Merry Christmas!

Here are a few of the highlights:

Max asked for "eyeballs; two" from Santa. Santa delivered. Storm got a duck hunting hat and Kerry got 12 inches of snow!! :):):):) [OK, I tried to move the pictures around and froze this thing up for about 15 minutes...that was fun. The pictures are now staying wherever they happen to be.] We had a wonderful Christmas here in Eagle River; Storm's mom Pat was here with us, which is always fun. They boys went absolutely bananas over their gifts, and so we are all very happy and thankful...and Mom and Dad are very tired. The boys woke up at 0430, "Santa came! Santa came!", they stayed up for about 90 minutes playing with their stocking goodies in their room and then passed out until 0930...which was far more reasonable. Today we went sledding and played in all the fluffy, gorgeous snow. It came up to the dogs chests in some areas....they were sprinting all over the place, having an absolute ball. I took some pictures of all of that, but I will have to find Storm's camera in order to get the pictures loaded on here. I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas; thank you for making ours tons of fun! Much Love from "up here", KM

Holiday Play

Well tonight Nick was Rudolph in the school play. He did a great job and the play was pretty entertaining. He told me yesterday that he was nervous about being on the stage in front of all the adults. I told him not to worry that was completely normal, in fact being on stage would make a lot of the adults nervous too. That made him laugh. Here's a little piece of the video, Max was on my lap during the filming, hence the shaky hand. Storm

December Sunrise

Hello everyone, not a lot new going on but I have a few pics you might like. I went skiing this morning in a place called Arctic Valley which you can basically see straight across the Eagle River from our house. Anyhow we got up there around 0930 and were treated to a beautiful sunrise. We ended up skiing 2 runs in fairly decent snow, not epic but no avalanches either! Either way it was good to be out and getting some exercise. I'll try to get some more pics of the boys this weekend. Take Care, Storm

Skiing!

Well they have now opened all the ski areas so we are off and running for another winter season. This year Nick and Alex are members of a local ski team that meets every Saturday. We'll keep you updated on their progress. Max will get to participate as well, but only when KM or I are there to help him get on the chairlift. His little legs just aren't long enough yet! I posted a picture and short video of the kids skiing at a place called Hillberg which is located on Elmendorf AF base. The video quality sucks, but sometimes you go with what you have. I'll try to do better in the future. The video is Nick, then Alex and Max all trying to go off a 'jump'. They don't actually get airborne but they do go pretty fast. We skied on Sunday 30 Nov for about 5 hours. It was a blast. A few frustrating runs at first for the kids as they adjusted to longer skis and got their balance back, but after that no problems. It should be a fun year.

I've also been doing some backcountry skiing, although its been a less than optimal start to the year. On our second day out I ended up riding an avalanche about 100yds down the hill. That was a bit scary to say the least. Of course I didn't have my camera that day...stupid. But we all emerged unscathed and a lot smarter. The early season snow has been unreal this year, in the past week the Alyeska ski area has received over 10 feet of snow!! Could be an epic year! We'll keep you posted. Storm

Well, if you wan to know what they are teaching our kids up here, take a look at the beautiful Golden Eagle and the Pink Salmon. Max's preschool got to visit with "Denali". He is a nine year old eagle that was injured in Denali Park as a baby; since he was unable to return to the wild, he now teaches children about eagles and other birds. Nick (and Max because he was with Storm and me) got to dissect a salmon. It was very cool and the kids loved it. Max was walking around with a fish eye on his finger for a while! :) The third picture was a rare girls night out, so I actually pulled out some nice clothes and put on some make-up...I just had to document the moment so that I have proof of my ability to clean up every now and a decade. Other than that all is well. My class is almost over and we are gearing up for the Holidays. Storm's mom Pat will be with us here is Eagle River. We have some snow, but it is not pretty yet. I was really hoping to get more. I love the snow when it is supposed to be winter...but I am done with it by April! :) Hope everyone who is reading this is well. Let us hear from you. Love, KM

Seasonal Lull

Hi there, things here are moving along. Busy and chaotic as normal, but not real exciting since all the summer stuff is over and we're waiting for winter to get into full swing. We do have some snow on the ground, though not more than a few inches, and it has been plenty cold. There was definitely no global warming in AK this year! After the third coldest summer ever and the 7th coldest October, I have high hopes for an epic winter with lots of snow and very few of the freeze melt cycles. We'll see what happens I guess.

