. Making her wear matching clothes is not one of the battles we have chosen to fight, so most days she'll agree with what we choose, but when she doesn't we just let it go unless we have to go to church. This particular day she has on a pink turtleneck with jeans, no shoes, and a princess dress over it all to top it off. What a stylin' little girl :D

Blueberry picking

The berries are ripe in Juneau, so last week we took an adventure to seek them out on a nice day. We hiked up Blueberry Trail and saw all different kinds of berries almost immediately. We were sad we hadn't gotten a berry book yet, because we didn't know which ones were safe to eat. It turns out that almost all of them are... we found out when we got home. Anyway, the trail is about a mile and half long up to the top of a ridge where about forty years ago they cut down a bunch of trees to make the approach path to the airport clearer. The ensuing meadow made a great place for berry growth! Andy carried Sydney in a hiking backpack since it was a decent incline all the way up, and I straggled along :). The blueberries here are quite different from the ones in Oregon. They are almost black when they are fully ripe and taste a lot more like blackberries. Andy and Sydney love sour, so they were fans... I only ate a few and picked the rest for them. We had fun! It was a double win since once we were at the top, we were literally right below the approach path to the airport and got to see lots of helicopters and planes fly right over the top of us. I'm pretty sure we'll be venturing back to this trail again sometime, even if not this year, to pick some of the other kinds of berries we passed up.