Chena Lakes Snow Hike

After a morning low of 8 below zero, Mike and I decided to take a drive over to Chena Lakes to go on a quick hike. At the time we left our house, it was 1 above zero. While Mike stayed nice and warm, I quickly became entirely too hot and had to shed some layers.

The road to Chena Lakes

The hiking trail

Mike hopes that his beard will not freeze on the hike.

Kristie is prepared to stay warm on this hike!

To keep his beard from freezing,

Mike tucks it inside his coat.

After a few inches of snow on Friday,

everything looks so beautiful!

Kristie gets way too hot on this hike!

With the days getting shorter,

the shadows are getting longer.

The snow lightly coats the branches of the trees.

Abigail's 13th Birthday

Our Abigail celebrated her 13th birthday, yesterday, October 30th. Of course, the day would not have been complete without her wearing the birthday hat. Besides lots of love, she indulged in a long nap and her favorite treats.

Mike and Abigail share a hug!

Francie chooses to not celebrate with Abigail.

Zoee is all excited about Abigail's birthday.

The Bear

While selling our candles at the Ft. Wainwright Holly Day's Bazaar this weekend, Mike and I did a little shopping of our own. One of the vendors there was a guy doing chainsaw carvings out of big logs. So, succombing to our temptation to get one, Mike and I adopted this cute bear to be a part of our family. He sits outside our front door and greets all who ring our door bell.

A really neat feature of our new bear is that the salmon he is holding can be switched with other items including a sign that says "Welcome" on one side and "Go Away!" on the other.

We have not picked a name for our new addition. If you have any good suggestions, please let us know!

1st Snow of 2010

We had our first dusting of snow of the season this morning! While it was not impressive in terms of amounts, it was a lot of fun to watch.

We are under a Winter Weather Advisory until 10:00 p.m. It's still snowing lightly, but the sun seems like it wants to come out and spoil the party. So, we may not get much more than we have.

The drive to church

Our deck and backyard

Another view of the backyard

Hey, who put tire tracks on the freshly fallen snow?!