Headed for Yentna

Tess is preparing to fly to the Yentna Roadhouse this weekend to assist with the Iditarod. That is the first checkpoint of the race and a short plane hop from Willow, Alaska. She's going with her babysitting clients and their mom. Amanda and John have worked that checkpoint for years. John will be snowmachining out to the roadhouse with his niece. Tess is hoping to get some time on the snowmachines while they're out there.

I'm not sure why they call it a Roadhouse. There's no road anywhere near there. It's more of a Trailhouse. These establishments came into existence as stopovers for the multitude of folks traveling the trail system with dog sleds through the ages. During gold rush days, there was a "roadhouse" about every 50 miles, I think. Many of them still exist. Some are actually on "roads" now as the old trails were paved and became our main transit routes.

By the way, I believe the Yentna Roadhouse has a website. If you're interested.

Fur Rondy

After church yesterday, Stephen, Alicia, Flat Stanley and I all went into downtown Anchorage to visit the Fur Rendezvous (aka Fur Rondy) events. We got there in time to catch the end of the World Champion Dog Sled races on 4th Avenue.

We also spent some time at the carnival where Alicia got to ride some of her favorite rides including the pink elephant, the merry-go-round, and the big slide.

Flat Stanley mostly watched. He just got back from the Tesoro Iron Dog race which is a snowmachine race of around 2000 miles. He was a member of Team 15.

We also watched some of the Fur Auction, which is the traditional purpose of the Rendezvous... Didn't buy anything this year... They were selling an otter pelt for around $160 when we were there...

They added a new event this year called the Running of the Reindeer. It's supposed to be like the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. For an inaugural running, it was very popular and fun to watch. I'll try to post a short video clip to our YouTube page.

Warming up the reindeer via ski runs...

Ice, yes... Snow, not so much.

The days are getting longer... 9 hours and 37 minutes of daylight today! And we've been having a bit of a thaw. It's been in the low 40s for a few days and raining on and off. So much of our snow has washed away.

The temps dip below freezing at night so the roads are icy, as are all the parking lots. Trying to drop Alicia off at daycare is a treacherous ordeal. This morning when we were attempting to drive out of our neighborhood, we noticed a school bus with its rear end deeply embedded in the ditch. It had failed to make it up a hill and slid backwards off the side of the road. Alicia and I decided to take a different route... minus the hill!

Hopefully, things take a more wintery turn soon. Fur Rendezvous starts tomorrow and is supposed to include several days of dog sled races. And then, the Iditarod starts the following weekend. So a restocking of the snow would be appreciated.

On a completely different note, I'm in the process of working to overcome my sugar addiction. There are several interesting articles online about this addiction, as well as numerous books on the subject. Turns out, sugar addiction is not unlike nicotine addiction or alcoholism. They all change you for the worse and take over your life. I'm going to try and get my life back under my control...

Shake Your Booty

Alicia May had a wonderful time at her dance class last Wednesday evening. In the first photo, she's under the left elbow of the instructor. She was in heaven with the big open space, new dance shoes, giant wall of mirror, and loud dance music. The presence of the instructors was a footnote to her enjoyment. But she seemed to be listening at least half of the time as they went about teaching a hip hop jazz routine to 10 preschoolers.

Wednesday was a long day to be sure. Work and school all day, dance class at 6:15, girls basketball game at 7:45. In between we needed to ice Valentine cookies for the basketball team, prepare veggies for "V" week at the daycare and track down some appropriately sized black dance slippers. I've felt like Indiana Jones all week, running in front of that giant boulder.

For Valentines Day proper, Tess babysat her normal clients, Ava & Iris. Alicia joined them at their house and Stephen and I joined their parents, John & Amanda, at the Birchwood Saloon. There were several couples there, all friends of John & Amanda. It was our first time at the Birchwood Saloon. Cool, quirky, Alaska saloon atmosphere. Pool tables, dart boards, chainsaw carvings of eagles and bears... great food! We had a good time.

Tess went to the high school dance on Friday night with her girlfriends. I bought her a new dress at JCPenney for the occasion. Considering she wasn't with me when I bought it, I think it looks great. She liked it, and it fit perfectly. Most of the b-ball team got ready up at Kasey's house which is up the mountain from us. Then Kasey's mom brought them to and from the dance, which saved me from making a trip to the school at 11pm, so that was awesome. They did swing by the house so Tess could pick up money and I was able to snap a couple of photos of Tess in her dress...

