Mom is pretty proud too :)
Here's a little footage from the slopes...
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Spring skiing on the home slopes
Kieran has been having loads of fun in the driveway with his new downhill skis. I think he's been been bitten by the bug - no turning back now. Max is enormously pleased and proud beyond words.
2010 World Ice Carving Championships
Over the last two weeks we have been visiting the site of the world ice carving championships, held each year here in Fairbanks. People from all over the world come here for our spectacularly clear lake ice. The carvings pretty spectacular two, but this year we've been spending most of our time in the "kid's park" and less time walking along the paths leading the the competitive artwork.
Yes, this is more our speed this year. A happy turtle greets the families looking for the ice slides.
We met Chayce there for an evening of playing. Here he is with Kieran making their way through an ice tunnel. There are nice holes along the tunnel to peek through, but they are most useful for tickling little tunnel goers.
Kieran in the igloo. 
And out of the igloo...weeeeeee. We need to thank Grandpa and Grandma Lee for Kieran's terrific new winter down jacket. He loves it and calls it his "Green". We don't leave home without it :)
Yes, this is more our speed this year. A happy turtle greets the families looking for the ice slides.
We met Chayce there for an evening of playing. Here he is with Kieran making their way through an ice tunnel. There are nice holes along the tunnel to peek through, but they are most useful for tickling little tunnel goers.
Kieran in the igloo. 
And out of the igloo...weeeeeee. We need to thank Grandpa and Grandma Lee for Kieran's terrific new winter down jacket. He loves it and calls it his "Green". We don't leave home without it :)
The ice park is greatly funded by corporate donors. Do you recognize Ronald McDonald in the background? Not wanting to encourage brand name recognition, we call this the Albert Einstein slide.
We do a lot of chasing Kieran through the ice maze. He laughs so hard he can barely run.
Here are the BIG slides! Lots of people even bring sleds to slide on, making it more of a bobsled run than a slide. We stuck to our snow pants for sliding. On Kieran's first solo run Max sort of dropped Kieran into one of the shutes and let him go. We watched as he bumped from wall to wall, all the way down on his belly. I was sure when he reached the bottom he'd look up at us crying with a "Why did you do THAT?" look on his face. Instead he jumped up an ran as fast as he could back to the top.
Up and ready for another run!
Chayce was less enthusiastic, but didn't let Kieran get in more runs than he did.
After the big slide we took a tour of the competitive sculptures on the "Choo choo". It's the first year for the free passenger service. It was a big hit with the boys, as you might imagine.
Another of the sculptures on the tour.
This is how we ended our evening with Chayce. What a fun night! We'll visit a few more times before warmer temperatures clear the ice, readying the park for summer when it transforms into an RV park.
We do a lot of chasing Kieran through the ice maze. He laughs so hard he can barely run.
Here are the BIG slides! Lots of people even bring sleds to slide on, making it more of a bobsled run than a slide. We stuck to our snow pants for sliding. On Kieran's first solo run Max sort of dropped Kieran into one of the shutes and let him go. We watched as he bumped from wall to wall, all the way down on his belly. I was sure when he reached the bottom he'd look up at us crying with a "Why did you do THAT?" look on his face. Instead he jumped up an ran as fast as he could back to the top.
Up and ready for another run!
Chayce was less enthusiastic, but didn't let Kieran get in more runs than he did.
After the big slide we took a tour of the competitive sculptures on the "Choo choo". It's the first year for the free passenger service. It was a big hit with the boys, as you might imagine.
Another of the sculptures on the tour.
This is how we ended our evening with Chayce. What a fun night! We'll visit a few more times before warmer temperatures clear the ice, readying the park for summer when it transforms into an RV park.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
A new year for Kieran
Kieran rang in the new year with his best buddies, birthday cake and plenty of balloon dancing. We invited all of Kieran's closest friends and some of our own and partied like animals...until about 8pm. Here are a few of the highlights. Lola always seems to find her way onto the back of Kieran's bike.
After a brief "warm up" period and a little snacking it was time to party. There were several dance sessions, each one more enthusiastic than the last.
These kids know how to boogie!
