First Camping Trip

Yes, yes, I have a whole month of "stuff" that I am missing...I'll get to it...eventually!

This past weekend we added another thing to the "Baby's First" list. Bug went on his first camping trip! He turns one in a little over a week (SOB) and we wanted to take him before that. We left Friday and headed about 40 miles South of Fairbanks to a little dry cabin on the Salcha River. It was perfect! Not a soul around (other than the ones driving past on the nearby road) and just peace and quiet. We got to camp around dinner time, and hubby got to work starting a fire in the wood stove. (Note: My husband's friends are BRILLIANT, and gave us the idea of making calzones ahead of time to heat up on the fire. No cooking! AND yummy calzones.) We spent most of Friday evening trying to keep Bug away from the wood burner.

Friday night we snuggled into our sleeping bags, and Bug in his pack n' play in our little sauna, er....cabin. Around Midnight he woke up (probably because it was 934 degrees in the cabin.) My sweet husband tried to change him and let me sleep, but Bug thought it was a great time mid-diaper change to pee all over his dad's sleeping bag. Luckily, we keep an extra one in the car in case I ever break down in the winter. While up we went outside to see the Aurora. It will probably be the last time that we get a chance since it is really only dark enough from 11pm - 4 am, and even that is quickly going away. At some point during the night, the Bug ended up with us sleeping. He is worse than me, and takes over the ENTIRE bed area, elbows and all.

Saturday morning we work up and ate our breakfast burritos that we made before we left on Friday.  Bug wouldn't nap (too much light) so we decided to go for a drive since he will sleep in the car. We ended up driving to Delta Junction, which is about 100 miles from Fairbanks. On our way there we got run off the road by a large truck into a snowbank (on a back road.) Luckily, A. I have good tires. B. My husband is a good driver, and C. The truck actually stopped. We didn't actually need to talk to the truck driver since my husband got the car out of the snowbank and I got 1/2 my car cleaned off. No harm done. As frustrated as I was at the driver for causing my life to flash before my eyes, I did appreciate that he waited for us to get out.

When we were almost into Delta we noticed a small black cow laying in a field, a field without a fence and no other cows around. After getting some coffee and chocolate milk (and with a Bug still sleeping) we discussed rescuing "Norman" (my husband named him, and that's why I love him) and bringing him home with us. I mean, who DOESN'T want a pet cow? Well, when we went back, Norman was gone, as was my dreams of cow ownership.

We spent the rest of Saturday playing on the gravel bar next to the frozen river and sled riding (well, Bug was riding in the sled, we were pulling him.) Bug just wanted to be outside, just like his daddy, so we did a lot of exploring. Saturday night, Bug did a better job of going to sleep and staying asleep. We woke up Sunday, went sled riding, and then packed up in time for Bug's nap so he could sleep on the way home.

It was a great first trip for the Bug. I don't think I'd change a thing, and really want to go again....like tomorrow...I think Bug will agree.

AND now, in true Brooke style....a bazillion photos.

Bug REALLY likes the camera.

The Pipeline

Just scroll through the next photos quickly...it's funny. ;)

Arctic Winter Games

Since the plague has left our house the Bug and I ventured out today. It was so nice to get out of the house for the first time in 4 days. I get cabin fever way too quickly.

The Arctic Winter Games are being held in Fairbanks this year. I did not realize a few things. 1. That the games are only every 4 years. 2. They rotate. The next time they have the games, they will be in Greenland.

Crap.

I wish I would have paid attention. This tends to be a problem of mine.

ANYWAY...back to the point of this post. Bug loves dogs. L-O-V-E-S dogs. I know I'm going to get talked into a dog before I actually want one. I am interested in dog mushing, so decided to take Bug to the 4 dog race. We went to watch the Junior race. It was really fun, which made me sadder about not attending more events.

I bundled Bug up as best I could (it was around 28 degrees today) and we were off. As I expected, he was thrilled. He didn't get as good of a nap as I hoped due to the asshole cats. (They decided that standing by his door SCREAMING was a good life choice.)  I was afraid he'd drift off before he saw the "das" but luckily, he was wide awake. 

This was my favorite team, only because of the story behind the dogs. The dogs were on their way to be killed, when they were saved by the father of the girls who run them now. They are from Nunavut. 

We stuck around to see the first team from Nunavut cross the finish line, along with the teams from Alaska. There were three other teams, but Bug was getting cranky, and he had been so good for so long, I assumed he was bored. 

We got back to the car and no sooner was the snowsuit off than he was at the front of the trunk jumping and squealing watching the dogs. Sigh. I guess he was just tired of the snowsuit.

In other news, Alaska is beautiful. Today may be the first day of Spring, but the only sign in Alaska that I've seen is that they came down our road and pushed the snow the whole way off the road. I CAN SEE THE ROAD. That's exciting. I don't really mind that it is 20+ degrees. I laugh when I think about how cold I "use" to be at 20+ degrees, but honestly, it is a different cold than in Seattle. It's not a wet cold.

Bug will be 11 months tomorrow...if you can tell me how to slow down time, let me know.

Where's the Easy Button?

Living in Fairbanks, the land of snow and sun (because seriously, more sun than Seattle) I feel like I should be able to "do" something athletic in the winter. I have downhill skied since I was little...10 maybe? That is about it when it comes to winter sports that I can do. It's a little harder with a 10 month old to drop everything and just go skiing.

