Freezin' for a Reason

Luke decided to join a group of coworkers and do the Polar Plunge last Saturday (Dec 21).  The polar plunge is a fundraising event for the Special Olympics where participants pay money and raise money to jump into Goose Lake.  (Um…what about a bake sale…inside?  Just saying...)

Karrick and I went to watch, and we made it JUST in time.  Karrick decided to get a cold from his dad (yes Luke did the Polar Plunge with a cold), or so we thought--in hindsight we know now he had started teething…plus he may have still had a cold..who knows?  All I know is that it was a horrible night.  I spent the whole night with Karrick in the recliner.  That was the only way he and I were able to get any sleep at all!  Luke got up and left early to meet up with his coworkers.  He sent me a text before I left saying that I would have to park at UAA campus and take a shuttle so I needed to look up exactly where the parking/shuttle services were.  I didn't even think about checking on that the night before… I blame sleep deprivation.

Luke was scheduled to jump at 10:30 a.m. (15 minutes after sunrise). I checked where we needed to park and left the house around 9:50 a.m.  I parked, loaded Karrick in the ergo carrier, and got on an almost full shuttle bus around 10:20 a.m.  We were going to make it!  Wahoo!  And then the bus made it's way over to the lake where we had to wait for a snowplow to clear the entrance so the ginormous tour bus wouldn't get stuck.  But before the snowplow could clear the entrance a minivan had to be pushed out of the snow.  Time was ticking.  I was worried/mad that we would miss Luke and that the horrible night/morning and racing down to Anchorage would have all been in vain.

I took this picture to document how close I was to the lake…in case we missed it.

Finally the road was clear of snow (and dumb people driving where they shouldn't).  I got off the bus and walked as quickly as I could toward the lake.  We made it just in time!  A miracle indeed!

Even though it was "nice" outside (temps in the 20s), we didn't hang around long.  After watching Luke, we got right back on the shuttle bus and went back to the truck to go home.  Karrick was fine during all this--like the night before had never happened.  Little punk. :)

Here are some pictures from the Anchorage Polar Plunge 2013 of Aquaman and his sea creatures (Luke is the turtle):

I took video of the actual jump…but one of Luke's co-worker took this one and shared it with us.

The Aquaman group talking to someone from the local news.

Posing for a group photo

Receiving the official Polar Plunge beach towel

Time to go get warm again…somehow...

Once Karrick and I were back at the truck I tried to get him to eat his bottle.  No such luck… (Good thing he's cute!)

And it's winter again....

So far this year June, July, and August have been the only months snow hasn't fallen.  That's right folks, yesterday morning we had some snow flakes in the air and this morning snow flakes were falling again AND sticking!  So crazy!
The neighborhood--

It made me kind of sad, until I realized this is Karricks first snowfall!  Then I got excited and dressed him up for some snowy pics.

Owl hat from my friend Lucy.  (You might recognize it from the baby shower post back in May.)

Good thing my dad was still around so he could take our picture!

And then it was time for the bear suit.  The fluffiest, cuddliest bear suit EVER!

Yay for snow!

(But seriously?  Already?)

Grow Baby Grow!

It's hard to believe Karrick is 3 months old now!  Where has the time gone??  It seems like it has gone so fast and so slow all at the same time.  That's probably due to the sleep deprivation...

Here are some photos of our growing baby boy.

Happy (at the moment) to be shopping at Fred Meyer with mom!

At church-a special stake meeting with Bishop Causse.  We sat on the couches in the foyer and listened over the speaker.  Way better than the hard chairs in the back!

Bouncing on the ball before bedtime...his hair looks really red against the background of Luke's shirt.  It really isn't that red.

He got an orange dog from his dr. appointment at the E.N.T.  No anatomical reasons to prevent him from nursing.  He just can't do it/doesn't know how.  That's a whole other story...

One of the bandaid souvenirs from his 2 month vaccines.  The other bandaid was also a Despicable Me one. (Awesome!)

Thinking about waking up...

Watching his first Broncos game at our neighbors house. 

Not his first bath, but one of the first bath pictures ever taken.  He loves taking baths!!

We think he really is adore-bot!!!  (Of course we aren't biased or anything...) 

He has officially found his hands.

Cute monster bum.  He grew out of his first monster outfit.  I had to get the next size.  I wasn't ready to let go of the monster feet!

See what I mean?!?!?

Already falling asleep during prayers.  Ha!

Bear bum!  I'm so excited he can finally fit in these cute pants!  Too bad he can't wear them longer.  

He's growing up so fast! 

Recharging before his next adventure.

Love his chunky little baby hands!

Working on his pouty lip...great...

He likes cuddling with his burp cloths.  Which makes sense seeing as how he has fallen asleep many times with his face on them!

And one last bum shot...this is an outfit given to Karrick by our friend Bonnie.  It's perfect for cheering on his cousins in Tabiona, Utah.  Go tigers!

Visitors

My mom and my sister Wendi were here when Karrick was born, and I was so grateful to have them here!  We didn't have many adventures besides watching lots of episodes of Castle...but they didn't mind.

Karrick and aunt Wendi

Karrick and Grandma Janice

I miss having them around!  Especially when Luke is at work.  And now I have to make my own food and clean up after myself which is a lot harder with a new baby around.  I'm learning though.  Kind of.

USS Anchorage

So there's a new Navy warship called the USS Anchorage.  It's a Marine support vessel...or something...  Oh, it's an amphibious transport dock, to be more specific.  (I totally just looked it up.)
Anyway, it's currently docked in Anchorage!  It is being commissioned this weekend.