There is however quite a bit of snow in the mtns already. On Thursday I went down to Turnagain Pass to backcountry ski with some buddies. Overnight it had snowed 12-18 inches so we expected the avalanche danger to be pretty high..... and we weren't disappointed! It was a beautiful day and we spent about 3 hours hiking about 2000 vertical feet up a ridgeline to get to the stuff we intended to ski. It was a ton of work as we were breaking trail through 18-20 inches of snow, and deeper in places were the wind had been blowing. About 2/3 of the way to the top we started to see shooting cracks in the snow and we could hear the snowpack go 'whoomph' as the weak layer in it would collapse and the snow would settle. Those are 2 surefire signs of unstable snow and high avalanche danger so we stopped right there and made plans to ski down a slope of less than 30 degrees. This is because 30 or less is not steep enough for an avalanche. Unfortunately it also wasn't steep enough for fun skiing, when the snow is that deep you need steep slopes or else you stop everytime you turn. Anyhow, the new guy in our group went first and about halfway down he got too close to a steep slope and sure enough he trigger a small to medium sized avalanche. He wasn't caught and simply turned away. But it sure demonstrated how fine the line is between a safe slope and a dangerous one. However it was a great day, in that I got to use all my skills I learned last year and find out that they do actually work. And that I was able to accurately identify the hazard and make the right decision.

The only bummer was 3+ hours of climbing for not much good skiing, but what the heck it was a great workout and a gorgeous day.

The pictures are of my buddy Phil, almost dying from exertion, but in the background you can see way down to the highway which is where we started our trek. The other photos show the avalanche and our tracks. Too bad it was so unstable because skiing some of those other slopes you see would've been awesome!! Take Care, Storm

Hey, you're not even a "30-something"!!!

And so this is the look I got when I came upon that revelation! :) Storm and I had quiet birthdays, thankful to be healthy, still happy with each other, and blessed with great kids. No complaints here...except I have officially lost the couch battle with Aly. It came down to choosing the lesser of two evils and when one of those "evils" is submissive urinating, you give up the couch pretty fast! That is the only section of furniture she wants, the space in the sun; so now it is hers. If Gracie thinks she is next, she's got another thing comin'. Right now Aly is up sleeping with Alex in the race car bed; talk about a lap dog. The third picture is just the pretty, late-afternoon sun on a snowy day. Not sure if the picture will show I what saw...the colors were amazing. Anyhoo, that is all I have for you. Thanks for coming by and seeing what we are up to; basically the same stuff you are all up to as well! Take care and we will update after the big "Candy Haul". :):):) -KM

Here is a little preview of Halloween...that is if the costumes last that long. I have already endured the "Friday Night Fights" with Darth, Ninja, and the Storm Trooper trying to conquer the "bad guys" (sometimes Gracie and Aly) or just each other. Loud and hilarious, with a few bonked heads in between. Tomorrow is Harvest Fair at school, so they are looking forward to the pre-Halloween festivities. Was Halloween a week long when we were kids? Honestly, after this week I am going to test them for Type II Diabetes...and that's even after we turned down invitations to another Halloween party and a birthday party!! (A mom can only handle so much sugar...) So...it was 19 degrees here today, sunny and clear, but cold. Trick-or-treating could be varsity this year. Our sun is setting about 6:20 p.m., but it only shows up after 9 a.m. I don't like getting up in the dark, it always seems a little harder...here we go, Winter #3!!! :):):)

The boys...

