More Pics

Here are a few more pictures. Some of the kids skiing and also a few of KM and I on a snowmobile trip. The picture of KM by the measuring post is one I hope to repeat later in the year, it should read about 8-10 in the spring. We are having a blast, its just that NOTHING is getting done around the house since we are always out playing. In fact we keep running out of food because we don't want to take the time to go Costco! Oh well.

Winter Sports and Fun

Hello Again. Winter is in full swing and we are trying to enjoy every minute we can. The boys are loving it and becoming more capable every day.

Skating: Max is able to skate on his own now, so no more back problems for Dad! We've been skating at Nick's school which is very convenient, of course the downside is that I'm on the ice rink shoveling committee so I've been spending a lot of time there. Actually it feels like I am almost the only member of this 'committee', but at least that eliminates the need for a winter workout program. The boys finally had a chance to skate with their hockey sticks, now that is all they are talking about, looks like KM and I have a lot of ice arena time in our future!

Skiing: We've been skiing as a family twice this year, but we are about to boost that number up dramatically. We are fortunate enough to be able to ski on the Army base only 15 minutes from the house, and the price is even better...free. Granted its only an oversized bunny hill with a pony lift but that is perfect for us right now. Plenty challenging for the kids and no crowd, so we can just drop in for 2 hours or so. Nick and Alex are doing great and starting to look for 'jumps' and Max still skis btwn my legs, but now I can let him go halfway down and he does the second half by himself. Next week I should be able to put him on a leash system to give him some more freedom. Additionally I was able to go skiing at Alyeska the other day with a friend. The snow was great and there were absolutely no lift lines! In the picture at the top the branches you see sticking out of the snow are really the tops of trees that are 6-7 feet tall. Now its time to hit the backcountry and get the real powder.

Sledding: One of the best parts about our local ski hill is that half of it is a groomed sledding hill. The kids love it! It is steep and long so it makes for a fun ride. Max rode with Mom and Dad for the first 3-4 runs and then insisted on going himself. It is a little unnerving to watch him disappear over the edge and then reappear about 5 seconds later as he shoots out at the bottom, but he loves it and knows no fear. Everyone looks on in amazement and asks how old he is and then they just shake their heads in disbelief. Now if I could just get Max to walk up the hill rather than me pulling him then we would have the perfect system.

Hockey Game: We took the boys to see the Alaska Aces play hockey and then they were allowed to go skate on the ice after the game. Nick and Alex were completely mesmerized by the game and really got into it. Then they had a blast getting autographs and meeting the mascot on the ice. Max was far more interested in going to the bathroom every 5 minutes (he has just been potty trained so all bathrooms are still a novelty). He had to check out every stall, every soap dispenser, and he even reached in and grabbed the urinal cake thing before I could stop him...nice!

The coming weeks should bring more of the same, plus some snowmobiling and the start of the Iditarod. We'll keep you updated as it all happens. Talk to you soon. Storm

Avalanche Class

Hi Again, last weekend I spent 3 days in Hatcher's Pass, which is about 50 miles from here, completing a Level 1 Avalanche Class. It was a lot of fun and very informative. We spent one day on rescue techniques and practice scenarios, one day on 'snow science', how to spot dangerous layers and dig test pits and one day on real world travel in the backcountry.

There are all sorts of opportunities to play in the backcountry here, but you need to be avalanche smart so that you can do it safely. This applies to the snowmobile, hiking/snowshoeing, and especially skiing. For those that have visited our house, the mountains that are directly out our front window have some fantastic backcountry skiing just 20 minutes away, however there is an avalanche danger during certain snow conditions and that is why I took this course. Plus I hope to do some Heli skiing and maybe some out of bounds stuff at Alyeska (legally, not just ducking under the ropes!) and I definitely need to be smart about snow conditions and sharp on my rescue skills for that stuff! So now I ski, snowmobile and winter hike with my avalanche beacon, probe, shovel, and most importantly a partner all the time!!

In order to take the class we showed up at the Hatchers Pass Visitors center about 2230 on Thursday night. In the summer you can drive to Visitors Center, but in the winter you have to hike the final 1.2 miles, uphill of course. So there we are in the pitch black, 10PM at night with our skis on pulling sleds with all our gear going up to the visitor center. We were able to sleep in the visitors center on the floor in sleeping bags. We also had to bring all of our own food for 3 days. There were about 20 people in the class so it was fun meeting all of them. We spent about 4 hours each day in lectures and then about 6-8 hours outside in the field. Unfortunately it was 5F or less the entire weekend, so lots of cold toes in the group. A great experience overall, now I can't wait to get out skiing.

On the last day some of the groups got to do a little bit of skiing, but my group had several snowshoers (slow shoers!) so we were unable to access the really good terrain. All in all it was a great course and something that everyone who is into winter sports should look into.

The pics are of me after all day outside, a picture from above the Visitor center also showing some of the buildings leftover from the old gold mine, and a picture of some of my classmates digging a snowpit to analyze the snow. Thats it for today. See Ya, Storm

Victory!

Hello Again, well here are some pics as promised. Yesterday I flew home from Chicago and landed in Anchorage around 0845 and then went straight to the Pinewood Derby races for Nick's CubScout Pack. Fortunately I was able to get there in time to see all the races. Nick competed against 20 other cubs and came in third place! Then Alex and Max were able to compete in the 'open' division for non-cubscouts, and Max got 1st place and Alex came in 2nd. So lots of trophies and smiles for the Carl boys. My biggest worry is that now I have a big task for next year to try and repeat the results!! The boys all picked their own car designs and 'helped' as much as they could. They were very excited, although they were more excited to have the races over so that they could play with the cars, 2 of which they promptly destroyed shortly after the race. Oh well, at least the trophies survived the day.

Things here are going well, although everytime I post something on the blog all of our snow melts! Right now it is about 40 outside, hopefully it will only last for a day or two and not wreck all of our snow!! It was just getting really nice out there. More soon, Storm

Where Does the Time Go?

Hello Again, I apologize for the delay. Heck no one is probably even reading this anymore. But here goes. I will add pictures this weekend, but for now just words will have to do.



Things in AK having been moving right along. All the snow we had on the last post melted the very next week, I was almost in tears. I think that's why we haven't blogged lately, we've been depressed about our lack of snow. But luckily winter returned and now we have plenty. About 18 inches in the yard with lots more in the mtns.
The holidays treated us well and we even took a trip to St Louis. We had a great time there visiting an spent lots of time with Great Grandma. Then we spent 22 hrs in airports and airplanes on the way home due to a maintenance problem on our first flight of the day. It was a long day, but the boys did great and it certainly could have been worse.
So far in 08 we've been playing in the snow and trying to clear some of the massive piles of junk out of the house! Where does it all come from??
I've been snowmobiling twice now and should go again this week. That thing is awesome!! Now I just need to get KM one so that I have a riding partner! We've also been doing some skiing and plan on doing a lot more here soon. I've been backcountry skiing once and I spent 3 days in the mountains taking an avalanche course, it was really cool and I learned a lot. The snow is really starting to pile up now so the skiing and snowmobiling should be really great, and hopefully I'm now smart enough to not get buried in an avalanche, as that could certainly ruin the day to say the least.
I wish that I had some exciting news but I don't. I will attach some pics this weekend and maybe that will spur something to write about. Take Care, Storm