Houston, I think we have a toddler

A very happy new year

What a learning experience it was to put on our first birthday party for our very adorable 1 year old! I hadn't put very much thought into it before stopping by the party store for paper hats...after all, Kieran is turning 1, not 16! After the party store, where we were informed that some people spend upwards of $200 on balloons (just balloons!!!!) for a first birthday, I thought that maybe I should have put just a bit more thought into our little party. As it turned out, we spent just enough thought and bought just enough balloons (6) for our little guy on his big day. He loved it all, even though he was a bit more shy than I would have ever expected when his guests arrived. Luckily, he warmed up to the idea of hosting a party and turned into a most hospitable and gracious guest of honor.

Here he is the day before the party getting to know his party balloons. We learned something about Kieran that we didn't know before. Kieran LOVES balloons.

As does Rufus. He is an expert balloon thief. Bye bye balloon.

On the morning of Kieran's birthday everyone got to work right away making food, birthday cake, cleaning house...Kieran was very impressed with the level of activity, way before the sun came up. He was too curious and couldn't stand to be on ground level so up onto mommy's back he went...with his balloons, of course!

Grandma made his beautiful cake from scratch. Carrot, with all of Kieran's favorite modes of transportation on the side and his very favorite bike on top. Perfect. Thanks Grandma!! Here she is putting on the finishing touches.


Where's the party?? He seemed to know that more was up than his birthday. Here K is ready to ring in the new year! At about 10am.

Just waking up from his birthday morning nap, Kieran grabbed a couple of balloons from the stair railing on his way down. Watch out daddy!


The rest of the day was a busy blur, but a very fun one. Kieran's older girlfriend Lola arrived and immediately took over his favorite bike. Lola knows what she wants. Look out Kieran!


But she's so sweet! Look out Kieran! ;)

The younger ladies, Julia and Thea, weren't quite into the bike yet but they both loved Kieran's jumper swing. Thea spent half the party jumping and laughing in it - time for Carrie and Duff to break out the jumper!


After lots of playing and munching it was time to blow out a candle. This was a big moment for Kieran. He couldn't believe we were offering him fire AND frosting - at the same time!


Kieran knows to blow when food is hot. He isn't so keen to blow out flames. Daddy helps before things got out of control.


Mmmmmm. Kieran wasn't that impressed with the cream cheese frosting, but the carrot cake was a hit!


Then there was a lineup of presents that K was happy to tackle. His first was a penguin bowling set from his good friends Elias and Julia. What a fun gift! Julia seems a little reluctant to give it up. Come on over anytime to play with it sweetie!

Kieran eventually got used to being the center of attention - mostly.


Max, always happy to be the center of attention, sent some of Kieran's stuffed toys for a ride with the balloons. Here Teddy takes a ride to the ceiling.

Before the day was over Kieran and Lola shared a quiet moment in the corner. Lola obviously has the upper hand in this relationship.


Thea loved the balloons too. I think Carrie was taking mental notes for Thea's upcoming first birthday! Hard to believe it's only a few months away!! What a cutie pie!

After the crowds left Kieran was ready for a nap and a snuggle with his new bud Teddy - a very special birthday gift from Grandma. He makes a great chair and an even better snuggler! What a great party. Thanks everyone for coming! Especially those who didn't know it was happening until that morning :)


Kieran had another nap and we rounded up the leftovers for a little dinner before we discovered that the car wasn't plugged in and the temperature was hovering around -33F. That meant our plans for heading down to campus to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks weren't going to happen. No problem, Grandma and I were ready for bed anyway and Max was able to hitch a ride with neighbors Kieth and Susan. Before turning toward our pillows we three homebodies threw on snowsuits and went out to the deck to listen to the fireworks' booms and greet the new year (a few hours early). Then it was off to bed for us. A happy day and a happy start to 2009 and Kieran's 2nd - and best - year yet!


Happy New Year everyone! :)

Kieran's first Christmas

It's been a fun holiday season around the house this year. What a difference having a baby with us as we decorated the tree, wrapped and unwrapped presents, and enjoyed all the Christmas lights! Kieran loved all of it. Once the tree was up Kieran's first order of business every morning was to make sure the lights were on. He'd tromp right over and crouch down where the switch was and wait for me to turn it on. He'd grin every time we lit it up.

We spent Christmas eve with friends at Carrie and Duff's house. It was a fun evening. So fun, in fact, that Kieran was worn out after a couple of hours and had to recharge on the couch. I wish he could sleep this hard at home! He was back up an hour later and lasted until his mom and dad were feeling the sleepies too. We managed to get home before Santa showed up at our house. Whew!

In the morning Kieran noticed immediately that there were lots of new packages under the tree, plus a nice toy or two right on top that he pointed to from across the room, accompanied by his characteristic "Ooooooooo!"

After checking out the most accessible toys under the tree he raided daddy's stocking. Peanut butter cups...he's got good taste!

Kieran had his own stocking, of course, and he made quick work of emptying it out once we gave it to him.

"Ooooooooo!" He loves his new squirty bath fish.

Poor Rachel was one of the victims of the stormy holiday weather in Seattle. Luckily, her flight was cancelled out of Fairbanks and she was able to spend Christmas with us instead of in the Seattle airport (with the several thousand unlucky travelers stranded there for days before and after Christmas). She may have been feeling less lucky on Christmas day when she her cat allergies got the best of her and sent her outside into the cold to clear out her lungs. Next time Santa needs to leave Claritin in her Christmas stocking!

Kieran was very happy with his new backpack. We're hoping to log some miles this summer in the backcountry and this should make those miles a lot more comfortable for everyone. He especially liked the rain cover. He played peek-a-boo pulling it down and letting it pop back up. Funny baby.

Riding around on the deck was even more fun with lights hanging on the railings. The temperatures have been pretty brutal lately, but that hasn't kept Kieran from his daily deck outings. Here he is on his frosty bike after lots of plowing through 5 inches of new snow.

Typically, he isn't happy to come inside. Poor kiddo. If only he could reach the lock. "I wasn't done yet!"

I love the look on Kieran's face here. Max stuffed him into his stocking creating a "merbaby" and Kieran was not amused. I imagine Max must have honed his stocking stuffing skills at an early age, creating lots of "merkitties" over the years (all wearing this same expression on their faces, no doubt). We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a good start to the new year! Speaking of the new year, Kieran rang in the new year - and his second year! - on the 31st with a fun birthday party with all of his best girlfriends. We'll post pictures asap!

Finally, we had another ski race the week before Christmas. Here's Max and Kieran during the medal ceremony after their third place finish. It looks like Kieran might have been hoping for second :) Cute.

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!