This picture says it all...Kieran likes nothing more than a good party.
Then it was time for opening presents, of course. All the kids wanted a piece of this Play Doh play table set from Rachel. It has been very popular in our house ever since.
After a brief "warm up" period and a little snacking it was time to party. There were several dance sessions, each one more enthusiastic than the last.
These kids know how to boogie!
This picture says it all...Kieran likes nothing more than a good party.
Everyone settled down for a few minutes to sing happy birthday. I think there was a lot of anticipation leading up to this moment. Kieran was speachless when we turned off the lights and he saw his cake with the lit candles coming toward him.
He has been practicing blowing out candles at friends' birthday parties, always taking over when the birthday boy or girl doesn't know what to do. This was a pretty big moment for him!
Then it was time for opening presents, of course. All the kids wanted a piece of this Play Doh play table set from Rachel. It has been very popular in our house ever since.
This was a surprise to both Kieran and me...Max secretly picked up a pair of down hill skis at a ski swap earlier in the winter. Kieran has since decided that down hill skiing is way more fun than cross country and he can ski down the driveway by himself pretty confidently now, as long has he has a "catcher" at the bottom waiting for him. Next year we'll have to teach him how to stop.
After presents it was time to bring out the Elmo pinata - hand made by Auntie Rachel. Everyone got a turn...whack!
Here goes Kieran's buddy Chayce. Whack whack!
Success!
And then, CRASH! You know it's been a good party when...
After Max kicked all the guests out of the house at 7:50 we hurried over to campus to watch the fireworks from the roof of our office building. You can see we weren't alone. It was a cold night but a good show.
Here goes Kieran's buddy Chayce. Whack whack!
Success!
Then it was time for more dancing...hop hop hippity hop hop a hippity...
And then, CRASH! You know it's been a good party when...
After Max kicked all the guests out of the house at 7:50 we hurried over to campus to watch the fireworks from the roof of our office building. You can see we weren't alone. It was a cold night but a good show.
One last dance...happy birthday Kieran!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Christmas 2009
Hm, what month is it now? Is anyone still checking this thing for updates? It's been a busy few months since Christmas - too busy to find time to sit down and blog, apparently, but the longer days and warmer temperatures are putting the pressure on us to purge some of the winter pictures and get ready for outdoor updates again. I'll also be thrilled to cross this off my to-do list! Here is our holiday season in a nutshell.
Kieran was very pleased to decorate his first batches of Christmas cookies this year. He was even more pleased to eat them, along with the many cookies that found their way to our house from friends and neighbors. I think it's safe to say that Kieran found his sweet tooth this year.
Sometime around Christmas we visited the Large Animal Research Station just down the road from our house. They do a holiday open house each year but this is the first time we've taken advantage of it.
We got a close-up look at the muskox at the farm. Kieran was super excited when the caretaker came up with a bucket of grain which he shook to get the animals to come in closer. They came in closer in a hurry - if you've never seen a muskox run you should really put that on your life list. After all the grain was on the ground the caretaker came back out and Kieran ran over to the shed where the grain came from, gesturing wildly to the caretaker that the muskox were obviously still hungry and he would be happy to get them more food. Sadly, the caretaker just chuckled and walked back to the heated buildings.
Here's Kieran watching the caretaker walk away. You can see the concern in his face.
We also got a nice look at the reindeer. As we were walking around one of the volunteers mentioned that they have to go through training to work at the farm during tourist season. Part of their training is learning to respond respectfully to tourists' questions about the animals, one of the most popular being, "Do the reindeer and muskox interbreed?"
We had a couple of chances to see fireworks around the holidays. Downtown Fairbanks puts on a nice celebration on the winter solstice; an important day up here, as you might imagine. We ran into Dana, our very special daycare...now I never know what to call her. Provider? Lady? Person? She's more like a member of the family that lives across town and takes care of Kieran while we are at work.
Merry Solstice!