Other winter sports ideas? Ice Skating?

Never have I been able to stand up and actually skate (roller blade or ice skates.) I blame it on how tall I am and my center of gravity being at my knees....or it could be that Grace is my middle name and I can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Since I'm "so good" at roller blades, I figure I am even better at ice skating.

I did go skating  "once" as an adult. I took my middle school students, and they somehow talked me out onto the ice. Poor guys spent our entire 2 hours, trying to teach me how to skate. I taught a program for students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders and I wish that every person who ever wrote them off as "bad" could have seen them that day (everyday actually, they were awesome.) SO patient, and so kind, keeping their teacher on her feet and spending their one field trip helping me. I still miss those kids.

ANYWAY. Long story short, Ice skating didn't work out.

Now that I've crossed that off my list,  next up is cross country skiing. I get the concept since you have to skate ski when downhill skiing to get across the flat parts at the bottom or runs. I'm good at that, how hard can cross country skiing be? HARD. I have officially gone twice as an adult and both times I hated it. HATED IT.

I really want to be able to do SOMETHING though...

I decided that I DO own cross country skis....I figured that today would be a good day to go give it try again. Why not? My husband and I packed everything we needed, packed the Bug and Bug supplies, and headed out. We drove down the hill into the valley behind our house. We go there, unloaded our skis, got bundled up and got the Bug's snowsuit and carrier ready for him (my husband was taking him, NOT me.)

We were ready to go! I was going to go cross country skiing and had high hopes of liking it. We went to grab the Bug....who had thrown up all over himself. Poor guy. He had puked earlier in the day but he was shoveling food and it went down the wrong pipe. We assumed it was a coincidence and that he couldn't be sick. He JUST got over being sick. Well...he doesn't feel well.

So, no skiing. We packed back up and took him home. I got to figure out how to take apart his car seat to wash it, and Bug's daddy gave him a bath. While being sick slowed him down, it didn't stop him...

A short while later we were getting dinner ready, and the Bug crawled over to his dad's guitar...his dad's 12 string that I bought him as a present years ago. Bug LOVES the guitar. Well, loved. He knocked it over and snapped the neck on it. Poof. Dead. I don't really think that Fairbanks has a ton of guitar repair stores. I'm sad. Really sad.

So today I learned that maybe I'm only meant to drink hot chocolate in the winter, don't let your kid lick the handle of the cart at Fred Meyers (okay...I didn't "let him" he was too quick for me, but that is what I blame for puking) and if your kid pukes, just stay home!

Luck

    First, let me tell you a story of how stupid I am....then pictures, LOTS of pictures. I promise.

     Safeway was having a deal on diapers today ($5.00 for 29 of them.) The Bug and I went to pick some up after his 9,937 doctor appointment. After leaving, we were driving up to meet some friends at the Archaeology conference. I was late, and the roads were good. NOT going fast (hello, baby in the car) but not doing my normal 10 miles below the speed limit.

     On our way to pick them up there was a train, so I did a quick U-turn and went on the highway so we wouldn't be too late. We picked up our friends, and went on our way again. The Bug started crying, so I looked for my wallet to hand him. He likes playing with it. No wallet. He started screaming and I remembered where I last saw my wallet...at Safeway...on the roof of the car....UGH. I started picturing my beloved Starbucks card, GONE, my credit cards needing to be canceled, ALL the fun stuff that happens when you lose your wallet. I jumped out of the car, and do you know what was on the roof of my car? I HAVE NO IDEA HOW.

     (I'll leave out the part where I did it again later on...I need a purse.)


     This afternoon we went to the Ice Park, where they have the World Ice Carving Championships. It was SO MUCH FUN. I had on jeans, so got a little chilly, but SO MUCH FUN. We bundled the Bug up really well in his stroller and with blankets and wandered around. Bug passed out about 3 minutes after we got there. There were AMAZING ice sculptures, spinning cups (you provide the spinning power) and ice slides. The slides were so much fun. Bug woke up towards the end and his daddy took him down a baby slide. He thought it was the BEST.THING.EVER, but we didn't want him in the cold for too long, so we left soon after. It was really cool (ha, get it, cool, ice, get it?)

Ok. I promised photos...

Not Moosing Around Here..

I joke about my fear of moose. It's because they get cranky (like me) and want to stomp you into the ground (like me.) Heck, maybe we should be friends. Anyway. Last night I was trying to put Bug down for his nap and as I walked past our front door I noticed a LARGE black object ON THE PORCH.

WAY WORSE THAN A JEHOVAH WITNESS!

It scared the crap out of me, then I realized that it was a moose. ON MY PORCH. I turned the light on, but she didn't go very far. Apparently, the snow around our house is quite tasty. I tried scaring her off. She didn't give a damn. (Much like the Honeybadger.)

I called Adam to warn him, and told our tenant to be aware of the new friend nearby. I thought I'd open the front door to try to scare her off...nope, no fear. Adam had to honk his horn a few times to get her to move away from the house when he got home.

She really was pretty, and I was impressed with how clean she looked. Bug thought she was the coolest thing ever. He kept pounding on the window. (She didn't care.)

Weekend Update #2

I never did finish "Weekend Update #2" and I hate having things unfinished. SO, here are photos taken on our trip last weekend. Mostly photos (by mostly, I mean all)  and I'll leave it at that! Have a great weekend everyone!