Gettin' Ready

One of the best parts of Thanksgiving weekend is the day after. We actually went skiing that day (see previous post) but we did get to the traditional post-Thanksgiving rituals after the downhill marathon. We set up the boxes and unpacked the tree in record time.

We do the fake tree thing at Christmas and I wish I could say it was because we are so environmentally conscious, but it's mostly for convenience. Last year we had 2 light strands burn out on the tree (one each year for the previous two years). After one strand went out, I let it slide, but I couldn't do two. I decided to replace all the lights on the tree. I researched the different types and went out and bought a bunch of new lights, found some good ones and strung them on the tree. I should have known better when 2 out of the 12 "good strands" didn't work right out of the box, but the rest seemed fine so I put them up. Well, two of those new strands are out this year. They are also on opposite sides of the tree so I can't really hide the "out strand" in the back like I had in the past. Ugh. There really aren't many bad things I think about when pondering Christmas, but stringing lights and packing up the boxes (after New Years) are definitely two of them. I think fruitcake might be third although I warmed up to this a little in Argentina where they serve it all the time (it's called pan dulce...sweet bread). I haven't decided yet if I'm going to relight the tree again this year. Poor kids...what a slacker dad.

Beth, Isabel and Owen all mostly decorated the tree on their own which was a little bit of a surprise. They kind of did it while I was bringing boxes up from downstairs. We have one box of ornaments which I brought up first. Beth distributed them and the kids did a pretty good job of hanging...even Owen. There was of course a "kid line" kind of like the tree line on the mountains where the ornaments just stopped due to pediatric height restriction. Dad had to help out a little above this and Isabel put the top ornament on (it's not really a star, more of a pointy decoration). Besides a little stress when I saw glass ornaments on the ground with a barefoot three year old marching around, I was very happy with the experience.

Next was the nativity scene which comes all the way from Oberammergau courtesy of Maama and Popop. We love it and the kids really enjoy putting up each piece. My favorite is...the camel. Yes, you may think it would be a different piece, but I really love the camel. It's also a good favorite because the kids tend to lobby for the pieces a little more relevant to the the birth story. I also remember putting up the nativity scene when I was younger...great memories.

Finally we put on some upbeat Christmas songs and danced around the living room. We broke down and got semi-matching pjs this year which I highly recommend. You just can't all dress up alike like that and not have a good time. We've done the dress up thing many times since, and the energy is infectious.

The kids are doing the countdown and mom and dad are looking through catalogs. Owen also has a birthday coming up so we're getting that going as well. It's a busy but wonderful time of year (some would say the most wonderful time and I may have to agree).

More photos here.

Skiing

As noted in our Thanksgiving post, it was unseasonably warm here in Fairbanks over the weekend. We had thought about going down to Anchorage, but with the warm weather (and kid health issues) we decided to stay here. The roads can actually get quite scary when it warms up as about 120 miles of the trip south is on snowpack. As the snow warms, the friction wanes. Tires actually stick pretty well to ice once it cools down enough and once we're below zero, grip is quite good but it's pretty slick as it warms up.

Anyway, we had picked the girls and ourselves up some ski stuff at the annual ski swap and decided to take them out for a ride. We went with some friends here over to the ski hill on Fort Wainwright. The ski hill is called Birch Hill and consists of a rope tow, ski lift and tube lift (they have three tracks for tubing down the hill...looks fun). We stuck to the rope tow.

We had been here once before last year and the outing consisted of me pulling up either Beth or Isabel between my legs to the top and then skiing down with them either between my legs or to the side of them as their personal brake. They could ski a little on their own at the very bottom, but really not much at all. I had decided to do some prep work and tried to teach Beth how to snowplow on our driveway over the past couple of weeks. She actually picked it up pretty well. I really only had to take her up on the rope tow a couple of times and she was snowplowing the whole way down on her own! She then decided she wanted to be able to go up by herself and figured out how to grab the handle on the rope and officially became an independent skiier!

Isabel soon followed. She stayed skiing with me perfecting the snowplow the first day. The kids had so much fun, we decided to go back the next day (you really need to play hard whenever the temperatures are this warm). Carol came and I took Owen home (after a couple of runs with him in arms) and at the end, Isabel was also going up and coming down the hill all on her own. The videos below are actually when they both were first starting out, but you can kind of get the idea.

We're looking forward to many more great ski days. It will be fun to get them skiing in SLC when they're a little better (I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate the Utah snow at this point). We're also trying the cross country ski thing which the girls enjoy.