This is the ship as it passed by Homer.  Picture "borrowed" from here..

The past two days they have had free public tours of the ship.  We had every intention of going on the tour.  Yesterday the plan was to meet Luke at the Sears mall (which is right across the highway from his work and one of two locations the tours were starting from) but when I got there the line (which was outside in the rain) was crazy long, and there weren't any parking spaces.  So I went to the other tour bus meeting location (Northway Mall) and the line there was also pretty long...but at least it was inside, and there were a few parking spaces still available.  After talking it over with Luke on the phone, we decided to try today instead, and we even went "early"...but the line at Northway Mall was twice as long as yesterday.  No thanks!  (We didn't even try the other location--which we heard last night would be moved from the Sears Mall to the Sullivan Arena due to the high demand/parking problems..)

We got frozen yogurt and went to Costco instead.  (And one would think that with that many people at the Northway Mall waiting to go on a tour that the Costco down the street would be less busy.  HA!  Fat chance!)

So now we are at plan C--we'll be taking the virtual tour instead...with my feet propped up!

(You can take the virtual tour too.  It's on this website.)

In other news, only 6 weeks until baby Chewie is due to make his appearance.  I don't mind him coming a bit early, but I've already told him its rude to be too late.  We will see though.  From what I've been told, it seems that most silly babies have their own agendas.  I don't expect him to be any different.

We will just have to wait and see!

Shipping to Alaska

Living in Alaska has made me appreciate Free Super Saver Shipping offered by Amazon.  Sure you have to spend 25 dollars...but it's worth it.  Especially seeing as how I would spend 25 dollars anyway WITH SHIPPING.

Check this out: (disregard the fact that I have a gift card and the order total would be zero anyway.  It's the PRINCIPLE of the thing...)

Earthquake!

There I was, sitting at the kitchen counter.  All of the sudden I heard a loud thud and then what sounded like a train.

And then everything started shaking.

What did I do?  I just sat there and thought "is there something I should be doing?"

The shaking went on for awhile.  It was the longest earthquake I've ever experienced- lasting just over a minute.  It was also the strongest earthquake I've ever experienced- a 5.8!

Craziness!

Image courtesy of the Alaska Earthquake Information Center.

My neighbor and I were talking the other day about how we wouldn't have a chance surviving in a post-apocalyptic world.  When we swapped stories of our reaction to the earthquake, our fears were confirmed.  I sat and did nothing.  She ran outside into the sub-zero temperatures without shoes on.

We have a lot to work on, don't we??

Luckily no damage was done and I can look back on the experience and laugh...but seriously, I've gotta work on my reaction plan...  It's all about preparedness!

I saw this on Facebook, and I just knew that I needed to steal it and put it on here.

The Rains Came Down...and the Floods Came Up!

Our first year in Alaska has been full of records...for example-
snowiest winter
5th coldest winter
4th coldest July
3rd rainiest September

And when it rains in such epic proportions...it floods...  And we are talking some big storms-one right after another-making a really massive flood area.  One weather service likened the flood area to the distance between Portland and San Francisco.  Yikes!

We are safe and our home is safe, but some places we've come to love are now underwater..

Here are some examples from around the area (via the wonderful world wide web).

Denali National Park.  Image via

Houston, AK.  Image via

Wasilla, AK.  Image via

Talkeetna, AK.  Image via

Talkeetna aerial shot.  Image via

North of Talkeetna...those are AK Railroad tracks.  Northbound routes have been cancelled for awhile...  Image via

And here are some videos of flooding in Seward. (They have had 30 inches of rain in Seward so far this month...can we say Oh.  My.  Goodness.  Usually they get 10 inches in September...)

Oh, and let's not forget Eagle River.  The town is fine...but the river is kinda out of control!

Image via

Moosen in the News-en

When's the last time you've seen an albino moose?

I didn't even know there was such a thing as an albino moose!

This is from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

 I think it's kinda creepy looking...but it will have great camouflage when it's snowy out...

Stormy, stormy night

The weather news yesterday went a little like this:

An unseasonably strong Bering Sea storm system will move over mainland Alaska today. This storm system resembles the powerful storms typically experienced during the winter months and it is unusual for storms of this strength to move through this early in the fall.

The public is encouraged to monitor this weather situation and prepare for possible wind and flood impacts. Be prepared for difficult travel conditions, downed trees, and possible power outages. In addition people are urged to secure loose objects that could be blown around or damaged by the strong wind.

And they weren't joking either.

The wind at our house** NEVER blows like it does in Colorado.  But this time, it got a little bit closer to a typical windy Colorado day. (**other places around here get HORRIBLE wind...worse than Colorado and Utah...so think Wyoming windiness...haha.)

Anyway, I stayed inside and was watching the pilot for the new show Revolution on Hulu...you know it's the one where the world has a blackout...

Should've known the power would go out while I was watching it.  It was crazy!  At least my phone still worked, and it had a mostly full battery.  I kept up with the news, electricity status, and whatever else was happening via Twitter.  (I'm not a big Twitter-er...nope that sure isn't a word...but it's nice to have it in times like last night.)

The power came back on this morning.  But not in time for kids to have school today.  I guess it's a big mess out there.  With downed power lines and downed trees.  Sounds not so fun.

Here's a map of some wind gusts around the area:

This was what the Anchorage Daily News Reported:

And here are some pictures from around the web of the aftermath:

A floatplane at Lake Hood.  Image via

Flagpole at Delany Park Strip.  Image via

What a mess!  Image via

It's still pretty stormy today.  But at least it's not windy!