Winter is Here

The ground is covered with snow and it's not going anywhere any time soon. We've already gotten three or four decent snow falls and more is coming down now as I type. Everyone puts their lights up early, before it becomes nearly impossible in the cold and snow, so it already looks like Christmas. We've started a little walking group with the other mommies on our circle. We use the weather shield on the stroller, with those little bags filled with flax seed that you stick in the microwave and the girls stay pretty toasty. The BOB is amazingly easy to push, even in the snow. As long as it isn't windy, even 15 degrees doesn't feel too bad as long as we keep moving. Anything to beat the darkness! Right now, the sun doesn't rise until 9:30 and sets before 6:00. Every time we get ready to leave in the morning, Oakley refuses because it is "too dark, mommy!".

Dan is in surgery getting his deviated septum fixed and I am a nervous wreck. He is excited to be able to breathe better. (And for the two free paid weeks off he gets to recover). Then in January, it's back in the OR to get his tonsils removed. Poor guy. But this sweet girl is sure to help him feel better. Brighton, on the other hand, would just clobber him.

Winter's Coming...

Where did this summer go? The yellow leaves are almost gone, and everyone is waiting for the first snow to fall any day now. We are enjoying the crisp weather and I'm oddly excited for winter. (Well, the snow, not the darkness. The sun is lower in the sky already and no longer passes directly overhead. Time for the vitamin D supplements and first-thing-in-the-morning workouts to help get me going.) Fortunately, with Music Class, Ballet, Physical Therapy and Preschool there is no way we will spend the winter stuck in the house.


A few pictures from our Summer:

Oakley's first day of Preschool: It's just two hours a day, but five days a week. She absolutely loves it, and the speech therapy she receives there is working much better for her than the private therapy she received before. Her favorite part is riding the school bus everyday.


Our neighborhood mama moose with her not-so-baby-sized-anymore calf:


Gorgeous Eklutna Lake:




How Brighton spent most of the summer:
Yep, she's eating rocks. And dirt. And if you try to stop her you will quickly regret it.

We spent almost every free day this summer biking. Eklutna Lake was one of the most scenic rides we took, although we also loved the local Eagle River-Chugiak cross-country skiing courses, which make for some fun roller coaster style bike trails in the summer. The girls successfully frightened any wildlife away with their laughter and squeals of delight as we sped down the hills.

It's Alaska... for two more years.

We found out that we'll be here for two more years. After that, Dan has one more year left in the Air Force, which they may or may not move us for. So, we have no idea where we'll be next, but we're very happy we don't have to move again so soon.

The other night, Max started going crazy around 9pm. After telling him to stop, we looked out the window and saw these two jogging down our street.

They stopped to look for cars before crossing the street:




Some pictures of our Birthday Girl from last month:

The Iditarod

It was -4 degrees when we went out to watch the Iditarod in March. (While the daylight had already increased significantly, the snow didn't start to melt until April.) Apparently, this was a little warm for the dogs. Their ideal temperature for running is -15. There is a ceremonial run through Anchorage before the teams drive north to the restart. It was definitely worth braving the cold to see these incredible athletes. Just completing the 1049 mile race is an amazing feat, and this year's winner, John Baker, set a record for the fastest winning time of 8 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes, and 39 seconds.

The race is largely run by volunteers. To help raise funds for the Iditarod, they auction off spots on the sleds during the ceremonial run through Anchorage. They don't get to, and probably wouldn't want to ride there the rest of the race. This person, however, looks pretty toasty with all those furs.

There were no barriers between specators and the trail, so we were just feet from the teams as they ran by. One of the mushers threw Oakley a pair of the booties the dogs wear to protect their feet- just like they toss things from parade floats. She loved it.


Yep, that's Jamaica.


The dogs clearly love to do this. Mushers don't have to train them do pull the sled, they just hook them up and they're off. What they do have to train them to do is pace themselves.


Here we are standing at mile 118 of the original Iditarod trail. When settlers first came to Alaska, this was the main thoroughfare through Alaska. Before that, parts of it were used by the Native American Inupiaq and Athabaskan peoples. Brighton decided it was too cold to stay awake.

Waiting for their post-run salmon steaks:

Then it's into their straw-lined compartments in trailer:


At the Iditarod Festival, they have ice/snow sculpting competitions.

Soccer Class

This post is long overdue... so here's my excuse :) Internet up here is ridiculously expensive. If you want it decently fast, you'll shell out close to $100, for the internet alone. We opted for the more affordable, e x t r e m e l y slow connection. Seriously, our phones are faster. It has actually been so slow lately, I haven't been able to upload a single picture! Why has it suddenly gotten faster? (meaning painfully slow, but functional) Because I'm blogging at midnight :) It's strange to think about winter while enjoying sunny weather in the 60s and almost 19.5 hours of daylight... but here's something that kept us busy when it was cold and dark outside.

Oakley's soccer class was up in Palmer, about 30 minutes away. It made a fun family day trip every Saturday. The snow, ice, wind and ice fog made it an interesting drive. There was never a shortage of cars in ditches strewn along the highway. We just prayed we didn't end up one of them!
Scoring a goal:

Before learning to smile for the camera:

What toddler class is complete without playing with a parachute?


Driving her boat:

Looking for sharks:

Birthday Girl

Sometimes we feel guilty about not taking a many pictures of Brighton as her sister, so we take a whole bunch all at once:



She loved the whipped cream and strawberries on top of her tres leches cupcake...

but thought the cake texture was super weird.

It was put cake in, mush up, spit out and repeat.

We think she looks a lot like daddy and hardly anything like Oakley did at this age. From her hair, which is much darker and shorter, to the shape of her eyes, face, nose and mouth.

And, she is definitely her own person. She smiles, laughs, cries and screams more than her sister. It's so fun to see just how different they are. Brighton is a fun loving little girl who is quick to let you know just what she thinks. Whether she's happy, sad or tired, you'll know! It doesn't take much to make her laugh, and it doesn't take much to get her mad. While Oakley is a daddy's girl, Brighton is definitely a mommy's girl.

She loves crawling, getting into everything, mommy and playing with her big sister.

We love her so much, and can't believe she's already one!

Potty Trained, Crawling and Playing Together

Oakley's been potty trained for over a month now. She was already comfortable with sitting on the potty, but after she spent a day refusing to go anywhere but her diaper, I had her down an entire can of soda, which she was thrilled to do since she never gets it, then I sat her on the potty. We sang songs and read stories for about 30 minutes until she went without even thinking about it. And, it clicked. She's used the potty ever since with only two accidents, neither one in public or in the car. Whew!



Brighton started crawling just in time for her first birthday! We are thrilled. They still can't guarantee she doesn't have CP, but as soon as she masters a new skill, the CP movement patterns associated with that skill that she has been displaying, completely disappear.



The day the girls started truly playing together was one of the best days of my life. The house we're renting, like many of the houses in our area, has the living area upstairs- the kitchen/living/dining room, a bathroom and two bedrooms. So, Brighton gets one room and Oakley gets the master, which doubles as a play room. The girls love to play in there together while I'm able to get some cooking or cleaning done, while still keeping an eye on them.

It's an odd set up, designed to let the developers build houses super close together while still allowing mountain views, but we're learning to make it work for us. It does seem more energy efficient, since the heat rises to the second floor anyway, now it's rising to the part of the house where we spend most of our time. The downside is the fact that you never want to be on the first floor because it's 10-15 degrees colder!