What's new with m&m&k?: 2014

The big catch up continues...our 2014 in pictures.

Despite the cold temperatures, we had to give Grandma a skijor demonstration before she went back home.

Ready to go!

Woohoo!! With Kieran hooked up to Fly we can go as fast and as far as we want to.

He's a great pulling partner.

Quick huddle before warming up in the car. Brrr....

Kieran isn't the only ski racer in the family, of course. Here's Max winning his heat in one of last year's events.

And Kieran trying to do the same using his newly-acquired skate ski technique.

Wonderful friend and neighbor Susan was at Birch Hill as a race volunteer. So nice to see her!

2nd place finish in the final. Nice winter sunlight too.

Successful competitors.

Proud mommy.

March means basketball and basketball means March Madness! Here's Kieran filling out his bracket (with a little help from mine).

Which turned out to be the winning bracket in my office pool...my second consecutive win! Didn't do quite so well in the friend pool though.

Also in March we had a special family visitor from Connecticut. Cousin Alissa came up to shoot the aurora and see what interior Alaska is like.

We got a surprise tour of a school bus and the school bus mechanic's shop in Healy, thanks to some rental car issues.

Much more fun than stressing out about unplanned problems is enjoying the ride wherever it ends up. We did eventually make it to Denali Park before the sun set, and managed to see caribou, moose, and even a lynx in the quick tour we took before nightfall. Now where did I put the photos from the park...

Here's our mechanic savior...funny thing is that a year later Max lost a wheel off the boat trailer on his way to the coast and this same mechanic was the one who came to his rescue. Alaska really is the largest state with the smallest community.

World Ice Carving Championships! And fun with some of the clearest ice in the world.

Since we spend more winter weekends at Birch Hill than not, we had to bring Alissa up to see it. While she was here the Arctic Winter Games were being hosted by Fairbanks and the x-country events were being held right here on our own ski trails. Alissa brought a great hat and a keen eye...there are some handsome young skiers out there (agreed) ;-)

We had clear skies for one of the total lunar eclipses that happened last year. Max, again, was the one to stay up late to take pictures. He ran into our friend Hank on the hill in the middle of the night, also there to watch the eclipse.

More pets...in April Rachel gave us her old frog tank after Kieran found it in her basement. A week later we filled it with 10 little guppies. It was a very exciting day that has led to us filling others' tanks with guppies that have been born and raised in Kier's little tank.

We have since added a beautiful dwarf gourami that seems to be at home among his guppy tank mates.

First bike ride to school. Breakup isn't the best time to ride the roads but Kieran was excited and Max had been riding to work all winter so he didn't see any problem with the short bike to school.

There they go. Sniff...

One of the highlights of summer in Fairbanks is the Golden Days Parade. I don't think Kieran and I (and Rachel) have missed a single one. I don't think Max has seen a single one thanks to his ever increasing field work load. Look at those new giant front teeth!

Wouldn't be a Fairbanks parade without the ta ta's! Get your mammograms ladies!

And the forestry fire engines! Always a hit, although slightly disappointing since the year they surprised everyone by sending water spraying 100 feet in the air and onto the crowd. We think the officials put the kibosh on that stunt. Too bad.

And of course the candy. So much candy.

We had some visits to Hot Licks on hot days with good friends. This is summer in Fairbanks.

And summer camps! Chayce and Kieran drew Hayao Miyazaki's cat bus from one of Kieran's favorite movies on the basketball court of the UAF rec center.

Another camp, this one in the famous Fairbanks "hay field". It was a record breaking rainy summer but the kids still spent the week outside, using only teepees for shelter.

They did so many beautiful arts and crafts, and the final day presented the parents with fresh baked bread from their dragon shaped earthen oven.

Really amazing. The staff are former campers who are clearly artistic and creative, and terrific role models for the little kids.

Kieran showing me around their camp. That day he told me he will be doing this camp again next year. That despite rain every day, mud, mosquitoes...this camp knows how to foster solid outdoor people.

Of course later in the summer we had to do some harvesting. Here are Kieran's potatoes from the single potato he took from the cutting board one evening while I was cooking dinner back in May and planted in the garden box on the deck.

And then the real potato patch...this one took a little longer to harvest.

Fly patiently waited for us to finish up.

The cold wet summer wasn't exactly the best growing summer for us but we still produced enough potatoes to get us to the end of October. But at this point it's less about producing our own food than about the magic of producing food from nothing but a seed, some dirt, water and sun. A great lesson.

In the fall we had running club. The school had a terrific group of kids from all grades, and all were supportive and fun to cheer on.

Go Puffins! Kieran getting is buddies psyched up for the race at the start line.

And there they go! This one was at Birch Hill so Kieran had a bit of an advantage being so familiar with all the trails. He had a great race.

Bounding up out of the woods toward the stadium and the finish line.

Buddy Basile's finish. This is Kieran's running partner, and hopefully will be for the next 10+ years.

Third place!

Next race was our turn to host. This time at Chena Lakes Rec area, Max took the whole day (and the week preceding it) to work out all the logistics...it takes a lot of planning to host a race for 1000 kids! It all went great though, and I'm sure Max will be the go-to parent for the next 5 years.

Race coordinator, race volunteers...it was a gorgeous evening and everything went perfectly.

Here come the herds!

Heading back towards the finish line.

Where Sue was ready to make sure every runner stayed on track and was recorded in their order of finish. That's a lot of kids to keep track of!

Post-race debrief.

A month later we were at the school for the annual Halloween party and paper lantern launch from the ice rink. What a fun and unusual scene!

The lanterns were gorgeous in the sky. They were drifting in the direction of our house and on the way home we found several on our roads. The next morning we saw them draped in trees all over the neighborhood.