A Tree Hunting We Will Go 12.7.15

Christmas tree time!  We drove out to Harriet Hunt and walked around the muskeg looking for the perfect tree.

Jeralyn was excited to see snow and to be able to make snowballs to throw at us (mostly at Quent).

Putting mittens on Joshua.

Let the hunting begin!

Tree was found!  We had walked around a bit and settled on this one.

Walking back through the muskeg was interesting.  Quent dragged the tree back to the truck while I half carried Josh.  Once Quent had the tree to the truck, he came back and helped me with Joshua.  Carrying a 30+ pound toddler with a pregnant belly isn't easy.  Oh, and trying to help your 4-year old at the same time...she had already fallen into a deep muskeg pond.

Our adventurous girl!

One Last Dude Camping Trip 10.2.15

Feeling nostalgic at the end of the year and started flipping through the photos and noticed a few that hadn't made it to the blog.  When October rolled in with blue skies and warm weather, Jeralyn and I headed up to her favorite mountain for one last camping trip.  

Off to the races.  That's Brown Mountain in the background.  

Jeralyn always looks forward to this tent pad where we always take a break and munch on a snack.


The trail's getting rough so I took a few pictures - now just have to write a grant application.


More rough trail, but Jeralyn's pretty good at making her way up.  No big surprise, she's been climbing this herself for half her life.


Jeralyn is getting sure footed.  I no longer walk beside her  on some of these steep sections of single lane trail.

The little climber made it to the top of the boulder next to camp for the first time without assistance.


Bushwhacking.


Firing up the stove.  Shells and cheese with sausage tonight and hot chocolate to top it off.


Another alpine sunset.


I decided to stay up for a while and set up the camera with the fisheye lens as I wandered around and did a bunch of artsy stuff with my headlamp.  Then I went to bed and the aurora show really started to take off.  It was a great display and I was even able to partially awaken Jeralyn to catch some of it.  Unfortunately I failed to actually trigger my controller so all I was left with were a couple test shots.

My first high dynamic range image made with the Adobe Camera Raw software.  This is our regular camping spot on Dude.  I'm perched atop the large boulder seen below.


Watching the sunrise.


No dew!


Looking for caddis or dragon fly larvae.



I brought my "little" 3.5 meter kite along on this trip.  It was windy the entire evening and into the early morning of the next day.  Then the wind died.  I tried flying the kite a little bit but it demanded so much attention that I couldn't grab my camera and fly the kite at the same time.  Should have let Jeralyn do the photography.


Jeralyn loves scrambling all over these rocks.  We played some kind of a hide and seek game where I'd run and try hiding while she would attempt to catch me.  Our fun was heard by everyone who ventured into the mountains that day.


Atop Dude.


View from the top of Dude.  Jeralyn is looking out over Diane and Brown Mountain.  Clarence Straight and then Prince of Wales Island make up the background.  This is also the site of Christina's first alpine camping trip on Revilla Island.  It's a very scenic spot but it's a little boxed in with all the stubby little alpine hemlock growing all around.  

Ski Dude 12.16.15

It's finally snowing in SE Alaska!  A sunny day with a little powder called me out of the office for a little fun.  

Did you know that a Polaris RMK 800 has a Variable Exhaust System?  Yup, says so right on the cowling.  

Marvin (front) and Shawn make their way up the boardwalk.  The lift lines are usually pretty moderate in Ketchikan.  

Meet Sam, the newest member of the Ketchikan ski-mobile club... and it's most talented photographer. Check out his photography here. This particular trip can be found here (and the next older post).  

Islands in the sky.  Marvin (front) and Clark make up the remainder of our ski group.  

What kind of a photographer is too lazy to straighten a crooked horizon?  

Those blue cow skins look familiar don't they?  

Like skiers everywhere, our ski group looked down at the only snowboarder in the group.  Poor Marvin.

Winter art.

Clark attempts to fetch the perfect snowflake that happens to be buried six inches below the surface in this very spot while traveling at high speeds.  

Kick turns are fun when other people are doing them.  

Sooo... this is the thanks I get for all my photographic effort.  I wasn't laughing out loud.  

Who just ripped one?  

Clark jubilantly summits Dude Mountain and realizes that the skiing is more exciting from the top.  

Here....

...there...

...and gone!  If you thought you spotted my old and well traveled Armada Super Noodles you are correct!  Sam was kind enough to knock the dust off and replace it with a little powder...  Speaking of powder, he almost knocked my poles off the mountain with his slough.  

Shawn showing off in tele gear.  

Yup, it's steep.  I told him to ski really close because I have my fish-eye lens on the camera.  If I knew how well he would listen and obey, I would have asked for $500.  

Low elevation skiing at it's best!  

Little Plumber 11.21.15

Joshua was "helping" Quent with a plumbing issue.  It was so cute!

Colander Head 11.21.15

Lately, most of the pictures I've been taking are the ones where Jeralyn asks me to take a picture.  I'm not sure why, maybe it's because I just have less motivation these days.  Oops!  She asked me to take a picture of her wearing the colander while she was putting away dishes.

Memory Albums 11.20.15

The kids were pulling out some of the more recent scrapbooks I've created.  They were having fun looking through the photos on the pages.  Jeralyn was excited about seeing Shelly and Josh was excited about seeing "Dada".  It just melts my heart!

Cute little face.  He did have a run in with Jeralyn's scooter earlier this day, so he had a little bloody nose.  Poor little guy!

Snow White 11.18.15

This was our first snow.  Jeralyn went out on the deck for a quick bite of snow.  She was dressed as Snow White (how fitting).

Catalog 11.13.15

We were finishing up dinner and I started looking through this toy catalog we received in the mail.  From across the table, Josh noticed the cars in the catalog and he got really excited.  So here he is trying to crawl over the table to look at the catalog.  He loves cars!

Reading Together 11.11.15

Jeralyn and Josh are becoming quite the little buddies.  Here are they are enjoying looking through a book together.  Jeralyn got a blanket and pillows for them.  So cute!