Oct 2009: when mommy was away on her BIG trip

In October, mommy was away on a boat on the ocean. K and I held down the fort. Rachel helped out a lot with babysitting until grandma Linda's arrival mid-month.

The little man helping out around the kitchen.



Here is a video of K playing in the snow which fell at the end of September, but subsequently melted. First sledding of the fall.




Once the snow melted, I was able to get going in earnest on Deck Construction: Phase 2 "The Wrap-around". First you start with some beams, and some digging. Luckily the foreman was on site to prevent shoddy workmanship.



Snow held off for the entire month, which was great for me, working on the deck, but not so great for all the nordic skiers in town.

I had some help from neighbor Keith and friend Hank to lay the joists.
16" on center with double rim joists....this thing ain't goin' anywhere!


Daddy got to buy some new power tools instead of hiring a contractor to do the work. Not the quickest way to get it done, but I ended up with some nice equipment for the next big job: interior trim. Can you say "PFD"?

I seem to have poorly documented the process of putting up the rail posts and Trex decking. Linda helped me put on the railings one afternoon. I spent several evenings just screwing down the planks. Here is a view of the final results taken in November, after winter set in for good.



The other angle. It's pretty sweet to have access to the whole deck from outside now. We don't seem to use it too much in the winter, but it'll provide a place to grow tomatoes and to bask in the warm sun on summer afternoons. This is the warm, west side of the house. Having a deck gives daddy a place to sweep snow and feel useful in the winter.



He's showing off our haul of cherry tomatoes, picked green off the plants before a hard frost in Sept, and ripened indoors in a paper bag.


7th inning stretch.


Helping out with the vacuuming. Always wear your ear protection!


Here's another video of our boy, the Dancin' Fool.






We are grateful for the kind gifts K received, to help keep him happy while mom was up in the ice. Thanks Auntie Helen for the Ramp racer: city edition....


And thanks Rachel for the absolute classic Hammer and Pegs. K was totally ready for this and delighted in wearing his Bob the Builder hard hat while he whacked away. Note the level of concentration....and the lip.


woodstove + nearby_couch = lazy cats



Grandma Linda arrived to bail me out, and we took a little road-trip down the Richardson Highway to do some sight-seeing and spend a night in a cabin in Paxson. Kieran is a great traveler, but it's a steady job keeping him in dry pants. He loves his juice!


Denali Highway Cabins of Paxson .... cozy private cabins on the upper Gulkana River.



We had a nice visit with the winter caretaker Mary Ellen who had spent a winter at MacLaren Lodge and also worked for TAT in Talkeetna. K met Audie's seriously shaggy husky there. Mette likes buying stripey clothes for her son, apparently.


Back at home, K had some quality time with Grandma Linda, reading stories, cooking, and generally horsing around.




In mommy's absence the little guy managed to bash a front tooth on a stool, get a black eye, fall off the high chair, and crash several other times. He seemed to be a magnet for disaster, but he survived mommy's absence, which was the key.

Rachel and I took Linda and K to their first Nanooks hockey game, which ended in a 3-1 victory for the home team! Woohoo! What could be better than bleachers, popcorn and a Zamboni?


Mette's home now and will post wonderful pictures from her expedition in the icy Arctic seas.

Denali Train Ride

With Max away and nothing booked for the weekend, Kieran and I made last minute plans to head out of town for some train riding and leaf peeping in Denali Park. This was Kieran's first impression of the train...soooooo big!



This was just after we boarded train and one of the few times Kieran sat in his seat during the 4 hour ride south. We logged some distance on the 5 cars that were open for touring. So much more fun than an airplane!

We had to try out the cafe car.

And we rode through Nenana Canyon in one of the open air vestibules between the cars. Most of the terrain between Fairbanks and Denali is flat and looks a lot like the woods around our neighborhood. This short stretch is definitely the highlight.

Once in the park Kieran got right to work foraging. He is a big fan of rose hips, particularly if they are hanging on the plant at mouth level.

Kieran demonstrates his technique for finding blueberries. You get your eyes down to blueberry level and look up. It was a very effective way of finding blueberries but it was less effective for hiding the fact that you are picking berries in a place where you aren't supposed to be picking berries.

Showing off his booty. Oooo.

We didn't see much wildlife outside the park visitor's center - I guess the indoor wildlife displays are for people like us.

Falling leaves have been very entertaining this year. Kieran is happy to help speed up the process by shaking the trunks. We did this for awhile while we waited for breakfast - Kieran doesn't sleep in on vacations.

This was the back yard of our hotel. We had great trails and a beautiful view of the Nenana River. It was Kieran's first hotel stay and it may have been his favorite part of the whole trip. It was a perfect location for a fun overnight stay before heading back to the park headquarters on Sunday. We had a few hours to run around and explore before getting back on the train...apparently that was enough to wear Kieran out because he slept from the moment we pulled out of the park until we pulled into the Fairbanks depot. Kieran was an ideal traveling companion, happy to take in new experiences and terribly charming to everyone we encountered. It was a great trip.

Kieran's first pony ride and the cow hair dryer

Somehow August came and went and we only have a few pictures to show for it. Judging from the pictures, the Fairbanks fair was the highlight of the month. Kieran was thrilled with his first pony ride. Here he is atop the very gentle and sweet"Ninja".

Kieran's daycare buddy Chayce was right behind him.

With Kieran's love of vacuums and hair dryers he couldn't help but be drawn to this contraption. Best thing ever...a giant hair dryer that looks like a vacuum! This was before he saw the cow girls using it to dry their cow's hair. We were there for awhile "vacuuming" the fairgrounds before the girls showed him what it really did (which just about blew his mind, it was so exciting).