Alicia & I attended the Talent Show at our church last night. It was a fun assortment of dubious talents, from magic shows to ancient Roman skits and Kermit the Frog singing the Rainbow Connection. A merry time was had by all.

Dinner's on the Table

Alicia May has opened a bank account. She needed a place to deposit any gift money she receives for birthdays, etc. So now she has a savings account.

We've gone back to having a sit-down meal at dinner time with the whole family. I'm not sure how successful we'll be during the work week, because we're rarely all in the house at the same evening hour. But for weekends, at least, we should be able to do it. And something's better than nothing! I was pleased with the return of what had become elusive family conversation. If only for that 20 minutes or so at the dinner table with the TV off and munching going on, we did manage to communicate.

Last night, Stephen made salmon chowder using a recipe we got off the web. It was alright, more like soup than chowder. We plan on researching other recipes till we find something we all love. Neither Tess nor Alicia is a big fan of fish. But the guys like it a lot! And, let's face it, there's salmon a-plenty here in Alaska!

Hip Hop & Hoops

We signed Alicia May up for dance classes yesterday. She'll be taking Hip Hop/Jazz from the Stars Dance Studio in Eagle River starting next Wednesday evening. We're very excited!

Tess also had a game last night at Eagle River High School. We won by just over double... (46-22) Tess played well, as did all of her team mates. She's starting to take more shots this season.







It's been so insanely cold here this week. I've teased myself by checking out the weather around my lower-48 family members. 80 degrees in Florida!! Sheesh.

Stephen's company credit card snapped in half yesterday when he was putting his wallet in his pocket outdoors. That's how cold we are!

Cold & Dark... Whatever!

Yesterday was Monday. Blech.

And it felt just like a Monday all day long.

I did take a take a stroll in the afternoon around Town Square Park. But I had to ply myself full of warm mocha from the Dark Horse Cafe to avoid freezing.

It was around -20 in Anchorage yesterday. No fear of the cool ice sculptures in the park melting any time soon! They seem to be using a theme of kid movies this year. This one is, of course, ET being transported by bike basket. There's another cool one of Buzz Lightyear. They're lit up with colored lights when it's dark outside. And admittedly, that's most of the time still. But we're gaining in sunlight by leaps and bounds. (Okay, maybe fits and starts... but we're gaining!)

5 minutes and 25 seconds more sunlight today than yesterday! Sweet! The sun will rise today at 9:11am and not set till 5:19pm. We're talking more than 8 whole hours of the bright stuff! Woo hoo!

So if you're feeling bad that I must sustain 20 degrees below zero on my afternoon stroll, look at it this way. If we lived in Fairbanks, I'd have had to sustain -50 yesterday. Plus wind chill.

To celebrate our relative good fortune in "warmth", we went out for ice cream last night. :o)

Go Patriots :o)

We'll be watching the SuperBowl with our newly made friends in Eagle River. They have a big screen TV and we don't!

Alicia May and I went over to their house for a playdate earlier this week with Logan. She'll be 2 in May. Alicia liked her a lot.

Alicia's school was closed Thursday and Friday for staff training. So she and I spent those two days together. We did some yard sledding. We had to blaze a new trail in the deep snow. Then we pried the Christmas tree up off the deck and pitched it over the rail into the wooded area beyond. The same fate met the Halloween jack-o-lantern. Better late than never, right?

I figure any hungry moose will have an easier time getting to the pumpkin if it's in the yard and not on the back deck.

We're continuing to make summer travel plans. Tess will be going East to visit family members in Ohio and Florida. Then Kate & Ray (my sister & hubby) will be flying back to Alaska with her and seeing some of our lovely state. About a week after that, we'll be flying south to San Diego.

Summer will be here before we know it! But between now and then we still have the Fur Rendezvous, the Iditarod, and the Nenana Ice Classic among other things....

Speaking of ice, if anyone wants to put in their bid for when the "breakup" will occur in Nenana this year, let me know. Tickets for the Ice Classic are on sale between Feb 1 and April 5. Last year my sister (Reba) missed the winning guess by less than a half hour!