Early Halloween

I’ve said before I really love our holidays.  As a kid, my favorite definitely was Christmas and I think most kids would agree.  As a parent, however there are so many good ones and Halloween is one of the best.

I’ll likely post another post Halloween post later, but we’ve had some good Halloween “prep” of late so I thought I’d do an early piece.

Carol is one of those ever talented humans that  I am fortunate enough to get to hang out with  more than I deserve.  She again showed her talents by putting out home-made costumes in a  couple of nights after the girls decided they both want to be Spanish dancers.  Carol started this tradition when she made what I still think are the best costumes ever made many years ago in the form of a Cinderella and Snow White costumes.  I should note that my sister and father get strong seconds for the biplane costume (sister’s creation for daughter) and sandman costume (my dad created for me).  Carol’s costumes are beautiful, but the other great thing is that they are made of material that is seriously tough stuff (the kids basically lived in their early costumes for 3 years) which is a significant difference from the Fred Meyer versions.  Owen is going to be Wall-E (at least this week).  I thought about trying to pull off an amazing costume like biplane mentioned above, but I think I’ll punt and order one.

One nice thing about Halloween in Alaska is  that the freezing temperatures while tough for trick or treating is great for pumpkin preservation.  It has been a bit warm this year (30s) but usually it’s cold enough outside that we can carve the squash and leave them outside and they’ll keep for a good 3 weeks.  In that spirit and assuming temperatures will go lower, we did go to the store this weekend and get the pumpkins and carved them up.

The patterns have become more complex over the years, and this year Beth went for a fairly aggressive bunny theme.  At this point, daddy cleans the pumpkins and carves them after the kids draw the patterns on the front.

After cleaning and carving, I must thank whoever decided to create the $1 pumpkin carving kit.  Thank you…thank you…thank you.  It is SO much easier to carve a pumpkin with these simple tools.  I remember warping and bending numerous paring knives trying to get little cuts out and it almost feels like cheating to use these new things.  I think I actually saw a battery powered model this year.  Unbelieveable.

I’m sure I’ll post again after Halloween although sometimes it takes a while to get through the photos when the kids are bouncing off the walls for a couple of weeks from all the sugar.

Fall Drives

We went for a fall drive the first fall we were up here and I still remember.  We went down the Denali Highway which is about 150 miles on a dirt road.  We were totally unprepared and fortunately we made without incident, but looking back, we could’ve been in serious trouble.  It was amazingly beautiful though so we thought we’d do some more drives this year.

We went for a couple of drives two weeks ago.  The first was up north on the Elliott Highway.  It goes north and then west of Fairbanks.  Right at the north-west bend, the Dalton Highway breaks off and heads north to the Arctic Ocean (Deadhorse Point).  We basically drove up to the junction (where the pavement ends).  It was pretty and the kids had a good time getting out and throwing rocks in the river.  We also built a small dam and floated sticks under a bridge.  I  remember doing that as a kid and I must say it’s still kind of fun.  I think we were doing it for  about an hour and I probably could have stayed another few (kids as well, but it was getting dark).   We stopped at the Hiltop (yes, one ‘L’) Truck Stop for a bite (famous for pie) and then went on to Fairbanks

The next day we headed south down the Richardson Highway (goes to Valdez where the pipeline ends).  It was kind of cloudy so we didn’t go far, but stopped at Birch Lake and a couple of turnouts where you can see the flats of the Tanana River (big river that runs right by Fairbanks and drains into the Yukon).  It was beautiful and mostly just fun to hang out with the family.  Maybe we’ll make a tradition out of it.  Good times.

More photos here.

Yellowstone!

Americans have had many great ideas and in my book, the National Park system has to rank near the top.  What a wonderful gift to future generations that these beautiful spots will be preserved.  I believe our country was the first to start this system and a trickle down benefit is that now many countries have adopted the  practice for their generations (and ours).  

This summer we all went to Yellowstone with the North Carolina Hammonds.  It was 5 days of chaos and beauty.  The kids had a great time mostly hanging out with each other, but in the back of their mind, they do have those beautiful features etched for later recall when they come back in a decade or two.  I hadn’t been to Yellowstone in about 15 years and it didn’t disappoint.

We started out trekking up to Jackson and stayed at the Jackson Lake Lodge.  It was a beautiful spot overlooking what many consider the most beautiful mountain range in the US.  We ate good food, ran around, threw rocks off a hill and went on a short hike.  We then piled in the car the next morning and headed for Mammoth.

The ride up to Mammoth was beautiful.  We  stopped by some mud pots and Yellowstone Canyon.  There’s a visitor’s center that talks about the Yellowstone Caldera that the kids really enjoyed (talked about Yellowstone basically being a large volcano).  The canyon was beautiful.  We saw  the upper and lower  falls, a  petrified tree, two bears and rolled into Mammoth just before the restaurant closed and collapsed into bed.

The next day we saw Mammoth which is  incredible.  It had changed a lot since I had been there last and I guess that’s the trend in Yellowstone.  Our guide pointed out that geologists usually don’t get to see change in their lifetime but because Yellowstone is such an active place, they do see it here.  The springs change yearly and they actually have to move the walkways as the runoff moves.

After a great guided tour, we headed off for Old Faithful.  We saw a couple of mudpots (stinky…see Owen fingers)  and a geyser field on the way.  The kids were getting a little tired of jumping out of the car  every 30 minutes to see “another geyser” but we dragged them out anyway.  They’ll appreciate it later (or so we tell ourselves).

Nighttime was spent in one of my favorite  hotels on earth (might be my favorite)…The Old Faithful Lodge.  It’s amazing that this huge building was built so long ago.  It still has such a genuinely rustic (not trendy rustic…it’s the real deal) feel.  The kids  were all excited to see Old Faithful and we were not disappointed.  We probably saw three eruptions (one at night and two the next morning).

Our final Yellowstone day was spent walking around the geyser basin.  I saw the biggest geyser eruption I have ever seen.  It was fortunate as it was one of the more unpredictable geysers (can’t remember the name) but it was amazing.  The girls turned  in their Junior Ranger packs (great program at most National Parks where kids fill in a booklet about the park and then turn it in when they’re done and get a badge complete with swearing  in ceremony – highly recommended).  We then left and made our way back to Jackson.  On the way, we stopped by Yellowstone Lake and rented motor boats (wouldn’t really call them speedboats).  We got  two and all the kids took turns driving (“hammer down” was the theme in my boat).   All of them were a little hesitant at first, but I couldn’t drag them away from the wheel by the end.

Our last night was in Jackson and then we were off to home.  It really was an amazing trip  (mostly for the family time but Yellowstone really is incredible).  We missed having the Durhams there (my sister and family) but we’ll drag them out next time.

More photos here.

Biking Buckaroo

Owen did learn to ride a bike this summer. He still has starting and stopping to do, but can turn both ways and ride through puddles. See attached video for evidence.