Sunday, February 22, 2009

Nine-Moose Morning
















Woke up this Sunday morning to an event Landon called "a moose convention". We watched as, one by one, nine moose walked out of the trees below the house and congregated on the flats. They were pretty far out by the time the light got bright enough to snap a picture. They stayed together for an hour (just long enough for their Sunday morning service), ate a fellowship meal together, then went on their seperate ways. I wonder if they'll hold an evening service? Grayson is feeling much better, but is having a hard time learning the difference between a toothbrush and a hairbrush! Landon and I stayed up late watching John Wayne in "North to Alaska" on DVD, and now that song is stuck in my head.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

A Sunny February Day

























Today was a beautiful sunny day. I had a photoshoot in Chugiak and returned to find the boys had been outside enjoying the mild weather (20s). Landon had a great time sledding as bald eagles flew by and moose grazed in the hayflats. We are truly blessed to live in such a beautiful state.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Weekend at Home
















A slow weekend at home. Landon built a T-Rex out of leggos which was pretty impressive. He looks like he's grown a foot in the last month or two. Grayson is a handful. We think he might be allergic to milk, so we've started him on soy milk to see if it makes a difference. The boat in the picture is from the township of Knik, down the road. It was Joe Reddington's boat (famous for establishing the Iditarod Sled Dog race). The tide in the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet varies as much as +/- 30 ft, so the boats are built with flat bottoms so they can ride out low tide sitting on the mud flats and not harm the keel. Joe and his family brought his fishing boat, "Nomad", into the bay one day in the 1960's and it has sat there on the mudflats every since. In the great earthquake of 1964, the flats rose in places and subsided in others as much as 15 ft - so it makes sense that when he brought the boat in there was more water to keep it afloat, and after the earthquake it became impossible to move it and it has sat there in the mud flats every since. Although others have said he brought it in as late as 1967, but it's hard to imagine that there was enough water to float it in after the earthquake since the little bay definately doesn't have the water to float it out now. I like the boat's name because we have basically been nomads for the last 18 years, making 9 state-to-state moves during that time, average a little less than 2 years at each location. Reddington was born in Oklahoma, served during WWII in the Army and then homesteaded in Alaska in the late 1940's. My guess is, we've probably already moved more times more than he did!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Ice Fishing Anyone?


























Today we had the opportunity to go to a kid's ice fishing derby on Knik Lake. To our surprise (ok may be only to my surprise), you actually drove out on the lake to your fishing spot. The ice is approximately 2.5 feet thick and the temperature about 5 degrees...needless to say we didn't last very long and didn't catch any fish. Grayson seemed to be more into fishing while Landon wanted to just play on the ice and snow. Ultimately, I think we just went for the pictures.
A few important things we learned though - it helps to have a smaller "ice fishing" pole, since you don't have to cast anywhere, we were lucky someone lent us a hand-cranked auger to drill the hole (took only a minute or two to cut through the 2.5 ft thick ice - no need to buy the gas powered auger), and you need an ice skimmer - which looks like a big ladle - to dip the ice out of the hole to keep the line from freezing in ice at the top of the hole. A tent with a propone tank heater would definately be a luxurious addition as well, but I don't think we'll be doing that much ice fishing!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

First Haircut!











Landon was way over due for a haircut. Grayson waited for Landon's hair to get done and then did a pretty good job holding still for Daddy until Mommy came in the room!