A visit with Santa

It may be cold up here and we may not see much of the sun for months at a time, but we do have one big advantage this time of year...we live VERY close to North Pole. It's the next town over, in fact! Of course, that means that when Santa comes for a visit we can be quite certain that it's the jolly ole' man himself. We had just such a visit Friday evening at Kieran's daycare.

While we waited for the guest of honor Kieran practiced his new moves, walking the same 5' stretch of floor over and over again, more delighted with each run. Here he goes...

Almost there! His eyes are glued to his target...the arm of the chair I'm sitting in.



Touchdown! Oh, happy baby!





Then there was a pitter patter on the rooftop, then a knock on the door...Santa arrived right on time with a bag filled with early Christmas presents. I love the look on this boy's face. He obviously knows that this is the real deal.




Santa doesn't travel alone, of course. And when it isn't Christmas Eve and he doesn't have to travel the globe in one night, he's happy to bring one of his raindeer in for a visit. This sweet little female is backup for the main team - just in case Prancer comes down with the sniffles next week. Her name is Toko.

Mrs. Claus helps with the indoor visits.

Kieran had his chance to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wants for Christmas.

At the time I think what Kieran wanted most was to get off Santa's lap. Next year he'll come prepared with a list.

Toko was a bit too warm inside so we went out to visit with her in the yard. She's a sweet and gentle girl with super soft fur and very impressive antlers! Just like the ones on Max, the little dog in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". Kieran is just beginning to fit into the beautiful jacket he received from wonderful Anne Winslow last Christmas. Thank you Anne! Merry Christmas to you!

Then Santa had to go. We all walked him out and told him how to get to our new house. He told us not to worry, he already had us on his route.

Thanks for visiting Santa! Nice to meet you Toko! Merry Christmas :)

Early December

It was a quiet week here until last night (but that's for another post) with a couple of good snows and some colder temperatures. Kieran has continued to work on his walking. He's a cautious little guy, happy to take time to work on his technique. He's gained a lot of confidence in the last few days and can now span a room if he sees something enticing on the other side. It's been fun watching the thrill in his face when he realizes the he did it all by himself! More on that in the next post.

We finally coughed up the cash for a bag of black oil sunflower seeds (the chickadees' favorite) which has doubled in price since last year. Maybe someone should tell the seed manufacturers that the price of oil has come down? Suki thought it was money well spent though as she monitored the comings and goings at the bird feeder outside the living room window. Max caught her on video in a particularly frisky mood. Best viewed with audio!




We had a fun event take place in our neighborhood last weekend. There is a snowshoe race series in town for the few runners who would rather keep running through the winter than switch to skis. The race course included our driveway on the out and back so Max felt he had no choice but to participate.



He walked the 150 yards to the race start wearing his old heavy wood and rawhide snowshoes and came back through at top speed wearing a fancy pair of borrowed high-tech racing snowshoes - a nice trade that he credits with his third place finish. Here he goes running down the driveway toward the finish.



Kieran thought it was great fun watching daddy run by with big floppy shoes on his feet.

Max and Chris take flight

Friend and co-worker Chris finally got me to go flying with him, to pay me back for sweeping the snow off his plane a couple of winters ago. He's got a small Cessna on skis, and for two big guys, it's a squeeze.

We flew right over our house on the way out of town. Count the woodpiles in the woods.

Chis took me on a nice tour of the White Mountains, a rugged range of limestone crags. The BLM has a nice trail system with cabins that loops through this wild, remote area. Place names like Fossil Creek, Brachiopod Gulch and Windy Arch excite the geologist in me.

Below is a view of the Mt Prindle area...looking cold with the winter sun low in the sky.

Ancient rounded alpine ridges to the N and E of Mt Prindle are studded with "tors". These towers of resistant bedrock jut up to 100 ft above surrounding weathered scree and tundra.

A limestone peak in the White Mountains. Not much snow here yet.