Just a few pictures of the boys in their future college gear and our wind storm. We lost about 4 trees, had >75 mph winds for hours on end. Needless to say there was no sleep that night...so loud! (Boys slept through it; how is that possible?) A neighbor found a part of our out door heater down the street...in three pieces. :) All is well. We have snow on the ground at this point, nothing pretty yet, but the mountains are beautiful. Storm is foaming at the bit to get out there and ski. More in a minute... Love, KM

Some September Pics

Hello again, here are a few pictures of the house with our recently added deck. I put in a picture from last winter to show how the house looked without the deck....and because I cannot wait for it to snow again!!! Also there are some pictures from a race that Nick and Alex ran. It was about a 1 mile cross country run. The kids did great and had a blast. Other than that we are just enjoying the end of our fall colors and getting ready for winter. There's some snow on all the mtn tops around our house so its getting closer. The kids keep asking me when they can go skiing again and they are already planning which hills they want to sled on first!! I am personally hoping for a record snowfall year, of course I hope for that every year. Anyhow, enjoy the photos. See Ya, Storm

A few more Denali pics

Well here's some final pictures from our visit. We saw about 8 Grizzly/Brown bears during the day, however they were all about 50-100yds from the car so a bigger camera lens would have been optimal. I guess 50 yds is close enough when there is no fence. The picture of the road is at a place called Polychrome Pass and it is impressive. We put the car in the photo for a little bit of scale but I'm not sure that it worked. The rabbit needs no explanation I guess, he was on the side of the road so we took his picture. Lastly I built a little rock structure on the river bank behind the hotel and it turned out well enough to deserve a picture. The kids would've stayed there and thrown rocks in the water for hours. I hope that you've enjoyed the photos, and for anyone coming to visit Alaska I definitely recommend putting Denali in your plans. Storm

More Denali pics

Here are some more pics from our day in Denali National Park. Obviously there were some caribou antlers to play with, man those things are heavy!! You would have some pretty impressive neck muscles if you walked around with those on your head every day! Yes Max is saluting in almost all of his photos, I don't know where he learned it, but he sure thinks that its hilarious. We drove all the way to the end of the road which is mile 92. We took a picture at mile 89 because I was too lazy to do it at mile 92. At the very end of the road there is an airstrip and there was a helo parked there. They were out surveying the glaciers and they stopped for fuel on their way home. They let the kids sit in the helo and then we got to watch it take off, the kids loved it. The picture of the lake is Wonder Lake at mile 85 of the road, Denali was unfortunately covered by clouds by this time or it would have made an impressive photo. And there is also a photo of Alex and Max getting their Junior Ranger awards. After they watched Nick do it, they decided that it was pretty cool so they finished their books too (with a little help from Mom!). They were very proud when they got their badges. Well I could tell lots of Denali stories but I need to get this done so bye bye. Storm

Denali

Hello everyone, here are some of our pics from Denali National Park. First I'll explain how it works and why it was a big deal to drive the road. The park road is open from mid May to mid September each year. The road is 92 miles long and normally you can drive the first 20 or so in your car, to go further you are required to take a bus. However each fall the park opens the entire road to 400 Alaska residents per day for 4 days. They use a lottery system to determine who gets to go in. Well, obviously we were selected so off we went. We drove up on Sunday and stayed in a lodge Sunday night. Our day to drive was Monday and it was beautiful!! Which is unusual especially for this time of year. We drove the entire length of the road which took almost 11hrs since you can only go 35 mph (its all dirt and single lane in many areas) and of course we made lots of stops. Even though it is a National Park once you are in the gate you are on your own, there is no food, gas etc... there are numerous bathrooms however. The scenery is spectacular and there is a lot of wildlife. It was a really great experience and a lot of fun. The only animals that we didn't see were wolves and moose, of course we see moose in our yard so that wasn't too heartbreaking. Now for the pictures. There are some caribou, some dall sheep, and a ptarmigan. You can see that the ptarmigan is already losing his summer colors and getting all white for the winter. Also there are pictures of Nick being sworn in as a Junior Ranger!! He completed the book they gave him and they swore him in and gave him a badge, it was pretty cool, and man was he thrilled. I also put in some pictures of the mountain which was nearly cloud free for a good part of the day and a picture of the road so that you could see the lack of guardrails and the 1000ft drop if you missed the turn. I'll write more with the next group of photos. Storm