Primary Program

Carol made it through the Primary Program a couple of weeks ago. She was basically in charge of the whole thing and it came off fantastically well. I actually missed it as daughter number two decided to leave the light on in my car which left me with a dead battery and Carol already at church. Neighbors were out and just in case any of you are wondering, you can't really jump a car with a lawnmower...

Anyway, the kids did great and I had them read me their parts when the got back home which I have posted here for the world's enjoyment. Kudos to Carol and the girls!

Thanksgiving!

Well, we had a great Thanksgiving here in Alaska. It was crazy warm to the point that all the snow melted off our roof and our normal outside freezer that we put out near the end of October (cooler on our deck) also thawed. It still was a welcome treat and I think the temperature topped out at 45F. Last year I think it was -10F so this was quite a change.

We had dinner here with some friends of ours that had just moved here from SLC. They are actually family of one of my best high school friends and we are so happy they landed here in Fairbanks. They brought over some delicious rolls, sweet potatoes and regular potatoes. Carol chipped in with 2 amazing pies, stuffin muffins, pomegranate and pear salad and the turkey (prepared Good Eats style...makes a HUGE difference). Everything was fantastic, especially the company and we look forward to many more great meals together. We are still eating leftovers (although they are almost gone) and though I love turkey on Thanksgiving, the sandwich the day after is still my favorite. A little mayo, cranberry sauce, salt and pepper on toasted wheat bread...there's nothing like it. Leftover pie would have been nice too, but I polished that off the night before. Carol's pies rarely survive more than a few hours.

It was a great day and a time we had to reflect on our many blessings. This is almost a daily ritual for me (at least a few times a week). I really do feel undeserving of all I have been given and hope somehow to better magnify and multiply my talents and gifts as the days tick by.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving! I actually failed to snap a single photo of the feast except for a couple of Carol's pies and some pomegranate seeds. I'll do better next year...

Kid Journals

Carol bought Beth and Isabel small notebooks at the local office supply store. It really turned out to be a great idea. They immediately started writing and maybe if they keep it up, they can be the family historians as their parents lack this skill somewhat (or motivation). Here are the first entries:


Isabel:

Dear Owen,
I am sree theet you kat opin yor chin
Love,
Isabel

Dear Dad,
Arn't you sree thet Owen kut opin his chin? I am.

I love mi teetchr Brab. She isa grat teechr.

Translation:
Dear Owen, I am sorry that you cut open your chin. Love Isabel
Dear Dad, Aren't you sorry that Owen cut open his chin? I am.
I love my teacher, Barb. She is a great teacher.

Explanation:
Owen fell as he was going up the stairs today and hit his chin on one of the stairs. It was a minor but traumatic experience fixed with some "steri strips" and a lot of kisses. Please donate to your local Thomas the Train Society in lieu of flowers. Barb is Isabel's kindergarten teacher. She is truly awesome (one of the best I've seen).


Beth:

Baskitball
I wached baskitball. South Carealina - white and IUPAI - black. I am voting for IUPUI. Their are dancers in baskiball. Also their are cheerleders in baskitball. Katy Nefler was one of them. She is one of my babysiters. And Maty was there too. Their is something called halftime. It is where you take a brake and a buzzer rings too. Their is two men and one monkey. The monkey is cute. The cheerleders get to come up and dance for us. People were on trapaleens. IUPUI team won!

Owen
Owen cut open his chin. It was bleeding haerd. We had to put a bandaid on his chin. Owen cryed but after he was feeling good. He was o.k.

Explanation:
Carol took the girls to the "Top of the World" basketball tournament today. They had a great time and chose a side to cheer for (IUPUI) and that team actually won that game. I think half time was as much fun of them as the game and Beth and Isabel were both amazed at the acrobatic mascots. Dinner was at Chili's where the girls also practiced taking orders in their notebooks (Isabel wrote: ditcok - diet coke, cicin - chicken, breto - burrito, cicin pittsa - chicken pizza, wodr - water, hambrer - hamburger, a fresh salad - a fresh salad, wodr lemin - lemon water, srobere - sorbet or strawberry).


Oh, and on a totally unrelated note...OHIO STATE BEAT MICHIGAN!!! (unfortunately they lost to Illinois last week so they'll have to settle for the Rose Bowl instead of the championship game unless a miracle happens, but it was still a great win).