Let's see, at some point we went to Valdez, though now I can't remember if it was before or after Christmas. Kieran met his new friends Fisher and Kinsey for the first time. They were instant friends, literally. We walked in the door after our 8 hour drive and before I had my boots off Kieran was walking through the house holding Fisher's hand, Kinsey on the other side, chatting about things toddlers chat about like they had known each other for years. It continued on like that for the rest of our stay. Here Kieran surveys one of the entrances to their snow cave.
It didn't take him long to dive right in!
Got one!
Then there was breakfast to make. Kieran got right to work in his new kitchen.
This was Kieran's reaction to his new friend. His very own sled dog from Auntie Helen! It took us (parents) a few weeks to get used to the dog. It was particularly startling when we walked in Christmas night after a long drive and it was waiting for us around the corner in the dimly-lit living room. We've gotten used to it but the cats are still wary.
Our little ham modeling my beautiful new sweater from Bushka. We both love it, thanks Bushka!
Here's another gift from Bushka and Grandaddy...an instant hit!
Lap 128...now that's a happy kiddo!
We finished off Christmas day in Delta Junction with the Masons and friends. They are getting close to finishing a new addition to the house and Kieran was happy to help, even on a holiday. Here he is "fixing" the firewood.
The carpet also needed some fixing. We had a great Christmas. We hope you did too.
Kieran was very pleased to decorate his first batches of Christmas cookies this year. He was even more pleased to eat them, along with the many cookies that found their way to our house from friends and neighbors. I think it's safe to say that Kieran found his sweet tooth this year.
Sometime around Christmas we visited the Large Animal Research Station just down the road from our house. They do a holiday open house each year but this is the first time we've taken advantage of it.
We got a close-up look at the muskox at the farm. Kieran was super excited when the caretaker came up with a bucket of grain which he shook to get the animals to come in closer. They came in closer in a hurry - if you've never seen a muskox run you should really put that on your life list. After all the grain was on the ground the caretaker came back out and Kieran ran over to the shed where the grain came from, gesturing wildly to the caretaker that the muskox were obviously still hungry and he would be happy to get them more food. Sadly, the caretaker just chuckled and walked back to the heated buildings.
Here's Kieran watching the caretaker walk away. You can see the concern in his face.
We also got a nice look at the reindeer. As we were walking around one of the volunteers mentioned that they have to go through training to work at the farm during tourist season. Part of their training is learning to respond respectfully to tourists' questions about the animals, one of the most popular being, "Do the reindeer and muskox interbreed?"
We had a couple of chances to see fireworks around the holidays. Downtown Fairbanks puts on a nice celebration on the winter solstice; an important day up here, as you might imagine. We ran into Dana, our very special daycare...now I never know what to call her. Provider? Lady? Person? She's more like a member of the family that lives across town and takes care of Kieran while we are at work.
Merry Solstice!
Let's see, at some point we went to Valdez, though now I can't remember if it was before or after Christmas. Kieran met his new friends Fisher and Kinsey for the first time. They were instant friends, literally. We walked in the door after our 8 hour drive and before I had my boots off Kieran was walking through the house holding Fisher's hand, Kinsey on the other side, chatting about things toddlers chat about like they had known each other for years. It continued on like that for the rest of our stay. Here Kieran surveys one of the entrances to their snow cave.
It didn't take him long to dive right in!
Back at home on Christmas morning, the cats opened their stocking first thing so our day started with some good old fashioned cat fishing. Look at that technique! Nice form maestro!
Got one!
Then there was breakfast to make. Kieran got right to work in his new kitchen.
This was Kieran's reaction to his new friend. His very own sled dog from Auntie Helen! It took us (parents) a few weeks to get used to the dog. It was particularly startling when we walked in Christmas night after a long drive and it was waiting for us around the corner in the dimly-lit living room. We've gotten used to it but the cats are still wary. Our little ham modeling my beautiful new sweater from Bushka. We both love it, thanks Bushka!Here's another gift from Bushka and Grandaddy...an instant hit!
Lap 128...now that's a happy kiddo!We finished off Christmas day in Delta Junction with the Masons and friends. They are getting close to finishing a new addition to the house and Kieran was happy to help, even on a holiday. Here he is "fixing" the firewood.
The carpet also needed some fixing. We had a great Christmas. We hope you did too.
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