It's Fur Rondevous time!!!!

First we watched the finishers of the sled dog races.  This was not the Iditerod; this race took place within 99-113 minutes.  Below are a couple of still shots, then the next is a short video clip.  The racers were yelling "Gee", "Ha", "Keep it going".  It was pretty exciting to see the end of a race rather than just the ceremonial start of the Iditerod.  Although we always go to the Iditerod start, which is scheduled for next Saturday.   

Then it was on to the carnival rides.  We had a blast ridding the rides.  Who cares what the temperature was.  Ok....it wasn't actually that cold.  It was only 30 degrees, so it's not like we were being THAT tough.  LOL  

Snow sculptures.  Beautiful, delicate, intricate, thought-provoking, and funny.  I love snow sculptures.  Blake loves them too.  He almost touched one.  I barely got to him before he remodeled one of the sculptures.  

Here are some of my favorites from this year:  

"The Big Debate"....Get it?  :-)

"Space Camping"...notice the guitar in one astronaut's arms and the "campfire".

I bet this will be the winner.  "Shark Bait".  I had to crop the right side, so it's hard to see that shark with it's mouth open...look close, but not too close.  The details were amazingly intricate on all four sides of this snow sculpture. 

Here is a picture of the carnival just as twilight started....pretty lights.  Knick arm is the "water" and ice you see behind the fair.  

And here is a picture of Mt. Susitna also known as "Sleeping Lady".  Just gorgeous.  

Whew...who turned up the heat?

After we built our snowman, warm winds kicked in....well...warm for Anchorage at least.  We had 35-40 degree weather for several days in a row.  I'm guessing our 5 foot tall snowman is now a mere fraction of his glorious self.  LOL  

The other night, Cedric asked me what the forecast was for the next day.  I hadn't even looked at the weather, so I asked him what kind of weather he wanted?  Without a momment's hesitation, he said, "SPRING!"  I told him spring would come in April when the geese started arriving.  

Flash foward to today after several days of melting snow and ice.  Cedric excited called to me. "Mama, come here, come here, come OVER HERE, you have to SEE this!"  I'm thinking it's a rabbit, wolf, moose, or a bird.  Instead he's pointing out the window right next to the house.  All I see is a chair that blew off our deck.  Then I notice it....green....GRASS!  Cedric was just dancing a jig.  It was sunny, it was warm...well it was above freezing at least....and there were patches of green grass.  LOL  

I keep trying to tell him it usually snows at least one more time in March before spring comes. Poor kid.  

Mounties on Duty!

If you watch Backyardigans, you will understand what is going on here.  For those of you who have not had the pleasure...and really, it's a pretty good show...to watch the episode with the Mounties on Duty guarding the biggest snow ball.  The below pictures are of the three of us on a little snow "hill" which we pretended was our lookout point.   Luckily, the booby traps were all imaginary, except for the snowballs the mounties threw at the "intruders".  LOL  

Since the snow was just awesome snowman making material, we took advantage of the situation.  It is just the best fun to build a snowman.  We had to draw a smiley face, since we were about 1/8 of a mile from our house in the "greenbelt" area.  Well...it's green in the summer at least.  ;-)  We had all our fun on the frozen pond area where there was unlimited rolling space for our snowman.  Jim donated his hat and gloves for the snowman since he didn't need them.  We were all soooo hot.  It was at least 29 degrees.  Just downright balmy!  

The Muddy Mud Pit

Look closely at this picture.  The middle step is a darker color wood than the other steps.  Why am I showing you this?  Because through the eyes of a 3 year old, this darker step is a "muddy mud pit".  We are all required by Blake to skip the muddy mud pit.  This can be challenging at best and nearly impossible when carrying laundry baskets, toys, and sleepy children up and down the stairs.  When I accidentally step in the muddy mud pit, I make "squish" "squish" sounds and Blake complains that I got mud all over the place.  Blake then insists on "washing" my feet so I don't spread "mud" anywhere else.  LOL  

Here are pictures of the boys in action skipping the muddy mud pit.

Things that make you go ewwwww!

So, I'm sitting with Blake when suddenly he says, "ewwww, There is a bugger on my finger." I ask him if he wants a tissue. He says, "Nope, I ate it!" Ewwwwwwww!

Goooooooaaaaaaalllllll

Cedric scored his first soccer goal today! He was so proud. :-)

The busy weekend

I have no pictures to document it, but last weekend was one of the busiest I've ever had. Saturday morning, the boys has a sledding birthday party to go to at Kinkaid Park. At 10am, the sun was nearing the top of the horizon and it was bright, the temperature was 2 degrees above zero, and there was a slight northerly breeze of about 5 mph. Layered as they were, the boys shivered and Blake's eyes watered. They both asked to go inside where all the other party guests had already gathered. I couldn't talk them into even one run down the hill. Inside, the children ran around wildly, chasing each other, playing duck duck goose, and pulling each other on inflatable snow sleds better suited to snow than carpet. After generating all that heat, the boys decided they wanted to go sledding after all. So...off to the hill we went. It was a blast....for Cedric and Blake. It seemed warmer too. There was still a breeze, but the sun was up and shining brightly. It felt....warm. After 40 min, I was getting tired and it was time for lunch, so we packed it up and went to the truck. I turned the truck on and looked at the temperature. It was a whopping 3 degrees and only 1 degree warmer than before. Later that day, Cedric had a soccer game. Jim and I were also going to the opera and would have to leave right after Cedric's game, so we got all dressed up and brought the babysitter with us. We were the best dressed people in the whole indoor soccer dome. LOL After Cedric's soccer game, the boys and the babysitter went home and we were off to Simon and Seafort for appetizers and drinks before the Opera. Everything worked out perfectly. The Opera, Il Travetore (The Tragedey), was spectacular and appropriately named. ;-) Sunday, we hosted a Super bowl party. Whew! I'm tired just typing this all out. Luckily, this coming weekend is shaping up to be much quieter. It's a good thing because we didn't have a chance to catch up on laundry last weekend. ;-) When we went to Simon and Seaforts, they have these pull tab thingies with quotes in them. We just cracked up at these. Can you guess which one is my favorite? "The first time I went skiing, I wasn't very good at it, so I broke a leg. Thank goodness it wasn't one of mine." - Michael Green "It's frustrating when you know all the answers and nobody bothers to ask you the questions." - Michael Nolan