Sledding fun at Kinkaid Park

Woo Hoo!  Yee Haw!  Yippeeee! 

  Fresh snow on Christmas produced fabulous sledding conditions a couple of days later. 

Here Blake pauses at the bottom of the hill. 

Both boys get on the sled and really rocket down. Look out below! Yikes...that was close! Airplane on approach to Anchorage International Airport: Mt. Foraker glowing pink in the low angle sunlight. Just beautiful!

My Favorite snow pictures so far this year.

It has been a spectacular winter for photography.  Lots of freezing fog and various clouds have brought fantastic colors and nuances.  Each and every day, I marvel at the beauty right outside our backdoor.  In fact, all but one of these pictures was taken from the backdoor.  This is not to say there haven't been other spectacular views around the city.  I just have my camera readily available at home.  I really should carry a camera with me all the time.  Last week, ice coated trees were tinged pink at the top and sillouetted by a strikingly dark blue sky as the sun sank towards the horizon.  

This one, I'm calling, "Pre-Dawn Beauty".  Notice the hoar frost on the tree in the forefront.   Hoar frost is deposited on the trees by freezing fog.  

I took this picture late in the day at Kinkaid Park. 

This is midday in December.  The sun barely skirts the tops of the trees.  

More wintery scenes in the backyard.  

Nelson Family does the elf boogy

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

My friend just "tagged" me. I was instructed to open my 6th picture file, post the 6th picture from that file on our blog, and share the details with you!

Since I don't have all my pictures on this computer...some were lost...some are on Fliker...some I have only in print now. What I did was go to 2007 since I started taking digital pictures when Cedric was born in 2002. I then went to my 6th file under 2007, which was a folder "December 2007", I then went to the first thing in that folder, which was another folder "Cedric's Christmas Creations". This is the photo that came up. It is a milk carton made into a candy house.

This picture is the actual 6th picture in the 6th file...well 7th file because the 6th file only had 4 images in it. This is the 4th image in the actual 6th file currently on my computer: Ok...I'm now tagging Andy, Lisa, Rie, Tiffanie, and Beth.

7 Bookish Things

Kristina Riggle http://www.redroom.com/blog/kristina-riggle/7-bookish-things-meme "tagged" all of her facebook friends. I accept the challenge! The rules are: Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.Share seven random and/or weird book facts about yourself.Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. Ok...I'll give this a whirl: When I was in 9th grade, I was so engrossed in a book that I didn't notice that the school bus had reached school and everyone, except me, had exited the bus. 2. I read every single Walter Farley book in the Black Stallion series when I was a young girl. I really wanted a horse and the books let me experience horses in a virtual way. 3. The first book I remember reading was Dr. Seus's book about Sneetches "The stars on thars..." I don't remember the title. 4. Now that I have children, it can take me a year to read a long book even if I really like it. 5. I love true life adventures. Real stories about real adventures just seem so much more compeling to me than a fictional story. Although, I do enjoy a good fictional story filled with historical facts. 6. I have no qualms about not finishing a story if I lose interest. My reading time is precious to me. 7. I once rapped a "Where The Sidewalk Ends" poem while reading it to a bunch of children. They loved it!

Halloween 2008

Halloween.

Candy....$20

Decorations...$50

Costumes....$100.

Allowed to be totally silly and any character you want...priceless!

The week before Halloween, the Parks and Rec dept held a Halloween festival at Russian Jack Park. There was trick or treating and lots of exhibits...some of which were a little too spooky for Blake. Cedric got the joke, though. There was a headless horseman (on a real horse), an "escaped" gorilla who ran around trying to get kids to chase him, and a carriage ride. We took a ride on the carriage and screamed when the headless horseman came "after" us. Lots of fun. All bundled up...

Really big Duck!

These teeth are better than any of the other "treats". "Grrrrrr....look at how scary we are!"

Knight Blake and Darth Vader Cedric get ready for a night on the "town". Having fun at the Zoo Boo... Ooooo large glowing spiders....Oh My! There were a whole bunch of these bigger than life creepy crawlers. And why should the kids have all the fun! Fred and Wilma join in the fun!

Flashback to summer

Flashing back to summer because I was too busy having fun to post about all the fun at the time... Grandma Janet and Cousin Stephanie came to visit.  

Blake loves his cousin so much he even smiles straight into the camera for her!  Believe me, this is an amazing thing.  Usually, Blake grimaces briefly, then turns quickly away.  Here, I got a shot of Blake looking at Stephanie for a picture.  Ah well...he still looks cute.  

Seward in the summer.  We had fun playing on the beach watching the fisherman cast out for salmon, seeing all the wildlife on the cruise, and playing on the playground.  Jim and his Mom also got in a half day of charter fishing.  Fun fun fun...  Well...more fun for Jim since he caught all the fish.  LOL  

First on the agenda...a train ride!  Why drive when you can relax and take in the beauty on the Alaska Railroad.  My only gripe was the early morning start.  Luckily, there is alot of sunshine in the summer.  It's easier to wake up early when it is light out.  

View of Turnagain Arm from the train as we head away from Anchorage.

Dead trees along Turnagain Arm. During the 1964 earthquake. The earth lifted and then dropped this area allowing salt water over the land. Alaska black spruce still can't grow in this area because the soil is too salty.

Cedric and Blake watching the beauty glide by.

A picture of the back of the train as we rounded a bend up Turnagain Pass.

A little black bear scrambling up an embankment.

Spencer Glacier. Since Stephanie and Grandma were with us...we could sneak away by ourselves at times...Yea! 

Sea plane on the lake at Moose Pass.  

I don't know the name of this lake, but the stillness allowed a beautiful and perfect reflection of the mountain in the water.  Ahhhh.  

Stephanie and Cedric relax in the dining car.   On a poplar fishing beach in Seward, Blake looks for ... something.... anything... what IS in there?

Working together for the common good...higher...HIGHER!

First time fishing ... we didn't catch anything, but boy was it fun trying.  

Cedric got his Junior Ranger badge on the cruise!  He was so proud.  The ranger was impressed at all that he knew.  Well...he is a smartypants.  ;-)

We saw tons of animals on this cruise.  There was even a humpback whale.  I saw the blow hole go and the back of the whale very briefly.  Here are a few of the better pictures I took.  

Bald Eagle sighted during our cruise.... Cool shot looking at mountains through a hole in the rock.  

Sea lions....

Glacier ahead!!!

Beautiful fireweed in front of the Seward Harber...

Blake and Cedric both pulled their own luggage.  Thanks potterybarn!  

Blake made it all the way to the top during a hike to Exit Glacier near Seward.   He was like a mountain goat.    

Blake was a great hiker, but even mountain goats get tired sometimes.  Blake catches a ride back down.   Stephanie pondering the awesome natural beauty. 

During our second Seward trip of the summer (what a rough life we lead, huh?) Grandma Sandy and Pop Pops pose with Cedric and Blake. My favorite Alaskan flower...the fireweed... frames the background. We had a lot of fun. Jim went on a charter fishing trip with the Grandparents. I didn't get to go fishing because the weather was good for only one day. Luckily for Jim, he caught a bunch of fish and our freezer is full. Next time, I get the good weather fishing day.