Bi-Wing Flight

Catching up on some of this past summer's adventures, this slide show is of a bi-wing flight Josh and I took while we were at Boeing Museum of Flight in late July. He and his friend, Sam, were to take the flight, but Sam opted out at the last minute. I decided to go in his place, and off we went for a 20 minutes flight over Seattle. When it came time to turn around and head back to Boeing Field, the pilot asked us if we wanted a gentle turn or a "high energy" turn. I opted for the gentle turn, much to Josh's displeasure. However, as we were on our way back to Boeing Field we circled at the end of the runway to wait for one of the Blue Angels to take off. As soon as he took off he immediately went vertical. It was impressive to see with the "front row" seats we had. Our pilot nosed our plane up to watch the Blue Angel, which did result in the high energy turn Josh originally wanted as he banked down and around for our approach. The flight ended all too soon, and I surprised myself by getting over my fear of heights while being in the open air cockpit. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again!

Summer Friday Evenings

Josh has been riding his mountain bike on local ski trails with other kids, organized by the Fairbanks Cycle Club. He is having so much fun at this that he is now talking about possible road racing next year. We'll just have to see about that.

During last week's ride I went for a walk and took these pictures. The last shot shoes how smokey it has been thanks to the fire which is 30 miles from town. Normally you can see the Alaska Range from this point. As much as I hate to say it, getting some rain would be a very good thing.

Summer Reading

Josh loves to read. His first choice is anything involving aircraft or military history. He also loves novels, and lately has become a fan of Clive Cussler's books. At our recent trip to the library he picked out this fun book:

Yup - "A Dangerous Book for Dogs." Notice in the top right corner it does state "a paraody."

It was at this trip to the library that Josh was to pick up the prize he had won in association with the summer reading program. The librarian gave Josh a choice: he could either have a $10 gift card to the movie theater, showing him the gift card in a nifty Harry Potter envelope, or he could have a book bag and pick out a first run book that has not made its way to bookstores yet. Even though Josh thought the librarian said he could have the gift card OR the book bag OR the choice of a book, he choose this nifty book bag.

The the librarian reminded him to pick out his book, and Josh was surprised he got to have TWO things. This is the book he picked out:

Ah yes, pirates, another favorite thing for him to read about. On second thought, I cannot think of much that he does not like to read about. Which is why we'll go to the used book store to purchase quite a few books to take with us on our upcoming trip. Nothing is worse than having Josh run out of books to read on the plane!

Phase II

Last weekend Josh was trying to enjoy a nice Ghiradelli chocolate bar with caramel filling....

...mmmm, that sure looks good!

The filling looks even better. He tried to keep it from dripping on the newspaper he was reading.

Now, are you wondering why I titled this post Phase II? Last week Josh had to have his second set of braces put on - Phase II as the orthdontist calls it. I dropped off Josh, and three (3!) hours later he was finally done and I picked him up. I had cautioned him to pick rubber band colors that he could live with for a while.
And the colors he chose?

Why, navy and gold in honor of the Blue Angels, who he'll soon get to see in a show at the camp he is going to at the end of the month at the Boeing Museum of Flight in Seattle and then get to personally meet. I am excited about it too as the families of the campers get to come to the air demonstration the Blue Angels will put on for the campers.
Josh looks like one happy camper already!

Boy vs. Dog

Last Friday, before the smoke moved in, Josh and I took the dogs to a local gravel pit to cool off. Turns out Josh's dog, Beu, wants nothing to do with the water. My Golden, Ali, however, cannot get enough of it. You cannot even skip rocks when Ali is around as she goes crazy trying to retrieve the rocks!

These are pictures of Josh and Ali racing to see who would get the ball first.

The race is on!


Josh surges ahead.


Josh gets the ball first!


Ali, however, is still searching for the ball.


Josh threw the ball back in the water so that Ali can "find" the ball.


Ali's got the ball and is heading back to shore.

It was a fun way for all of us to cool off.

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Even though it is not dark enough this time of year to do fireworks, they are still sold locally and you will be able to hear them all night long! We have fireworks on New Year's Eve each year. Besides, with Governor Palin's announcement yesterday we are having plenty of local fireworks!



Take some time today to reflect upon the freedoms we are allowed in this country, and thank a servicemember today for their work to protect our freedom.

Rockin' and Rollin'

We just had our second shaker in less than a week. At least this was during daylight hours and the dogs didn't go too crazy. The one last Saturday morning was about 5:30am when I was in bed thinking about getting up. When that one hit the Golden Retriever ran into the living room growling, and Beu jumped right on top me! The local newspaper story on this is found at this site. The site I always go to right after earthquakes is run by the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska found here.

I'm just thankful we are getting a few smaller earthquakes and not one big quake!

Minute of Honor

Americans are asked to stop whatever they are doing at 3 pm local time today, Memorial Day, to reflect and honor those who have died in the cause of freedom.

Memorial Day

To honor the "memory" part of Memorial Day, the following editorial cartoons are just wonderful. In appreciation to our service members for this past and current service, and in memory of those who gave their all. We thank you!

Karly Pictures

Karly is just perfect:

Mom and daughter:

Proud dad and his daughter:

Learning to change diapers:

Cousins:

Welcome Karly!

Krissy and Brent just welcomed Karly Jeannette/Jeanette (still deciding on the spelling of the middle name) to the world. Karly weighed in at 7 pounds 5 ounces, and is 20 inches long.

I'm talking to mom by phone right now. I'll go to the hospital tomorrow to take some pictures and then post them. Josh can't wait to see his new cousin.

Campus Wildlife

We have had a lot of moose on campus this winter. One of our police officers was dispatched to encourage this young bull to leave the area around one of the residence halls. She took these great shots of him prior to chasing him away. Somehow, I think he probably came back later today.

There has also been a cow and her yearling on campus over much of the winter. At times they have been standing around in the parking lots so that folks are "stuck" in their vehicles until the moose decide to leave. Only in Alaska!

Happy Birthday Alaska!

Fifty years ago today Alaska became the 49th state. It is certainly living up to the "Seward's Icebox" nickname as of late. We are on day seven of a cold spell with no relief in sight. The fireworks planned for tonight to celebrate the 50th anniversary of statehood have been canceled due to the heavy ice fog. The forecast is for a low of -55 for the next few nights! However, most of us try to take this cold in stride. We have chosen to live here in this great state, and there are numerous pluses to being here that far outweigh the minuses. Happy birthday Alaska, and here's to the great things that the next 50 years will bring us!