Our very own open pit gold mine, the Fort Knox Mine, near Cleary Summit to the NE of Fairbanks. You'd never know it was there until you see it from the air. Boy, is it deep!

Thanksgiving weekend

For us the holiday started at 6am with the sacrificing of Kieran's Halloween pumpkin for the Thanksgiving dinner dessert table. We said our goodbyes, thanked it for being such a nice pumpkin and told it that we appreciated it staying healthy right up to the very end. I was feeling a bit remorseful (my baby's first pumpkin!) but Kieran didn't see the emotion in it. After cutting it in half Kieran insisted on investigating and even eating some of our old friend raw. Mmm.


We took our hungry selves and our pies over to Carrie and Duff's beautiful house where we found Auntie Rachel (aka Kieran's favorite babysitter). PLOP went Kieran in Rachel's lap and Max and I proceeded to mingle with adults around the appetizer table.


Better not to take over-advantage of the free babysitting service so we relieved Rach after a few yummy morsels to tide us over until the feast. I think Max was going for "foreman" when he chose his attire for the evening.



It wasn't long before Max promoted Kieran to foreman. Kieran really wasn't interested in the job. I think Max needs to find a bigger hat.


Duff did the carving. Look, this turkey had four legs!


And we all enjoyed an absolutely fabulous holiday dinner...including Kieran who ate his turkey with all the trimmings and still had room for pumpkin pie. Maybe it was the big dinner that later resulted in Kieran taking his first unassisted steps! Just shy of 11 months. It was a big moment that we were able to share with everyone. What an excellent first Thanksgiving with our little person. We are very thankful for our terrific group of friends and for our family, living way too far away.

On Sunday we took a family ski up to the ridge trail and down into the valley north of our house. It was a lovely day, light snow falling, not too cold. Kieran spent the trip either sleeping or babbling happily in the chariot. The only time he protested was before we left when I took him back inside to get his booties and he thought that we weren't going out for a ski after all. So nice to have an outdoor kiddo!



We were nearly home when a snow machine passed us towing a guy on a mushing sled. Odd, we thought.


Odd, indeed! It was a diver, as in underwater and scuba. Of course! He showed us this block of ice to prove it. Why he thought we needed additional evidence, I don't know. He was wearing a frozen-stiff drysuit and an ice-crusted diving mask. He'd been diving in one of the valley lakes looking at beaver lodges under the ice. I guess we all have to do something to keep ourselves busy on a long weekend. You really never know what you're going to run into in this town!


Don't miss Kieran's video below!

Kieran on the go

We've been asked for weeks now to provide some evidence of Kieran's blossoming walking skills. Here he is...along with evidence of my blossoming movie editing skills. We took this video on Thanksgiving morning. That night at our friends' holiday dinner gathering he took his first real solo steps...in front of EVERYONE! What a smart kid :) We must send thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Lee for Kieran's little wooden walker. He enjoys it more every day. Big thanks!!



I guess Kieran only hits major milestones (birth, walking,) on major holidays. Can't wait to see what he has in store for Christmas!

Season opener...The Nichols Oil Spill Run

Named for its race course that crosses that famous Alaska oil pipeline, the Nichols Oil Spill Run is the first in a series of races put on by our group of friends each winter. Number one rule is no motorized transportation. Number two rule is have fun! This was Kieran's first official ski race and you can see that he's excited to get to the starting line. Max and I were both a little nervous, wondering whether the kiddo would decide half way through the 6 mile course that he was done and wanted out. No need to worry as it turned out. He LOVED it! Skiers and mushers alike reported to me along the trail that there were only smiles coming from inside the little yellow chariot.

Before the start of the race everyone was able to check out a map of the course. Here Max studies it while coming up with his race strategy. Kieran was the youngest finisher, but he wasn't the youngest baby in attendance. Thea wasn't quite up for the thrill ride behind her doggies...yet. She'll be big competition in the years to come though. Look out Kieran!