I believe I can fly

At some point the imagination flame in me began to burn a little bit lower. I'm not quite sure when it happened, but it did. For better or worse this seems to be a common theme as we progress from youth to adult as imagination can at some times be very impractical...but it sure is fun.*

I remember playing with action figures (Star Wars of course) for hours outside and knowing that my world would literally come to an end if I could not have Boba Fett. I remember role playing with my friends on bikes outside my house and writing pages of stories on "college ruled" paper with blue ball point pens. I still have an imagination, mind you (Carol may disagree), but I have to dust it off now and give it a few aspirin for the imagination arthritis that has set in. Having kids is very good for imagination revival as it takes all I can muster out of my little flame to keep up with them. I was reminded of this the other day when I looked into the living room to find Beth and Isabel putting on wings from old Halloween costumes.

"We're flying, daddy!"

No, they are not supposed to jump off the furniture, but it's a little sad what I will do for a little memory making. We all had fun and I hope it will be many years before their imagination flame starts to settle. It sure was great to watch!



*It may be that those adults whose imagination flame burns bright are the most successful among us. It can be a very useful trait (thinking outside the box, etc.). Maybe I'll have to try and juice mine up a bit.

Halloween

What great holidays we have! I think it would be interesting to learn about all the holidays in various countries and compare them to our own. I can't imagine we wouldn't crush any country in a head to head "holiday off". We have some truly fantastic holidays. They certainly have become more commercialized which isn't all that positive, but the raw memory making potential regardless of the dollars spent is truly amazing. I look back on my childhood and holidays stand out like big shiny oyster shells on a beach. Halloween is certainly one of the "big three" kid holidays in my mind that kind of anchor the year (Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas). These three are especially helpful up here in Alaska as it gets us half way through our 7 month winter.

Enough babble...here are the kids.

So we had several Halloween festivities here which ended with the sugar filled trick or treat finale on Wednesday. The girls had a school party where they got to throw wet sponges at fellow schoolmates faces as well as a church party that involved a little hockey action for a candy reward. We also did some home activities including the ever popular pumpkin carving and face painting. Hair painting was also part of the action but we soon discovered that the way the manufacturers get the stuff to come out of the hair so easily is to make it come out easily on anything and everything (furniture, clothes, pillows, etc.). It was still worth it. Carol made a fine sculpture ghost (see photo) which was the easiest of her Halloween crafts as she also decided to hand make the girls costumes. Izzie went as a witch and Beth as a cat. Owen went back and forth between elephant and ghost. Carol first did the costume making thing in 2004 when she made Cinderella and Snow White costumes for Beth and Isabel (respectively) which they still somehow squeeze into even now. They are by far the most used dress up prop and are incredible outfits (as are the current crop this year).

Trick or treating involved two parts. We first went up to the museum at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks where the basement had been turned into a mini science museum with candy. There were various displays of science experiments as well as museum artifacts and dissected animals (much to Carol's delight). I thought it was pretty neat, although Carol thought it was a little much. Our company was fantastic as we met up with our good friends and their beautiful children. Denise won the costume contest dressing up as a Mardi Gras masked woman complete with faux leopard skin coat.

After the museum, we went to a neighborhood and did the house to house begging. It's always fun for the kids and fortunately it was unseasonably warm for this time of year at +20F (yes the plus sign is always mandatory when citing temperatures here in Fairbanks - it was -2F our first year out on Halloween). The kids had fun and will be on a sugar high for the next few weeks.

More photos here.

In 'da house

The snow is here and so is the cold. It actually hasn't been that cold yet, but we are now in winter mode. The kids get bundled up before going out and the bikes are put away. It's a long time until summer again, but we had a good one for which we are grateful. Being winter, we tend to do more inside activities. This consist of trains and puzzles for Owen and drawing/coloring/reading for the girls. They are currently into coloring Halloween stuff and Owen is about to pass the 100 mark on his "farm puzzle" completions. Making treats is always fun and Carol decided to do popcorn balls in the rice krispie treat tradition mixing popcorn with marshmallows. They were actually incredibly good! They were also a little sticky but nothing a little soap and water can't fix. We're definitely going to do that one again. Dancing is another favorite. The girls are always dancing and Owen actually likes spinning around to the beat as well. A few days ago, they all wanted to dance in their dancing outfits (the girls have leotards from their dance class at North Star Ballet), and just couldn't find anything for Owen. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it), they found an older smaller leotard in the closet. We'll definitely have to get these photos out for Owen's wedding roast. More photos here (you can guess which one is my favorite...Carol made me promise not to post it on the blog).

