Happy Birthday :-)

Kieran has been anticipating turning 4 for a long time so he was pretty excited when it actually happened...although he insisted he wasn't 4 until his party started. His first birthday surprise was a call from cousin Sammy who stayed on the phone while Kieran opened his super cool present...a Spooner! We haven't yet figured out all it can do but so far it's been pretty fun. On the floor. the rugs, the snow. Thanks Sam and Helen! I'm sure you'll be seeing this again on the blog...

Kieran had a fun group of friends and their parents over to celebrate. His only request: a pinata. They are waiting so patiently for their next turn...it got a little more competitive as the pinata got closer to spilling its contents.

Bam!

It took a few turns but they finally did it. The pinata scramble is always exciting!

The construction theme continued with a construction cake, complete with cookie crumble dirt.

These boys haven't seen dirt in awhile! They were all over that thing with the toy construction machines. It was really amazing how quickly they got to work. Not exactly what I was picturing when I was imagining unveiling it but really cute anyway. Lola looks a little concerned about her piece.

After cake there was some bulldozing that needed to be done!

Kieran received some very nice presents...this is even better than the version at Lola's house! Plus, there's no little 1 year old destructor walking around trying to grab the gears :-)

The party construction vests have gotten a lot of use in our house since the party. I hope the other kids have been equally productive in theirs!

Playing with his new buddy baby T-Rex.

Oh, looks like someone is getting sleepy. Time for a nap...

First a hug.

Baby T-rex in his nest with mommy T-Rex keeping him warm.

This one requires a little explaining...Auntie Helen gave Kieran this dog two years ago for Christmas and it really hadn't gotten very much attention, until now. Kieran is a champ at repurposing toys and this is a perfect example. Grandma gave Kieran a dvd of the movie "Babe" about the little pig who decides to be a sheep pig (as opposed to a sheep dog). It has become Kieran's favorite movie and his favorite character (maybe more so than even Babe) is "Fly", the farm's female sheep dog. So this husky is now an Australian sheep dog named fly. Ironically, she is often hooked up to my skijor harness (I don't think Australian sheep dogs actually skijor much), attached to Kieran, following him around the house as he drags her from room to room. Unless she is riding on his shoulders, that is.

Happy Birthday kiddo! Keep up the good work :-)

*New* Lower Angel Creek Cabin trip

This time last year we had just returned from a trip to the Lower Angel Creek cabin with Grandma. Here's a photo of us and the cabin from that trip, which turns out to be one of the last photos ever taken of the cabin because several weeks later it was accidentally burned to the ground. A little sad, but like the northern region superintendent for Alaska State Parks put it, "Of all the cabins out there, if I had to burn one down, that's the one I would have burned." Harsh, but true.

So this year, when the new replacement cabin was available for reservations we got online and got in line to check it out. We had a reservation for the day after Christmas, for which temperatures were forecast to be -20 to -30F. Not ideal for the 2 hour ski in with Kieran, but we remained hopeful. As the day approached the cold front was delayed and delayed again. On the morning of the 26th temps were only -10 at the house so we decided to go for it. Not too fast though, because Max also had a plan that day to ski his age in kilometers at Birch Hill...50 km later (no, he couldn't stop at 40km), past dark and almost dinner time, Max came home and we loaded up the car and the kid and drove to the trail head. Kieran was a brave little trooper, enduring blowing snow and gusting winds in the parking lot as we got the gear and his Chariot in order for the ski in. Once we got him bundled up and tucked into his cozy ride he was cheerful and excited to get moving. The ski in was lovely, not too cold with clear skies and a perfect trail. I could here Kieran behind me chatting to himself and quietly singing Christmas carols.

We arrived at the dark cabin, which was colder inside than out, at about 9pm. Max got a fire going and it didn't take long to get a hot dinner into us. It was far past bedtime but Kieran, too excited to close his eyes, chatted in the dark until after midnight.

In the morning, after a sleep-in and hot breakfast Kieran was excited to get out and try his new ski poles that Santa left under the tree for him.

And we had our first chance to really check out the new cabin. It's much bigger than the old one and in a much more attractive location. It has a great deck that is really going to be appreciated during warmer months.

It was just a little colder the next morning but the cold front still hadn't materialized.

We went to see the old cabin site. Nothing there but an undisturbed snowy clearing...and an outhouse.

Ski poles!

He's been wanting to be able to do this for a long time...release his ski bindings with his ski pole tips instead of his thumbs.

Sunrise.

Max found a pair of dog booties on the trail. Kieran tested them out. Woof.

When he was a boy again he helped stock the cabin for the next visitors.

Here's a look at the back room. It's a big space, great for spreading out and larger groups but harder to heat. Our three bodies didn't do much to fill, or warm it up.

Packed up, cleaned up and ready to hit the trail.

This is a great way to keep a little body warm!

He really snuggles in there!

On the trail back out. We had just met the couple that would occupy the cabin for the next three nights and Kieran, not wanting to be unsocial, peeled back his windscreen to say hi (mostly to their dog, I think). We made it back to the car and went home. That night temps were close to 30 below...sometimes things just work out.

Early winter and Christmas 2011

In late September we had an early morning visitor to the deck. Kieran and I spotted something unusual as we came down the stairs one morning. Without turning on the lights we snuck to the back door and got a close up look at a great horned owl sitting on the deck railing. Beautiful.

Not long after that we had our first hard frost. Kieran was excited to scrape the car...he was still eager for winter at that point. I'm not sure he's quite so excited about it now that we're in the middle of a January deep freeze.

The first snow - oh happy day!Warming up and hamming it up in his new winter base layers.

The silly dance.Earlier in the winter we got a glimpse of some decent aurora that Max was able to capture before it disappeared, apparently for the rest of the winter! We've hardly seen any since.

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner this year and Kieran made the cranberry relish all by himself.A day or two after Thanksgiving Kieran said out of the blue, "Remember the Christmas drawers with the candy?" I said "The...huh?" After a little more explaining it occurred to me that he was talking about his Advent calendar, the one that he hadn't seen since last year. Good memory (perhaps reinforced by candy rewards). A few days later the elf put it out during the night and Kieran was thrilled to find it the next day.

With Christmas coming it was time to find a tree. Kieran insisted on being in charge of the saw.

Off to the spruce forest at the bottom of the property.

Still looking...it's a winter wonderland down there!

Found one! But will it fit?

This is why Kieran wanted to be in charge of the saw.

This is hard work. Kieran, still in charge, gets a little help from Daddy.

Timber!

Moving on to decorating.Ta da! Our tree and beloved cousin Sammy's sweater that Auntie Helen sent in the mail as a pre-Christmas surprise.

We had a relaxing and fun Christmas morning with some exciting surprises, like Kieran's very own salad spinner, thanks to Grandma. He pulled it out and made a variety of salads, mainly mixed toys.

And Buzz Lightyear wings and arms. He was so excited that he couldn't even look at us. Seriously, I think he was afraid he would embarrass himself if he let it out.

So he went to the chair where he quietly had a Buzz conversation talking into the chair. Then he started flying around the house.

Yes inspector?

I can't be sure but I think these are Legos...(thank you Auntie April! He LOVES them!)

We were invited to Lola's house for Christmas fondue dinner. It was a fabulous evening for all, particularly Lola and Kieran...

...who sang their school Christmas carols for the crowd...a new annual tradition, I hope.