Tom, our host for this race shows the pre-race group an example of the fancy new trail markers we'll be looking for. This was the best marked Mug Series race course ever!

And they're off! The field of competitors included mushers, skijorers, skiers, bikers and one runner. Jeremy, last year's series winner starts his run.

Dianna ran our host's "B" team and they didn't mind a bit. Dianna must be light as a feather compared to Tom. And just as nice. A winning mushing combination.

I ran no team, and my time showed it. Must remember to borrow a dog or two next time!

Hank shows great enthusiasm at the finish. That's the spirit!

Thea's mom got her chance to race after handing Thea over to her Dad after his finish. They've got the system down already!

Here comes Team Kaufman! Max and Kieran made an impressive showing in their first ever team event. I predict this partnership will last a few years :)

There goes Ellen...after her finish and straight back to the truck so the doggies can rest up for the next race and so Ellen can get inside where the post-race potluck feast is waiting!

The dads compare notes after the race. Race notes or diapering notes? We'll never know. I love this picture. Too cute!

Finally, the results...once again Rachel claimed the "Pink Lantern" for her last place finish. However, I did see some big improvements in her skiing so I think she shouldn't get too used to hanging on to the lantern this year. We're expecting big things Rach...this is your year!

Ellen shows off her 3rd place prize...a fancy mini headlamp! Tom went all out on prizes. Well, some of them.

Max and Kieran captured second place (with the 20 minute child-towing handicap) for which they received a plastic freezable beer mug. I told Max he should have come in 3rd (for the headlamp) but Max seemed very happy with his prize.

And the winner is...Brian! (who also claimed the 20 minute child-towing handicap) For his hard work he received last year's least coveted trophy (last won by our host Tom)...the lavender bath selection. Congratulations Brian! (Maybe you would have rather come in 3rd?) It was a great start to the season...thanks again to Tom for all the planning and organizing, and last but certainly not least, for all the cleaning in advance of the potluck ;)

Back at the ranch...

One morning last week Max loaded Kieran into the backpack so he could eat breakfast while I got ready for work. I snapped a couple of shots thinking Kieran would get a kick out of seeing them when he's older...I didn't notice the uncanny synchronization until I downloaded the pictures. All I can say is...like father, like son.

First reach...

Then drink...

Have a great day!! P.S. Thanks again Auntie Heather for the backpack hand-me-down! You can see it's getting lots of use up here :)

Halloween night

Weeeeeee're of to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz. Has anyone seen the tin man? From last year's beach ball to this year's cuddly (not cowardly) lion, Kieran has come a long way in a year! Thanks to Steve for another great Halloween party! This was pretty early on in the evening and Kieran just woke up from a nap in the car. Maybe he thought he was dreaming...as always, it was quite a scene at Steve's place. Good thing mommy looked almost normal because daddy made a pretty creepy scarecrow.

Amazingly, Kieran adjusted fine and decided daddy was still daddy even if he looked like the boogyman.

Roar.

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street? I'll just follow these two home. Manah manah ma na manah, manah manah ma na na....

There was some early voting going on. It's so convenient when the polling station comes to you! Hey, that viking isn't registered to vote in this country! More evidence to support the republican claims of rampent voter fraud among overeducated university liberals!

Say a prayer for Obama (hey, it worked!). These two will be wearing wool hats for a few weeks. Brrr.

Here's another resident alien. I'll bet she voted too! At least she has her i.d. (Amazing George...a new baby, a busy 3 year old, a career and she shows up in this! Maybe she gives lessons in time management? How about costume design?)

Here's an example of what can happen when good yarn goes bad. It's the crazy sweater lady and her sweater machine, tonight only $19.95!

Cody and Cher. Hm, a step up or a step down from Sonny? To be fair, coolio Cody was with the crazy sweater lady. Word.

We hope you all had a great Halloween '08!