Night of the Gyro

We had a fun filled night a while back with some of our best friends up here in Fairbanks. It consisted of some excellent fish, lots of dressing up, trains, drum solos by Owen, a dance performance with 23 encores and a ride in Andrew's new fitness machine, the gyrogym. It's actually quite fun and we all jumped in for a turn (pun intended). Carol even took a postprandial turn and the previously mentioned fish stayed put.

Leaves

This post is a little out of order as we obviously have snow on the ground, but I had to get in my annual ode to fall (normally a verbal ode, but this year a blogged one). Fall is fantastic. It is even more fantastic with kids. I have many fond memories of big leaves being raked by tired parents at Lindsay Gardens and I'm hoping somehow to provide my kids with those same memories. I honestly can't think of anything more enjoyable than raking a pile of leaves and either jumping in it, or watching your kids do the same. If you've never done it, do it tomorrow (unless you live in Alaska in which case you are past fall and into winter). All our fall photos can be seen here.

First Snow

Well, it's here. We got our first snow over the weekend. It first appeared Friday night after I had mowed the lawn for what is now certainly the last time for the season. The leaves were raked and the yard was ready and now it is white. We didn't get a lot, but enough to change the fall into winter. It was very exciting for the kids...a little less so for the adults. Beth, Isabel and Owen all wanted to go out immediately to go sledding. There wasn't quite enough snow for that, but they had fun licking fresh flakes off the slide, chairs, rain gutters, etc. Fortunately, spring is just around the corner (7 short months away). We still have to post our fall photos which I'll do in a few days. You can see the rest of our snow photos here.

Cinderelephant

We love Popop. Beth was making a book today and wanted me to be the "illustrator". It was a book about animals and I really did my best to make each one look something like the real animal. Unfortunately my drawing skills are lacking somewhat. I was actually laughing out loud as I drew most of them due to their amorphous shape.  Beth wrote all the text.  One of my favorites that I didn't include in the pictures below says, "A mother bunny huddles her baby bunny.  Bunnies do not want to get eaten for a meal."

Anyway, we got talking about good artists in the family and so of course Popop came up. Beth recalled a time when she asked Popop to draw her a picture of Cinderella. He began but just couldn't resist putting the Popop touch on the picture and ended up drawing a "Cinderelephant".  I just had to smile when I heard the story. For those of you who don't know, Popop is Beth's grandpa and he is a fabulous artist with a quirky and creative sense.  I have a lifetime of memories looking at adapted birthday cards with hybrid animals and animated vehicles (a Cinderelephant is a perfect example).  One day I'll post something on here.  If you've seen any of his drawings, you would immediately understand.  They are masterpieces and Beth's comments reminded me how lucky we are to have Popop. He is one of a kind and we love him! I can't wait for the next creation to arrive.

Train Station

We made a trek out to the train station a couple of weeks ago. There's not really much there except for a relatively new building, a locked up model train and a bunch of track. Still, the kids like to go (especially Owen) and I think this was our third trip there. We mostly look at the old antique trains they have positioned around the main depot and then run down by the tracks. It had just rained when we were there last time leaving the all encompassing puddles. Owen also has a huge internal magnet toward anything wet and so he was in double bliss (trains plus water). More photos here.

Thanks Leen!

We had the missionaries over last week. It always brings back mission memories when we have them over. They do all the tricks with the kids to charm the parents and can put down food like there's no tomorrow. We served them that wonderful creation Kathleen made for us on Orcas (polenta with sausage). Carol didn't really have the recipie, but it turned out great (quite healthy too)! Owen decided to dress up which was a little scary for many reasons.

Trains

Owen is a train boy. I like trains and have played with them at various points in my youth, but Owen is obsessed. "Will you play trains with me daddy?" is my nightly greeting when I come home. His train consists of 12 engines from the "Thomas the Tank Engine" series. When I ask which one I can play with he says, "You can be the recycling cars." This consists of two green cars with recycled waste in them. "Thanks." I say. We then spend about a half hour running the trains around the track. It would be insanely boring if it weren't for the excitement on Owen's face as he pushes the trains on their journey through the picturesque basement. The trains have actually helped at church where one of the nursery leaders has a huge Thomas set (much bigger than ours) which he gets excited about (excited enough that we can leave and go to our classes!). If your kid is into the train thing, ebay is a great option for you as the store prices can be a little steep.