The biggest milestone of August might have been Kieran's first haircut. In just a few minutes he was tranformed from my whispy-haired baby to this handsome little boy.

Sweet sleepyhead.

The Deltana Fair & the big purple slide

After two days of breathing thick wildfire smoke (and more days than that breathing thinner wildfire smoke) in town we decided to give our lungs a break and get out of the smoke swath for the day. We confirmed with the Mason clan that there was clean air to the southeast so we hopped into the car and followed the aroma of cotton candy, hot dogs and fried dough to the Delta Junction Fair.

Oh boy, what a good decision that turned out to be! I think it might have been the single most fun day so far in little Kieran's life. It started with this forestry fire truck and a very enthusiastic firefighter recruiter doing all he could do to get Kieran (and me) excited about Kieran becoming a member of the Delta fire crew 15 years from now. Well, I don't know about that but Kieran sure was excited to let him talk while he slid in behind the wheel. He checked out the radio, turned all the lights on and off, and generally gave the dashboard the closest inspection it's ever had. He must have been in there for half an hour. The only way I was able to lure him out was with a promise of lunch...good thing he was hungry from the drive!


We met up with the Masons, Ellen and (a surprise to us) Fairbanks friend Matt in front of the stage where Papa Mason was playing with his band. When the band was done (and Kieran was extracted from the fire truck) we collected some yummy treats and sat down to lunch. Mmmm, fair food and good friends. Like I said, it was a great decision to come to Delta!




Sure, there were cows, lamas, pigs, balloons, games, music, and horseback races, but the biggest hit of the day (by far!) was the giant slide. When we went down the first time I couldn't tell if Kieran liked it. However, at the bottom he jumped up, ran out the gate, ran around the crowd, blew past the guy taking tickets and was climbing back up the stairs before I could get myself through the crowd. I slapped a couple of tickets into the (now laughing) attendant's hand as I ran by and caught up to Kieran on the stairs. Phew, I guess he liked it!


Look at that hair fly! Whoosh!

Wow! What a ride! Unfortunately, I had only purchased tickets for two times down the slide. As Kieran jumped up the second time to beeline it to the stairs I had to stop him and give him the bad news. What followed was the saddest, longest, and most intense meltdown he's ever had. "Mama, why would you show me that this slide exists and immediately take it away!?!" Oh, the tears! If the rest of the group wasn't waiting on us I might have given in. Poor kiddo. All fingers are crossed that the slide will be at our local fair next week where I will let him slide until his legs can no longer take him up the stairs.

A bag of kettle corn was a good distraction. He carried it around most of the afternoon.

And still wouldn't let it go in the car on the way home. He immediately fell asleep hugging his kettle corn and thinking, I'm sure, about sliding down the biggest slide he's ever seen. What a fun day!

Salmon weekend '09

Max had another whirlwind trip to Chitina and back last week. He returned just 24 hours after leaving home with empty coolers in our little Tracer. He managed to catch all of our fish in less than three hours while dip netters in the days before and after struck out completely. We're not sure if it is science or luck or secret messages he receives directly from the fish but Max never fails to hit it big down on the Copper. I smell a consulting business opportunity...


Kieran was a big helper all weekend. Here he is making the brine for the smoking fish.

With the brine finished he took his big wooden spoon down to where Max was cutting the salmon strips...all ready dad, lets get on with those strips! Max made a little stairway for Kieran on the steepest part of the yard leading down from the driveway. It's now the only way Kieran will access the back yard.

Just a few more...

It was a prefect day for smoking...dry, warm, and breezy.

With the racks full Kieran helped cut the alder for the fire.

He was very happy to help with the lighting of the fire. It's been a long time since the last indoor fire in the wood stove.

Our little supervisor. The freezer is full again...

Back in Alaska

We had a great vacation but it was great to get home to the house and cats and the beautiful Fairbanks summer weather. For a second year in a row we had a perfect evening for a low-key July 4th gathering on the deck, warm enough to break in the kiddie pool that Kieran had been eyeing in the box before we went back east.


The only takers for the pool were Kieran and Miss Lola who was thrilled to discover that this was going to be a pool party!

We were too lazy and/or frugal to drive to North Pole for fireworks this year so the kids were the entertainment (and I think they knew it).

Kieran was happy to be back in Auntie Rachel's lap. He discovered Lays potato chips that evening. Bad idea, I know.

A day later we took the Whaler out for its first cruise of the season on the Chena River in town. You can see that Kieran was mighty pleased with the boat. This was his first trip on the river. We'll try to do a bit more exciting trip out of Valdez later in the summer to give him a little more to look at, but for his first time this river cruise was plenty impressive.

To my surprise he wasn't bothered at all by his life vest. I think he was actually very proud of it.

Look how serious he was about "driving" the boat!

We watched the sky as smoke from wildfires drifted in to the area. We've had smoke on and off since we've been home...the price we pay for beautiful, warm, sunny weather.

Here's the confluence of the Chena (relatively clear) and Tanana (silty) Rivers.

Taking in the breeze on the way home. I think this kid is hooked.
A day later we had more smoke drift in. Luckily it stayed fairly high above the ground. This was taken from the deck at home. Since then we've had some pretty noxious days, engulfed in ashy smoke from a wildfire 20 miles or so south of town. For the first time since we've lived in Fairbanks we're getting ash dusting outdoor (and even some indoor) surfaces. Kieran's reaction? At any mention of the word smoke (even in reference to smoking fish, which we've been doing lately) he says with obvious disgust, "Ick!" You said it kiddo.